My first MOT and Mb dealer Service

AbeM

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Well now £894 lighter, but not as bad as it sounds. Car 55 plate E320 CDI Sport failed on 3 tyres. I just bought the car 3 weeks ago and haggled on the price it was an Autotrader private sale. Shocked that they were illegal. Dealer supplied Continentals 2 fronts 245 40 18 for £187 each and 1 back 265 35 18 for £194. I am not sure if this is expensive but I needed to get the car back today. MOT was £40 and service £175.

As tyres are consumables I would have to spent money on these at some point. No mechanical failures so I think maybe this is a good result. Dealer picked up the car from my work place in Edinburgh and dropped it back. They are based in Grangemouth about 30 miles west of where I work. They valeted the car nicely and left a nice tin of sweeties in the car. A good experience with John Weir of Grangemouth. Is this typical, any thoughts?:)
 

Mic

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OK deal......you have not had to move your arse even though you did not trouble to check the tyres. If you had checked the tyres you MAY have saved a few bob with a tyre specialist but that would have cost you personal time and mileage.

Good result......be happy.

Mic
 
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A

AbeM

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OK deal......you have not had to move your arse even though you did not trouble to check the tyres. If you had checked the tyres you MAY have saved a few bob with a tyre specialist but that would have cost you personal time and mileage.

Good result......be happy.

Mic

You are right I should have checked the tyres. I looked at the fronts and they looked legal. I was planning to get a tyre specialist to assess but mixture of bad weather and too much time at work prevented this. The MOT was a last minute addition when I realised I was inside the month before renewal. I also have 2 other cars I can use. I bought in a private sale and have been trying to sort out any issues before it gets regular usage.

I am not sure about the tone of your reply and can't decide if it was a snotty sarcastic reply, or if I am reading it with tired eyes. All I was looking for was experience of others as this is new to me.:confused:
 

paul hayward

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You are right I should hav3 checked te tyres I looked the fronts and they looked legal. I was planning to get a tyre specialist to assess but mixture of bad weather and too much time at work prevented this. The MOT was Alastair minute addition when I realised I was inside the month before renewal.

Not sure about the tone of you reply and can't decide if it was a snotty nosed sarcastic reply, or if I am reading it with tired eyes. All I was looking for was experience of others as this is new to me.:confused:

chill out;)...im sure your eyes are just tired;)
 

television

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Mic is one of our nicest members, and true what he said, you could have measured the thread, its down to you if the tyres were that bad, my reason for saying this is I never trust anyone.

That was not a bad price for tyres that size;)
 

Miffy

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I would say it was a snotty / Sarcastic reply also, its what we love about Mic :)
 

47p2

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John R Weir = Arnold Clark

Nuff said...without being snotty or sarcastic
 
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AbeM

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Mic is one of our nicest members, and true what he said, you could have measured the thread, its down to you if the tyres were that bad, my reason for saying this is I never trust anyone.

That was not a bad price for tyres that size;)

Okay I have taken the prescribed chill pill. If I had not been stranded at work or been closer to the MB dealer I would have liked to have.seen the tyres that came off. I can only assume there were small areas that had less tread than the areas I examined.

I ha d read somewhere that John R Weir had been take over by Arnold Clark (the Tesco of car sales in Scotland) but had forgotten this fact. However isn't good service to be applauded wherever you find it. I bought the car privately and at reasonable price.

Hopefully I'll get to know what others on the forum are like. No offence taken or intended in turn.
 

Wirral_guy

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Do you still get the MOT guarantee - £500 cover if it fails next year?

Dave
 

Mr Teddy Bear

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Those sweets and car delivery were ****** expensive Abe! I bought a complete car for less than your MOT!

As you can obviously afford it, the size of the bill doesn't really matter.

Now if you were to ask ' have I achieved value for money?' that would be a different question and the answer would have to be a big resounding no.

Either your trying to get a reaction [a wind up ] or your stressed/over pressurised and your decision making is showing that up?:shock:
 

brianbrian

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Yes we all have to buy tyres some time or other, do not for get to check your tyre pressures glad your car is all o.k. Hope this helps
 

grober

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While John R WEIR is now owned by Arnold Clark the entire dealer network staff have not all been replaced by inferior Arnold Clark " clones" overnight. If you were pleased with JWR's service before I doubt that much has changed in the short term. As an Edinburgh based guy why didn't you use Western at Willowbrae - would have been closer? Was it a booking for an MOT window thing?
 

d215yq

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So £750 for a set of tyres! How many miles do they last? Assuming it's 20k miles that's an incredible 3.8ppm just on tyres :eek::eek:

Or to put it in perspective if you manage to get 45mpg out of your car ,when you factor in the cost of tyres it might as well be doing 36mpg. Not saying that should bother you and if you got the car very cheaply may not matter...but given some people get crazily excited by such mpg differences i'd probably put a bit more effort into searching for cheaper tyres next time round.
 

Cardinal Biggles

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Welcome Abe,

I dont know enough about the E class, but if it's using the same oil as my CLS - fully synthetic - then £175 is a good price. from a main dealer. My last A service was £229 from IPswich MB - and no sweeties either. The oil alone would have cost me £100 from Halfords.

National sheds using part trained monkeys would charge £95, and typical Indies are £150, with no collection, so I think you have a good deal there.

The MOT is also a fair deal at £40 - lots of places charge £55.

The new tyres are less magnificent value. MB arent tyre specialists so you will pay more like full retail. My local MB dealer knows Im running the car off my own after tax income, not a company car, so a) they discount the labour charges a decent amount and b) they get a local tyre specialist in to do the tyres if you wish at half the cost. They have faced the real worl on this, at last.

No reason why you couldn't do similar next time. I reckon you would have an extra £300 in your back pocket now. Still, think of it as a bit more on th eprice you paid for the car.......

All in all that sounds like good value for your service (tyres excepted!) and very convenient. My MB dealer washes the car 50% of the time, never vacuums the interior, picks up and collects if you press them. They do a good job on the car, almost German Dealer standard of service, and Im satisfied so far.

The E class is the standard taxi in Germany. In Berlin they sometimes buy them insyndicates of three and run them in 8 hour shifts round the clock, There is a reason they buy E class for this - no other car make would come anywhere near the longevity and reliability. You will be very happy with your car now it is up to spec I am sure.

Happy motoring!
 
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Mic

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You are right I should have checked the tyres. I looked at the fronts and they looked legal. I was planning to get a tyre specialist to assess but mixture of bad weather and too much time at work prevented this. The MOT was a last minute addition when I realised I was inside the month before renewal. I also have 2 other cars I can use. I bought in a private sale and have been trying to sort out any issues before it gets regular usage.

I am not sure about the tone of your reply and can't decide if it was a snotty sarcastic reply, or if I am reading it with tired eyes. All I was looking for was experience of others as this is new to me.:confused:

No offence intended......I genuinely think you got a good result and that you were not robbed.

Mic
 

television

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The price for the tyres was not bad at all and fitted at £537 so £357 for the MOT and service, if an A service then expensive
 

The Pan Man

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Ex Professional Motorcyclist here. You have had the car 3 weeks and not checked the tyres. Words fail me.
 

television

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Ex Professional Motorcyclist here. You have had the car 3 weeks and not checked the tyres. Words fail me.

Very true, thats the first thing I look at after checking the rest
 

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Everyone loves a happy ending
 

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