Is this charge excessive?

[markg14]

Just had the heater motor pack up on my 2007 C220 CDI C-Class.
An independent garage has quoted me £720 to replace the motor, which includes a £125 diagnostic fee.
I phoned my local MB authorised dealer, and they quoted £120 diagnostic fee and £180 labour fee, but haven’t managed to obtain a price for the new heater motor.
Am I being ripped off by this independent?

 

[KennyN]

£180 labour fee,

Looks like a one hour job at the dealers , so have you thought about tackling it yourself as it doesn`t seem too big a task.

Can the dealers / Autodoc / Ebay / ECP not give you a price for a new part ?

Heater Motors | Car Heater Blower Resistor | Euro Car Parts

The heater motor gets your heater going when you need it. We stock a range of heater motors for all makes and models. The UK's no.1 supplier | Euro Car Parts

www.eurocarparts.com

K

 

[Wighty]

This sort of thing ?

MERCEDES C-CLASS W204 C204 S204 HEATER BLOWER MOTOR FAN RHD A2128200808 | eBay

£ 169.60Buy It Now. A/C Condenser. EGR Valves. Windscreen Wiper Motors. Trailing Arm Bushes. Thermostat Housings. Shock Absorber. Magic Tree Air Fresheners.

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[EmilysDad]

many moons ago .... I asked both a local MB Indie & a local MB main dealer for a price to supply & fit a water pump on my Smart Roadster. The pump itself was around £90. The main dealer phoned me back first with a price of £330. I then phoned the Indie & told them that the dealer has quoted me & then said you've got £330 to beat. His reply was " we're twice that"
As it was, I did it myself .... not such a difficult job ... just fiddly.

That was the last time I had anything to do with that particular Indie .... final straw

 

[alexanderfoti]

Unless its a super expensive motor, that's more like a £400 job with us (all Inc). I wouldn't usually charge diag. On a 204 you can reach the blower vanes from the engine bay through the scuttle opening. If its the brushes sticking etc, you can usually kick start the motor by spinning it.

If it starts spinning, you know its the motor.

 

[EmilysDad]

looks like a trip south of the river to Tonbridge for you Mark

 

[mioba]

Motors are easily written off for the want of a capacitor inside the motor.
If it needs a jump start - ie a turn when switched to get it going, then its the capacitor.

I had a motor fail (on a swimming pool pump) earlier this year, it was just buzzing. A bit of googling suspected the capacitor.
Called the pump manufacturer out o interest for a new pump (720 + Vat) and fitting.

Opened the pump to see the capacitor had swollen. New capacitor off ebay - 12 pounds.


Fitted and all fine. Happy dance.

Had similar with a handheld vacuum / 68p capacitor.

 

[ajlsl600]

Tryers often win its not even a technical job if easy to get at prob 30min I fixed my roller blinds same way cud have given 400 euro for new motor. But why not learn sommat and have chance to leave cash in bank.

 

[EmilysDad]

Emily's washing machine packed in .... it came with the house almost 2 years ago. She was already for buying a new one until her boyfriend fixed it with new brushes in the motor for a few quid!

 

[ajlsl600]

And change for a few well deserved beers. Issue today is often getting brushes made up to correctly fit holder. One can file down o, s but often not a decent fit.

 

[supernoodle]

This place will make brushes if they don't have them already

Carbon Brushes Suppliers manufacturers of carbon brushes

Carbon Brush Manufacturer Supplier Engineering Carbon Products carbon brushes, brush holders, hard carbon, graphite, resinbonded, electrographite

www.ecp.co.uk

 

[peterws1957]

This sort of thing ?

MERCEDES C-CLASS W204 C204 S204 HEATER BLOWER MOTOR FAN RHD A2128200808 | eBay

£ 169.60Buy It Now. A/C Condenser. EGR Valves. Windscreen Wiper Motors. Trailing Arm Bushes. Thermostat Housings. Shock Absorber. Magic Tree Air Fresheners.

www.ebay.co.uk

I'd be a bit careful with these eBay MB blower motors and regulators - they are very cheap when compared to oem parts but the quality is woeful and prone to early failure.

 

[markg14]

I had quotes from independent and authorised MB dealer. Both estimated one hour labour.
The motor cost was nearly £300, but this independent quoted 2 hours labour on top of £125 diagnosis fee.
When I pointed out that the labour time from others was one hour, they immediately dropped to one hours labour themselves. Despite getting the feeling they were ripping me off, I needed the car urgently and agreed to the repair. Just short of £600 all in. But they will get no more business from me.

 

[TeddyRuxpin]

Are you saying the cost to change the blower motor was £600?

The OEM spec Behr Hella is around £115-150 and it takes about 20 mins to change. I've re-oil mine once a year for the past 4-5 and the it's a very quick process. Much quicker to simply swap the old one out for a new one!

 

[alexanderfoti]

I'd be a bit careful with these eBay MB blower motors and regulators - they are very cheap when compared to oem parts but the quality is woeful and prone to early failure.

I hate these cheapo blower motors, they vibrate, and rattle and are just a pain.

They are cheap though!

NB (we did not do the repair )