What different does a full merc service history make?

[Amber Raccoon]

Well, i know you all go on about how bad the merc dealerships are, but i thought no they cannot be that bad.

Took my car in as the air con was playing up, sat and waited while they did the diagonostic and it was a faulty relay. No problem, was very looked after and they even got me a 50% discount on the part as my car is only 5 months out of warranty. Anyway few days later booked the car in, but they was a 9 day wait for a courtesy car (which there is a £10 charge for). Anyway, in goes the car today, one of the sales reps had taken the A class that had been booked and wasnt coming in so no couresty car. Again to be fair to the dealership they gave me another car, a smart roadster. Fun car, but what a nightmare of a gear box and the sterring well thats another discussion, thank goodness i was not going far. :x

At 3.30pm (car left at 8am) they rang to say that merc wont honour the discount, so thats an extra £125, no problem, it needed doing, then to only find out they hadnt ordered the part. They had 9 days to do it!!!!!

What a fisaco, now need someone else to do the work and am trying to get the £55 back for the original diagnostic they did, i am not going to hold my breath. I wanted my money back or a copy of the exact part i need to give to an alternative garage, perhaps they will prove me wrong.

Anyway, i am loathed to take my merc back there or indeed to any other dealership. The other local option lost out right from the start as his attitude towards me when buying an SLK was a joke. Admittedly i turn up in an R reg people carrier, but his stuck up attitude was a joke. The car i wanted wasnt cheap it was going to be a cash sale, but all he keep asking was whether we could really afford it, perhaps we should have turned up in one of our other cars which well exceed the price we where paying and he would have been more friendly.

Sorry to ramble but so incensed about todays expereince. So the BIG question is what difference does it make to the resell value of the car if i go to a non merc garage for my services and repairs. have a very good Chrylser garage near by or happy to take it a specialist nearby - live east midlands. Please suggest some good guys if you know any.

First two services by owner previous done by a merc garage, but as much as i love my car, i am not willing to do a 200 mile round trip to take it back to that dealership.

Any info on good garages would be very much appreciated.

 

[teky]

it makes the price higher when buying and also proves its been looked after

 

[squealinneil]

I bought my 190e 2.5-16 from a bloke in B'rum ( I live in the Thames Valley) & he swore by Andy Gayle in Smethwick (I think). I've heard other people say he's v. good & my car was in tip top shape. If you google him or even search the BBs you'll find peoples' opinions.
My cars are too old for dealerships so I leave them alone unless it's for parts. They don't really have anybody trained on models that have been out of production 10+ years anyway.
When I had new cars, regardless of the make, I was constantly amazed at the poor work & high prices of some franchised dealers - TFL Renault in Wandsworth & the MB dealer in Reading being outstandingly, jaw droppingly bad.

 

[peterchurch]

Hi,
I agree with teky, but the other side of the coin is this...

If the car is 3-4 years old now and you keep it for 3 years what is the likely value of it by then? Is it going to be a classic? The only people that really care about FMBSH are enthusiasts but consider this, if...

You take your car to MB who will make you wait for a few weeks to do the job (lets hope it's not that serious)

You pay anything up to £90 per hour for the labour charge, while being patronised by the staff.

They never seem to have the part you want in stock. So you have to order them in more waiting... (how much money is this waiting costing in your time?)

It would be interesting to know what the % of fully qualified senior technicians are to juniors and trainees. The chances are that if your fault is out of the ordinary the trainee is going to get the job to build his experience levels even if there is a senior tech involved as well.

Have you really made any extra money on the sale of the car at the end?

Where as...

If you found a good independent you will reduce your labour charges by at least half, you will have the benefit of talking to the guy that works on your car and if your lucky being able to watch some of the work and ask questions about things that are concerning you. You will have the option of using the spares of your choice and you might get them at a cheaper price.

So if?

You keep the car for 3 years and save £200 per service you will probably end up with £3-600 extra saved in labour, and that?s without doing work like changing break pad etc. If you have kept all the service documents and bills then you can still demonstrate the level of care taken of the car.

I would think that you would not be too far out of pocket and you will know that the car has been looked after by someone that is good at his work. Instead of someone that is hidden from sight and not allowed to talk to customers...

If the buyer is concerned about anything you can say here is the name of the very man that serviced my car, pick the phone up and ask him your questions ... Could they really do that with MB-UK? Out of interest, has anyone tried to get information about services carried out by the now defunct Lancaster MB inside the M25?

Does this help?

Best regards,

Peter

 

[mlc]

Amber,

This is a really difficult one. Would you have bought the car without a service history, would you have been happy with a full history but all at an indy? Would you have been happy for to see a full history produced by the owner because he had done everything himself.

We also have an SLK , and also a 1972 SL. I would never dream of sending the SL to a main dealer, doing nearly all the work myself and to a standard I suggest matches that of the dealership. We have a number of Fords, all relatively new, that also only go to the main dealer for warranty work.
So what is special about the SLK and MB servicing? Well I suspect it is nothing more than a very successful system of frightening owners into believing that they need an MB history to sell the car, I suspect that for most cars over 5 years old the potential buyer is looking for a provable record of care from the previous owners, if that amounts to receipts for everything that has ever been done - showing dates and mileage, along with all MOT's they are going to be happy.

