Service B - 20,000 Mile or 2YR - E300 Owner's Impression
 

I've been a customer at Mercedes Benz of Beverly Hills for a while now and my company has a fleet of their vehicles.The service here is a solid 4.5 out of 5 stars, marred only by excessive waiting times for one or two bad experiences. The facilities are clean, the staff here are efficient, and there are nice amenities for you to enjoy like coffee, tea, and other snacks. Although, I must note that the snack bar seems to deplete by the end of the day and they don't seem to offer you complimentary fruits or cookies anymore. Needless to say, they'll help you if you ask otherwise they will let you enjoy your privacy.

I took in the 2017 Mercedes Benz E300 into Service-A last year and it was just a fundamental maintenance. Drove in the morning, took it back in the evening and went home. Cost was around $400 which included wheel rotation and alignment. A year later, today, I am going to pickup the E300 from my scheduled Service -B with 18,000 miles on the odometer. No mechanical systems are removed or replaced in this service, rather (including electrical systems) they are inspected. They only thing I know of that they will replace are your cabin filter and engine oil+filter.

I like to drive enjoy the E300 on the road, moderate on the breaks and heavy on the acceleration at times. I expected at this service interval, the brake pads would need to be replaced along with the rotors because there has been a lot of squeeling coming from the brakes. I thought that was an indication of worn pads/warped rotors or both but my service adviser called me and said I had around 7mm left on the pads and that's very competent. I was happy to hear that the car could last another year of driving on the original pads and brake rotors before I needed a replacement, if i'm willing to put up with the sound. Admit-ably, I've hand-washed the car about a dozen times and I've regretted used degreaser on the wheels ONCE to wash off brake dust. DON"T do this unless you want to remove the protective coating on your rotors.

note; There was a recall on this make and model and here is the website to check for this as well as similar models:
https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/owners...od_ids=2157710

20,000 Mile
Minimum $400.50

• ***FLEX B SERVICE***
• Replace engine oil and filter
• Replace cabin dust filter
• Rotate tires (where applicable)
• Check horn
• Clean visible area of water deflector
• Inspect drive shaft flex discs
• Inspect tires for damage and measure remaining tread life
• Check and correct all tires pressures including spare
• Check and correct brake fluid level
• Check and record thickness of brake pads front & rear
• Check battery condition and provide print out
• Check headlamp settings correct if necessary
• Check interior/exterior lighting
• Check safety catch and hinges on hood for proper operation
• Check warning and indicator lamps
• Check windshield washer system for proper operation
• Inspect all steering components for signs of wear
• Inspect condition of poly v belt
• Inspect front & rear axle ball joints for play and wear
• Reset Maintenance service indicator in instrument cluster

+ Add; Wheel Alignment (Cost $300 if Distronic system equipped)

Total Cost is $___TBD

2017 E300 Sedan
Selenite Grey
Premium 3
Sports Package
Digital Instrument Cluster
+ Extended Warranty and DuPont Interior/Exterior

Again just my $.02 based on ownership and also working in several garages:

Wheel alignment: Unless you have uneven tire wear, or drifting or pulling, there is no reason to do an alignment. The alignment from the factory is about as good as it gets. I have personally seen cars perfectly aligned, have an alignment done wrong and then had to have the alignment done again!

As the old saying goes: "if it ain't broke don't fix it"

I believe the A Service is basically, oil change and filter, change wiper blades and a bunch of inspections. It is always a question of whether or not the inspections are actually done. Sometimes it is a shelf job: change the oil and filter and park the car over there under the shelf and then in 2 hours deliver it to the customer.

When I took my car in for the A service it took less than 2 hours.

The B service (20,000 miles) is the same with the addition of changing the air filters.

Like the A service I waited for the service and it took less than 2 hours.

At both services, and each time you bring your Mercedes in for service, your VIN is checked to see if there any recalls or updates.

