At what point do you call it a day?

[Rory]

Shall I put (formerly) beloved S203 out to grass?

Took her in to the dealer for service today – I know it’s daft taking an oldish car to the dealer but they’re convenient and do a not-bad price and with it only needing service every 2yrs I feel it’s worth it to keep Mobilo. Also, while there are a few indies relatively nearby there’s none with the fabulous reputation the regular forum contributors have,

Generally the car has been fine. Not this year – I was presented with a substantial list of work, the most horrific (cost-wise) was replacing the rear brake pipes at £1200. Gulp!

It’s only done 80K – my job changed just after I bought the car (at 5mths old) and I work at home so it often sits unused for 2-3 weeks (we have another car for local use) but then will effortlessly do a 400 mile round trip. After all this time I suppose the car owes me nothing, as they say, but maybe it’s time to let someone a bit more enthusiastic take over.

Thoughts?

 

[John]

Depends what you buy next.

Unless you play bangernomics well and have some luck, you will either pay in maintenance, or depreciation and maintenance.

Personally, I would add up what is required and then have a look on the usual second hand car sites and make a decision based on how they compare.

Arguably, it sounds like the car could do with falling in to the hands of someone who can do the work themselves now thus saving on labour - which is a big chunk of the cost.

Saying that, you are paying double the labour rate using MB. Cut the labour in half on your quoted prices for the outstanding work and see how it stacks up then.

If it does - just invest in a good recovery policy from someone like Gem and you will save a fortune!

Otherwise, you may as well move it on and put that repair bill cash in to a newer car.

 

[flango]

That's just stupid money for the brake pipes somebody's priced that because they don't want to do it. Any decent garage local to you could do that job for a quarter of the price. Second opinion needed me thinks don't just take MB word they are no good

 

[HB]

£1200 !!!!

Having a giraffe me thinks.

 

[gunning]

Take it somewhere else, £1200 is a joke for rear brake pipes

 

[Charles Morgan]

Just had all the brake pipes renewed on my W114 coupe. Took under a day, so quite a lot less than your quote. Find another specialist.

My local garage, a generalist with MOT station, does a roaring trade in looking at dealer quotes, checking the genuine requirements then doing them for a fraction of the quote.

Get a second opinion.

 

[Rory]

Thanks all - that's sounding a bit more hopeful, although I did search the issue and apparently the "proper" way to do it, which of course if what the dealer will be quoting, involves dropping the diff and driveshafts (dealer told me "rear axle").

There was also oil "misting" in a couple of places and a few other random things.

I suppose I'm just a bit shell-shocked - it's been pretty faultless until now and passed MOT just a few months ago with no advisories - although I normally get MOTs done at the dealer, they sent the car out last time as their MOT ramp was down.

 

[JasM]

Yep £1200 is a ridiculous price

Not an MB but I had the rear brake pipes replaced on my 1st RRS 3 years back by an indi for £250.

 

[gIzzE]

I got the rear brake pipes on the S203 and they charged me £160 from memory.

No problem getting it serviced at MB if they are competitive, but a decent indy that you trust will do just as good a job, if not better imho, and probably be cheaper too.

Mobilo is a waste of space as far as I am concerned, and you have just proved why. They take you back to Mercedes, and then they say 'Your brakes failed because the pipes have corroded, we put new ones on and you owe us £1200!!'

It is a 12 year old car, probably worth around £3-4k? Just get a local to swap the fluids eveyr year and do the bits that need doing when the MOT says so, or if you feel something not quite right (suspension I am thinking).

 

[John Jones Jr]

As already mentioned get the pipes replaced at a local garage. It possibly requires the rear subframe and fuel tank to be removed which is all straightforward work for any garage. I imagine the cost will 50% or less but do allow for some sundry items like failing s/frame bushes etc.

 

[Tim203]

I agree totally with Flango, they don't want to get dirty. This sort of thing winds me up big time. My works 406 that my Dad had from new in '98 had to go to the dealer to trace a broken wire on the loom. That's all I wanted doing. 2 wiper blades later a dash bulb and selling us a complete set of hand brake shoes and springs for £250 ( having told me a spring was broken) that I felt obliged to buy we had a £400 odd bill. I told the parts department that although not their fault they'd effectively written the car off. Having seethed for a couple of days ( as I had recently adjusted the handbrake up for the mot) I took the brake kit back. In reality when I later ( months) inspected the handbrake shoes the back plate had rusted where the retaining pin sat. Easy fix.
I have an old 2003 S203, I love it and it's got loads of life left in it. Pricing vehicles into the scrap yard is Irresponsible as far as the environment is concerned bearing in mind the energy expended to make a car. The only thing it does is help the industry. There are lots of little garage who will do a proper job for you for a couple of hundred pounds.

