Mercedes / Freightliner Vancare

[nvestysly]

We attended the Florida RV SuperShow in Tampa recently and saw a Sprinter van fully prepared for performing roadside service. Mercedes/Freightliner intends to have dozens of these vans across the country to be able to perform fluid changes, brake repairs and other scheduled and minor repairs. Sound cool, hope it really finds its way to helping RVers.

The rep at the show indicated 1/3 of Sprinters are RVs and the owners find themselves needing service and repairs in areas that are not typically near dealerships. Time will tell whether this is a useful idea for RVers.

[InterBlog]

It's an interesting idea, but there's a business model consideration having to do with logistics. I imagine that a good percentage of emergency roadside repairs are coordinated through a nationwide planning service such as Good Sam. When summoned, Good Sam is going to tap its extensive network of approved providers. Whether or not a Sprinter-specific service is ever going to get called out for the most common ailments is questionable. And the lion's share of the cash flow (which makes a business viable) tends to derive from the most common ailments.

For instance, this provider that you've pictured has a tire change image on their Sprinter wrap. Certainly tire issues are among the most common, as I found out the hard way last summer (thread). But it's not necessary to have Sprinter-specific service for those bread-and-butter issues.

[Lotus54]

I read it as MB would be doing routine service, NOT emergency service with those setups.
Fluid changes, brake work etc.
Looked to that the picture on the side of the van was a guy changing a front rotor.

I’ll certainly agree they would need quite a few more units to be able to offer emergncy service, although if in reasonable distance, they may be able to do some limited work for that? of course the customer would need to call the MB number first, just like any factory ‘roadside assistance’. My insurance has roadside assistance and I need to call that number first of course.

it seems it could be a good option for someone like me that lives in the sticks (well, I do my own work, but for others) and doesn’t want to make the trek to the dealer.
Some friends close by have a Sprinter based ‘C’ and something like this would really be helpful for them I think.

Of course, they will need to let owners aware that this service is available (and at what extra cost). I wonder if they will have a scanner also?

Mark

[nvestysly]

Originally Posted by Lotus54

...

I wonder if they will have a scanner also?



Mark

The rep said the vans are equipped with a scanner.

I used the phrase "roadside assistance" and that may mean many different things to different people. I think the rep used the same phrase. Don't know if I'd go as far as saying emergency.

As an example... they plan for a dealer in Minnesota to have several vans and cover ND, SD, WY and MT.