Just like any other car, your Mercedes-Benz needs regular servicing. Unfortunately, it’s easy to let routine maintenance slip through the cracks.
Luckily for you, Mercedes-Benz has you covered. Service ASSYST is an on-board computer program that tracks important service milestones for you.
Whenever you cross a milestone (either time or distance, whichever comes first), your Mercedes-Benz will give you a heads-up.
In addition to telling you routine maintenance is needed, your Mercedes will also tell you which specific service package you need.
That’s pretty convenient!
As you’ve probably guessed from the title of this article however, it isn’t quite that simple in practice…
Mercedes-Benz milestones, explained
Mercedes-Benz Service ASSYST recommends service at specific milestones – here are some of the more important ones:
- 2 years/40,000km
- 3 years/50,000km
- 4 years/75,000km
- 5 years/125,000km
- 10 years/200,000km
- 15 years/250,000km
Depending on the type of Mercedes you drive, you might need a different service package at each milestone.
For example, a commercial Sprinter van may be under considerable more load than a luxury S Class that is driven infrequently.
Sounds great! you think to yourself. All I have to do is wait until my Mercedes hits one of these milestones and take it into the dealership. They’ll deal with whatever service it needs and I won’t have to worry about a thing.
Not quite. We explain why.
Mercedes-Benz milestones: guidelines that can’t always be followed
Official Mercedes service centres may take a hard line when it comes to service milestones: “If your car is X years old or has driven Y kilometres, it needs Z serviced, no questions asked.”
If you ask us however, that’s the wrong way to go about maintaining your Mercedes.
Simply put, you can’t just rely on these milestones alone to figure out what your Mercedes-Benz needs. There are a couple of reasons for this…
Many milestones are too optimistic
When Mercedes-Benz decided on a service schedule, most of the milestones and associated services we calculated based on the maximum time or distance, or in other words, ideal circumstances.
The problem is not everybody drives like a Mercedes engineer!
Many of these milestones are extremely optimistic, and from a vehicle sale point of view, having a car that requires less frequent maintenance, the better!
There are many reasons the schedule becomes ambiguous.
Perhaps the time and the distance travelled don’t match, the car gets a new owner, or you have driven in more extreme circumstances such as dusty conditions, dense traffic in high temperatures, or purchased fuel that has had a degree of contamination.
The reality is, any of the above mentioned items and more can contribute to a service requirement that does not match the schedule.
The reverse is also true; does a car that has travelled only a few thousand kilometres really require a new engine air filter element at three years, regardless of the distance travelled?
In many cases, an item such as this could still be in near new condition!
Service ASSYST supports what’s in the service book
One of the biggest draws of owning a Mercedes-Benz is Service ASSYST.
Your vehicle’s on-board computer tracks important milestones for you and will give you an alert when specific milestones have been reached, as well as what service you’ll need performed.
However, Service ASSYST is no replacement for a specialist Mercedes-Benz mechanic.
One common mistake people make is assuming that Service ASSYST also monitors the condition of individual parts in addition to tracking milestones.
This is flat-out wrong – in most cases, it operates like follows:
- Your vehicle crosses a time or distance milestone
- Service ASSYST consults the official milestones
- It determines what needs servicing
There are only a handful of critical components, parts and systems that Service ASSYST actively monitors. In all other cases, it simply consults what’s written in the service book.
Naturally, that leads to problems. You could easily end up paying for maintenance tasks you simply don’t need yet – alternatively, you could spend weeks or even months driving with a worn parts and not even realise!
What if you drive an older Mercedes?
People love driving restored vintage Mercedes.
Some hand their Mercedes-Benz cars down like a Swiss watch.
Others buy second-hand to experience the timeless luxury of a Mercedes without the price tag.
For these reasons and more, older Mercedes-Benz vehicles are a common sight on Melbourne’s roads. And if you’re one of these people, you can’t rely on the official milestones for one simple reason.
Namely, these milestones assume your Mercedes is brand-new!
Simply put, the older your car is, the less accurate the service milestones become.
That’s because accumulated wear-and-tear can have unpredictable effects on your car’s service items.
Not to mention, older cars may have had major components replaced or repaired making the official milestones inaccurate.
Finally, some older models mightn’t even have official maintenance milestones!
The key takeaway? You need a Mercedes-Benz specialist!
Ammstar Exclusive: your Mercedes specialist in Melbourne
While the official service milestones are a great tool, the only way to ensure your Mercedes-Benz receives the services it actually needs is to get it looked at by a specialist.
And that’s where we come in!
With almost two decades of experience (and counting), our skillful Mercedes specialists in Melbourne know your vehicle inside-out.
We don’t blindly follow the service milestones – using our accumulated experience, we figure out exactly what your Mercedes-Benz needs.
That’s just one way we’re able to offer dealership-level Mercedes service without the price tag. Get in touch with us here to see how else we can help you.
Prefer to chat? You can ring our Fairfield service centre on (03) 9499 9585, or reach our Moorabbin team on (03) 9555 5580.
