Well guy's after many years of using only main dealer servicing I finally decided I was being charged too much and went to George Fraser. As I live in Woking and George is in Alperton it's a bit of a pain to go there and back twice in one day (M25/M40 aarrrrgghhh) but the £150 saving is probably worth the extra agro. This was my first service on this CLK and it was a big shock to see the parts list. The service was a main service at 19,500 miles. Oil filter Air filter x 2 Screen wash (I can do that!) Anti-freeze (that too) 7 litres oil (that too but my hands might get dirty ) Fuel filter Gearbox gasket Gearbox filter Gearbox oil and finally.....................16 spark plugs! Yes, 16 honest!! The last time I serviced my own car I remember spending about £9 on 4 of them eeek! George is very personable and even his mechanics were friendly which was nice. The S320 he gave me for the day was a bit of a barge but it does the job well enough. In all, it was an OK experience and I would suggest anyone else should give him a try if your local. Saying that, George did mention Steve P is a regular and he is in South Wales. Perhaps you don't need to be local then!
cool dude , does it feel any better with the new plugs and filters? I wonder if the V 12 has 24 spark plugs ?
It's true infact my car goes to see GF a week today to track down and repair an air-con leak. Also for George to cast a critical eye over the recent accident repair job that has been done recently. Fudger, Good to hear you had a positive experience, do you have a handle on how much you saved with George instead of going to the stealership? Fuzzer, Eek imagine the costs of getting them changed... I thought 12 was bad enough for our V6's. S.
Hi Steve, it's the labour total that is half a stealership rather than the parts so I would say about 25% as the parts were extensive in this instance. For a standard A or B service I would estimate about 35% saving but certainly no more. I hope for your sake george sorts you out first time as a second trip would be somewhat 'inconvenient' I would imagine! If you mention a CLK430, two ball joints and a warranty repair via Steve at Hampstead MB he might remember me. by the way and for everyone's benefit, MBOA members get 10% off the total bill.
