Service Included

Working the purchase of a 2005 CDi and 2006 SLK 350 and just noticed that the service is no longer included in the 4 year/50,000. I have 57,000 on my SLK320 trade and that feature was very nice.

What caused Mercedes to discontinue this customer service function?

thanks

Probably because Mercedes has had a bunch of reliability and mechanical problems since 2001, and it cost them big $$ in warranty work. So like any good business they dropped the free stuff. Just my opinion, and not meant to slander, or libel Mercedes Benz USA or their dealers, but Mercedes are not high the the quality scale like they were. See JD Powers Surveys, However, they have taken many positive steps to correct these issues. So they are working out the problems they had and I am sure Mercedes will one day be the car to buy for reliability and looks. I have a 99 for almost 4 years and have had 3 minor warranty problems. It is probably one of the best cars I have owned and I would consider buying a new Benz is I could afford one at this time. Also my dealer service has been excellent!

C280 Wizard -- thanks for the response and I have read the articles and that is weighing in my mind as we try and walk through the decision process as we are looking to get my wife the SLK and I the CDi. I gather that the warranty portion of the 4/50 is the same and the charges for the service is all that changed.

Yes, the warranty remains the same it is the free service that was dropped. Is my understanding. If I eluded to the warranty being dropped then I was in error, as the free stuff is or was the service portion.