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I would say that a dealer who does not see that these services (coolant and brake flushes) are part of the FSS service are not able to read the FSS sheets. It is all plain English that the Maintenance Commitment plan pays for all "regularly scheduled maintenance" during the warranty period. The brake and coolant flushes are "regular scheduled maintenance", but is based on TIME not mileage. If a FSS equipped car indicates that a FSS service is done, and a small "clock" emblem also appears, and the vehicle has gone very low amounts of miles, this is also based on TIME. The dealer should have no problem doing the entire A or B service based on TIME (it's 18 months, BTW). Then WHY don't they understand the basic concept that some services, such as the brake and coolant flushes, are included in Maintenance Commitment? In the labor time guide, they even have seperate entries for "brake fluid, repl, with maintenance work". That should be proof enough for them, WHY would they list a brake fluid replacement in the time guide WITH a warranty op code, stating "with maintenance work"? Because all Maintenance Commitment maintenance work is submitted as a warranty claim, and the brake and coolant flushes are part of it.
We have NO problem getting paid for these services by MB, the dealers in question should have their warranty clerks talk to their district rep (SPOM) about this. They are cheating their customers.
I'd like to add, as I have mentioned before, that the individual items can not be carried out seperately, in other word, you can't bring the car in JUST for a brake or fluid flush. It HAS to be done with an A or B service, so you may have to get it done a little late, I will sometimes jump ahead a month or two if it is "that" close to needing it done.
And a brief note: ALL work that is called for on the FSS maintenance sheet is paid for under warranty, including the brake and coolant flush. "Inspection" work that actually needs to be done is NOT, so if for example the sheet says to "check brake pads", the inspection of the pads is included. IF they are worn out, then it falls upon the owner to pay for the replacement of the pads.
Maintenance work that needs to be done at an interval of greater than 4yrs/50,000 miles is also obviously not included, for example the fuel and air filters at 60,000 miles is not included by the Maintenance Commitment plan as the car is out of warranty at 50,000 miles.
Gilly
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