 

[Rory]

No problem getting it serviced at MB if they are competitive, but a decent indy that you trust will do just as good a job, if not better imho, and probably be cheaper too.

I mentioned that in my OP - there are a few indies not too far way but none of them have a reputation like the regulars on here so they're all something of an unknown quantity. I've made contact with a couple of them in the past but they didn't insipre confidence and on jobs where I was asking a price they were about the same as the dealer.

I do use an indie for our VW.

Mobilo is a waste of space as far as I am concerned, and you have just proved why. They take you back to Mercedes, and then they say 'Your brakes failed because the pipes have corroded, we put new ones on and you owe us £1200!!'

When I use the car I'm usually taking it down South (from the NW) so the thing I hoped Mobilo would do is provide a hire car and not leave me stranded. I have full dealer rate warranty on the car so for things that actually break taking it to a dealer would be fine. Of course it doesn't cover things like brake pipes corroding (that's fine - I never expected it to).

 

[John Jones Jr]

That's just stupid money for the brake pipes somebody's priced that because they don't want to do it.

Yeah, most main dealers these days only want to do oil & filter changes, top up the screen wash and change discs & pads. And when it comes to older cars they just want rid of them. Imo, nobody has any business using a main dealer for servicing/repairs after the warranty has expired.

 

[E55BOF]

If it passed the MoT test a few months ago, it doesn't need the rear brake pipes to be replaced now, unless the MoT tester was half-blind; they don't corrode that fast unless you park it in the sea. If you're worried, and can't take a look yourself, put it through the MoT test again and see if it's even an advisory.

Just to put the price into perspective, I had the rear pipes on my W211 replaced at WG M-B for less than a third of what you have been quoted, and that included a fluid change and full bleeding of the SBC system, which requires a Star to do. Convenient or not, I don't think I'd go back to that dealer again...

 

[Trickythemerc]

If you get hold of Nick Webster Merc Specialist in Poynton,you could be in for some serious money saving. He is very good and more than reasonable with his prices.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Thoughts?

Yes, you should sell it, and it's your lucky day because I could do you a favour and take it off your hands.

Remember too, they're terrible engine those 2.7 CDI, it's probably only got another 500,000 miles left on the engine...

 

[Rory]

If it passed the MoT test a few months ago, it doesn't need the rear brake pipes to be replaced now, unless the MoT tester was half-blind; they don't corrode that fast unless you park it in the sea.

I'm thinking of contacting the Service Manager on that point. Their easy get-out though, as mentioned earlier, is they subbed out the last MOT.

I know dealers are legendary for trumped up work, but I've never experienced that with the Mercedes dealer I use. As soon as it happened at VW, I was off. Oddly the dealers are both owned by the same group.

 

[Rory]

Yes, you should sell it, and it's your lucky day because I could do you a favour and take it off your hands.

Remember too, they're terrible engine those 2.7 CDI, it's probably only got another 500,000 miles left on the engine...

I best sell it then! At its current average rate I'd have to keep for 71 years to add 500K.

 

[TheFoX]

I once wanted a towbar fitted to my Jag X-Type, and it was quite obvious that the dealer couldn't be bothered when he told me it had to be done at a main dealer because the Jag electrics was a special inverted three phase reverse retention system, different to all other systems in use.

As if Jag had their own electronic system.

I walked away in disgust, especially since I am an electrician. Why don't they just say, 'We don't want the job mate'.

Yep, £1200 is way too excessive, and it is quite obvious that they don't want your custom, or will charge the Earth if you insist they get their hands dirty.

Find a reputable indy that'll do the job for a fraction of the price.

 

[Aero]

I really don't understand why some businesses just can't politely say "no, this doesn't fall into our remit/capability" and so long as they make a couple of local suggestions on who could do the work, surely a customer would walk away and say fair enough, go some place else BUT possibly come back another day with something else...all they'll end up doing is eroding their customer base. Nuts!! What happened to looking after your business life blood?