Perhaps the below text from MB site is old and not valid anymore. It was published on Sep. 3 2014 and I cannot find anything newer to explain differently. This page with info is at


http://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/servic...id_maintenance


It appears that there are two different maintenance options. One for new cars called "Mercedes-Benz Premier Prepaid Maintenance" and the one for cars that don't qualify for the premier maintenance plan is called "Mercedes-Benz Star Prepaid Maintenance".


The premier service must be purchased before the first service is done.


The star maintenance must be purchased before 80 000 miles.





Mercedes-Benz Prepaid Maintenance


Why prepaid maintenance?

It's the smart, convenient way to prepay for all your vehicle's forthcoming scheduled maintenance services. Mercedes-Benz Prepaid Maintenance allows you to "lock in" the costs for "required" services before your first service visit or 10,000 miles, whichever comes first.


Benefits of prepaid maintenance

With prepaid maintenance, all your vehicle's needs are already paid for thousands of miles ahead, and for months in advance.* Prepaid maintenance benefits include:

• Potential increase in residual value if purchased with lease
• Potential increase in resale value (since you're able to prove you're properly maintaining your vehicle according to manufacturer's recommendations)
• The peace of mind of having paid for maintenance in advance
• Mercedes-Benz trained technicians using Genuine Mercedes-Benz Parts

Furthermore, prepaid maintenance follows wherever you travel. So if you require service while you're on the road — or should you ever choose to relocate — your plan gets honored in full at any authorized, participating Mercedes-Benz Dealer.


Choose the right payment option for you

By opting for a prepaid maintenance plan when you purchase your Mercedes-Benz, you can build its cost into your monthly vehicle payment, or you can opt to pay the full cost upfront. You can purchase your plan any time before your first service visit or before 10,000 miles - whichever comes first.
There are three different prepaid maintenance plans you can select from, each customized to your preference. You can choose a prepaid maintenance plan that covers your service needs for 2, 3, or 4 years, and up to 40,000 total vehicle miles.






Mercedes-Benz Star Prepaid Maintenance
The benefits of Star Prepaid Maintenance

Mercedes-Benz Prepaid Maintenance is a smart, convenient way to ensure your vehicle's maintenance needs are taken care of in a timely fashion. It covers required maintenance at your vehicle's specified maintenance intervals. All maintenance services must be performed in consecutive order.

 

Yes this service is smart, for Mercedes. You're paying years in advance thousand of dollars per consumer for a oil change. I get that many on here have no issue with this and can easily offered it. My issue and why I opt out was simple cost for service didn't make sense to me. I can save $20 a month and do the same thing myself. I don't need MB to hold my money for me for a oil change, lol. The estimated time frame and cost for scheduled maintenance is 2 service in 30,000 miles. I was quote $1185 full A&B service. Now the salesman had told me it would cost a $165/$225 for that service? Obviously, if I had paid $1185, it's a $795 lost to me. I was finally offered a $585 for only the basic plan and his "best deal" and basically called a fool because I declined it. Which really sealed the deal for me not to get it. It is really an individual thing to purchase the service or not to.