Service Confusion, are some MB Dealerships just stupid or what!

[littlebrooklyn]

I've posted before about our 07 Merc that had only done 150 miles on the clock when we bought it back in March and our query as to when the first service was due as the Assyst was saying it wasn't due till the car had done another 14,000 miles.

After many phone calls to MB Customer Relations and a lot of faffing around trying to find out if our car was on the old 2 yr service intervals or the never annual servicing it was ascertained that our car did indeed fall under the annual servicing and MB Chichester who we bought the car from agreed to pay for the first service and asked us to book it in at our local MB dealership in Watford.

So last week we duly booked the car in and today my other half took it down there about an hour ago.

We just had a phone call from MB Watford to say our car doesn't need a service for another 14,000 miles after all. They are of course totally wrong as it does need a service. What kind of organisation doesn't even know when it's cars are due for a service? How on earth is your average person in the street supposed to keep their car under warranty when the stupid dealerships don't even seem to know what day it is

 

[jberks]

I don't think there are any rules. Probably annual is fine but if you waited for 14k you'd also be fine. That said, if the dealer has agreed to pay, I'd tell them to do it irrespective of whether they think its due or not. They the worst you have done is service it earlier than needed.

I had similar with Audi. I took the car in when the indicator said a service was due (only 7k but 18 months) and was told that as it hadn't been serviced within 12 months, the warranty was invalidated. A stern conversation later and they re-instated the warranty. If they fit an indicator and you follow it, they can't argue that you didn't do as required. If they have requirements and don't build them into the indicator, thats their look out. After all, clocks and calendars were fitted to BM* service indicators forever. My mums 3 series used to keep 4 green lights on for 18 months (3k pa) and then flick over to red once the 18 months were up and that was in 1986. So it's hardly a cutting edge requirement.

So, as far as I can see, whichever you do you'd be ok.

 

[littlebrooklyn]

We were under the impression that there are new servicing rules with MB and the Customer Relations Dept had actually tod me that if we didn't have the car serviced according to the new annual servicing changes that the warranty would be invalidated

I guess if we hadn't actually spoken with MB, who now have all our car details, we could have just ignored the annual service and gone by the Assyst. However they know we've queried the service intervals and have been told that by ignoring their advice our warranty would be invalidated.

Mind you I do think that even though the car has a very low mileage it must surely need something doing to it after spending 9mths sitting in the dealership.

 

[rhud]

So - my car was registered on November 14 2007. Therefore irrespective of what the display is saying, I should book it in for a service in November 2008? Right?

 

[littlebrooklyn]

So - my car was registered on November 14 2007. Therefore irrespective of what the display is saying, I should book it in for a service in November 2008? Right?

If you read the sticky on here regarding servicing intervals you will see that the newer cars have gone to fixed one year service intervals or 15,500 miles whichever comes soonest.

I would imagine that your car is in that category, although MB can check the VIN number to confirm this as they did with our car.

 

[whitenemesis]

I thought that ASSYST in newer cars was changed so you still are advised correctly when to service, i.e. service interval will show as 15,000 but if one did less than that in the 12months the idicator would change to time remaining.

What's the point of having a service indicator if one has to ignore it and remember the date of the last service?

 

[littlebrooklyn]

I thought that ASSYST in newer cars was changed so you still are advised correctly when to service, i.e. service interval will show as 15,000 but if one did less than that in the 12months the idicator would change to time remaining.

What's the point of having a service indicator if one has to ignore it and remember the date of the last service?

You make a very good point, I have to say I have no idea. Our indicator has not changed at all and it does make you wonder what the heck is going on. We did phone the dealership we bought our car from earlier and they confirmed that our car is on annual or 15,000 mile service intervals, so why the Assyst doesn't show this I really have no clue

However as we haven't had to pay for the service I'm not going to turn down the generous offer of MB paying for it

 

[coxyhog]

I have always believed that if you want to keep the car in good nick the engine oil should be changed every 12 months regardless of mileage.

 

[PeterCLK]

Mine's on 10k services - I do slightly more than that p.a. so the 12 month issue hasn't occurred yet. I'm on a service and repair warranty so I guess more frequent services suit me as I'm paying a flat fee every month.

 

[jberks]

I have always believed that if you want to keep the car in good nick the engine oil should be changed every 12 months regardless of mileage.

depends on usage. Its not a bad idea but with modern oils it isn't as important as it used to be. Its not a bad thing though, especially at very low mileages where moisture will have got into the system and not been boiled off.
For motorway cars I reckon it's less critical as the oil spends its time in the optimum environment.

The fact remains though, that unless they write to you, you would be perfectly entitled to be guided by assyst and if they want it to run on an annual basis, they would need to reprogram the assyst system.
I suspect its another instance of the accountants making a decision without consulting the engineers and legally I'd suspect they're on very shaky ground if they tried to invalidate a warranty on that basis.

 

[Rory]

I thought that ASSYST in newer cars was changed so you still are advised correctly when to service, i.e. service interval will show as 15,000 but if one did less than that in the 12months the idicator would change to time remaining.

That's certainly what happens on the older cars - mine just ran to 2 yrs and bang on cue the display switched from miles to days and counted down towards the 2yr anniversary of its previous service.

(Before anybody moans, it's on ServicePlus and they will only service it when ASSYST requests it. I don't care, I've no intention of keeping the car beyond the ServicePlus cover expiry date).

Surely to goodness the cars on fixed interval servicing *must* do the same, at 12mths??

 

[littlebrooklyn]

Well we got our car back and what is odd now is that it's saying it's due for a B Service in 9,600 miles which is surely not right

 

[colechelle]

should say b service in13000, somebody has just reset it thro dash and not the star machine!!!

