REAL Road Side Assistance - Mercedes-Benz Road Side Assistance

Your SUV gives up 100 miles from the center of nowhere.
Now what? Who's gonna help?

How good is the manufacturer's promise of road side assistance when you are really far away from their next service center? Let's say somewhere deep inside Russia. Just as a reminder: Russia's land mass spreads over 9 time zones (remember the US has 4).

No matter in what time zone your vehicle breaks down - you might be far away from everything. Far away from original spare parts. Far away from qualified help. We thought we would be stuck forever, when one of our 4WD vehicles, a Mercedes Gelaendewagen, broke down during a 7,000 mile expedition through Russia in 1992. Blown head gasket. Bad news. But if you don't ask for help you'll never receive any. Via a satellite uplink we sent a fax to the Mercedes emergency center in Stuttgart/Germany. Believe it or not - they flew in MB mechanic Nikolai Salnikov from Moscow.

Nikolai had brought all necessary tools and parts with him. To be on the safe side even a new cylinder head and manifolds. As it turned out, we needed only new gaskets. A four hour job. To reach us in a remote valley of the Caucasus Mountains Nikolai had to ride 5 hours on an airplane and three hours in a taxi. This was a very fine example of how road side assistance for a good 4WD vehicle should be executed. Especially when you are stuck a hundred years east of your home.

Want to see the whole story?


If plain road side asssistance does not satisfy you - chose Mercedes-Benz road side assistance.