A Service @ £900 !!

[Rory]

When you are accustomed to running a car for the cost of VED, MOT and insurance each year (the fixed costs), and servicing 2 yearly at sensible prices, then a bill of the sort at the start of this thread would raise not one but both eyebrows, even on the most ardent MB supporter.

...and that's the problem with these constant threads on servicing, both the uncertainly over the interval due to oil type selection, and the apparently random costs that some owners get hit with. They simply serve to reinforce the view that owning a medium age Mercedes (say 3 to perhaps 8 years old) is a potentially expensive exercise.

Sure, buy a new (or nearly new) model and run it for 2yrs/30K then the costs per mile will be "trivial" because the car will need nothing more than basic servicing. But go beyond that and you're venturing into a world of pretty large bills if you want to keep the MB service history & Mobilo intact. This affects even new car buyers because hearing about these issues must impact resale values and the potential market for those 3yr old cars. MB doesn't care, they just want to build and sell more new cars, which is why the servicing is structured in the way it is.

 

[jberks]

buy a new (or nearly new) model and run it for 2yrs/30K then the costs per mile will be "trivial" because the car will need nothing more than basic servicing.

True, though depreciation turns that trivial cost into a massive one. Plus you have no choice but to do as the dealer says or run the risk of blowing the warranty. Once the depreciation tails off, you're into potentially large repair bills. Swings and roundabouts sadly.
The trick is to go in with your eyes open and never be afraid to ask a question. The number of times I've asked 'Do I really need this' only to be met with 'no - not really'. or said no to a 'can you authorise' phone call, only to find that with a bit of time and care I can get the job done for a fraction of the quote, if it really needs doing. Then ALWAYS ask for a discount. They rely on the fact that most people are uncomfortable doing this.

 

[AndrewIles]

I've just got my car back after a B service. They decided to change the spark plugs without asking me.

I said to the Service Guy that it was very kind of them to do that free of any labour charges. He was so gobsmacked he refunded the labour charge for replacing them!

 

[rf065]

My Nissan X Trail was serviced by the dealer at around 20,000 miles & 2 years old, cost, £135 plus £12 for a courtesy car.

My CLK cost £460 at the same mileage & age, although this included a courtesy car & brake fluid change, nothing else. I also supplied my own Mobil 1 to keep the cost down or it would have been over £560.

So if we follow the example of servicing costs per mile, MB are still extortionate to service compared to others, and Mobilo cover will actually cost you over £300 per year compared with servicing elsewhere.

Another point is that the Nissan did not require 5 warranty repairs in the first 3 years either. Expensive MB servicing does not stop the car breaking down so why does it need to cost so much?

Russ

 

[jberks]

I've just got my car back after a B service. They decided to change the spark plugs without asking me.

I said to the Service Guy that it was very kind of them to do that free of any labour charges. He was so gobsmacked he refunded the labour charge for replacing them!

Well done.
There you go, all for the sake of 'asking'.
At the end of the day they have no right to presume you are willing to pay for something without asking. If they do, they do so at their own risk.

 

[jberks]

My Nissan X Trail was serviced by the dealer at around 20,000 miles & 2 years old, cost, £135 plus £12 for a courtesy car.

My CLK cost £460 at the same mileage & age, although this included a courtesy car & brake fluid change, nothing else. I also supplied my own Mobil 1 to keep the cost down or it would have been over £560.

So if we follow the example of servicing costs per mile, MB are still extortionate to service compared to others, and Mobilo cover will actually cost you over £300 per year compared with servicing elsewhere.

Another point is that the Nissan did not require 5 warranty repairs in the first 3 years either. Expensive MB servicing does not stop the car breaking down so why does it need to cost so much?

Russ

MB are a premium brand so servicing has traditionally been at a premium price. AFter all, a focus costs £100-£200 to service but costs £10,000 to buy. Clealry someone who stretches to pay £10k for a car, can't afford £400 for a service. It just wouldn't work.
A merc can cost £30,000 so servicing is relatively priced. In reality some of the parts materials and technology are probably higher spec so there is a higher cost in there for the dealer. Better oil, more expensive brake pads for a higher performance car are all justifyable. Its the labour charges we whince at. I suspect its the usual suspects. Top heavy management and shart suits to pay for. All that said, compare MB to BM or Audi or Landorver or any manufacturer that makes £30k+ cars, and they are all within a similar range. My Landrover service was initially quoted at nearly £400. But yes, NIssan, Ford etc are cheaper on the whole, where £400 is an extreme bill.
It got me thinking though.
I did a search for a dedicated independant Mercedes specialists in Leeds and it came up with several. Try the same for Ford and nothing. Lots of Landrover & BMW indies but no Vauxhall. Search Nissan and only one in Portsmouth as far as I can see. So the market balances things out.

 

[mr. shr]

I've just got my car back after a B service. They decided to change the spark plugs without asking me.

