2018 E Class service and Leases implications

[salam0506]

Hey all,

First time leasing a new car and I have only done just over 2k miles in a year. I bought the car in April and the service light came up then but since my wife drives it mostly i have sort of ignored it as the mileage was so low. So now the service is overdue but 120 days. Does anyone know if this will cause a problem with a Mercedes Benz lease? I have read my lease documents and it seems that it states to service the vehicle in the recommended service interval and recommends to use a Mercedes service shop. Obviously I would prefer to avoid that as it will cost so much but the lease document doesn't explicitly say if I can or cannot and what the implications would be if I didn't.

Also will the service being so late give them a reason to charge me when the lease is up?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

[gizlaroc]

It is due for a service every 12,000 miles or 12 months.

You have agreed to that, of course they will sting you if you don't get it done.

Also, the big two year service will be due, I would take it in now for an oil service, the next service will not be due then until 12 months from now, 3 months after you hand it back.

[Ian-27xza]

The service schedule for a 2018 E-Class is 15,500 miles or 12 months, which ever is the sooner.

I'd be surprised is the lease company doesn't mandate a Mercedes approved workshop for servicing - mine does.

I've had mine almost a year now and exactly 30 days before the annual service is due, the dashboard told me I had 30 days to get this organised.

[Sheepshanks]

Ian-27xza said:

The service schedule for a 2018 E-Class is 15,500 miles or 12 months, which ever is the sooner.

For clarity, MB service interval have been like that for 10 years (since they dropped variable servicing).

Ian-27xza said:

I'd be surprised is the lease company doesn't mandate a Mercedes approved workshop for servicing - mine does.

Me too, as the OP seems to suggest it's MB Finance. Other lease companies often allow servicing anywhere.

Ian-27xza said:

I've had mine almost a year now and exactly 30 days before the annual service is due, the dashboard told me I had 30 days to get this organised.

If you want collection and delivery or a courtesy car, that may not be enough time, especially in the SE.

[salam0506]

Thanks guys,

I intend to get it done just wasn't sure how they will penalize me for doing the service a few months late and how much the penalty could be.

Re-read the documentation and it states - "A full service history is required. The vehicle must be serviced and maintained in accordance with the manufacturer's published service intervals within the Approved Workshop network." - So I am guessing that means I have to use a Mercedes garage?

[Sheepshanks]

salam0506 said:

Thanks guys,

I intend to get it done just wasn't sure how they will penalize me for doing the service a few months late and how much the penalty could be.

Re-read the documentation and it states - "A full service history is required. The vehicle must be serviced and maintained in accordance with the manufacturer's published service intervals within the Approved Workshop network." - So I am guessing that means I have to use a Mercedes garage?

There used to be quite a lot of Mercedes Authorised repairers - basically they were the old dealers that Mercedes canned about 15yrs ago when the re-organised the network - but there are very few left now. Not sure if the map link will work, but places like Regent Garage in Criccieth, North Wales: https://www.mercedes-benz.co.uk//passengercars/mer...

IIRC the charge for a missing service is considerable. But you may be hit with it anyway if it's late. So don't know what to advise.

[salam0506]

Thanks for the info - any idea what is considerable?

[Ian-27xza]

Thanks Sheepshanks - I'd already booked the car in before the prompt on the display.

Whilst I am an MBZ fan, I was a bit surprised at MBZ charging £50 for a courtesy car and even more surprised that if you want to sit and wait for your service to be done, they'll charge you an additional £20.....

I pointed out to the Service Manager that their pricing model kinda cheapens the brand and makes it look a bit low brow - he agreed and shrugged....

[Sheepshanks]

Ian-27xza said:

Thanks Sheepshanks - I'd already booked the car in before the prompt on the display.

Whilst I am an MBZ fan, I was a bit surprised at MBZ charging £50 for a courtesy car and even more surprised that if you want to sit and wait for your service to be done, they'll charge you an additional £20.....

I pointed out to the Service Manager that their pricing model kinda cheapens the brand and makes it look a bit low brow - he agreed and shrugged....

It's completely within the Service Managers control, although he may be being directed by people above him in the dealer group.

