First Time Merc owner - Recommend me a specialist for Servicing in Southampton

[WCA]

Hi All,

I am nearly 40 so thought I had better get myself a Mercedes. I have tentitively dipped my toe into the whole experience with a 6 Litre V12 CL600. Can anyone recommend me a good independent specialist for servicing etc in or near Southampton please.

Cheers

WCA

 

[hawk20]

When you are less tentative will you buy something with a bigger engine do you think?

It helps if you add the car, model, year etc to your signature. But with a car that complex I would only go to a proper MB dealer. Ask for Sean, the service manager at Southampton. I have found them very good and helpful.

Anyone buying your car will sensibly want full MBSH.

The service cost includes free breakdown cover in UK and Europe (the AA want £150 for full cover for me and wife and another £100 for Euro cover). On my S class the A service was only £235 and the B service was about £450. A V12 petrol will inevitably cost more.

Full MBSH also affects your ability to ask for help with any repair costs under 'goodwill'. And it keeps your 30 year rust guarantee intact.

 

[WCA]

Ok. The garage I bought it from just had it done by their local Merc specialist. I will use the MB Southampton in future.

I will now try and add my cars to my signature.

 

[bigasotonuk]

Hi,
Welcome to the forum.
To give you the option of a Independant MB mechanic may I recommend Olly (forum name BlackC55) have used him myself very friendly and approachable, and his customers drive many miles to use him, even from the continent I believe.
His workshop is in Horndean, Portsmouth.
Contact details,
Prestige Car Service, (PCS) Ltd,
Unit 113A, London rd,
Horndean,
Portsmouth,
PO8 0BJ.
Tel. 07922 023450 or 023 9285 1425

 

[WCA]

Thanks for the independent. Does it really make a big difference wether you use a MB or specialist?

Car currently has 46K miles and I will proibably run it for 100K or until it consumes all of the worlds petrol.

 

[jberks]

Thanks for the independent. Does it really make a big difference wether you use a MB or specialist?

Car currently has 46K miles and I will proibably run it for 100K or until it consumes all of the worlds petrol.

nah - not really. Especially if you have someone of BlackC55's calibre on your doorstep.
Maybe a non dealer history would put off a buyer of a new-3 year old one but when it gets to a few years old and 100k on the clock, people just want to see a regular maintenance history and lots of bills to show you haven't skimped. After that it's primarily condition thats important.

You can negotiate dealers down quite a lot on service charges so don't accept the first quote, but I dare say Olly will be a bit cheaper. Plus the chances of anyone at the dealership ever having worked on the V12 is slim (not many about) so you may find Olly has more experience (if he's ever worked on the CL600).

 

[hawk20]

You always get two views on this question. And this thread is a representative sample. I still lean heavily to an MB dealer but I have only heard good things about BlackC55.

If you do use an 'indie' with your highly complex car it is important to use one that is widely recommended as BlackC55 is. You could ring and ask him if he has experience of your V12.

During the first few years dealers are given all sorts of updates to do to your car and especially the software, but much else besides. Even recalls are not answered by many owners or they move etc. So going to a dealer in the early years is important IMO. I will post a thread which gives all the service campaigns, updates etc on just one model (the new S class) so you can see just how much can be involved even on a model renowned for its high reliability right from launch.

In the fourth year, MB will contribute heavily to repairs on cars with FullMBSH (much less if not). recently a friend recieved over £1,000 towards a £1200 repair in his fourth year. In later years, they still contribute but their contribution gets less as age gets greater.

Nearly all MB dealers are now offering discounts for cars over three years old. For example MB World at weybridge offer 10% on parts and 20% on labour IIRC.

 

[hawk20]

Here's that link I promised: - (well worth a read)
http://forum.mbworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=163014

 

[supercharger]

i know its not too local but i would recomend kevin james of stuttgart garage in pontypridd south wales. he is a v12 expert and has two of his own. very knowledgeable and a sound bloke.

supercharger

 

[colechelle]

This subject always comes up, to be honest i would have to agree with Hawk! i have only just left one of the souths dealers and know what hawk is saying, Sure, ollly wouldnt have any problems with working on a v12 and would be shed loads cheaper, but keeping the history would help with goodwill etc. one fault is coil packs, last one i fitted was £1000!!! then the rust etc! it goes on, my advice with owning that beast would be dealers, sure get olly or someone to replace the brakes and other things but servicing a must at mb!!!!

 

[MarkCL]

While I can appreciate where each side of the fence is coming from I'd just like to point out one of the main factors that makes Olly slightly different from most indies: Prior to setting up in business for himself for ten years he worked as a Mercedes Tech at MB dealers and has dealt with all models in the ranges apart from the very latest ones - that in itself means that he has intimate knowledge of our cars specifically rather than just cars in general. That is what really comes to the rescue of our wallets as when diagnosing faults etc he's not simply guessing, he KNOWS In this case I'd say that the choice is yours - you'll get benefits either way (good dealer or indie), but certainly if you are looking for a top notch independant to look after your pride and joy I really can't think of anyone else I'd give my own car to.

Good luck with yours whichever way you decide to go

Cheers,
Mark