How do Main Stealers make their prices up !

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bennesspipers

MB Enthusiast
Joined
Jun 3, 2009
Messages
1,539
Location
boston,lincs
Car
'95 W202 C220 Elegance saloon & 2001 C240 V6 Sport Estate
Last friday, while i was picking up from Merc dealer a new centre prop rubber & bearing, i asked them how much to fit them, answer - 2.6 hours job = £234 + vat, :eek:
My local stainless exhaust centre did the job for me today, the guy had never done one on any Merc before & he was finished in 1 hour 26 mins (inc 5 mins while we had a cuppa), price £60 + vat = £72. :thumb:
 
£234 for 3 hours (I presume they bill by the hour) isn't bad at all for a dealer...

By your own admission, the guy who did it for you had no experience with your car's model, let alone the marque...

Dealers charge a premium for the experience and expertise they have on their brand. If something goes wrong, a dealer has a very large support network behind them.

M.
 
£234 for 3 hours (I presume they bill by the hour) isn't bad at all for a dealer...

By your own admission, the guy who did it for you had no experience with your car's model, let alone the marque...

Dealers charge a premium for the experience and expertise they have on their brand. If something goes wrong, a dealer has a very large support network behind them.

M.

As well as much higher overheads for the premises, the range of specialist equipment they must buy and maintain and the investment in keeping staff trained and updated and more besides.
 
Put it this way, I use a mobile mechanic. He comes to my house with all his tools in a van, and charges £45 per hour without callout fees. If there's something he cannot do, and is halfway through taking an engine apart, he calls on a friend of his to come by and help (this hasn't happened before, but he has contemplated it).

That's enough for me 99% of the time. In fact, he's coming to change the sparks on one of the cars next week (stupid design, to change 3 of the spark plugs the engine needs to be lifted out of the car... or the manifold removed along with several other bits). I'm confident he can do that.

The alternative is spend a little more and get the dealer to do it. They will have done it before, and have an established process; that's what they charge for.

M. (who has used a dealer maybe twice in his life... usually just before selling a car! I tend to do servicing myself, and use independents otherwise)
 
Id expect that if Merc mechanics are better trained & got special tools it should take them less time than a non-Merc mechanic, not quote me DOUBLE the time & TREBLE the price.
 
Also mechanic at stealers is getting bonus if job finished before book time estimated....and usually it doesn't take the time quoted
 
Ever heard of the project management triad? (I'm sure it has other names)

Cheap, Fast and Quality. (AKA Cost, Time and Quality) Pick two - whichever two you pick will define the third as being the aspect that will suffer.

M.
 
Id expect that if Merc mechanics are better trained & got special tools it should take them less time than a non-Merc mechanic, not quote me DOUBLE the time & TREBLE the price.

For all the reasons explained to you earlier! In addition there may well be more that MB check when replacing these parts, things that your fitter would not know about never having carried out this procedure nor having access to the MB workshop manual.

You made your choice to get the part fitted by a local exhaust place and hopefully and in all probability you will have no problems but why come on here with another rant about the fact that main dealers are more expensive for labour? It is hardly news or adding to the general knowledge base.
 
As well as much higher overheads for the premises, the range of specialist equipment they must buy and maintain and the investment in keeping staff trained and updated and more besides.

Exactly the reason why not to take it to them,as the job the op had done needed no specialist equipment, no fancy premises or any specialist knowledge,
other than basic mechanics.
 
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Exactly the reason why not to take it to them,as the job the op had done needed no specialist equipment, no fancy premises or any specialist knowledge,
other than basic mechanics.

I fully agree, I would use my local MB independent and everyone has a choice how and where they have their car repaired so why do we need another pointless thread ranting about dealers being more expensive?
 
Not exactly a friendly guy are you DSM10000, if you dont like my posts dont read em, simples !
 
Not exactly a friendly guy are you DSM10000, if you dont like my posts dont read em, simples !


You do not know me so do not presume to comment on how "friendly" or not I am as it is meaningless

Also, how do I know if I do not like your posts unless I read them? What a ridiculous statement!

Your post here was of no value, you are merely telling us that a main dealer will charge more than a local garage or exhaust fitter. What has this told anyone that we did not know already?

I and others have qualified your original post by pointing out why there is a cost difference but you just choose to ignore the facts where they undermine your "argument"
 
As well as much higher overheads for the premises, the range of specialist equipment they must buy and maintain and the investment in keeping staff trained and updated and more besides.

The above sounds like some PR rubbish you read somewhere and now you wish to inflect it on the more enlightened.
 
The above sounds like some PR rubbish you read somewhere and now you wish to inflect it on the more enlightened.

If you are one of the "more enlightened" then why is it difficult to accept?

Dealers do have to maintain premises to a certain standard to retain their rights as main dealers to sell and service the marque , this means having the appropriate tools, equipment, number of staff and keeping those staff trained. It really is not a difficult concept.

Your local garage or exhaust fitting centre does not have anywhere near this level of overhead so clearly prices will be different.

We all have choices, it is called market forces. I am not advocating that people blindly use main dealers just stop complaining when they cost more when it is plainly obvious why this is.
 
Blocked him, sorted !

Blocked me from what exactly?

If you mean sending you a PM then it was never going to happen as you clearly have nothing of interest to say. It really is quite sad that you then have to claim "Blocked him":fail
 
You do not know me so do not presume to comment on how "friendly" or not I am as it is meaningless

Also, how do I know if I do not like your posts unless I read them? What a ridiculous statement!

Your post here was of no value, you are merely telling us that a main dealer will charge more than a local garage or exhaust fitter. What has this told anyone that we did not know already?

I and others have qualified your original post by pointing out why there is a cost difference but you just choose to ignore the facts where they undermine your "argument"

Four replies from you to a post that you dismiss as a rant, pointless and of no value. edit - add: nothing of interest

Edit: make that five replies
 
Four replies from you to a post that you dismiss as a rant, pointless and of no value. edit - add: nothing of interest

Edit: make that five replies

Your point being?

The OP was disingenuous, inaccurate, personal and made observations that did not stand up to reasoned argument.
 
it is plainly obvious why this is.

It's very plain but it's actually not for the reasons you mentioned. I could go on and on but really I just couldn't be bothered. I suppose the important point is for the likes of yourself you can justify the labour charges imposed by main dealers.
 
It's very plain but it's actually not for the reasons you mentioned. I could go on and on but really I just couldn't be bothered. I suppose the important point is for the likes of yourself you can justify the labour charges imposed by main dealers.

So enlighten us as why the dealers charge more!

At no point did I try to justify main dealer charges, I just explained why they have higher overheads. Try reading my posts accurately if you are going to comment.

I await your reasons as to why the dealers charge more with interest!

My knowledge of this comes from an old friend whose family owned a number of Landrover dealerships, they had to maintain a specified number of ramps, hold prescribed equipment, employ a certain number of trained mechanics, support those mechanics via training courses, be able to show that the workshop could turn around work in a specified time and hold a specified level of stock amongst many other parameters as part of the contractual obligations in being allowed to represent the marque.

Clearly this will come with a higher cost base than an independent local garage.
 
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