Service Contract - Daimler-Chrysler

[Blobcat]

Hi xcaliber,

£35 per month = £420 p.a. = £1,260 for 3 yrs / 30,000 miles
Which equates to 0.042 pence per mile

On my figures of £3,262.71 for 88,000 miles
This equates to 0.03707625 pence per mile

So for 30,000 miles the service / repair costs on my figures work out at £1,112.29 or £147.71 less than the service contract.

Based on those figures I would take the service contract. Although I have spent less for the same miles you will be doing them over a longer period. I am of the belief that more goes wrong when you switch things off than if you leave them running. Also quite a few things fail over time rather than miles.

 

[Neil Plumridge]

Sorry guys I've come into this a bit late so you've probably all forgotten the thread now but I am suffering the same dilema. I have a quote for £43.00 p/m Service only or £83 p/m service plus.

If the car only ever needs servicing then £43 p/m is actually not bad (this is based on 20k p/a on a '03 C240 Avantgarde SE). Trouble is at £83 + the cost of the loan to buy the car + the cost of Insurance + tax + Petrol all all start to look really quite expensive. However, if something big does go wrong (gear box for example) then £83 p/m actually seems quite cheap. As you may see on another thread my car is still under warantee for a month or so and already has had close to £1000.00 worth of repairs, not including any servicing.

There was a comment about Mercs being reliable and therefore this contract not being necessary but reading some of the horror stories on this and other sites it at least gives you peace of mind (if an empty wallet to boot). I think part of me is on the opinion that if I KNOW it will never cost me more than £83 p/m I will sleep easier than wondering if it will cost me £2000.00 the next time I get it serviced.

Can you bail out of these contracts when you sell the car? Are they a fixed term does anybody know?

 

[Neil Plumridge]

This is an intersting point from the contract:

"If the total distance covered exceeds the contract distance specified in the relevant Vehicle Schedule an adjusting payment shall be made by the Customer so as to adjust the total of the Monthly Payments over the contract period to reflect the actual distance covered. Such adjusting payment shall be calculated at the appropriate rate per kilometre. No repayment shall be due if the actual distance covered is less than the contract distance. Any adjusting payment shall be paid within one month of the amount thereof has been calculated."

This line is good too:

"DEFECTS AND APPLICATIONS OUTSIDE THE CONTRACT
When in the reasonable opinion of the Nominated Workshop a part or component requires replacement which is outside the scope of the Maintenance, the
Nominated Workshop shall notify the Customer in writing and recommend the replacement of the part or component. If the Customer unreasonably refuses or
fails to have such replacement carried out within thirty (30) days of receiving such notice, then DCUK shall thereafter and until the replacement is made, be
absolved from all obligations hereunder in relation to such Vehicle"

so if they say you need a new gearbox and you don't get them to replace it they just cancel the contract. Bet you don't get any money back.

This one sounds good too:

"8. VEHICLES WITHDRAWN FROM THIS AGREEMENT - NO ASSIGNMENT
a) If a Vehicle is disposed of by the Customer or destroyed before the expiration of the relevant Contract Period or if the Customer wishes to withdraw a Vehicle for any reason from this Agreement prior to the end of the relevant Contract Period, the Customer shall return the relevant Service Card to DCUK and the total invoice price of the Works carried out on it shall be determined. If such total exceeds the total of the Monthly Payments made hereunder the Customer shall pay to DCUK the amount of such excess up to a maximum of three Monthly Payments at the rate then applicable."

so if you have work done and it exceeds the monthly costs (and lets face it, if something major breaks it will) and you sell the car you still end up with a nasty bill.

I also read somewhere that the service cover is trasferable if you sell the car. Not according to the contract:

"13. TRANSFER
The Customer may not transfer, assign or otherwise make over to any third party the benefit or burden this agreement."


and one last parting section in exclusions:

"b) repair to, replacement of any friction material;"

Does this include clutch plates etc?

Still not sure about this......

 

[jberks]

Everything in this world is a gamble. However, £500 extra per year is a lot of 'repairs'. Yes, something nasty could occur, but its unlikely. I've never had anything major go in the last 8 years of running Mercs. Plus if it did and I was footing the bill, there are always options for reducing the overall cost, recons, repairs, used etc.

The prices they are working to are based on full dealer retail inc vat for all work and new factory supplied parts only and its true that burning up £500+ at a dealer doesn't take much effort but You don't have the same ties.

Then take the £43 per month (£516 per year and I presume this is nett) service charge. Based on an A and B service at the dealer its a touch cheaper. However, the same 2 services at a specialist will run to around £350 all in. So use a specialist and put the £83 per month away and you have £646 to spend on repairs. Ok, get unlucky and need a full set of brakes and a MAS in the same year and you may get close, but you'll soon make it back the next year.

If you insist on dealers only then it does make a lot of sense. That is provided you stick to their stringent rules, don't slip up and your cicrumstances don't change (I don't know where I'll be working next month let alone in 3 years time!) but if you are prepared to 'stray' then the sums start to look a bit dodgy.

 

[Neil Plumridge]

yeah, I've asked them to provide details of the excess mileage charges too. Although I phoned the Merc specialist in worthing and they reckon a B service usually runs in at around £320 - £360 (depending upon parts) and around £120 less for an A. You are right about Mileage, bearing in Mind I put 160k on my A6 in 6 years the numbers could go up quite quickly. Does give you the warm fuzzy feeling though that if anything does go wrong (and these forums, and personal experience, show that it's not exactly unusal for a C-Class to go wrong) I wouldn't need to worry about it.

Still not sure of the way to go.....

