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Old 2nd February 2013, 15:19   #1
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Mercedes India's optional service packages & 4th year warranty

Mercedes Benz India has launched the following service packages for its cars. The standard warranty is also of a 3 year period (unlimited mileage) for the C, E & S-Class. With STAR care plus, an additional 4th
year of warranty can now be purchased anytime before completion of the 3rd year of ownership.

STAR Ease comes in two packages:

BASIC:

- Covers periodic services, including engine oil, filters and consumables.

COMPREHENSIVE:

- STAR EASE Basic + wheel alignment, balancing, change of transmission oil, brake pads, brake discs and wiper blades.

R-S-A (Road Side Assistance):

- Roadside assistance is available throughout the country for emergencies & breakdowns.
- Pickup from the breakdown location, provision of standby vehicle, air travel, arrangement of accommodation, and legal as well as medical aid in case of an accident.
- RSA is standard for three years. Cost for an additional year is Rs. 3,499.

Mercedes India's optional service packages & 4th year warranty-merc_packages.jpg

Last edited by GTO : 3rd February 2013 at 13:42.
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Old 3rd February 2013, 13:43   #2
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Re: Mercedes India's optional service packages & 4th year warranty

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Indian Car Scene. Thanks for sharing!
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Old 4th April 2013, 07:31   #3
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Re: Mercedes India's optional service packages & 4th year warranty

This is great news for MB customers, especially the option of availing warranty for 4th year. The pre-paid service package has been around so I am not sure it is new.

They should offer longer periods for pre-paid service as the first 2-3 years are generally cheap to service and one does not benefit much by such covers.
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Old 4th April 2013, 10:04   #4
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Re: Mercedes India's optional service packages & 4th year warranty

Finally MB seems to have got a wakeup call.

A Must Take Option for all MB owners.

They should have given a 5th year extended pack option as well to not leave something more for BMW to offer and match it.
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Old 4th April 2013, 10:45   #5
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Re: Mercedes India's optional service packages & 4th year warranty

About time they did things the BMW way. This will help build the trust Mercedes lost with initial owners who have never looked back at the brand since the early 2000s. Given the experience I had in the past, I swore never to buy a MB but I think I will reconsider now if I were in the market to buy a luxury car purely because of these packages.

The comprehensive pack seems to be exactly as the BMW BSI Ultimate at a much better pricing. Is there anything that is missed out in comparison to BSI?

I wonder why the CBU sport car range like the SLS etc have been left out of this?

Audi needs to up its game and get comprehensive AMC packs across the range.
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Old 4th April 2013, 10:55   #6
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Re: Mercedes India's optional service packages & 4th year warranty

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sahil View Post
The comprehensive pack seems to be exactly as the BMW BSI Ultimate at a much better pricing. Is there anything that is missed out in comparison to BSI?
I notice two things. Firstly, labour doesn't seem to be covered (at least from Moral's post, it doesn't). Secondly, the prices are largely on par with the 3y/60k BSI packages. The 5y/100k BMW BSI packages are expensive, but for a good reason. It covers everything.
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Old 4th April 2013, 11:08   #7
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Re: Mercedes India's optional service packages & 4th year warranty

The above pricing excludes tax so the final price to paid will be a bit more than what is listed here.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sahil View Post
About time they did things the BMW way. This will help build the trust Mercedes lost with initial owners who have never looked back at the brand since the early 2000s. Given the experience I had in the past, I swore never to buy a MB but I think I will reconsider now if I were in the market to buy a luxury car purely because of these packages.

The comprehensive pack seems to be exactly as the BMW BSI Ultimate at a much better pricing. Is there anything that is missed out in comparison to BSI?

I wonder why the CBU sport car range like the SLS etc have been left out of this?

Audi needs to up its game and get comprehensive AMC packs across the range.
I use both BSI and "Star Ease" and this is what I could tell:

- BSI is provided by BMW itself. Valid across the dealer network.

- Star Ease is a contract I signed with the dealer so I am assuming it is only valid with the dealer (but Mercedes provides pricing, guidelines and terms & conditions) so it is blessed by Mercedes but offered by the dealer. Transferable to the next buyer but with the same dealership I guess.

- BSI excludes wheel alignment, car-washing, etc.

- Star Ease seems to be much more comprehensive (see attachment).

