Goodbye Mobilolife And Goodbye Service Plus.

[hawk20]

GOODBYE MOBILOLIFE AND GOODBYE SERVICE PLUS.

In the past I have posted info on Mobilo-Life and Service Plus from a high level contact I have in MBUK. Here is some more information, but this time bad news.

Mobilo-Life as we know it is to come to an end.

In addition, Service Plus will end from April 14th and will be replaced with new products, with much reduced cover, and which will only be offered for new cars only.

I had been suggesting improvements to these products in line with discussions on this and other forums but my contact says: -
With regards to MobiloLife, this product has now been replaced with
"Mobilo" from 1st April 2008 for all new registrations and the website will
be updated next week to reflect the changes. We plan within this update to
publish a spreadsheet which identifies the main differences between this
offer and previous incarnations of roadside assistance offers (mobilolife
etc.). This comparison will contain the correct data that you refer to in
your earlier correspondence.

Regarding Service Contracts (now renamed Service Plans) we have had to make
some amendments to the product in order to ensure that our Financial Risk
is minimised in the forthcoming years. You are therefore correct in that
our new offer (available from 14th April) will be restricted initially to
two products available on new vehicles only.

These products will be labelled "Care" and "Total Care". Care will cover
the routine servicing as per the current offer and Total Care will cover
servicing plus friction materials (brake pads, discs, clutch, and wiper blades).

Whilst I realise that this does not provide the extensive cover currently
offered, we are not in a position to continue to offer that product.

I apologise that this new offer does not specifically include your earlier
suggestions, but this does not mean that they were not valid, but only that
circumstances have caused us to take a very different path.

 

[keith100]

"Regarding Service Contracts (now renamed Service Plans) we have had to make
some amendments to the product in order to ensure that our Financial Risk
is minimised in the forthcoming years."

Presumably by increasing its customers risk. Does this signal that MB has less faith in its new and future products!!

Hard to believe that MB actually said that. What an admission about likely warranty claims and service costs.

Cheers

Keith

 

[Blobcat]

It looks like they've taken a bath on Service Plus, a pity really as it does read (to me) that they don't have enough confidence in their product going forward. Not really the thing you want to be saying IMHO

 

[hawk20]

Accountancy is getting stricter and stricter on making provisions for long term commitments. What looks like a profit on a car can easily be wiped out by provisions for guarantee work. And if you offer 30 year rust guarantees, provisions have to be made for that. And for 30 year free breakdown cover. And Service Plus must have lost money. BMW and Mercedes charge about £900 to £1,000 for an extended warranty IIRC for 1 years extra cover. But Service Plus only charged a few hundred at most above the cost of a service contract. Great for those who have it. But not good business.

 

[hawk20]

I assume MobiloLife cover will remain the same on existing cars as stated when sold. But new T's and C's apply to cars registered after April Ist.

 

[jberks]

Hawk - What do we need to do?

Does this then mean that irrespective of dealer history, our mobilo cover will cease? And if so, when? 1st April? Do I need to take out RAC breakdown cover now?
Rather scary considering I have a long trip planned for tomorrow morning.


I always wondered about service plus cost - it was exceptionally cheap when you consider what a full warranty, plus annual services cost individually. When it came up, lots of people queried it because the cover was exceptional for the cost. Clearly the accountants have now spotted it.

I asked for an extended warranty on the Freelander and was staggered at the quote of almost £1,000 for the year. The warranty on my E270 only cost me £600 2 years ago and at £1k I'm better off taking the risk. Even at £600 - so far the only thing I've had to do on the merc was an ESP wheel sensor. I don't have the price but I'm assuming around £150 so the ins co is still £450 up on the deal. If she remains as reliable over the next 7 months as she has over the last 2 years, I will have lost on the deal.

 

[hawk20]

Does this then mean that irrespective of dealer history, our mobilo cover will cease? And if so, when? 1st April? Do I need to take out RAC breakdown cover now?
Rather scary considering I have a long trip planned for tomorrow morning.


.

As I posted earlier, I assume that the cover we get on existing cars will remain what we were told in the paperwork at time of sale. If you check the threads I did on Mobilo they set out what is covered at different ages -confirmed by MB.

The new T's and C's apply to new cars registered from April Ist onwards, as far as I know.

This should become clearer next week when the details go up on the MB website -so we are told.

 

[hawk20]

My personal view is that these changes are being made necessary by currency changes and the surge in commodity prices.

Think about the Euro. A few years ago it was at parity with the dollar. One dollar bought one Euro. Today it is 1.58 euros to the dollar. So Mercedes would need to put up US prices by over 50% just to cover the currency changes.

Now take the UK. This year alone the Euro has risen 17.5% against the pound -as we will all see on holiday. That means they should put up the price of my humble A class by £3,500 just to earn the same number of euros from a sale as they did a year ago. Imagine what would happen to sales if they did that and much more on E's, S's, SL's etc.

Then commodity prices. Steel, aluminium, copper, plastics (from oil), heat and energy costs.

