General servicing on a Mercedes Vito 115cdi

[MDB1983]

Hi all,

I have recently purchased a fully converted camper van Mercedes Vito 115cdi 2009 which I absolutely love. It's been well maintained and is currently on 129k. In terms of general servicing I'd like some advice from experienced owners as to whether they use main dealer or indie for their servicing. The history of the van is all MB main dealer currently, well maintained with the 'black death' issue sorted out in April 2018. AT fluid was changed in the last service which was service B back in January 2017.

I am not too fussed at keeping up a MB service history just for the sake of it but in terms of general maintenance, is there anything particularly complicated on the van to warrant using a B dealership or, if you have a tried and trusted indie garage, is servicing just fairly straight forward? I'm guessing that providing they use the correct grade of Mercedes oil for my engine, it won't be that big a deal?

Thanks,

Mark

 

[Chrishazle]

Once an MB is over 3 years old and not under MB warranty, concensus on here is use a trusted indie and save yourself loads of money compared to main dealer prices. For example, last January I needed a B5 service on my S204, main dealer wanted over £500, local indie did the job using proper parts and oil for £300. OK, he does not have a fancy showroom and coffee machine, but ran me home when I dropped the car in to him then collected me when the car was ready for collection! Search on here and you'll find a recommended indie in your area.

 

[m80]

Agreed, general consensus is an MB Indie specialist. I would do some research to find one that has a good reputation.

All general service parts are easily available and in theory anyone could do the job. Many here do their own. But there is advantage in building a relationship with a good Indie, who might become familiar with the vehicle, and be of great use if there are other issues down the line.
A brief interogation with Star when servicing might be useful in prevention also.

 

[Marku]

You will need a commercial dealer and having had experience of both car and commercial I would say you are better off with the commercial not that an MB car dealer will even look at a Vito. We used to have a Vito and it was regularly serviced with an MB commercial dealer. Then bought a Viano which is part of the car range and comes under the MB car dealers for servicing. All right when it was new but even then got tired of being told that they didn't service it by the help. Tried an independent who were very friendly but really not much use or reliable. Went back to the MB car dealer who continued to be annoying and after a particularly episode I phoned the commercial dealer where we had got our Vito from as the Viano is based on the Vito bodyshell. Told me they would be happy to but said the problem was that the software differed and referred me to another branch which also had a car franchise phoned them and no problem. You don't get all the bells and whistles but a much better experience with the commercial dealer and particularly an official MB one.