Servicing Costs - what do you think?

[Vx-Man-G]

Hello all,

Just been looking at Servicing Costs for the 2010/60 C200 CDI.

Dealers are too expensive and the general advice from all things MB owners is to go Independant. So I have explored a few places and here is what I have found, so really im after your recommendations...both places appear to have raving reviews on here and other googled forums, as well as Google reviews.

Option 1: WDM Cars in Perry Barr Birmingham.
Full Service, inc Air Filter, Oil, Fuel Filter replacement, Brake Fluid Service, Automatic Transmission Service. Including all parts and labour: £540 inc VAT. Wayne says he uses German Sourced OE Approved (apparently), not 100% MB genuine.

Option 2: ACMS in Walsall.
Full Service, inc Air Filter, Oil, Fuel Filter replacement, Brake Fluid Service, Automatic Transmission Service. Including all parts and labour: £540 inc VAT. Mark says he uses all MB original parts.

Whats your thoughts guys?

Are all three mandatory at the same time, or should I split it all down? Are there any other places in and around the Midlands you would recommend me trying?

Thanks,
G.

 

[JBell]

Are there any other places in and around the Midlands you would recommend me trying?

MSL

 

[Vx-Man-G]

I did try them, they were actually a fair bit more expensive than WDM

 

[Vx-Man-G]

Someone just recommended these guys to me...http://www.martekmotorservices.co.uk

Just waiting for a call back from them now.

 

[Wighty]

Auto transmission is due at 37,500 miles , and most people agree to keep up the same interval afterwards , this costs £200-250 for 5g auto box .
Air filter and fuel filter every 4 years and 40-50,000 miles . I personally would do air filter every 15,000 or yearly as they are cheap and quick to change .
Oil and filter change every year (ish) up to 15,000 miles .
Brake fluid every 2 years recommended ( costs 40-50 quid ) .
You can work out now what you want/need doing and when .
Whatever you decide don,t skimp on the oil/filter change , and don't let the ATF change go on too long without doing it .

 

[Dave779]

Try monarch indendent in Whittington Lichfield, half the price on labour and 27 years working for mercedes. Very busy man as he's good but leave a message and he will ring you back, did my B service on my SL and very impressed.

 

[renrutp76]

I will not be returning to MB dealership again. CLS250 cdi B service consisted of air, fuel, & oil filter + 6.5 litres of oil for the princely sum of £670. To top it off the car was ready for collection (including wash and hoover) within an hour . Needless to say I felt the need to voice my disgust to the service manager, who after telling me that it had been in the F1 bay and seeing my facial expression, knocked £130 off the bill!

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[Submariner1]

I will not be returning to MB dealership again. CLS250 cdi B service consisted of air, fuel, & oil filter + 6.5 litres of oil for the princely sum of £670. To top it off the car was ready for collection (including wash and hoover) within an hour . Needless to say I felt the need to voice my disgust to the service manager, who after telling me that it had been in the F1 bay and seeing my facial expression, knocked £130 off the bill!

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£435 for my B service with 8.5L Mobil 1 , incl. air filters valued at £85. So the basic service was £350 Main Dealer, who do a good job.
I dont know if they charge more for S Class level cars but in any event even if you view them as equal £670!
And they took way more than 2 hours ... saw car disapear into workshop and saw in on the ramp 10 mins later , when I was having a smoke.
Does a fuel filter cost £235!

 

[renrutp76]

£435 for my B service with 8.5L Mobil 1 , incl. air filters valued at £85. So the basic service was £350 Main Dealer, who do a good job.
I dont know if they charge more for S Class level cars but in any event even if you view them as equal £670!
And they took way more than 2 hours ... saw car disapear into workshop and saw in on the ramp 10 mins later , when I was having a smoke.
Does a fuel filter cost £235!

On the invoice, the fuel filter was £85. My biggest gripe was that I dropped off the car at 10.20, warched them drive it inro the workshop at 10.30, and received the text to say it was ready for collection at 11.25. A friend has a C250 coupe and was only charge £400-500 for the same service!

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[Yugguy]

I use acms, they are pretty good. They battles with my recalcitrant power steering rack.

I tend to change air filter myself every year. Genuine ones are cheap enough on eBay.

 

[renrutp76]

£435 for my B service with 8.5L Mobil 1 , incl. air filters valued at £85. So the basic service was £350 Main Dealer, who do a good job.
I dont know if they charge more for S Class level cars but in any event even if you view them as equal £670!
And they took way more than 2 hours ... saw car disapear into workshop and saw in on the ramp 10 mins later , when I was having a smoke.
Does a fuel filter cost £235!

How does this compare with your invoice? This was after the discount was applied.

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[Rory]

I will not be returning to MB dealership again. CLS250 cdi B service consisted of air, fuel, & oil filter + 6.5 litres of oil for the princely sum of £670. To top it off the car was ready for collection (including wash and hoover) within an hour.

I'd be wondering if they actually did the additional work? I waited while daughter's VW Golf had its first service which is an oil and filter change and some basic checks. It had a rough wash and an even rougher vac, and noted that I was in and out of the dealership in under an hour. They (by mistake) gave me a copy of the invoice they send to VW (it was on a service plan) and it was £68.50.

 

[peterws1957]

How does this compare with your invoice? This was after the discount was applied.

