Is it worth taking a ten year old C-Class to a MB specialist?

[fatads]

My C-Class is from 2010, 130,000 miles on the clock, and service B1 is due. I'm wondering if it's really worth taking it to an indie specialist, rather than a standard local garage for a service.
What are your thoughts?
Does there come a time when the car's age isn't really worth the extra cost of a "Mercedes specialist" garage?
Thanks for any advice all...

 

[Blobcat]

Hello and welcome

Depends if you want to fix an issue straight away or throw parts and money at it until you lose the will to live…

 

[mioba]

If thats your line of thought OP then get a 25 year old fiesta and use an ordinary garage.

I still use a mixture of MB dealership and my long trusted indy for all my mercs. Of which the oldest is my W220 (17 years owned). My cars would never go in any garage.

As avid MB fans here we talk from experience.

 

[Wighty]

If you (or the garage you use) are keeping an eye yourself on what the car needs and when , such as correct spec oil , fuel/air filters and gearbox service (which you should have had every 40k miles ) then you don’t need an MB specialist .

If on the other hand your garage is just changing the oil and filter and doesn’t know your gearbox service schedule or filter schedule then yes you need a specialist

 

[JBell]

I use an indy for servicing and my local for consumables

 

[mioba]

You also need to factor in the unknowns
- EML's
- the quirks of the causes of certain noises
- thinks that cause limp mode, but not logging codes
- most importantly how to decipher fault codes and correctly diagnose a problem.

These skills are what you use an indy for - their experience.

 

[Chrishazle]

Another reason to use and indie is that the good ones have genuine MB Star/Xentry not just for fault diagnosist (much better than generic code readers I believe) but also can update your DSR (digital service record) if your car has one, and apply any required software/firmware updates, as happened to me a little while ago when I took the S204 to a local that has this facility when my dashboard went on strike. He was first off able to see (and fix) that an update was required, then was able to see that my dashboard had lost its programming and re-program it - all for not a lot of cash!

 

[LostKiwi]

I use a local VAG specialist for mundane things (though he does have Star) and a proper MB specialist for anything more involved.
My nearest decent MB specialist is at least an hour away whereas the other guy is 10 minutes (assuming I stop at Costas for coffees on the way).
Basic oil changes etc I do myself though my R Class will get serviced first time at Star (2 hours away) so he can do a full health check at the same time.

 

[fatads]

Thanks guys, appreciate your advice. Local specialist it is!

 

[Steve@Avantgarde]

I'm not dissing all makes workshops, in fact I admire the techs that work in them as they have to have such a broad range of knowledge for so many makes and models, but sometimes that knowledge is diluted and can be misapplied to a car they arent so familiar with.

Sometimes even in routine servicing an indie may do something, check something, adjust something, lube something that an all makes garage wouldn't, simply because we know the ins and outs of the product of what we repeatedly see.

Thats the difference.

 

[sausage]

^^^ That is your reason. Also main dealers tend to stick to "operating procedures". In my experience an independent would likely do that bit more for your car.

What would make me that little bit happier (sorry Steve) is a technician that cleaned, at least a little bit, the general area they were working on

Over time the car would be cleaner than otherwise. It also presents the finished work in a positive light, even if a bit of a placebo. As a kid I used to work with double glazing fitters at weekends, when fitted and uncleaned the job didn't wow, but once all cleaned and polished would look the business and transform the house

 

[Steve@Avantgarde]

^^^ That is your reason. Also main dealers tend to stick to "operating procedures". In my experience an independent would likely do that bit more for your car.

What would make me that little bit happier (sorry Steve) is a technician that cleaned, at least a little bit, the general area they were working on

Over time the car would be cleaner than otherwise. It also presents the finished work in a positive light, even if a bit of a placebo. As a kid I used to work with double glazing fitters at weekends, when fitted and uncleaned the job didn't wow, but once all cleaned and polished would look the business and transform the house

Completely agree with you. A tin of wd40 or similar is as much for cleaning the engine bay as it is for penetrative lubricant!

 

[Rory]

My view is getting an indie to do the basic servicing gives the chance to build a relationship with them - so if/when you get a fault, at least you know (to some extent) each other and you're not just some random person calling up.

 

[Droverunner]

>>>

What would make me that little bit happier (sorry Steve) is a technician that cleaned, at least a little bit, the general area they were working on

>>>Completely agree with you. A tin of wd40 or similar is as much for cleaning the engine bay as it is for penetrative lubricant!

Yep 100% with this. I always have a large can of WD40 type stuff to hand and as I'm doing a job everything adj gets a squirt and wipe off or buff up with a microfibre cloth. I'm even nerdy enough to remove any random fixing bolt that's gone rusty and give it a spray of silver. So by the time I've had a new to me vehicle a year or so pretty well everything routine you go to is dirt and oil free.

 

[Uncle Benz]

If I had a pound for every time the local garages near me had rung up to ask how to fix the Mercedes they have taken on I’d be a rich man. Oh…

 

[NJS5]

Sometimes even in routine servicing an indie may do something, check something, adjust something, lube something that an all makes garage wouldn't, simply because we know the ins and outs of the product of what we repeatedly see.

I entirely agree - a decent local indi is the answer

Fatads - your profile doesn't say where you are located. We might be able to recommend someone local if we knew where you are.

NJSS

 

[Chrishazle]

I've just had an A service plus combination filter change on my R171 SLK280 at a local specialist for about 1/2 what I'd expect from my local main dealer - as an example, last time I had a car serviced at the local main dealer, they charged £9/L for oil, today I paid £3/L for MB 229/51 oil!

 

[sausage]

There is a lesson to be learned about going to someone who knows MB that can be gleaned from this experience : https://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/...s-spreading-like-a-cancer-help-please.191622/

 

[Frontstep]

Dealing with the same things again and again should mean your Indie is better value overall.

You can't beat seeing something and knowing just what tools you need and the most likely issue.

It often saves a lot of time which your paying for, never mind endless "diagnostic" and expensive part swapping.

Employing a specialist in so many areas is often a no-brainer.

Though a bad specialist is perhaps worse they charge too much and always believe they know best.

 

[Hotspur]

Would you take your computer to an IT specialist or general electrical engineer? would you take your iPhone back to Apple or to a back street phone shop that does every phone make and mostly sells screen protectors? would you take someone with a particular illness to a specialist or to a GP? same goes for your Merc, whilst there will be great mechanics around, those that are trained and have years of experience, much like in any field will have a much better chance of knowing how to diagnose and cure a problem or in this case know what parts to service and the others that are not on the service list that need attention and a little bit of care to keep them in sound condition...experience is something that you can't imitate, gain or circumvent without doing the time...and with experience comes expertise....

I wouldn't take any of my cars to a non-specialist - and in some cases the specialists are many times more knowledgeable than the main dealers, but the dealers do have access to restricted information and a irrefutable warranty for the works carried out to your vehicle - which some independent specialists may not have, and a general mechanic certainly won't and can only dream of having.