Just been "quoted" for B Service - pleasant surprise?

[nickgee]

Hi all,

Just rang my local Dealer (Canary Wharf) for a quote on a B Service for my E320 diesel.

The chap quoted me "around £270", subject to any extra bits needing doing.

This struck me as being, if not actually cheap, then at least not as expensive as I anticipated. I had been planning to nip over to France to have it serviced, and pick up some wine etc at the same time, but at these prices I'm not sure I'll bother.

Does this quote sound realistic, or is it likely to be vastly inflated by the time I get away?

Regards

 

[ddentrec]

Get it in writing first with a breakdown of what is included: write on the service docket ‘Not exceeding £270 inclusive as quoted by <service person’s name>’. That has saved me £££££££’s in the past if they start to squabble about the total service cost when you pick up your car.

‘Plus all the bits’ is very vague.

My C180K 2003 was originally quoted for ‘£400 all in’: then I found out they were using semi-synthetic oil and did not include the wipers and some consumables. Final bill was actually £460. Plus, M-B stealers operate a cartel: I called 15+ dealers and they all quoted about £450 incl.

You can go the MBUK and find an ‘Authorised Repairer’. They were about £350 incl.

My car goes in tomorrow for the B-service…but I know exactly what they are doing and how much it will cost.

 

[Rory]

Does the W211 have A,B,C & D services? My W203 has A & B. For that car, £270 is about right for the A service but the B is £450.
You may have been quoted the labour charge only. The oil on its own could be another £100.

 

[nickgee]

Interesting stuff!

I didn't ask EXACTLY what that quote included, but on the back of these answers I shall speak to them again on Monday and be a bit more probing.

As an aside, it "amused" me that it took longer and more effort to get a quote from Canary Wharf than it did from the chap in France - and the French guy spoke better English!

Also, the W211 has got service types from A to H (I think!), so I guess that you can't easily compare to cars with only A & B.

Thanks

 

[BarryS]

I've just had a pleasant surprise too this week: B-service for a CLK (edit: 270CDI diesel) quoted £366 - actual cost - $366, no hidden extras. Car collected, faulty items identified and fixed under warranty.

What's happening - good service and fair prices from dealers ??? This was Greenoaks of Reading incidentally.

 

[ddentrec]

My car goes in tomorrow for the B-service…but I know exactly what they are doing and how much it will cost.

I have got that expected call from the stealer about the 'B(limey!)' service on my 2003 C180K.

All four brake discs are 'badly scored and corroded and need reeplacement. Oh, and all the pads too'.

'Will cost an extra £600 all in-may we proceed, sir?' (Total bill do far: £1,100 including a free coffee).

I have asked them to put this forward as a warranty claim. I know some of you think this is wear an tear, but the car has only 20K miles and has been driven around on A-roads most of its life.

Will let you know...

 

[C240Sport97]

A good indy would charge about £250 !!!!!

All four brake discs are 'badly scored and corroded and need reeplacement. Oh, and all the pads too'.

'Will cost an extra £600 all in-may we proceed, sir?' (Total bill do far: £1,100 including a free coffee).

 

[grober]

You can go the MBUK and find an ‘Authorised Repairer’. They were about £350 incl.

where at MB UK can you find a list of "authorised repairers" sounds interesting

 

[Flash]

Ask for it in writting - A service on my W203 cost £240..... too good to be true unless Stealer is desparate for business...

 

[mark.t]

I have waited around in various dealers showrooms for my car to be repaired and I must say ...the brake disc and pads are the ones I heard alot ...in Manchester mb recently 3 customers where told the same something like ....while we have the wheels off we could do it now and guess what they all had it done ....not bad for 30 mins work pulling in 1800 quid

 

[ddentrec]

where at MB UK can you find a list of "authorised repairers" sounds interesting

Go the MBUK website and the 'find a retailer' bit. In there they will have 'Authorised Repairer' in the list of dealers bit...cunningly mixed up with all the usual MB stealers. But they are not MB franchises.