- BSI can be for 5 years. Extended warranty is included in BSI and can't be bought separately.

- Star Ease is only for 3 years and doesn't include any warranty benefits. Cheaper but it is not apples to apples comparison. Also first three years of ownership should be cheap in terms of servicing costs.

In general for these cars warranty is much more valuable than pre-paid service packages.

Quote:
Originally Posted by FlyingSpur View Post
I notice two things. Firstly, labour doesn't seem to be covered (at least from Moral's post, it doesn't). Secondly, the prices are largely on par with the 3y/60k BSI packages. The 5y/100k BMW BSI packages are expensive, but for a good reason. It covers everything.
From my experience, Star-ease is much better albeit for a shorter period. I got free labour, car pick-up/drop, car wash/vaccume, etc. Apart from wheel alignment, rotation, etc which are excluded in BSI.
Attached Files
File Type: pdf star-ease-comprehensive.pdf (235.1 KB, 591 views)

Last edited by androdev : 4th April 2013 at 11:36.
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Old 4th April 2013, 12:36   #8
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Re: Mercedes India's optional service packages & 4th year warranty

The problem still remains, atleast in India, that once outside this window (3 yrs, 5 yrs etc), one is pretty much at the mercy of the dealer/company and the exhorbitant charges and spare part prices.

Whereas in the developed world, one does find qualified mechanics outside (as from my own personal experience, even in US, you can't take a Merc/BMW to just any budget mechanic) to work on these cars, with ability and patience to read through the manuals (company service manuals or Haynes) and original spares are also available much cheaper through other channels. The problems do get cured and the cars usually return reliable post the repair from these channels too.

But in our corner of the world, we are not fortunate enough to be able to benefit from such facilities outside the authorised workshops. The workshops also know this and hence do not care about loosing business on exhorbitant charges or inefficient/ineffective repair.

Irony is that, some of these cars are built to last. But here, after 3-5 yrs normal upkeep becomes terrible. Its not likely to change soon.

So you pay a high price to start with, then after a few years you start loosening your wallet again. I am sure this is not how the company engineers designed them.
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Old 13th March 2015, 18:25   #9
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Re: Mercedes India's optional service packages & 4th year warranty

Hi guys, my parents recently purchased a ML250. The dealer is recommending that we purchase the 'Star Care' package. The 2 options are:

3 yrs / 60,000 kms - 2,29,021
4 yrs / 80,000 kms - 3,34,153

Can anyone tell me if it's worth going for it? Since package prices seem to have increased considerably from the 2013 prices mentioned in the chart above. Our normal usage is around 1000-1500 kms monthly. The estimated cost for a regular service checkup is around Rs.30-35k (to be done every 15k kms). Since the vehicle will be under warranty for the 1st 3 years, I don't know whether this is worth the cost. Any suggestions / advice would really be appreciated! Thanks in advance.
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Old 14th March 2015, 13:30   #10
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Re: Mercedes India's optional service packages & 4th year warranty

Quote:
Originally Posted by nandi View Post
Hi guys, my parents recently purchased a ML250. The dealer is recommending that we purchase the 'Star Care' package. The 2 options are:

3 yrs / 60,000 kms - 2,29,021
4 yrs / 80,000 kms - 3,34,153

Can anyone tell me if it's worth going for it? Since package prices seem to have increased considerably from the 2013 prices mentioned in the chart above. Our normal usage is around 1000-1500 kms monthly. The estimated cost for a regular service checkup is around Rs.30-35k (to be done every 15k kms). Since the vehicle will be under warranty for the 1st 3 years, I don't know whether this is worth the cost. Any suggestions / advice would really be appreciated! Thanks in advance.
My advise definitely go for the 4 years Star care package. It will definitely be worth it for your driving usage. Once the warranty period is over the maintenance bills will be super expensive.