They clearly don't want to do any cuts that affect the quality of the product itself so they have to look carefully at all other costs. 30 year rust guarantees cost to provide and bring no obvious revenue. Free breakdown cover is expensive, especially if it covers punctures, losing keys, running out of fuel and so on. And Service Plus was such a bargain it must have lost money. And with currency changes, commodity price surges, and inflation too, costs of all these things must have grown dramatically.

 

[stumpy]

I hope that the situation doesn't get as bad as on my old BMW M5. On 'M' cars the warranty price was 1050 per year for cars under 60k, and 1850! for cars over 60k with cover ceasing completely at 100k. There was also a 250 excess to pay on each claim too! It got to the point where you were better leaving the money in the bank and shelling out for repairs as and when.

 

[Blobcat]

I hope that the situation doesn't get as bad as on my old BMW M5. On 'M' cars the warranty price was 1050 per year for cars under 60k, and 1850! for cars over 60k with cover ceasing completely at 100k. There was also a 250 excess to pay on each claim too! It got to the point where you were better leaving the money in the bank and shelling out for repairs as and when.

When I checked into Service Plus they wouldn't cover after 100K miles. I self warrantied my last E and will do the same on this one when the MB warranty expires.

 

[Mr Teddy Bear]

The price of the product must come into this Merc prices have'nt risen in 10 years so in real terms are considerably lower after factoring in inflation. I'm sure that robotic/computerised production lines wont have maintained the profit to cost ratio?
Hence some thing has to give.
Even after shelling out 1100 for paint I still have noooo complaints regarding mine [touch wood]
TB:-D

 

[television]

The better build quality must go a long way in the new thinking,, if things have been shaken up on that front, and there are not the same faults anymore then you do not need the expensive back up any longer than need be.

 

[stuart o]

service plus

I requested a quote just yesterday and await this before comitting - is it possible to take out the old service plus before 14th and still keep the old cover, one of the raesons I bought the car was because of service plus for future budgeting - aaahhh !!!:evil:

Stuart

 

[hawk20]

I requested a quote just yesterday and await this before comitting - is it possible to take out the old service plus before 14th and still keep the old cover, one of the raesons I bought the car was because of service plus for future budgeting - aaahhh !!!:evil:

Stuart

Sorry no. Service Plus has been discontinued.

 

[stuart o]

warranty

does this mean I can still get an extended warranty if car has FMBSH and will there be any sort of service plan for used cars

 

[hawk20]

does this mean I can still get an extended warranty if car has FMBSH and will there be any sort of service plan for used cars

All will apparently be revealed this week on the MB website. But it seems as though the service plans will be for new cars only.

Extended warranty is still available AFAIK.

 

[david roberts]

Extended Warranty

As a newbie I hope you will be patient. I bought an "approved" used E320 CDI from Mercedes at Brooklands back in May 2008. It is therefore still within the dealer's one year warranty, but the new car 3 year warranty expired last September (it was registered in September 2005).

Will I be able to buy an extended warranty (say in April 2009) now that Service Plus and Mobilo Life apparently no longer exist?

And if I get it always serviced at Merc dealers (however defined) will I still qualify for the 30 year rust guarantee?

The views of you experts would be highly valued.

 

[jberks]

As a newbie I hope you will be patient. I bought an "approved" used E320 CDI from Mercedes at Brooklands back in May 2008. It is therefore still within the dealer's one year warranty, but the new car 3 year warranty expired last September (it was registered in September 2005).

Will I be able to buy an extended warranty (say in April 2009) now that Service Plus and Mobilo Life apparently no longer exist?

And if I get it always serviced at Merc dealers (however defined) will I still qualify for the 30 year rust guarantee?

The views of you experts would be highly valued.

Hi,
The first point is that Mobilio life doesn't exist for new cars, it still applies to older ones like ours. The 30yr warranty is covered by Mobilio and Mobilio itself is renewed at every dealer service provided the car is 04->. So even if its been serviced at an indie and no longer has Mobilio - one dealer service and all is forgiven.
As far as an extended approved/used warranty is concerned I tried to buy one with mine. My dealer supplied an external non MB warranty that as it turned out, wasn't as good. Back in '99 when used cars were termed 'signature' I bought a signature extended warranty for my C class and this was pretty much the same as the manufacturer's warranty. Sadly I don't think you can get such a thing any more.

 

[Mercedes 190E]

When I checked into Service Plus they wouldn't cover after 100K miles. I self warrantied my last E and will do the same on this one when the MB warranty expires.

If you dont mind me asking, which company do you use and what is the cost? Does it cover what the Merc one does ?

 

[jberks]

If you dont mind me asking, which company do you use and what is the cost? Does it cover what the Merc one does ?

By 'Sefl Warrantying' What he means is that he does what many of us do. Namely keep the money in the bank and use it to cover repairs. You can be unlucky but most of us find we're ahead. Nobody these days do a warranty to match the manufacturers and the ones they do can cost a fortune. Factor in that MB will often pay out a percentage of any unreasonable repair on an out of warranty car and its better to avoid warranties IMHO. E.g. My E270 - 4yrs old 56k and the diff was seeping oil. My £600 warranty co said it was wear and tear so they're not playing, MB paid 70% of the cost.