If you use MyService https://www.mymercedesservice.co.uk and compare different dealers the pricing can vary, but often dealers near each other may be owned by the same group anyway. Mercedes wants everyone on the ServiceCare plan and the insane pricing on MyService is largely about making ServiceCare look like it’s a no-brainer.

I switched to using an indie on my Merc after 12 years of using the dealer – I used to be able to negotiate pricing with them and I was never charged for a courtesy car. But it became impossible to get hold of anyone to negotiate with and when I did they just referred me to MyService.

[Monkeylegend]

You have probably invalidated your warranty unless Mercedes are feeling very conciliatory in the event of any warranty issues.

[Ian-27xza]

Just an update on servicing options.

With regards to the £20 fee for waiting for your car to be serviced, this is only charged for a service that has a specific time slot, typically 90 minutes.

If the car isn't booked in for a specific time slot then customers are free to wait around (foc) as long as they wish - although that could be quite a long wait and a lot of coffees!

So, £20 for a dedicated time slot, IMO, is pretty good.

[salam0506]

Hi all.

For anyone that was wondering about the service interval and lease implications I emailed the mercedes lease customer service and this was the reply:

"I can confirm you are able to go to an alternative (reputable) garage for service. However, you will need to keep a full written service history as alternate garages do not have access to our systems. Also, the vehicle will need to be returned with this history or will be charged.

Please note the risks of using a non MB garage is that work not up to our Return Standards and the work will need to be carried out again. This will result in you being charged for the work and this can happen even if the service history provided.

If you went to a Mercedes Benz Retailer, then any issues experienced with the repairs cannot be re-charged to yourself.

I would advise getting the service done as soon as possible, however we do not have a specific time frame as long as the service is carried out fairly soon. "

[Dog Star]

I lease Mercs (on my 5th) and can confirm that they come back nowadays with the service indicators set at 365 days.

You are allowed to overrun (this is from MBFS) by up to 30 days. What I do is leave it a couple of weeks past the service date, this leaves you plenty of contingency for giving the car back. You can also give the car back with the service overdue by up to 30 days anyway, so this shouldn't be an issue.

If you are on a two year lease (I always do two years, 15000 mile per year leases) this means that you only need to do a basic A service (at around £250) every two years. That's £125 a year in servicing costs. Is anyone really that tight fisted that they'll take the car to an indie to save a few quid from that kind of sum? Would you take your own, personally owned one year old Mercedes to an indie? I wouldn't.

[salam0506]

I paid approx £360 for my E class service the other week, £200 seems a bit cheap? Where did you manage to get that?

[Dog Star]

salam0506 said:

I paid approx £360 for my E class service the other week, £200 seems a bit cheap? Where did you manage to get that?

Leeds. £260

Hull is even less.

(I actually paid £205 as that was what I was quoted on the phone)

[page3]

Is someone able to clarify this for me please. If I understand it correctly, if I'm on a three year lease I could delay my first service by a couple of weeks and again my second service by a couple, giving me plenty of time to return the car after three years only having done two services? This *should* make their service plan unnecessary as paying for each service should be cheaper?

Or am I better off simply doing the £28/month plan and stop overthinking this?

[Dog Star]

page3 said:

Is someone able to clarify this for me please. If I understand it correctly, if I'm on a three year lease I could delay my first service by a couple of weeks and again my second service by a couple, giving me plenty of time to return the car after three years only having done two services? This *should* make their service plan unnecessary as paying for each service should be cheaper?

Or am I better off simply doing the £28/month plan and stop overthinking this?

That's what I would do; however 28/month x 36 (it would actually be more than this, but I don't know what your initial payment is) is 1008. Assuming an A + B service would be about 750 then you'd be quids in to omit the third service. Does that include tyres?

[page3]

Dog Star said:

That's what I would do; however 28/month x 36 (it would actually be more than this, but I don't know what your initial payment is) is 1008. Assuming an A + B service would be about 750 then you'd be quids in to omit the third service. Does that include tyres?

Thanks.

Lease does not include servicing or tyres. The £28/month is a deal from Mercedes for the new A-Class service plan.

As I've not had a Merc before I was trying to work out if it's a good deal or not. I suspect it is if I need three services, but not if I can get away with only two - which is what I've done with the lease I'm on now (admittedly on flexible plan of 18,000 or 2 years)