 

[littlebrooklyn]

should say b service in13000, somebody has just reset it thro dash and not the star machine!!!

Oh well another visit to the dealership I guess

I have to say we have not been at all impressed by our local dealership, which is why we made a point of not buying our car there.

 

[Alex M Grieve]

Having "fought the good fight" on the subject of ASSYST intervals v time/mileage, and failed to get any movement (or rational response) from MB, I got the A service done by my friendly MB Independent Specialist. The ASSYST would now like a B Service in 16,600 miles (it is now 400 miles since the service). I don't doubt that our C 220 CDI estate will do rather less than that in the next year and will be recalled by the ASSYST at the first anniversary of this service.
Interesting to note that in the current edition of Mercedes Benz Owner there are 5 full page adverts by franchised dealers for servicing .
I am sure that annual servicing, in addition to making the ASSYST system redundant, is a commercial rather than an engineering decision. It is clear that the franchised dealers are keen to get as much volume of servicing work as they can (hence all the advertising). I think it is equally plain that the Indys are winning the business on service, quality and price.

 

[hawk20]

I don't think there are any rules. Probably annual is fine but if you waited for 14k you'd also be fine. That said, if the dealer has agreed to pay, I'd tell them to do it irrespective of whether they think its due or not. They the worst you have done is service it earlier than needed.

I had similar with Audi. I took the car in when the indicator said a service was due (only 7k but 18 months) and was told that as it hadn't been serviced within 12 months, the warranty was invalidated. A stern conversation later and they re-instated the warranty. If they fit an indicator and you follow it, they can't argue that you didn't do as required. If they have requirements and don't build them into the indicator, thats their look out. After all, clocks and calendars were fitted to BM* service indicators forever. My mums 3 series used to keep 4 green lights on for 18 months (3k pa) and then flick over to red once the 18 months were up and that was in 1986. So it's hardly a cutting edge requirement.

So, as far as I can see, whichever you do you'd be ok.

Dangerous advice. Jberks you have few greater fans than me for your many thoughtful and helpful postings -but this one is just not correct. If you do not have a Mercedes serviced when it tells you to, then your 3 year warranty will be null and void.

Of course, once out of warranty is a different matter.

 

[hawk20]

Having "fought the good fight" on the subject of ASSYST intervals v time/mileage, and failed to get any movement (or rational response) from MB, I got the A service done by my friendly MB Independent Specialist. The ASSYST would now like a B Service in 16,600 miles (it is now 400 miles since the service). I don't doubt that our C 220 CDI estate will do rather less than that in the next year and will be recalled by the ASSYST at the first anniversary of this service.
Interesting to note that in the current edition of Mercedes Benz Owner there are 5 full page adverts by franchised dealers for servicing .
I am sure that annual servicing, in addition to making the ASSYST system redundant, is a commercial rather than an engineering decision. It is clear that the franchised dealers are keen to get as much volume of servicing work as they can (hence all the advertising). I think it is equally plain that the Indys are winning the business on service, quality and price.

Sorry but this is not correct. ASSYST is not made redundant by annual servicing. Some drivers do large mileages -as I have most of my life. And they can do 15-18k miles between services especially on a diesel using synthetic oil.

You should IMO use an MB dealer at least for the first few years because MB regularly issue updates and improvements to dealers (as well as recalls) and many of these are important. Colechelle who is an MB technician has posted elsewhere that updates are often still being done on cars as much as 6 years old. And as I have argued on other threads, servicing is the small change of motoring. Unless you are a low mileage owner, it costs only a few pence per mile -especially if you supply your own synthetic oil which they allow you to do.

 

[hawk20]

Well we got our car back and what is odd now is that it's saying it's due for a B Service in 9,600 miles which is surely not right

See this thread http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=37644
Important info for all owners.

 

[Alex M Grieve]

Sorry but this is not correct. ASSYST is not made redundant by annual servicing. Some drivers do large mileages -as I have most of my life. And they can do 15-18k miles between services especially on a diesel using synthetic oil.

Thanks hawk. My thesis has always been for low mileage cars, as I believe that is where the excessively zealous servicing is now required. I have consistently argued a sensible service interval of up to 2 years (as ASSYST required until recently) or 15-17,000 miles, so we are not at odds there.

As for the difference between Indies and Franchised Dealers, I can only speak from my own experience. I bought a W 202 from a franchised dealer in 2002. When it ASSYST asked for an A service 2 years later (12,000) miles, I submitted the car to them for the work. All was well until the following week they rang me to say that they did not realise the car had not been seen for 2 years and asked to have it back for a further day to change coolant, brake fluid, etc.

The recent service on my C 220 CDI (W 203) was done by an Indy and included the item of extra work which the Franchised dealer mentioned when I asked them to quote a price (adjustment of foot parking brake), so I believe from that, and other discussions with them, that they keep themselves up to date on current recommendations and act accordingly. For the rest, the car was collected, serviced and delivered back cleaned. The outstanding difference was in price, around 50% of the dealers "special offer", which included changing a cracked driving lamp lens (the franchised dealer proposed replacing the lamp).

 

[Rory]

Dangerous advice. Jberks you have few greater fans than me for your many thoughtful and helpful postings -but this one is just not correct. If you do not have a Mercedes serviced when it tells you to, then your 3 year warranty will be null and void.

Of course, once out of warranty is a different matter.

No - his advice *must* be correct. Lyn's car was calling for a service in 14,000 miles. As long as ASSYST's messages are followed then there cannot possibly be a problem with warranty.
No harm will befall the car - the servicing interval has only been reduced to 12mths to increase work for the dealers.