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Inchcape have to pay for their £12m buiding somehow! Seriously it is a big wedge of money and I would guess that the £150 represents an hours labour at the dealers. I'm all for saving readies where applicable but I guess you have to balance the cost against the security(?) of knowing the vehicle has been serviced at an MB dealer- resale value etc.

 

[Yugguy]

I like to see a history but if it was from a good independent I would be happy.

Dealer charges are a complete rip off.

That said, Toyota are only charging me 12 pounds a month over 2 years for a service plan on our 09 Yaris. We get 2 basic services and 2 mots, and they collect and deliver the car. Works out to £288 which is slightly over the odds compared to an Indy but worth it for the convenience.

Mercedes want 35 quid a month for the same thing on my C. What a ****ing JOKE. And I have to take it in. £840. 3 times the cost for the SAME thing. And that's before we add on the inflated charges for brake fluid, fuel filter etc.

 

[A.J.]

Hello all,

Just been looking at Servicing Costs for the 2010/60 C200 CDI.

Dealers are too expensive and the general advice from all things MB owners is to go Independant. So I have explored a few places and here is what I have found, so really im after your recommendations...both places appear to have raving reviews on here and other googled forums, as well as Google reviews.

Option 1: WDM Cars in Perry Barr Birmingham.
Full Service, inc Air Filter, Oil, Fuel Filter replacement, Brake Fluid Service, Automatic Transmission Service. Including all parts and labour: £540 inc VAT. Wayne says he uses German Sourced OE Approved (apparently), not 100% MB genuine.

Option 2: ACMS in Walsall.
Full Service, inc Air Filter, Oil, Fuel Filter replacement, Brake Fluid Service, Automatic Transmission Service. Including all parts and labour: £540 inc VAT. Mark says he uses all MB original parts.

Whats your thoughts guys?

Are all three mandatory at the same time, or should I split it all down? Are there any other places in and around the Midlands you would recommend me trying?

Thanks,
G.

I am not familiar with your area but just regarding the cost, when I had my 2009 C220 I paid £395.00 inc VAT for a 'B' service at a local Indy using genuine MB parts. That was back in March this year.

 

[Submariner1]

How does this compare with your invoice? This was after the discount was applied.

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I think the fuel filter is probably about right as they are expensive.

But I would be ****** popping if they put that oil in my car ... its not even Mobil 1 0W40!
I think that is semi synthetic
And please dont give me the MB 229.51 so its OK crap.

They once tried that on me with Mobil Super ?? and quickly drove the car back into the workshop and changed the oil and filter. And showed me the pump print out linked to the new job card ( This was volunteered I didn't ask ... I guessed they realised I had f*cking had it! )
And no I didnt kick off ... just said I was extremely disappointed, and how much would it cost to replace it with Mobil 1!
There was no charge.
Note even that took about 40 minutes.
I dont think you could do a B service properly in 55 mins, if you do all the things like measure the pads and discs, grease the sunroof and the bonnet catches etc (a tell tale sign, have they wiped off the dirty grease and put nice clear yellow LM Grease ... it always gets filthy in a year)

They Even automatically put Mobil1 in the wifes A Class.

But I think I am very Lucky as my local main Dealer is absolutely superb! Their diagnosis is also spot on.
One issue with the type of oil in 22 years! One can hardly bitch about that.

 

[Submariner1]

I am not familiar with your area but just regarding the cost, when I had my 2009 C220 I paid £395.00 inc VAT for a 'B' service at a local Indy using genuine MB parts. That was back in March this year.

Thats more like it

 

[A.J.]

Thats more like it

Robinsons in Norwich quoted £520 at the time !

 

[renrutp76]

I think the fuel filter is probably about right as they are expensive.

But I would be ****** popping if they put that oil in my car ... its not even Mobil 1 0W40!
I think that is semi synthetic
And please dont give me the MB 229.51 so its OK crap.

They once tried that on me with Mobil Super ?? and quickly drove the car back into the workshop and changed the oil and filter. And showed me the pump print out linked to the new job card ( This was volunteered I didn't ask ... I guessed they realised I had f*cking had it! )
And no I didnt kick off ... just said I was extremely disappointed, and how much would it cost to replace it with Mobil 1!
There was no charge.
Note even that took about 40 minutes.
I dont think you could do a B service properly in 55 mins, if you do all the things like measure the pads and discs, grease the sunroof and the bonnet catches etc (a tell tale sign, have they wiped off the dirty grease and put nice clear yellow LM Grease ... it always gets filthy in a year)

They Even automatically put Mobil1 in the wifes A Class.

But I think I am very Lucky as my local main Dealer is absolutely superb! Their diagnosis is also spot on.
One issue with the type of oil in 22 years! One can hardly bitch about that.

Checked on the Shell lubricant website, fully synthetic 5w30

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[Submariner1]

I like to see a history but if it was from a good independent I would be happy.

The 3 Indys I use ( chosen for the type of work they are excellent at ) are all approved to update the MB Electronic Service Record, so if you ask MB Customer Care for a Service Record printout, you can see what they did and when.
To me that is the same.
Plus I dont get crap from Mobilo, say I get an Advisory at Service B for a leaking strut or changing the tranny oil, and then have that work done at my Indy they are happy with that, and it doesnt reappear at the next service as a repeat advisory. (Note I do tell them to check what has been done elsewhere)

So to me its the same thing ... just 1/2 or 1/3 the price.