I said to the Service Guy that it was very kind of them to do that free of any labour charges. He was so gobsmacked he refunded the labour charge for replacing them!

Nice one.
But can they not turn around and say that based on age/milage, your car was due new plugs as per the MB Servicing schedule? And if you refused to have the work done meant they wouldn't stamp your book?

 

[television]

Nice one.
But can they not turn around and say that based on age/milage, your car was due new plugs as per the MB Servicing schedule? And if you refused to have the work done meant they wouldn't stamp your book?

Yes they can say that but they were fitted in this case, though he only paid for the plugs, and not the fitting

 

[gmcelroy]

MB are by far the most expensive of the big german brands as they now require serving every 12 months even if the mileage limit isn't reached. Typically an oil service on a BMW is about £150-200 depending on model + oil amounts etc, on recent (post 04 certainly) models the service tends to be every 14-22K miles or 2 years depending on conditions etc. When I ran a C180K i over 16K miles/2 yrs we had 2 services (A+B) and that cost nearly £600 - that was with no sneaky extras and no things like brake fluid etc!! In addition BMW for example will sell you a service pack for £600-800 depending on model which covers 5 years/60K miles of servicing, including Break Fluid changes & Microfilters etc. Over a similar period how much would MB charge you? I'd estimate at 1 service per year you'd be looking at £1,200 or more. They need to be reducing their ownership costs in these more challenging times.

 

[BRABUS R230]

SL55 (A) Service Costs

Hi Everyone I thought that as I recently had my first MB main dealership service for my recently purchased SL55 Based BRABUS K8, I was very cautious about main dealers since my extreemly dissapointing experence with a main dealer in east London (that story wiil have you shocked) anyway I thought that seing as servicing costs are being talked about I would post the charges that Mercedes Chelsea charged me for an "A" Service. I was plesently suprised with the service I received!

ASSYST, Service (Labour)
Replaced Engine Oil and filter.
Carried out front & rear brake check, carried out suspension check all round.
Topped up all fluid levels.
£210.80 (less15% discount) Total £179.18

MN007603 014106 SEAL RING £0.89
MA000 180 26 09 OIL FILTER £10.71
LZZOILM1 1 Ltr Mobil 1 Qty 8.5 £114.37

Free Curtousy car for the day (new c class)
Tea and Biscuts
a printout off all previous services and warranty work carried out at various MB dealers

Total £305.15
VAT £45.77
Total £350.92

 

[Alex M Grieve]

Hi Everyone I thought that as I recently had my first MB main dealership service for my recently purchased SL55 Based BRABUS K8, I was plesently suprised with the service I received!

ASSYST, Service (Labour)
Replaced Engine Oil and filter.
Carried out front & rear brake check, carried out suspension check all round.
Topped up all fluid levels.
£210.80 (less15% discount) Total £179.18

MN007603 014106 SEAL RING £0.89
MA000 180 26 09 OIL FILTER £10.71
LZZOILM1 1 Ltr Mobil 1 Qty 8.5 £114.37

Free Curtousy car for the day (new c class)
Tea and Biscuts
a printout off all previous services and warranty work carried out at various MB dealers

Total £305.15
VAT £45.77
Total £350.92

Hi Brabus - that is very straightforward - and useful to know. I guess others will comment on the price of the oil, but has been said elsewhere, many members are maintaining older and less expensive cars on much leaner budgets.

Waht is your experience with your 129? - where serviced and how much?

 

[television]

That price was not too bad Brabus, but hold your breath for the B service when it comes around. Also I wonder how they have set the oil count down,,push the button to see when the next service is due

 

[hawk20]

My Nissan X Trail was serviced by the dealer at around 20,000 miles & 2 years old, cost, £135 plus £12 for a courtesy car.

My CLK cost £460 at the same mileage & age, although this included a courtesy car & brake fluid change, nothing else. I also supplied my own Mobil 1 to keep the cost down or it would have been over £560.

So if we follow the example of servicing costs per mile, MB are still extortionate to service compared to others, and Mobilo cover will actually cost you over £300 per year compared with servicing elsewhere.

Another point is that the Nissan did not require 5 warranty repairs in the first 3 years either. Expensive MB servicing does not stop the car breaking down so why does it need to cost so much?

Russ

It is not expensive. Buy What Car magazine for 1 month and they give total servicing costs over 3 years for all cars on sale in the UK. You will find that MB cars are not out of line at all with other luxury makes.

The problem you have got is that people keep adding to the cost of basic servicing other items. ATF fluid needs changing every 40/50k miles. So do plugs. And brake pads need replacing and discs. And some day you need a new clutch or an auto box overhaul. That is normal motoring costs that all should expect. Cost them out in pence per mile and you will find, as I have over many years, that servicing costs are the least of our problems. Just they come in lumps whereas we pay for fuel almost every week.

