2 gripes, Can i trust dealership servicing costs & why do i have to go through a call centre

[stompa]

My w212 is due it's A5 service. I tried the my mercedes site and the quote was ~and £800 for a B service including gear box oil change i had 2 years ago & they had my mileage ~ 14k over.

I phoned the dealership and the contact centre agent started giving me the spewel about how older cars get confused what service is due etc etc. i pointed out i had a B service last year and they are the only dealership to ever service my car & i had issues with incorrect quotes last year, a further check on their side with confirmation i wasn't senile and making stuff up and i was booked in for the A service with mot, Fuel filter change, Brake fluid change, a few days after booking i received an email from the dealership confirming booking and i had to ask how much they wanted a day later i got another email stating £460 but with itemised listing so i have no idea what cost what.

I've phoned through a few indies and getting prices under £400 for service & MOT & fuel filter.

i tried another dealership near work (not been there in a while) phoned their servicing department and spoke with their Northern (nothing wrong with Northern) contact centre agents and after relaying the story how the Mercedes history tool is wrong etc, they came back 2 days later with a quote for A5 service of under £290 plus MOT. I was assured the quote was correct after the dealership did a thorough investigation of my service history.

I was thinking going with the independents but the dealership i purchased from isn't far off the indie prices and comes with Mobilife renewal.
But now another dealership is cheaper than the indies but likely without the fuel filter change and brake fluid change. She needs new pads next year anyway so i'm likely to do that then anyway.

In the olden days i'd just speak with a service engineer in branch and clear everything up in a few minutes but now going through a contact centre speaking with agents who have no idea and taking days to relay info to the branch and get an answer i feel like tearing my hair out.


so my dilema,

do i go with the dealership i got the car from, the other dealership that is cheaper or throw into the indies?

i am planning a trip into Europe next year and Mobilife will give piece of mind.

 

[John]

I'd probably ensure all the quotes are all doing exactly the same thing - as you allude to one probably doesn't include fuel filter and brake fluid and I've found the same.

But if you value Mobilo it would make sense to stick with the main dealer.

The differences you are talking are not massive even if that cheaper one more than likely works out similar to the other main dealer quote.

If you did go with an indie and had to pay for your own breakdown cover to include Europe, would you be saving that much this time anyway?

 

[Jtvgray]

I’m going through a similar dilemma for a B3 service....silly price at £600+ via the dealer to include the air and fuel filter change. Indie has quoted over £150 less for the same service, including the extras and the ‘electronic’ service record will be maintained. I never asked though whether the Mobilo will still be covered???

 

[John]

Mobilo is maintained when you keep your car serviced by a main dealer.

 

[Teego]

For Euro travel I upgrade my RAC UK cover as needed. You can haggle a bit and it's not expensive as an add on. I think there are a couple of highly respected indies near you.

 

[markjay]

The dealer is correct regarding service schedule confusion on older cars.

If your car had average annual mileage throughout its life, it would have had a service once a year, every year.

The services alternate between A and B. The '5' service normally occurs every 4 years. This means that if your car is (say) MY 2012, it would have needed a B5 Service in 2016, and then B5 Service will be due again in 2020.

The fact that the 4-yearly service is due together with an A Service and not with a B Service suggests that the car was either serviced at some point twice in one of the same year (e.g. due to excessive mileage), or that it missed a service.

Depending on when your ATF change is due, you might want to consider a Service Care Plan to cover the next two services.

 

[stompa]

The dealer is correct regarding service schedule confusion on older cars.

If your car had average annual mileage throughout its life, it would have had a service once a year, every year.

The services alternate between A and B. The '5' service normally occurs every 4 years. This means that if your car is (say) MY 2012, it would have needed a B5 Service in 2016, and then B5 Service will be due again in 2020.

The fact that the 4-yearly service is due together with an A Service and not with a B Service suggests that the car was either serviced at some point twice in one of the same year (e.g. due to excessive mileage), or that it missed a service.

Depending on when your ATF change is due, you might want to consider a Service Care Plan to cover the next two services.

i've had the car from new, its always been to the same dealer & never missed a service.

it needs an A5 not a B as thats what i had last year.

i had a service care plan on the previous car that covered brakes too & i definitely got value for money out of that, the newer plans deliver savings over 3 years or more but.....

i took out a plan on this car when i got it and cancelled after the gearbox oil change a few years back as i intended to change the car but never really found what i wanted.

I've done less than 3k miles since this time last year, & the car has done ~ 9k on average per year.

i can understand there being some confusion with cars with mixed ownership and dealership servicing but 1 owner and 1 dealership & its clearly telling me inline with expectations.

there are some very good indies and a mate who worked at Puttocks has recommended a number to me who i'm willing to give a try, & will get my business for repairs I expect better service from the dealer though.

 

[markjay]

My point was that brake fluid change is due every two years, and air filter every four years, so they should normally coincide with an even-years services, i.e. year 2/4/6/8 etc for the brake fluid and years 4/8/12 for the air filter, therefore they would normally happen together with a Service B (not Service A). Yes your car seems to need these with an odd-year service (and not even year), so clearly the schedule wasn't followed at some point? What year did you buy the car?

 

[markjay]

...there are some very good indies and a mate who worked at Puttocks has recommended a number to me who i'm willing to give a try, & will get my business for repairs I expect better service from the dealer though.

Olly at Prestige Car Services in Horndean is one of the best MB specialists in the SE, possibly in the UK, and he's only 45 minutes away from you.

You can contact him via his website, or via the forum - he's mbclub username is BlackC55.

Mercedes Benz & Smart Specialists | Prestige Car Service | Horndean, Hampshire

www.prestigecarservice.co.uk

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forums.mbclub.co.uk

 

[tonysmb]

It's funny really as the service schedule is really quite straightforward but we live in a world now whereby common sense seems to have gone out of the window and it's become 'computer says'. My experience of ohe of the call centres is that they're great for booking in a slot but don't seem to have a clue about the actual work, other than quoting what's on a screen.

I would have thought that a decent indie would be happy to talk it through and do the work that's required, not just do what the ESS says. Having said that, I've heard of an indie not doing requested work because it wasn't showing as due on the system; that seems madness to me, if the customer asks for x to be changed, is happy to pay, why decline to do it?