Customer records kept by MB dealerships

[philharve]

Hi All

When I visited my nearest MB dealership after buying my Merc' from a local non-franchised dealer, I found they had a complete service history for my car. I was not unduly surprised by this because the original owner had the car serviced at this particular dealership, except for the first service because the car was purchased outside of Cornwall. Notithstanding, the dealer had access to the complete history of my car. How is this possible?

What I would like to know is whether service records are shared between dealerships, i.e., is there some central MB database? If I took my car to another MB dealership would they have access to my car's service history too?

If, now, I take my car to an Indie for servicing, is the service history interrupted by virtue of the fact that the Indie may not have access to this database? Consequently, the only reliable and complete service history is the collection of paper documents kept by the owner. True, of false?

REGARDS Phil

 

[jberks]

I'd say true. The dealer system only knows what's put into it. I knew a guy a few years ago who wanted to keep the mileage down but was doing a lot. So, he serviced the car at a dealer and then took it straight round to a mechanic who disconnected the speedo. Ran it until the next service was due and took it back to the mechanic who reconnected the speedo and serviced it. Put on the appropriate mileage and then back to the dealer. Car had full dealer sh but double the mileage.
My E240 would only show services. New brakes, sensors, leads etc were all done at an indie.