I lease and put the 2 year/20,000 mile prepaid service, $890, into the lease. The cost of the service is residualized, so I only pay 41%, $365 for the both the 10,000 and 20,000 miles service (the residual on 10K, 36 months is 59%, hence I only 41% of the cost).

If I had to pay out of my pocket, instead of Service A, I would just tell them to change the oil and filter, which should cost less than $100 and for service B, oil, filter and air filter and rotate tires, which should be less than $200. If my wiper blades needed changing, I would have them do it as well.

While the dealer is doing the oil change, if they see anything wrong, they will fix it, as the dealer gets paid by Mercedes for doing work under warranty.

Other than that, there is no other service required until 30,000 miles.

Hope this helps in making up your mind as to what to do.

wow never knew that was possible, are you sure the maintenance gets residualized? i do know options (wheels,spoiler,etc) would be residualized, but figured maintenance is more like tax and fees.. like you pay the full amount?
Sure you can roll it into the payment, but i doubt it means you are only paying 41% of it. Because I do know there is a cost that they pay for the service and of course anything above it would be their profit.

But if you are correct, than this is definitely good to know! Considering a standard oil change anywhere would be around $90.00 anyways.

Absolutely the prepaid service is put into the lease and residualized - at least that is what I was told.

But since you mentioned it, I will double check!

If it is not residualized, I will delete it from my order..

Thanks JHPMGUSA!

Dealer just contacted me:

With prepaid 2Year/20,000 mile monthly payment is $899.

Without prepaid the payment is $881, difference of $18 a month which includes interest and NY Sales tax, total $648 vs. $890 for the pre-paid service.

So it is residualized - but maybe not enough!

If I back out the interest 4.56%, NY sales tax 8.65% and round up to 15% and deduct from the $648, I come up with $550.00


I may just be better off paying for the A and B service out of pocket!

Correction:

Dealer made a mistake: the cost of $18 a month was based on 3 years/30,000 pre-paid maintenance of $1,175.

I am getting 2 year/20,000 mile, $890.

The cost on 2 year/20,000 miles, is $14.35 a month, total of $516 vs. $890, savings of $374: So YES the pre-paid maintenance is residualized.

I will keep the pre-paid maintenance in my lease. Peace of mind is worth it - at least to me!

haha good to know i helped you correct them and saved you a few bucks!

so 516 is 57% of 890. I wonder if that is just a discount instead of being residualized like the actual lease?

Here is link to an auto lease calculator that I use; https://www.leaseguide.com/calc/

If you put in $890, residual of 59%, 36 months, interest (MF .00194) of 4.6% and NY Sales tax of 8.625% it comes to just over $14 per month.

So no it is not a discounted price. The $890 has been residualized.

I guess I could ask the dealer to discount the $890, but I am happy with my deal of $899.

Same thing my dealer told me: definitely residualized.

Very glad to hear their service is good because that's where I'll take my E 450 for maintenance, even though I'm leasing it from Mercedes of Long Beach - an hour away. I visited Beverly Hills Mercedes three times, and did a test drive there. Told the salesman from the outset that I'd be shopping aggressively. He said no worries, they would compete. Long Beach gave me the Costco price and will also take the USAA certificate. The Long beach salesman has been responsive and transparent throughout. The BH guy, who I liked a lot, has never answered an email. When I told him the Costco price, he promised to get back to me next day. Never heard a peep from him. I would have thought at minimum he'd take ten seconds to say "we can't beat it" or some version of that. But nada. Zero effort to make me a customer.

What is this, a ad from BH service?!?!?! Every time Ive taken my car there, its been physically damaged 95% of the time I find something wrong with it. If you dont believe me, I have all my service records and can post them up. If you get your car towed there, they wont even offer you a loaner car, you have to fight them about it even though it was an emergency. Such bad service leaving such a bad taste in your mouth.
If you take your car in for the door hinges, it will be done half assed and returned to you. They will claim it was like this, then they send it to a body shop to correct there mistake. Be careful when you get your car back. check it all over for damages or mistakes.
The oil change is $100 else where and rotations are not needed unless your car pulls to the right or left. Dont get robbed.

