Price of Service B on S320

[munzi791]

Dear All,

My car is due for a Service B at 61k, it was registered in 2003 but is the 2002 model (petoral). I have made enquiries about the price of Service B on it and so far i have been quoted more that £1000.00 by 3 Mercedes dealers, is this right?
Does anyone know what they do for a grand?

thanks

 

[dragon]

DIY, we can give you internet help.

 

[munzi791]

thanks Dragon,

BUT what is done for £1000.00?

 

[dragon]

They pocket it for just inspecting underneath the car and you may have to pay extra for parts, that not included.

 

[tromppost]

thanks Dragon,

BUT what is done for £1000.00?

Oil and filter, Plugs, Air & Petrol filters and Gearbox Oil and filter. That at an indie must come to £500. So I would expect around £800 from Merc.

 

[jberks]

all I can think of is that everything has arrived at once. Plugs - £250 - (12 and nearly 2 hrs work), gearbox oil and fliters - roughly £250, coolant and brake fluid changes - £100 ish. The B service itself is around £400 so £1k comes up pretty quickly if you're not watching carefully. If due, then all these things should be done so don't skip anything, but then don't pay £1k either.
As a first step, find a decent local indie and save yourself £3-400 on that lot. Most of it is labour and labour rates at the indie should be around £50ph less so savings clock up fast. Also, a lot of the quotes are based on start to finish but in reality there is a bit of overlap in the work so the prices allow for 2 drives into the bay, bonnet open, remove covers and panneling etc - which only need doing once. Indies charge for what they do so there should be room for menouver.

Or just haggle. Our dealership gave us over 30% off with a bit of prompting. They're not exactly turning customers away at the moment so don't be intimidated - they do negotiate.

 

[DougCLK320]

I've just spent practically a grand myself on a similar service. It's the "additional items" that really bump the price up - in particular replacing the twelve spark plugs, for a princely £325. It's all a bit of a con really, these A, B & C services which are a "basic" inspection / oil / oil filter changes only ......everything else, including the air filters, fuel filters, etc... are listed (and charged) as additional work.
Doug

 

[jberks]

given that its an S and there will be plenty of room - do the plugs yourself. I did mine (E240) and it cost me about £100 and a couple of scraped knuckles. S should be easier.