Have I been over charged?

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mercedes lover

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Joined
Dec 16, 2003
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Location
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Car
Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCI 2003
Hello everyone, got my B service done on my 1996 C180 this week and had to have all the brake pads and discs done, looking over the bill it looks rather high, I went to a garage that is a mercedes specialist. I rund up mercedes parts department and the parts were cheaper than he's charged me, anyway I knew if I put the bill on this forum some people on here can tell me if i've been over charged or if it's about right.

Inspection B service £225
Wiper Blades set £24.60
Fort'e fuel conditioner £12.50
Repack 4 CV Joints £60
Pollen micro filter set £17.60
Rear brake discs x2 £80.50
Front brake discs x2 £105.00
Front brake pads Kevlar £60.10
Rear brake pads Kevlar £47.21
Brake warning sensor set £8.60

Total Parts £641.11
Total Labour £190.00 including 15% discount
VAT @ 17.7% £145.44
MOT Zero VAT £44.15

Total Invoice £1020.70
__________________
Mercedes C180 Classic (manual)
 
Seems a bit steep, but am defo no expert. Did it really need Kevlar pads, they seem expensive. Fuel conditioner? The MOT itself could have been £10 cheaper too, so there's an indication in itself. But, if it's running well, then who cares. Having said that, you could have got a whole car for £1500. Hey ho!
 
The car is running like new, he said the car underneaf is perfect and is the Best C-class of that age he's seen and told me to look after it as have alot of years left in it.
 
From reading a couple of these threads, I think I'll sort the brakes myself before a service is due (if need be).

At GSF Car Parts, you could have got your discs for about £15 each and pads for £20 each.
 
The labour isn't too bad, and the MOT is the going price in London these days!

As with many specialists, they keep the parts in stock so charge roughly what they pay, so there is some fluctuation.

Normally if you agree to do a cah price with a specialist you will see a 30% saving roughly.
 
That MOT price is the max that can be charged as set by the Government. Mt GF had to pay that at a Lex Autocentre the other week, and then got charged £13 for 2 indicator bulbs and a number plate bulb.
 
What i normally do with my mechaninc who is local merc specialist is to buy the parts myself and just pay him whatever he charges for labour. Although he is a friend and i trust him, i feel better knowing what i have supplied is what i want on the car that way i get no shocks with the bill. (having said that i ususally get the parts of him as he buys original merc parts at a discount but i would always pay what he paid for them ( the good part about knowing him as a friend ).
The bill above looks quite steep, but if you went to merc to have front discs + pads and rear pads they wanted £500 inc labour of me. I bought the same spec parts from Euro cars for £90 and changed with another mate gave him £20 so done it for £110 ( including painting each caliper silver aswell )
That forte stuff is really goog i buy this every 8-9 months it really does make a difference, but that is £10 where i buy it from...

Raj
 
Silly question, but what is the forte stuff and can yo
u get any for a diesel?
 
Silly question but what is the Forte stuff, and can you get any for a diesel?
 
Chris_J said:
Silly question but what is the Forte stuff, and can you get any for a diesel?

Its a fuel injector cleaner/conditioner, comes very highly recommended by a few specialists i use. Only used it in petrols, i'm sure a diesel version is available
 
Labour seems very reasonable but those parts prices are wrong (mainly the brake bits..). a pair of genuine MB discs for a W202 C180 are not £105!

Will
 
Chris_J said:
Silly question but what is the Forte stuff, and can you get any for a diesel?

yes you can but not from an accessory shop. Try a lorry garage or diesel specialist.
 
Will said:
Labour seems very reasonable but those parts prices are wrong (mainly the brake bits..). a pair of genuine MB discs for a W202 C180 are not £105!

Will

I think the brakes have been upgraded to EBC or similar Kevlar pads. For these the prices are about right.
 
To compare with main dealer prices:

B service: 207.74
key fob battery: 3.92
oil filter: 6.56
wiper blade: 14.69
filter: 21.87 (not sure which filter this was, might have been pollen)
seal oil drain: 0.25

brake fluid change: 23.97
brake fluid: 13.24

replace coolant: 55.93
antifreeze: 17.94

replace front rotors: 55.93
rotors x2: 57.06

replace front pads: 39.95
front pads x2: 40.56
wear sensors x2: 2.90

replace fuel filter: 55.93
fuel filter: 22.27

replace steering damper: 23.97
damper: 28.24

replace spark plugs: 39.95
sparkplugs x4: 27.56

All prices subject to VAT, but before 10% discount.

There were one or two additional items including screenwash etc but they come to pennies.

EDIT: this is a C230k with vented front discs
 
Last edited:
I dug out the last stealership B service (Feb)

Standard B-service for a 1998 C230k, with no extra work is 389.49 +VAT

with 3+ card (10% discount on parts and labour) and VAT we're talking about £411.89

Looking at your prices I think you were overcharged on the brake discs, to the tune of double, the sensors were way overpriced but the rest seems fine!
 
Are you sure you were charged twice for the discs? If so i think they may have made an error, ie £110 for both front discs not each. I would query with the garage and see what they say.
 
I still wouldn't pay £105 for discs for a W202 C180 - Weren't the early ones solid as well? Were aftermarket or upgraded discs specified at the service?

As Shude has mentioned, vented Genuine MB discs from a C230K are less than £30 each from memory :)

Will
 
When I rung mercedes yesterday thay said the front brake pads £45 for a pair, front discs £48 for the pair and back pads £21.82 a pair and back discs £48 a pair all excluding VAT. The guy didn't specify if he was putting standard parts or up rated just that he uses uses genuine mercedes parts.
 
mercedes lover said:
When I rung mercedes yesterday thay said the front brake pads £45 for a pair, front discs £48 for the pair and back pads £21.82 a pair and back discs £48 a pair all excluding VAT. The guy didn't specify if he was putting standard parts or up rated just that he uses uses genuine mercedes parts.
If he's using genuine MB parts then you have definately been 'ripped off' then!

Will
 

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