STARMARK & INDY GARAGE

[albert champion]

last year, i acquired an extremely low-mileage[20,300]1997 s500coupe. it was starmarked for a year. i purchased an additional 2 years. as of april, 2004, i started year two of the starmark warranty.

i don't do m-b dealerships these days. that is what led me to renewing older benzes with low mileage, cherry benzes.

i have taken this car to m-b sugarland, however, twice. that is an 85 mile jaunt one-way. oh, there is a dealer nearer, but it is an auto-nation stealership...not to be dealt with, that is why i abandoned acquiring new benzes.

A. m-b sugarland saw this vehicle at 24,000 miles. did an oil service, did some suspension warranty work. did an alignment at my expense, which revealed the need for the suspension parts replacement under warranty, replaced wiper blades.

no mention was made of any routine maintenance to be performed according to a m-b schedule.

B. m-b sugarland saw this vehicle again at 32,000 miles for some warranty work.

no mention was made of any routine maintenance to be performed according to a m-b schedule.

C. now, i have taken this car into my local indy to replace fast-wearing dunlops with yokohama avid v4s. while doing that, since the selling dealer finally furnished a new rear-view mirror to replace the floppy one that they hoped i wouldn't find when i picked up the car, he will replace it.

now, the car has 35,000 miles. oil and filter have 3,500 miles with dino. i want it changed. brake fluid was changed in april of 2003, i want it changed.

indy suggests that coolant also be changed, but indy will be using something other than m-b formula. i don't argue with that, but when i argue with his coolant selection, he tells me that it is compatible with the m-b specs.

then he urges me to have the m-b 30,000 mile scheduled maintenance in its entirety be performed.

some aspects of this schedule i think are quite all right. others i consider quite unnecessary. such as spark plug replacement, for instance.

and atf change-out.

so, i told my indy that i would stipulate my own version of the 30,000 mile maintenance schedule.

and he started to argue with me. one of this arguments was that failing to do the maintenance according to m-b dictates would void my starmark warranty.

i put up with that and then had to tell him that m-b sugarland had the car at 32,000 miles and made no mention of a need to perform a 30,000 mile scheduled maintenance servicing.

and that the selling dealer, m-b san antonio, even though their records should reveal that they sold a 1997 sonderklasse with only 20,300 in april, 2003, sends me scheduled maintenance reminders noting that the car should be ready for its 90,000 mile maintenance.

what do you folks think about these maintenance issues?

all ears..