How much for service and gearbox oil change, please?

[Swotty]

Hi,

2003 CL 600 W215

Time for its A service and, at 50,000 miles and 12 years, I'm having the gearbox oil and filter changed.

The Merc concessionaire over here in SW France has given me a quote for £817 for both, including 6.25 hours labour. Major costs are parts, i.e. oils and filters.

I know you can supply your own oil in the UK but I'm happy they supply it, so does £800-odd seem in the right ballpark, please?

Thanks,

Stuart

 

[ChiroTom]

Just paid £70+ for transmission fluid 11 ltrs
But they admit that they can only drain 30% of transmutation fluid.
Is it far and ethical to bill me for the full 11 lt. of fluid when only a fraction of that has consumed during service.

 

[jazzyglobe]

^transmutation lol

 

[martyp87]

I've had this done on mine a few months back at the main dealer.

Oil service (Service A) is £184.60 - booked back in for one next week. I don't do annual oil changes.
Transmission Oil and Filters was just under £400.

Prices above include labour, parts and VAT.

I was a bit shocked when she came back with £384 for a Service A but that was because it has the 2 air filters and fuel filter included which were changed at the last service.

Really does depend what is included on the service A so £817 might be about right?

 

[Swotty]

Thanks, Marty, yes, it includes air, cabin, fuel, engine and gearbox filters, plus the replacement oils. Lots of items and they really do add up.

I suppose that £817 isn't too bad for a once-every-2-years service plus gearbox oil and filter change which should last me another 10 years. It just came as a bit of a surprise when I was expecting around £200 for the service, but they are proposing changing all consumables. As I haven't had the car long, it may be best to do so.

Thanks for your comments.

Stuart

 

[martyp87]

That sounds about right then to be honest for a main dealer.

Like I said above an oil change is just shy of £200 so you really do pay through the nose for main dealer servicing.

If you can find an independent MB specialist you would probably pay half that price. The guy near me is booked up for a month almost constantly so I just gave up asking about a year ago.

 

[Swotty]

The garage isn't a main Merc dealer but a concessionaire dealing with top marques, from BMs to Rolls & Ferraris. They've been looking after my XKR for coming up to 8 years and I have a good relationship with them. Parts are expensive, but labour is quite cheap by UK standards - €72 or £53.33/hour, including VAT.

The CL has full MB service history and I'd like to keep that up, so guess that's the cost of MB ownership. It's my first Merc, so still trying to get a feel for the cost of things.

Thanks again.

Stuart

 

[Marku]

Unless there is a problem the transmission fluid should not need replacing. The first service on our Viano which also included the transmission fluid was just over £700. Recently had the cooler replaced due to stone damage and that only required the fluid topping up. can't you just change the filter?

 

[Swotty]

Thanks, Marku. It's the same gearbox as in my XKR which is "sealed for life" but there have been a number of failures of those in Jaguars. Owners club's advice is to change both oil and filter at 60K miles, which I did with the Jaguar and feel more confident in having done so.

The CL also hasn't done much mileage, despite being 12 years old, so I'm taking the view that prevention is better than cure! It also has to handle 500+bhp, compared with the 400 in the Jaguar!

Cheers,

Stuart