I seem to be blessed with a good local MB dealer. They have gone to fixed price servicing -a bit over £200 for an A service and £320 for a B service -both inc vat. We were paying more than this years ago. And we now get 15,500 between services ( or annually w.i.t.s) on all recent cars.

What we need is a thread that sets out all the likely major jobs as the miles and the years go by. Then approx costs and work out the cost per mile and per annum for, say, 3 typical mileages (say 8k, 12k and 15,500 miles per annum as above that costs stay pretty much the same.

Not simple becuase you need one set of figures for 2006 onwards on fixed interval servicing and another for those on variable.

It would be really interesting to work out the answer to the point that servicing plus 'other maintenance' is relatively cheap in the early years because there is very little 'other maintenance'. Later on brakes, ATF etc all come into play.

First shot it would look like this for a 15,500k per year person using MB dealers with no discount and a 2006 or later car from new, a diesel model.

Basic A service £200 inc vat at 15,500 miles and 1 year (=1.3p per mile)
Basic B service £320 inc vat at 31,000 miles and 2 years (cumulative cost = 1.7p per mile.

These now go on alternating forever but other jobs come in. Someone help list them and give costs and when they occur: -
replace brake fluid
replace AFT fluid
replace pads (other threads suggest a 20k average - I get more, others less).
replace discs (other threads suggest a 50k average -I get more, others less).
Other regular jobs that would be done when being serviced? (petrol cars need plugs etc)
Help!

 

[Taihape]

Hi,
Just had some main dealer work done on car, hourly rate could have been £95.00 but car is over 48months old, thus if you ask /negotiate in a nice way the hourly rate can drop by up to 20% the same for parts. Everyone is hurting just now and cashflow has never been more important. I would suggest that the main dealers recognise this but you can't blame them for offering a "high" quote which if accepted is good for business. We as customers also can't be blamed for asking for the first quote to be reconsidered. the local indie knows this too and his prices are weakening as well. This is called deflation take advantage of it ,it won't last forever ( I hope )

 

[Alex M Grieve]

Basic A service £200 inc vat at 15,500 miles and 1 year (=1.3p per mile)
Basic B service £320 inc vat at 31,000 miles and 2 years (cumulative cost = 1.7p per mile).

Or annually @ 6,000 per year by a low mileage driver (w.i.t.s.)
Basic A service £200 inc vat at 6,000 in the year (=3.33p per mile)
Basic B service £320 inc vat at 12,000 in 2 years (=2.66p per mile).

For the poor old "w.i.t.s." £520 for 12,000 miles driver, these costs per mile give a "worst case scenario" of 4.33 p per mile, compared to 1.66p per mile on a 15,5000 or 2 yearly regime (which would encompass his usual 12,000 miles) - more than double. And that is without considering the waste of synthetic oil with plenty life left in it.

Politicians and "global bankers" have made us all very wary of statistics.

"Lies, damned lies, and statistics" is part of a phrase attributed to Benjamin Disraeli and popularised in the United States by Mark Twain: "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." The statement refers to the persuasive power of numbers, the use of statistics to bolster weak arguments. (Wikipedia, 2009)

 

[Rory]

I was plesently suprised with the service I received!

......

Total £350.92

I'm glad you're pleased - perhaps that's good by London standards but it looks at least £100 too expensive to me. Most dealers have a pretty standard £250/£260 charge for an A service and will generally discount to £199.

 

[BRABUS R230]

That price was not too bad Brabus, but hold your breath for the B service when it comes around. Also I wonder how they have set the oil count down,,push the button to see when the next service is due

Hi Television, after collecting my car I checked the display and it started off at 10,000 miles! I have driven around 40 miles since then but the displays next service due in 10,000 miles. is this normal?

 

[television]

Hi Television, after collecting my car I checked the display and it started off at 10,000 miles! I have driven around 40 miles since then but the displays next service due in 10,000 miles. is this normal?

No they have cheated you on the settings, you have mobil ! or equivalent and should be good for 15k or 18 months to 2 years

 

[BRABUS R230]

Hi Brabus - that is very straightforward - and useful to know. I guess others will comment on the price of the oil, but has been said elsewhere, many members are maintaining older and less expensive cars on much leaner budgets.

Waht is your experience with your 129? - where serviced and how much?

Hi Alex, my service costs for my R129 is very low as I do not take it to a MB main dealer, go to my local garage, I supply the parts (oil, filter, air filter and spark plugs) he charges around £60.00 in labour charges plus I get to watch as it is being done, my R129 has had only one owner prior to me buying it around 6 years ago, when I bought it it had coverd 35,000 miles, it has now has 70,000 miles in total and I have always had it serviced by my local inde garage whom are not merc specialists but very good and friendly. I decided not to take it to a MB dealership due to the age of the R129 (1991) and costs

 

[whitenemesis]

No they have cheated you on the settings, you have mobil ! or equivalent and should be good for 15k or 18 months to 2 years

Its an AMG and the service interval is set.