Also I believe the quote of 35,000 is only for the regular service like oil and filter changes. For things like brake pads and discs , the cost would be simply huge which will all be covered free of cost under the star care package.
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Old 14th March 2015, 14:31   #11
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Re: Mercedes India's optional service packages & 4th year warranty

Quote:
Originally Posted by nandi View Post
Hi guys, my parents recently purchased a ML250. The dealer is recommending that we purchase the 'Star Care' package. The 2 options are:

3 yrs / 60,000 kms - 2,29,021
4 yrs / 80,000 kms - 3,34,153

Can anyone tell me if it's worth going for it? Since package prices seem to have increased considerably from the 2013 prices mentioned in the chart above. Our normal usage is around 1000-1500 kms monthly. The estimated cost for a regular service checkup is around Rs.30-35k (to be done every 15k kms). Since the vehicle will be under warranty for the 1st 3 years, I don't know whether this is worth the cost. Any suggestions / advice would really be appreciated! Thanks in advance.
Attached is the latest pricelist of the Star Ease and Care Plus packs. Rate from the Mumbai dealer show that the Star Ease rates given to you are little lower, approx Rs.3000 in both 3 and 4 year packs. The 4th year extended warranty is priced at 66k which is necessary IMO given MB's erratic reliability. However, their extended warranties are steep, almost double of what Audi charges.

Seems to be that dealers have a healthy margin in these service and warranty packs from MB. Whereas in the case of BMW, the dealers do not budge on the price as they claim the full amount is remitted to BMW via them. However, I am sure the dealer has a slim margin included. Since it seems pricing is different in different cities, MB dealers have a healthier margin so you should try and haggle on the same.
I am pretty sure this service contract is valid across India and not just linked to the dealership anymore as mentioned earlier in this thread.

The deciding factor to know if this is worthwhile for you will be to check with the dealership service center how much all 4 brake pads and 4 discs costs. I reckon you will go through two sets of these within the 4 years/80k.
So if you do decide to take this pack do it for 4 years as at 3yrs/60k you will be only half way through your second set of pads/discs and will have to pay for them the following year. In my experience brake pads and discs on german cars last approx 35-45k kms whereas in Japanese automatic cars they last 20-25k kms.
Attached Thumbnails
Mercedes India's optional service packages & 4th year warranty-fullsizerender.jpg.jpeg  


Last edited by Sahil : 14th March 2015 at 14:40.
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Old 15th March 2015, 17:31   #12
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Re: Mercedes India's optional service packages & 4th year warranty

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sahil View Post

So if you do decide to take this pack do it for 4 years as at 3yrs/60k you will be only half way through your second set of pads/discs and will have to pay for them the following year. In my experience brake pads and discs on german cars last approx 35-45k kms whereas in Japanese automatic cars they last 20-25k kms.

Thank you for attaching the list Sahil.

I am in the same ship as have booked a Mercedes & was contemplating the service & warranty durations.

Now, I am going ahead with 4 year one only.

The warranty & Star ease is from MBIL & is going to be valid across the nation at any dealer.
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Old 17th March 2015, 02:30   #13
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Re: Mercedes India's optional service packages & 4th year warranty

Thanks Sahil & Stanjohn123. I'll go for the 4 year package. I checked with MB and they quoted a price of ~ Rs.40k (+ taxes & labor) for a new set of brake pads.
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Old 17th March 2015, 12:42   #14
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Re: Mercedes India's optional service packages & 4th year warranty

Quote:
Originally Posted by nandi View Post
Thanks Sahil & Stanjohn123. I'll go for the 4 year package. I checked with MB and they quoted a price of ~ Rs.40k (+ taxes & labor) for a new set of brake pads.
Is that for pads only or including disks?It is almost mandatory with these cars to change both at the sametime.

Also, I have had my suspension changed under BSI/warranty. I am not sure if that is covered by MB under the star ease or star care. Given our road conditions you will probably need the suspension to be changed once by 80k kms to keep the car running smooth. Hence do check on this aspect as suspension is a major cost, much more exp than brakes+disc.
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Old 25th March 2015, 11:30   #15
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Re: Mercedes India's optional service packages & 4th year warranty

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sahil View Post
Is that for pads only or including disks?It is almost mandatory with these cars to change both at the sametime.

Also, I have had my suspension changed under BSI/warranty. I am not sure if that is covered by MB under the star ease or star care. Given our road conditions you will probably need the suspension to be changed once by 80k kms to keep the car running smooth. Hence do check on this aspect as suspension is a major cost, much more exp than brakes+disc.
That quote is for brake pads only. Brake discs cost Rs. 37k (incl taxes) for the front pair and Rs. 31k for the rear pair. I was told that brake discs last longer than the brake pads and it isn't necessary to change both discs + pads at the same time. Discs need to be changed only once every 50k kms or so.
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