First Service Time

[glojo]

John - surprised you replied on this topic!!!

As usual I agree exactly with what your saying, hopefully my post was saying the same thing. I think it just blows mobilo out of the water, but again like you say, the terms of mobilo or mobilo life do change.

John

 

[steve.link]

Thanks guys - all very useful.

The car is leased so I have no problems with resale value and it will be long gone before the 3 years warrenty expires as I change every 2 years

I asked the dealer what exactly I got for £250:

8L of oil - £103
1 oil filter - £10
Labour - £ 90 ph

All plus VAT.

The labour includes checking fluid levels, lights, tyre pressures etc.

I do this all my self anyway so why would I want to pay someone £90 per hour?

The car recently had some warrenty work and all the software updates are up to date.

Still 500 miles to go for me to decide what to do.

 

[Rory]

I do this all my self anyway so why would I want to pay someone £90 per hour?

Well the crucial issue here is, what does the leasing company say about servicing?

If the contract demands franchised dealer servicing then you need to comply, if they're happy for Kwik-Fit to do it, then so be it.

 

[Roger Jones]

I once supplied Mobil 1 for a dealer to use. I have never shaken off the feeling that they could have used something else, because I didn't actually see it go in.

 

[Rory]

I once supplied Mobil 1 for a dealer to use. I have never shaken off the feeling that they could have used something else, because I didn't actually see it go in.

I always agonise over what type of oil goes in if the dealer supplies it - they could put the basic mineral oil in and charge for fully synth (that's if they change it at all ).

 

[Denise]

ATS

Oil change - £35 inc vat and labour

they use the same shell helix as used my merc!

 

[Glenn Smith]

If it is the first service the car has ever had, I wouldn't be surprised at that sort of price, as they should be doing rather more than ordinary A-service things. The very first service is pretty crucial, I would have thought. And at this stage in the car's life it's worth sticking with the dealers -- warranty and all that. It's certainly worth your while going over everything with a fine-tooth comb and building up the list of things you want fixed or checked.

Aren't dealer servicing prices standard across the country these days? That looks like a two-hour job to me.

This all may be true, but believe me the first service will be an oil and filter and a tyre kick, and no the servicing prices are not standard across the country. I was quoted £360 + vat here in peterborough (b service on c230k) and £299 inc vat in the west country. I do my own and an A service costs me about £30 inc the oil!!

 

[Parrot of Doom]

John - surprised you replied on this topic!!!

He's kinda right - the OEM warranty will not be affected if carried out according to OEM standards.....be prepared to justify this if you do have a warranty claim though (as the manufacturer maintains the right to confirm this). In other words, the OEM cannot dictate the place of service, but can dictate the standard...

Mobilio is not part of the OEM warranty and therefore MB can apply whatever standards it likes - however on my vehicle it was in place for two years before the two-year check came into force. You need to check the Ts&Cs in place for your vehicle as they seem to change quite often.

I agree with all the points raised, but I still question the value of a fitter (they're not mechanics any more) in a clean overall compared to the value of a mechanic in a mucky overall.

As this is a contract car its different, but personally I strongly believe that a FMBSH is not all its cracked up to be. The money saved by taking it to an independant is massive over the typical 3-5 years ownership.

Just look at the price of a service for what is basically an oil change. They can check whatever they like and charge for it, but frankly if the owner knows even a tiny amount about vehicle maintainance, he/she would have spotted those problems long before the Mercedes fitter would have missed them (yes, I don't trust dealers).

I'm only speaking from my own POV though, as I intend to keep and service my car myself until it dies from rust, crash, theft, whatever. I don't intend to sell it.