CL500 Service due

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Maff

MB Enthusiast
Joined
Jun 4, 2002
Messages
2,485
Location
Henley-on-Thames
The 'B' service is due on my CL now, (20k miles) so I phoned up Greenoaks and they quote £430. I then phoned Basignstoke and they quoted £475. Dealers in Amersham quoted £380.

I couldn't believe that there could be £100 difference in prices between local(ish) dealers.

Have you noticed a difference in prices between dealers?
 
woah! thats interesting! I know part prices varied throughout the dealerships too!
 
I noticed that when my SL was due4 for its service last september, i don't remember how much the difference was now but MB Great West Road were significantly cheaper than the dealers local to home, namely MB Dartford and Malaya Bromley (Now MB Bromley).

Another major price difference was a new electric aerial.
MB Dartford: Said can't replace just the mast thus Complete Aerial £200,
Malaya: Replace mast £90.00
MB GWR: Complete new Aerial £100.
 
Originally posted by Maff
The 'B' service is due on my CL now, (20k miles) so I phoned up Greenoaks and they quote £430. I then phoned Basignstoke and they quoted £475. Dealers in Amersham quoted £380.

My '98 c230k had a 'B' service last year (another one due soon) and I watched them put the VIN into the computer and let it work out what was needed. A HUGE list reeled off the printer and while one of the servicing guys was writing out the little booking card another serving guy took a quick glance at the schedule.
"bl00dy h*ll that's a big one!" he said (quoted £580) and the other servicing guy looked at me, looked back at him, coughed and under his breath whispered "customer present!". The other guy just walked off and the servicing guy shook his head and took me through the list of things that needed doing (I had listed some jobs too so £580 wasn't unexpected) . When I saw how many things were on it I wasn't surprised it was £580, so many parts were replaced it was practically a new car! ;)
 
Great west road quoted £420.

Booked in for Friday at greenoaks.

On top of the B service, heres the little list of things there going to try and sort out whilst it's in. I've been saving them up!

- whole car lower passengers side by an inch all over front and back
- rattle from gearbox cover in centre console
- rattle from rear area of front drivers door
- rattle from higher area of dash
- passengers seat controls loose on door
- bush or similar knocking noise from rear suspension
- oil stain left of arm rest from last visit cant remove
- passengers seat lower housing broken after auto return feature caught and snapped it off
- steering column makes screeching noise when turning on full lock
 
Originally posted by Tan
Another major price difference was a new electric aerial.
MB Dartford: Said can't replace just the mast thus Complete Aerial £200,
Malaya: Replace mast £90.00
MB GWR: Complete new Aerial £100.


I replaced the mast on my prev 96 SL easy as pie and as cheap as chips at £20. From Whitefield Mercedes, Manchester.
 
Service Costs

Same thing here. Difference of around £100 between Lancaster Ipswich and Robinsons Norwich. I had asked both to price a standard lube (intermediate) service. When challenged Lancaster admitted quoting an extra ONE HOUR's labour for a 'wheels off safety check' I hadn't asked for & an extra £15 for 'cleaning the injectors'! - all plus VAT.

I was intrigued by Lancaster's resopnse so spoke again to Robinson, who said a safety check is included in the standard M-B service schedule and besides (they said), every garage has a legal obligation to return the car in a safe condition. And they added that M-B doesn't recommend any cleaning additive so they wouldn't advise a customer to pay for one (tho' some do insist!). Try Optimax if you must, they said, it'll do exactly the same thing. At last, an honest dealer.


Guess where I don't go to get my new car serviced.

To me the moral is, don't go to the big publicly quoted service franchises, because they only survive by grabbing an ever larger slice of your money - from the mechanic (obviously) to the pension funds, including on the way: service advisors, local management, regional management, subsidiary board, main board, consultants, strategists, investment bankers, the whole damn crew!

Let them scam the other big corporates while we stay away in ourdroves.

- Rich
 

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