02Impressor

I am leasing my second Mercedes-Benz and am overall happy with the quality of the vehicles and the kindness of the dealership reps but yesterday I went in for Service B and all of a sudden an agent tells me he'll have to charge me for it. He told me MB no longer offers free Service maintenance. I just basically wanted an oil change and he said it'll cost $110.00. WTF?? That's robbery... I think that'll hurt their maintenance reputation.

hotwiredbenz

yup they discontinued free maintenance...i think it ended in the 04 or 05 models. luckily mines an 03 :p

csumt76

Free maintenance? I'm looking for a free teeth cleaning and x rays? Where can I go?

Just messing around. i'm wondering what is going to happen when my car is due.. at least to have the proper services documented for the car.

jimbo1mcm

If you don't have the facilities to do your own oil change, you will have to pay. At the current rates, when you figure about $6 a quart for about 8 quarts=$48, plus about $18 for the filter( make sure they change it), plus about 1/2 hour labor, and tax, you will get around the $110 mark. If you do it yourself, it will be less than half that.

BudC

The so-called free maintenance ended beginning with the 2005 model year.

BTW, those of us that have free maintenance can now get an oil change at 10,000 miles or one year, which ever comes first. My SA told me about it and I've already had it done once at the 1 year mark despite only have 8K on the clock.

If you want FULL free maintenance including wear items such as brakes and wiper blades, get yourself a BMW. It's good for 4 years and 50,000 miles.

I should add that you will probably be paying for it in the price of the BMW. There is no free lunch.

ima55r2

These rates are good for an independent garage or a gas station with service. Take it to the dealer and expect to pay 3x.

klenbore

My dealer also changed the oil/filter in my '04 at 7500 miles and 8 months, no questions asked.

konigstiger

Actually it’s every 13000 or one year for oil changes, 10000 applies to V12 & AMG models.

BTW, mbusa.com states between 1000 & 3000 miles for the new vehicle Service Welcome when, in fact, it has been changed to between 1000 & 5000 miles (i.e.: fluid levels, software upgrades, alignment (if requested), wheel & tire inspection, etc.) I just had the CLS in for this no cost service all was fine but upon wheel/tire inspection they found that two tires needed to be replaced after road force / force matching balance was performed (I specifically requested this enhanced balancing within the parameters of the inspection).

BudC

I got a note from my SA telling me I could get an oil change at one year or 10K, whichever came first. He's as confused as I am.

Anyway, thanks.

Flash Gordon

Since yours is a leased one and MB stopped the free stuff, I would suggest you to change the oil once a year. That's MB does to mine since I drive about 8K a year. Also if you change oil other than the dealer, make sure keep the receipt for warranty service in the future.

02Impressor

Are there any specifics I should know about... like type of oil?
I have 2006 E350 (7,000 miles).

BudC

0W-40 Mobil 1 and a fleece filter. You can get the oil at places like Autozone and there are many sources for the filter on the Internet.

Barry45RPM

Well, its not really free. The dealer DOES get paid for it by MBUSA... Sort of like going for a teeth cleaning & presenting your dental insurance card... which, of course, you or SOMEONE is paying for, sort of like a paying something over the lowest possible sales price of the car.

All in all, it was a price increase to us for those cars that were '05s or later .

jameson75

although they discontinued the free maintenance in 2005, they also discontinued the gas guzzler tax for 2005 models. So its an even match, gas guzzler tax was like 1000 bucks, if you add up all the yearly maintenance that is covered for the 4 years in the pre-2005 models it works out to be almost the same.