B Service Cost for 51 E Class 320CDi estate

[gazzab]

Decided that (due to some small amounts of rust on rear wing and tailgate) I will stick with Merc main dealer servicing ie savings are soon offset if they dont cough up full value of sorting rust.
So the car needs a B service. My nearest dealer quoted £450 (what a rip off!). Is it worth shopping around? I am in the Guildford area.
thanks
Gary

 

[jberks]

Sounds like the going rate to me.
You could ring another dealer and tell them what you've been quoted, they may agree to beat it.

 

[ddentrec]

Is it worth shopping around? I am in the Guildford area.
thanks
Gary

No. All M-B stealers operate a cartel and charge the same service costs give or take a few quid.

I rang 15 dealers all over the UK for my C180K 'B' (or 'Blimey!' service 'cos that is what you will say when you get the FINAL bill, not just the quoted one) and the lowest was £425 and the highest £460.

Plus, they may quote for semi-synthetic and not tell you: this adds ~£50 to the bill for fully-synthetic. Plus they may perform a brake pad/fluid change and add another £150 on top. Make sure you know what you are getting: some dealers are better than others.

So there you have it. Nice to know that the Office of Fair Trading are being effective in maintaining a level playing field.

 

[Smucker]

Try this one

I dont know where you are, but, Rainham Mercedes in Kent are very competitive and have given me good service.

 

[Aletank]

Definatley worth phoning round check out my findings in this post Click Me Savings of over £100 to be had.
There's a few people that take their car to France for servicing to save alot of money too!!

 

[Rory]

Hop over to the continent and it's half the price. Apparently. And you aintain the Mobilo.
Does anyone on here actually do this?

 

[ddentrec]

I dont know where you are, but, Rainham Mercedes in Kent are very competitive and have given me good service.

I called M-B Romford: was the most expensive of all the stealers I called: £480 for a B-service on a 2003 C180K.

As I said, it is a cartel, but thanks anyway!

 

[paulcallender]

So there you have it. Nice to know that the Office of Fair Trading are being effective in maintaining a level playing field.

Just think wider - choose a different make/model of car, if you want lower servicing costs. I'm sure there are similar price levels at Audi/BMW/Jaguar. And cheaper ones at VW, Ford, Vauxhall, etc. And pricier ones at Rolls-Royce, Bentley.

 

[jberks]

And cheaper ones at VW, Ford, Vauxhall, etc.

Asked a collegue how much for a main dealer service on his focus. £120 apparently. Don't think I'll be rushing off to the Ford forecourt though.

 

[maddog]

I dont want to frighten you but my last A service was almost £900

A service
Replace front fog lamp
Replace wipers
Replace front pads and fluid change
Replace fuel filter and air filter

They didnt attend to the two faults i reported and missed that the glowplugs were faulty.


Bend over a grit your teeth

 

[jberks]

I dont want to frighten you but my last A service was almost £900

A service
Replace front fog lamp
Replace wipers
Replace front pads and fluid change
Replace fuel filter and air filter

They didnt attend to the two faults i reported and missed that the glowplugs were faulty.


Bend over a grit your teeth

And there's the rub. Yes you need the service stamp in the book to keep the Mobilio intact.
That's the A service bit at around £250.
The rest could be done by an indie for a lot less (though I still paid over £300 for the brakes as the parts are still pricey and i insist on proper MB parts).
Things like the wiper blade - £25 from the dealer or "don't worry about it" from the indie - as you can replace the rubber for pennies. You could even refuse the filters and get them changed elsewhere. Its the stamp that matters, nothing more.

 

[ddentrec]

Just think wider - choose a different make/model of car, if you want lower servicing costs. I'm sure there are similar price levels at Audi/BMW/Jaguar. And cheaper ones at VW, Ford, Vauxhall, etc. And pricier ones at Rolls-Royce, Bentley.

You are right Paul.

But my point is that with VW/Ford you ring around and the service price variance is usually around 30% (i.e. average service is £150, but will vary between say £100 and £200 from a main dealer; The Vindis VW group is one example).

But for MB it is different: All the dealers charge around £450; cheapest is £440, dearest £480.

This is price fixing. It limits competition and, worse still, makes the dealers lazy about improving quality/service/value as there is no real competition.

 

[ddentrec]

I just sent an e-mail to the OFT 'Competition & Cartels Division' about this: will let you know what they say....

 

[jberks]

I think you'll find that there are only a small number of companies that hold MB franchises. Near me there are only really 2 companies, though there are lots of dealers, but Leeds, Wakefield,Bradford etc are all owned by Pendragon, so its not surprising that their prices are identical. I may get somewhere if I play them off against Harrogate, but then they own York, Hull etc so its still a small world.

 

[Rory]

I just sent an e-mail to the OFT 'Competition & Cartels Division' about this: will let you know what they say....

But if they were all different prices people would complain about the dearer garages ripping them off.
I had a customer who complained about a cartel because the item he was buying was the same price from several distributors. The manufacturer gave in and reduced the price through one of the distributors. Guess what - the customer then wanted the same lower price to be available from all the distributors!

 

[James Edwards]

Had my B service today - pleased!

Mercedes Rainham in Kent quoted me A = £148 & B = £340 by phone.
So had a B service done today - I live 20 miles away & they collected car at 9am. Must say I was quite nervous about the final bill!!!!!
I told them to do the service & let me know what faults they found.
Eventually the call came & the news was not so bad, just a few small things - they said they would send letter with quote to do the work!
Cost??? £340-09 to my surprise - no extras! Pd by cc.
Dan on reception is the guy to contact 01634 388887 - apparently they collect cars from quite a wide area, so the guy who brought my car back said.
Cheers
James
98 C250td sport est (154k)

 

[ddentrec]

But if they were all different prices people would complain about the dearer garages ripping them off.
I had a customer who complained about a cartel because the item he was buying was the same price from several distributors. The manufacturer gave in and reduced the price through one of the distributors. Guess what - the customer then wanted the same lower price to be available from all the distributors!

Isn't that what competition is all about? If the supplier cannot meet customers' demands then the business model is wrong, correct?

In Rochester, NY, USA, a main-dealer B-service for a 2003 C240K is $310 inc state tax. Whilst the overheads are different, the fact is the US government clamp down hard on anti-competitive behaviour. In fact the same dealer sells Toyotas from the same franchise. So, prices are kept low. But the dealer still makes a profit-has been selling M-Bs for 22 years.

But here in the UK we are suckered into thinking that because M-B is a 'premium' brand we should pay through the nose for service, etc. We do not complain enough in my view.

And in the US M-B car prices are around 35% cheaper than the UK, and DaimlerChrysler still make an 8% profit on each US car sold.