chilledbenz

MB rolled out four Star Service Pre-Paid Maintenance plans this week. The previous plan has been gone over on this board before and from what I can tell the general consensus is that its was a good deal if you didn't want to be doing the maintenance yourself. The catch was that many of us receive coupons for servicing on a regular basis, thus cutting into the savings the plan offered. At any rate here are the new plans offered - all based on the GLK350.

Pre-Paid Maintenance for 2 Years or 20,000 miles = $610

Pre-Paid Maintenance for 3 years or 30,000 miles = $769

Pre-Paid Maintenance for 4 years or 40,000 miles = $1,760

Pre-Paid Maintenance for 5 years or 50,000 miles = $1,942

I haven't compiled the numbers yet, but at a quick glance these new plans don't look like much of a savings, especially that 2 year plan. As mentioned above, I've been getting coupons for half off my service bill, so as of right now these plans don't interest me. But, if I stop getting those coupons, I do like the convenience these plans offer. Maybe someone out there can run some numbers and figure out what, if at all, the savings will be on these four plans.

(I posed the same question on the E class thread as well.)

i_am_amused

half off? I could go for a coupon like that right about now. Best I've seen is about 20%

chilledbenz

Yeah I got 50% off my total bill up to $500 for the past two years. Right now the fall special is $50 off any service over $250. So as long as they keep offering discounts, it makes these Pre-Paid options less and less attractive. But I do like the idea of having the servicings all taken care of and not having to fuss with paying for them each time.

gsrjc

I saw those plans when I was in service recently. The plans include detailing the car and some other little things that I would never let MB do on my car so I didn't go for it as I didn't think it was reasonable. Also, MB dropped the prices for Service A and B so that was good too.

NYCGLK

Does this include wear and tear items (blades, pads, rotors?) Seems that in year 4 we'll be taking a big hit with service wonder what's so expensive about it.

chilledbenz

No, this just covers what is in the A, B, C, ect. servicings. They are just making it more convenient for the customer by allowing them to pay up front and not have to worry about it later on. Heres whats covered, first link is to a web page, the second is a direct link to a .pdf.

http://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/servic...ts/maintenance

http://www.mbusa.com/vcm/MB/DigitalA...e_brochure.pdf

By the way, I mentioned it before, but I posed the same question on the E class board as well, because I'm putting out feelers for either a new E or GLK. You might want to check out that thread as well, there are some interesting conversations going on.

https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...intenance.html

NYCGLK

cool thanks. Anyways seems this pre paid service is not really worth it with service inscentives that dealers might have or it's about the same even without them. But if you are shopping for a car this is another place to negotiate, especially since BMW, VW, and Toyota are offering free maitanance for 2-4 years depending on the brand.

rmfnla

My concern is paying now for something 3, 4 or 5 years down the road.

Alot can happen in that much time and you might not even own the car by then!

MKenM

Never got a coupon or anything other than emails reminding me that service is due.

If the pricing is correct the 3 year package looks most favorable but it depends on the service to be done.

Pre-Paid Maintenance for 2 Years or 20,000 miles = $610 = $305 per service

Pre-Paid Maintenance for 3 years or 30,000 miles = $769 = $258 per service

Pre-Paid Maintenance for 4 years or 40,000 miles = $1,760 = $440 per service

Pre-Paid Maintenance for 5 years or 50,000 miles = $1,942 = $388 per service

If you don't do 10 K a year you loose.

On the 2 service package the oil changes are very expensive. For the 2nd service they replace the brake fluid and air filter. Doesn't sound like a bargain.

Now add the 3rd service which is nothing more than an oil change and what you have 3 very expensive oil changes with the replacements as mentioned.

In the 4th service they now throw in A/T fluid filter change and replace the brake fluid again.

5th and last service is just an oil change.

They do a lot of inspecting but in the end is 5 years of the above worth it? Especially if it's prepaid. They have use of your money for 5 YEARS.

gkhela

my glk250 is due for first service in 20 days
not sure how much the A service then B service would cost
does any member think it is better to buy the prepaid for $1749 for 4 year service prepaid is worth the price?
my average mileage is about 5000km for year

NYCGLK

I don' think it's worth it. I have always done service A. Service B just includes them taking wheels off to look at your brakes. I rotate my own tires, and there is not much to look at in the first 40-50k miles. Not sure if it is different on diesel, ask your dealer.

I do brake fluid every 3 years instead of every 2
Cabin filter every 2-3 years instead of 2 (did last one myself - pretty easy)
Did air filter myself at 40k (pretty easy and cheap-if you don't go K&N)
This time im going to do oil change myself - should be a breeze)
I will have dealer do the tranny flush as it's a PITA to do, based on detailed write ups (you need special tool to check level)

rmfnla

I just received a coupon in the mail from my dealer offering A or B service for $219.26 (+ tax & $3.95 hazardous waste fee).

Just in time for my B service, too...

