Mercedes-Benz Malaysia (MBM) will maintain its current 4-year / unlimited mileage warranty, and will not follow archrival BMW Group Malaysia’s move to make extended warranty optional.

Speaking at a virtual meeting with the media earlier last week, Dr. Claus Weidner, President & CEO of Mercedes-Benz Malaysia explained that MBM’s direction is to offer the best customer service and the best customer offers, and the company is not interested in tinkering around with its terms of service so it could offer a lower price.

“From our perspective, it’s much more important to give hassle free offer to our customers. This is what we have been doing and this is what we are doing in that respect also, and we will continue to do so,” said Dr. Claus.

“We will be looking into the topic of providing the best customer service, not differentiating our customers. For us every customer has the same priority and the same value,” he added.

Earlier in January, BMW Group Malaysia revised its price for BMW models. All models are now quoted in two different prices – with or without extended warranty and service package. Without it, all BMW models are covered only by a 2-year / unlimited mileage manufacturer’s warranty, with no free service package.

Depending on model, not ticking the extended warranty and service package can save you from between RM 13,120 (BMW 320i) to RM 24,390 (BMW X7 xDrive40i).

Also read: BMW Malaysia updates price list for 2021, BMW 320i cheaper by RM 1,911

The move is not unique to Malaysia, as BMW Thailand also offers a similar opt-out option for their customers.

The decision to make extended warranty optional is great for BMW customers who only use their BMWs on weekends.

However, Mercedes-Benz Malaysia is of the opinion that it’s not necessary to make the customer decide between having greater peace of mind just so they could save some money. They are buying a Mercedes-Benz and MBM doesn’t like the idea of selling their cars cheaper than they should be.

Also read: Mercedes-Benz Malaysia explains why we can’t have the EQC yet

Meanwhile, Volvo Car Malaysia has also announced that effective 1-January 2021, all its new cars come with an extended factory-backed 5-year / unlimited mileage warranty, at no additional cost. Previously, the factory warranty was only for 3-year / 100,000 km, while the remaining 2-year / 20,000 km was covered by a local insurance partner. The terms of coverage between the factory-backed and insurance-backed warranty was also different.

The new standard extended factory-backed warranty now has the same terms and conditions of coverage thoughout the 5-year / unlimited mileage period.