corrosion warraty

[Concho]

This has probably been answered a thousand times already but!
If you have your merc serviced at a specialist dealer does that invalidate your 30 anti corrosion warranty? I was told today at Mercedes approved body shop that it does? is this true. My C200 (2000) has some spots of rust on the boot & around the back door seals. But luckily I have only had it a short while so it has a full merc service book atm. Although when I come round to doing the first service I wanted to use a specialist as they are cheaper.

Cheers

 

[Cheeky]

If you go elsewhere other than a main dealer, DC can invalidate your warranty. However, they have been known to part honour their warranty but will require you to contribute to a percentage of the costs of repair.

We had to claim for rust spot to my wife's 3 year old A class on the A pilar's and to the bottom of the rear wheel arches (according to our local stealers, this is apparantly a common fault on the A-Class). Our car had a full main dealer service history and DCUK honoured their warranty and we didn't pay a penny...They told us that other people who claimed under the warranty who had serviced their cars outside the main stealerships had to contribute to the costs.

It's a risk you will have to take...

Good luck!

 

[hawk20]

Strongly advise you to stick to Mercedes dealers. Serious rust issues on Mercs of your era -see other recent threads under bodywork etc. You may need all the help you can get.

 

[jberks]

Technically yes. The 30 year corrosion warranty is tied into the Mobilio policy which is 'renewed' at every main dealer service.

It all depends on how often you are having to service it. If it's every 18 months or so, then for the £100-£200 or so you'll save over that period, it probably isn't worth it. If like me, it's every 6 months, then that's another matter. Plus a late 04 E shouldn't rust anyway. For this reason, whilst I was doing 8k per year, my 2000 E class had FMBSH and only when that went to 30k pa did I switch.

You can still save a fair bit though. The important bit is the service stamp. That can be gained without having extras such as brake pads, fluid, plugs etc done. Just tell them you'll bring it back and then take it to the indie. Then use the indie for mid service issues and any diagnostics etc. That way you keep the FMBSH and Mobilio but pay indie prices for all the expensive bits.

 

[hawk20]

Technically yes. The 30 year corrosion warranty is tied into the Mobilio policy which is 'renewed' at every main dealer service.

You can still save a fair bit though. The important bit is the service stamp. That can be gained without having extras such as brake pads, fluid, plugs etc done. Just tell them you'll bring it back and then take it to the indie. Then use the indie for mid service issues and any diagnostics etc. That way you keep the FMBSH and Mobilio but pay indie prices for all the expensive bits.

How very crafty! It's not that long ago when services were every 3000 miles then 6000 now most Mercs do 13, 14 even 15k between services. Hit the calculator and servicing is only 2,3, or 4p per mile. Fuel anywhere between 10 and 20p per mile. Depreciation often twice the cost of fuel. Saving 20 or 30% on servicing is small beer in the whole picture (especially if we all do jberks tricks!). Keeping Mercedes goodwill can be worth big bucks and the resale value is better too.

 

[Blobcat]

You can still save a fair bit though. The important bit is the service stamp. That can be gained without having extras such as brake pads, fluid, plugs etc done. Just tell them you'll bring it back and then take it to the indie. Then use the indie for mid service issues and any diagnostics etc. That way you keep the FMBSH and Mobilio but pay indie prices for all the expensive bits.

That is exactly what I do, service at the dealers, if anything else is highlighted and is likely to cost £££ I do it myself (or have it done independantly). I don't even say I will bring it back. As long as the highlighted issues are dealt with there is no issue.The service people know me now are are happy to provide exploded diagrams of the bits requiring work. I generally buy the parts from MB as they fit and there is no issue with them being inferior. I also find them not too bad on parts prices.