MKenM

I just paid $170 for my "A" service. The most important thing to remember is if you do your own maintenance or someone else other than the dealer keep your receipts and document when and what services you perform. They might come in handy if you have a warranty issue and they ask you to prove that maintenance was carried out at proper intervals.

rmfnla

Excellent advice!

Benzcrazy23

I have an offer from a MB dealer on prepaid plans for my 2012 E350 Coupe:

2 year /20K $449.85
or
3year/30K $771.68

do you guys think the prices being offered to me are a good deal ?

MKenM

By prepaid plans I assume you mean "A" and "B" services. If that is the case you need to look at the mileage you put on the car. Those services are done at roughly 10K mile intervals. The "A" service can run about $150 to $200. "B" services run considerably more. You need to find out what is covered, look at the mileage you put on and do the math. For me it would not be worth it because I don't put the mileage on that I used to.

Benzcrazy23

yes Sir, you are correct ....I did mean A and B service.
and I also do not put more than 10K miles per year on my vehicles.

I will however ask the sales person at the dealer what exactly is included with the plan if I do get it.

I think she did mentioned that brake flush would be included with the 3yr/30K plan , but I will double check.

but if I understand you correctly, the services do come with time restrictions, meaning that is either mileage or months which ever comes first or they will expire .....sorry I am not sure if I understood what you meant correctly by the fact that you and I both do not put a lot of miles on our vehicles per year.

Thanks

MKenM

The A and B services are programmed into the vehicle. I am sure that you have seen it come up as a service reminder. If not then I assume you don't have 10K miles on your car or maybe you are not the first owner but in any case if lets say the indicator came on at 10K and you ignored it until lets say 15K but you had the oil changed and the non MB service center never reset the service reminder but at 15K you bought it into the dealer they did whatever that service was that was required the next 10K starts from that point. How many miles do you have now. I might be able to give you more insight at that point.

Benzcrazy23

I just bought my car , it has 19,800 miles and the dealer just preformed the B service. so my next service will be in a year or 10K miles from now, but I don't think I will put 10K miles in a year as I drive very little.

NYCGLK

It will still tell you do to service in a year. It goes by days or miles, whichever gets to the interval quicker. Of course you can always reset it and or change your own oil for 65 bux and not pay dealer 300 bux for it.

MKenM

Come on it is not $300 for the oil change. I've said this before if you are going to change your own oil you can do so but be sure to keep your receipts so you can prove that you did the recommended service for warranty purposes. For my money I'll let the dealer do it. For me it's only once a year and they will do a better job of inspecting the vehicle than I will. I probably wouldn't find that leaky transfer case if you know what I mean.

Sgooter

At M-Bz of Orlando, the A Service is $262.29; B Service is $477.07 out the door.

107123210

I asked my dealer about prepaid maintenance (in Canada) for our 2014 GLK250. It was over $1000 (perhaps something like C$1028?) for first three services. Because of low mileage we put on, that would be for first three services over 3 years. They said that price represented a 10% discount over normal cost. The third service included a fuel filter.

I think prepaid cost is a bit steep, but still haven't decided. I could do the services myself, but don't want to compromise the warranty. Thinking of topping up Adblue before taking car in so as to reduce cost. Any other things I could do ahead of time to keep service cost down?

Anyone have Canadian costs for standard A & B services? I do spend time in USA and could have service done down there.

brianhogg

We went for the 5-year prepaid package here in Ontario for $1999 + HST. They said it was about 30% off regular price and nice not to have to worry about it. We do a lot of driving (already at 13,000 kms since April).

Spoke to head of service before purchasing about the AdBlue and apparently it doesn't add a whole lot to the cost of the service if you top it up yourself. They measure out what is needed exactly from a pump they have and charge based on that. Of course having never had a Mercedes in the past I don't know what the standard charges would be nor what discounts they would offer.

fabbrisd1

Well... this was a real/old thread - resurrected for good reason.

1st thing to remember - Prepaid Maintenance is not transferable and is not refundable.

Now, on purcahsing a new GLK350 - and if you intend to own out past 40K miles - then MAXIMUM savings is to purcahse 30K prepaid pack AFTER your initial 10K service but BEFORE your 20K service.

A 30K pac when you buy new at 0 miles covers 10-20-30 which is A-B-A.

Same pack - same cost - purcahse after 10K and before 20K covers B-A-B and the 40K B service is actually a B++ cost if paid separately.

If considering prepaid maintenance on a CPO pre-owned Mercedes (or any Mercedes at all actually) - understand on earlier GLK's there is a Big/Big "hump" in cost at 40K due to tranny service - which under Prepaid WILL be covered - and in 13/14's this tranny service moves to 70K but many dealers try to sneak it over on you.

So - ALWAYS check cost of a Prepaid Service pack 20K/30K BEFORE you check in on a service "hump" - you can't change to prepaid maintenance if you have already opened a service ticket.

More food for thought to save more money !