Finally the SLK may be a future classic. If you keep the car for another 20 years before selling it you want to be able to show a full history, not a series of stamps in a service book. Buyers like good complete history.

Mark

PS Mrs C. says to tell you that the only colour for an SLK is Silver - sorry

 

[teky]

its not that difficult the older cars are worth more than the newer one, milage is a norm factor with age but if its in good condition then it shows its been looked after, your eyes and brain are a major factor here :wink:

 

[Amber Raccoon]

Thanks guys. I suppose I would have bought the car without a MB history as long as it had all its receipts. So i think that is the way to go, find myself a good non dealership garage that will treat me and my car with respect. Our friend who is a garage owner does are other non sports cars, just a shame he cannot do are other two. However, he is giving me a few names of alternative garages in the area.

SLKs in silver mmmmmmm!!!! Alright if you want people to think it is a company car!. 75% for sale are silver with black leather interior, so i was determined not to have a silver one, took a long while to find an amber one that also had a designo interior. Really wish they would bring the SLK out in that light metallic purple they do the CLK in. Ohh with a purple leather interior (maybe that is going too far! :wink: ) If you saw our drive it is a bit light a multi colour swapshop, Orange Nissan, Orange KTM, Blue citeron, white van and red honda, plus the amber merc. You cannot miss our drive :lol:

Thanks again, the info was very helpful.

Ann

 

[mlc]

Amber,

I cant agree with the comments on colour, my instructions when given the job of finding an SLK for Mrs C were - must be silver with red / black interior! Age mileage etc were all ignored. The truth is it would be boring if we all liked the same things.

This item has really suprised me because I expected lots of people to insist that you must take the car to MB, and nobody has! I'm not really sure what that means because I have always felt that the majoriy of owners on the forum use main dealers - it just shows how easy it is to get the wrong impression.

Finally which ever route you take I suspect your not going to get a service performed in as exotic a location as our SLK. A previous owner retired abroad and took the car with them, only to decide a few months later to return to the UK, bringing the car back with them. Whilst away the car was serviced - in Bridgetown, Barbados. Sadly we are unlikely to be able to use the services of this garage again.

Mark.

 

[OlafMaxwell]

Goes like this.

i have kept a full MB history up to 85k, paid through the nose for it. Whay? So you get MB warranty and breakdown cover and supposedly keep the value. So, what happens when you do that? Dealers charge you for work they did not do. You complain to MB and they tell you they are 'unable to telephone the dealer'. You break down twice with the same problem, get it repaired by MB dealer and then MB refuse to cover the breakdown, refuse to provide Mobilo cover and refuse to honour the warranty. You get rust in your car, they refuse to cover that too without a solicitor taking on the case.

Add up what it all costs in poor inefficient service driving 75 miles to the garage [most recent dealer is by the way ok, local ones crap] and its serious money.

Alternative, find a known good independent and stick with him, don't spend your time travelling, it will be cheaper and better because independents with a reputation are keenly interested in keeping it and having you come back. You will save money.

When you sell, just keep those receipts because the person you sell to, at the age the car will be, will not want to use MB dealers and will go for an independent. Because he is not involved in the transaction he will be able to give a reference as to how the car has been maintained and treated. If you are buying a car 4 years old or older you want to talk to the man who maintains it. That to me is worth more. And if its worth a little less, remember what you have saved on servicing. For the things you might buy yourself, keep those receipts too. Any enthusiast will love a file like that, its much more demonstrative of someone who keeps their car well. If breakdonw cover troubles you, join AA or buy a policy independent of MB who will only take you to their own dealers anyway.

 

[mikemoss]

Don't all faint at once, but I really rate the MB main dealer here in Bath. They've looked after a couple of elderly 124s for me without a hint of snootiness, always doing the things that needed doing - and transforming the driving pleasure into the bargain - and simply making a list of things that need 'keeping an eye on.'

They've given me a 'mature Mercedes' discount on parts and labour, which has kept the costs more or less on a par with the chap round the corner, and I've always been treated with every bit as much courtesy as if I'd bought a brand new top-of-the-range S class.

They're now looking after my 1999 E320, which arrived with a full MB history (part of the reason I bought it) and I'll make sure to keep it that way. The discount continues thanks to the MBOA, and all those stamps in the book should keep the MobiloLife alive in case the rust bug bites.

When looking to replace my last car, a full MBSH was definitely up there at the top of the 'must have' list. I still remember the case of a tricky-to-start Saab 9000 which I took round two local garages in search of a cure, then called in mobile mechanic before finally gritting my teeth and taking it to the main dealer. Within two minutes they'd identified the fault as a non-return valve in the fuel line and I was on my way about £10 lighter, but a good deal wiser having wasted upwards of £100 on the earlier attempts.

 

[AMGMAL]

Indy v $tealers

under 4 years old let $tealers touch them and there is 2 reasons behind that,. a) they the only robbing b*stards who have the upto date tech info, (indys get updated a year or 2 later), and experienced to work on them, if it brand new 99% indy has never seen one let alone worked on one, 3/4 years down the line they 60% have, so anything over 4 years old, Let the Indy take charge,

Hope it helps ya out dude,

and now with block excemption, if a reputable specialist used genuine parts then warranty is valid regardless,