Lincoln cuts free maintenance plan in half

Reduction from 4 years/50,000 miles to 2 years/24,000 miles matches other luxury brands, but Lincoln is also struggling to survive.

Lincoln has made a strong push to stay relevant – and alive – as Ford’s only other brand after the demise of the Mercury division in 2010. It even attempted a relaunch as the "Lincoln Motor Co." earlier this year and has made an effort to revamp vehicle styling to distance itself from Ford.

But whereas luxury brands usually go out of their way to woo buyers and keep repeat customers with perks, Lincoln is going the opposite direction with complimentary maintenance. Automotive News reported that Lincoln is cutting its free maintenance program in half, from four years or 50,000 miles to two years or 24,000 miles.

In a May 6 memo, Lincoln told its dealers the shortened free-maintenance schedule “complements short-term 24-month leases,” and in the statement Ford said it was “competitive with other luxury brands.” While former Ford brands Jaguar and Volvo also recently scaled back their complimentary maintenance programs, Lincoln’s only domestic competitor, Cadillac, and its German rivals offer free maintenance for four years.

Audi offers only one-year/5,000-mile maintenance, while Lexus does only six to 12 months, or between 5,000 and 10,000 miles, depending on the model. Jaguar now covers only the first factory-scheduled maintenance trip, after offering full maintenance last year for 4 years or 50,000 miles. Volvo's 3-year/36,000-mile plan is still decent, but it now covers three services instead of four.

Dealers were disappointed about Lincoln’s decision, and with the way potential car buyers may view it as another sign that the brand could be on its deathbed. But a Rhode Island Lincoln dealer told Automotive News that most Lincolns are leased for between two and three years, so he doesn’t expect that the reduced free maintenance period will hurt his business.

But that's just one dealer, and with Lincoln’s recent push to stay viable, the move to cut the free maintenance – oil changes, tire rotations, fluid top-offs – is puzzling. And it’s not a good sign for the struggling brand, which saw sales rise just 0.4 percent last month after bungling the launch of its 2013 MKZ during the Super Bowl. That car suffered so many quality problems that vehicles were shipped from Ford's Mexican plant to Michigan for final inspection, which delayed deliveries by several months.

For the first four months of the year, Lincoln sales were down 10.5 percent, which is a slight improvement compared with the 13.4 percent slide for the same period a year ago.

autos.msn.com