Latest Service Quotes, Central Scotland

[johnmc]

Hi Scottish Drivers,
Here's the quotes for my latest service, might help you shop
around. Car is E200, W210. Looking for a B-Service, 40k miles.
All include VAT.

Main Dealers.
Western's, Edinburgh: £500 (Rip off merchants, worst by a long way)
John R Weir, Grangemouth: £340
Vardy Continental, Glasgow Centre: £370

Independent Specialist.
Deutsche-Marque, Dalkieth: £260

Prices have gone up a fair bit in the last 2 years. I would
usually push Western's to price match but I won't be doing it this
time. They are simply emptying our wallets by charging 50% more
than other Merc dealers. I'm also not going to go with the independent,
the £80 saving over the cheapest main dealer is not enough to risk
my mobilo-life with a car at 4.5 years old. Weir's were very good on the phone too, took lots of time to explain my entitlements under mobilo-life for loaner cars, pick up, taxi fares etc. They're getting my business this time around. Feel free to share folks, if you see cheaper I'm willing to listen!

John

 

[cruicky68]

In Ayr we have two dealers who are having a bit of a turf war at the moment. We've got the long established Mercedes dealer Glen Henderson and we now have a second dealership Mercedes of Ayr. I recently just bought a new car fron Glen Henderson, who really undercut the other dealer, when he heard I had gone there first.

I have heard the same is happening with servicing prices if you play them off each other On my car the C220 CDI I was quoted £180 for an A service and £280 for a B. These prices were from the saleman so I wouldn't bank on that being the exact price :?

 

[bazza]

Dont go near Weirs in Grangemouth.

I've heard stories about what goes on in there

Too much smoke for there not to be any fires!


bazza

 

[jberks]

All,
I've tended to find that the price quoted may not be the full story. They may be over the top, or else they have already included the stuff that the others will ring you about later. My 4.5 yr E240 (45k) B service started around £350+vat, but I then had a call about 'recommendations' such as brake and coolant change, new plugs, air/fuel filter changes etc that are supposed to be done around this point. This little lot would have added another £400+ to the bill. Don't bother with the plugs by the way - they are good for 60k.

 

[johnmc]

Thanks for the replies lads. I've gotten very good at saying no to main dealers and their extras. I ****ed them off so much last time that they only charged me 60p to fit 2 indictor bulbs (old ones were starting to flash white). They wanted labour too...!

Bazza, feel free to drop me a private message about Weirs, the info will go no further. My mate at work got his paintwork sorted out there, seemed to do a good job but also felt that they were a little too enthusiastic about billing Merc for warranty work.

John

 

[ivegotcclass]

My plan was to stick with the major Edinburgh dealer since I got my car through them. I'm not due a service for a good 12,600 miles but I'll bear these prices in mind when the time comes.

 

[Brett]

I've paid a little over the odds for servicing at Western for five years. When I had a major issue with a car (that I didn't buy from them in the first place) they did their best to repair it and when that didn't work, helped me to reject the vehicle for a full refund.

I then bought an E-Class from them which within weeks of having it, got one of the dreaded recalls. They apologised profusely and have offered me my next service for free.

Sometimes, it does pay dividends to establish a relationship with your dealer, even if it does mean higher bills at times. Good luck, and let us know how you get on.

 

[MerChris]

Indie expereince - uncertainty

From the perspective of a new owner of an old Mercedes who's just had his car serviced for the first time, I reckon I've done okay with a couple of niggles.

Took the car to Deutsche Marque in Dalkieth who were pretty good at answering my intial questions about a small gap in scheduled services. Gave an accurate estimate for major service (144K miles) and also provided a detailed estimate of work required to get the car up to scratch.

Service duly performed, my concerns are mainly around price (nothing new to you all) but also suspect billing practices. Hourly labour rates of £46 (servicing work) or £59.50 (all other work) seem exorbitant to me. Surely the Merc dealers are comparable and if so this pretty much takes the point out of going to an indie in the first place?

This leads to further anxiety over the cost of the estimates and how over the odds they might be. A blanket 2 hours of work has been applied to each of the following jobs: renewing 2 engine mounts; renewing the upper timing case; replacing disc and pad on o/s rear brake (obviously the first job). The work needs doing no doubt but I have no idea how long these jobs should actually take.

If anyone's interested, I'll happily share more details as I could really do with a steer on this. Cheers all. :?

 

[paulcallender]

From the perspective of a new owner of an old Mercedes who's just had his car serviced for the first time, I reckon I've done okay with a couple of niggles.

Took the car to Deutsche Marque in Dalkieth who were pretty good at answering my intial questions about a small gap in scheduled services. Gave an accurate estimate for major service (144K miles) and also provided a detailed estimate of work required to get the car up to scratch.

Service duly performed, my concerns are mainly around price (nothing new to you all) but also suspect billing practices. Hourly labour rates of £46 (servicing work) or £59.50 (all other work) seem exorbitant to me. Surely the Merc dealers are comparable and if so this pretty much takes the point out of going to an indie in the first place?

This leads to further anxiety over the cost of the estimates and how over the odds they might be. A blanket 2 hours of work has been applied to each of the following jobs: renewing 2 engine mounts; renewing the upper timing case; replacing disc and pad on o/s rear brake (obviously the first job). The work needs doing no doubt but I have no idea how long these jobs should actually take.

If anyone's interested, I'll happily share more details as I could really do with a steer on this. Cheers all. :?

Almost all garages will quote a 'standard' repair time as an estimate for the job, from this book:

http://www.autodata.ltd.uk/pages/rtm-8000.htm

This would save a lot of administration, becuase the mechanic who does the job wouldn't have to time himself with a stopwatch for each job. What happens if he is a good mechanic and does a 2 hour job in 1h50mins? What if he's a bit slow, and does it in 2h10mins, etc etc. Do you know how many components need to be removed to get to each engine mount? Do you know how limited the access is to the (invariably tight) bolts on these things? What if he soaks them in WD40 and then leaves them for half an hour, do you want to be charged for the extra half hour too? etc Similarly, rear disc replacement might or might not involve backing off, the parking brake shoes.

The times seem reasonable enough.

 

[MerChris]

What about costs

Thanks for the respinse there Paul - much appreciated and I totally take on board your points. I had no idea about the reference manual at all .... but now you mention it, seems obvious really :idea: :roll:

I'm interested in getting a feel for peoples opinion on the quoted labour costs. What's everyone elses experience of this? Do the costs I've been given look high or low. Any feedback most gratefully received.

Thanks again all,

Chris

 

[paulcallender]

Thanks for the respinse there Paul - much appreciated and I totally take on board your points. I had no idea about the reference manual at all .... but now you mention it, seems obvious really :idea: :roll:

I'm interested in getting a feel for peoples opinion on the quoted labour costs. What's everyone elses experience of this? Do the costs I've been given look high or low. Any feedback most gratefully received.

Thanks again all,

Chris

I approach it by doing the job myself, trying to use the same standards as a garage mechanic would, then working out how much money I saved over the equivalent workshop costs. Its a similar technique to women, who shop, come home with £200 of goods then justify it by explaining how much they would have paid, had the goods not been such 'bargains'. (The costs are roughly equivalent too).