 

[Rory]

However, if something big does go wrong (gear box for example) then £83 p/m actually seems quite cheap. As you may see on another thread my car is still under warantee for a month or so and already has had close to £1000.00 worth of repairs, not including any servicing.

I didn't look at this scheme too seriously, so I might be wrong about this, but I don't think even the Service Plus would cover your gearbox - you'd need to buy an extended warranty for that.
As I understand, the two levels are basically:
Service - routine oil change type stuff.
Service Plus - includes consumeables things like pads and discs.

If anything should actually break, rather than wear out, then I think you need warranty cover for that.

 

[jberks]

You are right. I have the brochure (details attached). So, an extra £45 per month for wear and tear items (and that doesn't include tyres).

I am trying to think what, aside from a couple of bulbs and a £250 brake and disk job, I had to do (that would be covered) over 80k and 5 years with my 210. I guess there were plugs (did myself for £90) and brake fluid and coolant (another £80 at the dealer), a dozen wiper blade rubbers (free from the indie), a grand's worth of tyres (sorry not covered), A MAS and leads but I bet thats not considered wear and tear .. no thats about it. - so, around £500 of work (or £1,000 if I'm wrong about the MAS and forgot a few bits) for .... £2700.00. Then like mine, if its not a company car or your company is on the fixed vat scheme so can't claim the VAT back, (my cost figures were what I paid so gross), make that £3172.50.

Now me me think about the value aspect .....

 

[Neil Plumridge]

This is the e-mail I receved from MB:

Service Only

Inclusions
Basic service cost i.e oil filters, spark plugs, oil change, labour,
lubricants etc.
Basic MOT cost


The service only basically covers you for all mandatory items in the
relevant service and the cost of the annual MOT but no repairs.



Service Plus

Inclusions
All that is described above as well as all repair or replacement of any
electrical or mechanical items due to normal wear and tear.

i.e brake pads,brake discs, wiperblades, as well as things like the
exhaust, engine, electric windows, CD player, air conditioning.

Basically as long as the item is electrical or mechanical, fitted as
standard from factory and has failed due to normal wear and tear and not
due to damage, whether accidental or deliberate and as long as you have
taken the right steps to have the item fixed and have not ignored warnings
that parts need to be fixed then it is covered.

This means all repairs that arise from the MOT or service or at any time
during the contract period.


This pretty much implies that service plus covers everything (inc gear box). As this is an e-mail directly from MB I'm pretty sure it would be legally binding.

 

[GregE240]

I suppose if anything, its a good way of budgeting for service work on your car. Although you could do the same thing (as I do) - open a savings account and shove a set amount in there. Come service time, transfer the money into your current account and pay the bill.

My main concern with this sort of scheme is that its not black and white enough. Why not just make it simpler, for example:

Whats Covered: Gearbox oil replacement
Whats not covered: Gearbox replacement

Theres far too much leeway IMHO for them to wriggle out of any potential liability.

 

[Neil Plumridge]

I must say that that is the bit that is causing me the most concern too. The contract is just full of legal jargon and I am by nature a paranoid person. I would hate to have paid £850.00 over 10 months and then have something go wrong and hear the imortal words "sorry sir, that's not covered"....

 

[Rory]

This is the e-mail I receved from MB:

Service Only

Inclusions
Basic service cost i.e oil filters, spark plugs, oil change, labour,
lubricants etc.
Basic MOT cost


The service only basically covers you for all mandatory items in the
relevant service and the cost of the annual MOT but no repairs.



Service Plus

Inclusions
All that is described above as well as all repair or replacement of any
electrical or mechanical items due to normal wear and tear.

i.e brake pads,brake discs, wiperblades, as well as things like the
exhaust, engine, electric windows, CD player, air conditioning.

Basically as long as the item is electrical or mechanical, fitted as
standard from factory and has failed due to normal wear and tear and not
due to damage, whether accidental or deliberate and as long as you have
taken the right steps to have the item fixed and have not ignored warnings
that parts need to be fixed then it is covered.

This means all repairs that arise from the MOT or service or at any time
during the contract period.


This pretty much implies that service plus covers everything (inc gear box). As this is an e-mail directly from MB I'm pretty sure it would be legally binding.

I still don't think (but I'm not certain) that would cover you for (say) a gearbox failure.

Why would you "have not ignored warnings that parts need to be fixed" if the contact covered them anyway?

The MB extended warranty is pretty expensive - if Service Plus gave you that cover then it would be a tremendous bargain.

 

[Neil Plumridge]

Just as a little addition to this, I took my car to the dealer who first sold it to have it "inspected" for the service plus contract and he pointed out that you can not claim on a service plus contract for the first 3 months!! This means if it breaks or you have a service within 3 months of taking out the contract you can't claim on it! This seems a little odd, a bit like paying water rates but not being able to use your water.......actually, now I come to think of it maybe MB have been talking to one of the water companies in the South East.

Mind you, the inspection did bring up a very interesting point. I bought my Merc from a non-mercedes dealer and although they have a good reputation you can never be TOO sure with a second hand car dealer. The car has a 3 month warrantee (which I beleive is a legal requirement these days). This means if, like me, you buy your car from a second-hand car dealer you should take it to your local MB dealer and get them to do a "service plus" inspection. They spent 1 1/2 hours going over every part of the car becuuase if there are ANY problems they won't give you the contract until they are resolved. The upshot of this is that if they did find anything it should be covered by the warrantee with the dealer I got it from. If I didn't have the inspection I may not find out until after the warrantee runs out!

The inpsection was free (Tony Purslows in Guildford) and I got to scoff lots of free biscuits whilst I sat and waited. So even if you don't take out the cover it's still a very good way of getting a free, and very detailed, health check on your car!

btw, mine passed with flying colours.