Where do you recommend for service? I don't want to drive to Long Beach for that. Have you found a reliable MB service dealer? I keep seeing bad reviews for so many around L.A.. But maybe it's because unhappy customers are more likely to vent online.

All you are going to do at 10,000 miles is oil and filter.

Any dealer can do that!

See how the dealer handles that and go from there.

I go to my local dealer for service and bought the car elsewhere. The service department treats me 100%.

Personally, I would not give this another thought.

My dealer doesn't provide free loaners to customers who did not purchase the car from them. That by itself is worth a lot of $$$.

As I posted, service at both 10K and 20K took less than 2 hours and that included a car wash and interior vacuuming


So, no need for a loaner!

However, on a warranty item (seat material had separated) I was given choice of loaner, (E400 Coupe or E300 Sedan) even though I bought the car from another dealer.

I took the E300 and after spending a day and over 100 miles in the loaner, decided right then and there, on the E450!

Been a customer for 19 years so far, it really depends on who your service advisor is. The older ones do not care as they know how to play you and have been there for a long time. The younger ones are looking to get ahead and get good reviews on the mbz surveys. Majority of service centers in LA area are bad because they have so many customers they do not care at all for loyalty. The bigger ones tend to be better, but then again they are in it to make money off of you. Find a good service advisor and that will make your day and night difference.you can always take you car in for a small warranty issue and see how they handle it. How much they bs you that it doesn't exist and or accept the fault and correct it.

Just FYI:

My local dealer has the A service special for $199. This is basically oil+filter plus inspections.

He also has $50 off for B service, which when I called was informed is about $400. The B service is the A service plus cabin air filter and changing of brake fluid.

In either event it would seem that the ppm at $890 does not seem to be efficient, unless you can put the ppm in your lease and have it residualized.

Follow up:


Just called the dealer where I am getting my car.

Service A is $350 and Service B is $700 - B service is double the cost of A service. . We then went to the web site of my local dealer and he was shocked: A service $200, B service $400 - again B service was double the cost of A service.

He was shocked!

So even in service there can be great difference in pricing.

Caveat Emptor

I just had the 10,000 mile A service. The service advisor advised me to hold off and use the prepaid for the 40,000 mile service as that is the most expensive .

Two or actually three questions:

• What was your cost for the A Service?
• I thought the ppm max was 30,000 miles/3 years.
• What is the cost of the 40,000 mile ppm?

Thanks.

Go build and E class and you can see you can purchase 4 year 40,000 PPM. I purchase PPM+ from my dealer and it's a bit more expensive, but includes wiper blades and brake pads as well.

You are correct! $1,545 40k/4 year. As I lease, never bothered to look beyond 30k/3 year.

But if you paid for the 4yr/40k, which includes the 1yr/10k, why not use it for the first 10k A service?

Does the ppm now cover wear items like brake pads? I thought it was only routine service. In other words if you have the 2yr/20,000 and your pads and/or rotors wear out at 18,000 miles, their replacement is covered?

No, not with the standard plan as priced in the MBUSA site. You CAN pay for a more comprehensive plan with your dealer which does cover the brake components. That's the plan I get and since I purchase, not lease, I get the 4 year 40K plan. Fortunately for me, I already paid for that plan, plus wheel and tire insurance. Since I've used not one cent of either plan on the soon to be traded E300, my dealer will just move the plans to my new E450.

I thought from the history of your ownership of Mercedes you traded the cars in regularly. Do you actually put 40,000 miles on your cars or just keep rolling the ppm from one car to the next?

My Hisotry, Eh??? LOL I actually usually keep a car 3 - 4 years and some I've kept longer. But yes, if I trade before the warranty is up, it just rolls into the next car.

And Ps: Please don't use this new information to try to convince me I should be leasing my cars. Not going to happen! :rolf:

One can purchase a 3 year plan after the first A service and get following service B-20k, A-30k and B-40k prepaid increments. The items on the 40k service are the same as the items on the 20k service.