MBUK had to do this to comply with an Office of Fair Trading requirement to allow customers to access non-franchised stealers. Funny thing is that they forgot to write to the customers to tell them....

 

[ddentrec]

I have waited around in various dealers showrooms for my car to be repaired and I must say ...the brake disc and pads are the ones I heard alot ...in Manchester mb recently 3 customers where told the same something like ....while we have the wheels off we could do it now and guess what they all had it done ....not bad for 30 mins work pulling in 1800 quid

Well, if the warranty work is not authorised I am not coughing up: will sell the car in the spring and get shot of it: a family car that eats front & rear brakes every 2 years is not a sound purchase. Bye bye Mercedes. Hello Ford Mondeo (really).

 

[nickgee]

Ask for it in writting - A service on my W203 cost £240..... too good to be true unless Stealer is desparate for business...

As an update, took the car along to the Dealer today and asked for another quote.

This time it came out at £580!!!

Bit of difference from £270. When asked, the chap was unable to understand how I'd been given that quotation.

Ho hum. Guess I'm off to France then - been quoted €400 for the same service by Groupe Gorrias, just outside Boulogne. Pick up some great food and fine wine, fill the tank with cheap diesel and still save money.

 

[Will]

I have got that expected call from the stealer about the 'B(limey!)' service on my 2003 C180K.

All four brake discs are 'badly scored and corroded and need reeplacement. Oh, and all the pads too'.

'Will cost an extra £600 all in-may we proceed, sir?' (Total bill do far: £1,100 including a free coffee).

I have asked them to put this forward as a warranty claim. I know some of you think this is wear an tear, but the car has only 20K miles and has been driven around on A-roads most of its life.

Will let you know...

Get the discs fitted elsewhere. 20K miles/2 years is not that bad for pad replacement, although discs does sound slightly early, depends on a number of factors though?

The parts would probably cost around £150-200? As Sean has said, get them fitted by an indi if it is that offputting.

Re selling the car and buying a mondeo, I reckon that would be less financially wise. A mondeo would lose a fortune in depreciation compared to the Mercedes, so even allowing for the extra servicing costs, you are proably still quids in and travelling in comfort and style

Good luck

Will

 

[Robbo]

Not if you buy a s/h one from a car supermarket. I have seen 54 reg Mondeos with 10K miles up for £8K. You'll lose more than that in depreciation if you buy a 54 reg C180 and keep it for 3 years.

From a purely financial standpoint, it makes no sense to buy a Mercedes. Of course cost is not the only factor.

 

[Will]

Not if you buy a s/h one from a car supermarket. I have seen 54 reg Mondeos with 10K miles up for £8K. You'll lose more than that in depreciation if you buy a 54 reg C180 and keep it for 3 years.

From a purely financial standpoint, it makes no sense to buy a Mercedes. Of course cost is not the only factor.

If you compare an £8000 s/h Mondeo to a Mercedes, then yes. But assuming that ddentrec bought new, and kept his car for three years, I would say that a C180 would be the cheaper car to run. I am sure there was a magazine article that highlighted this. The £8000 Mondeo just highlights what a terrible buy these cars make new, yes an MB costs more to service, but what you lose on the swings...

As a guide, you can lease a brand new C220 CDI Avantgarde SE Auto for much, much less than a Mondeo TDCI Zetec (£299 monthly for the MB over 2 years as opposed to £377 monthly over 3 years for the Ford). I know which I'd rather have for the money...

FWIW, I wouldn't sell a car because a set of brakes needed replacing. I am sure that the Mondeo will need new brakes eventually A Peugeot 406 HDi that we use at work has had new front and rear discs and pads in less than 25K miles, so don't assume it's just an MB fault.

Will

 

[Robbo]

Of course if you want to buy a new Ford then it would be a bad buy. But there are so many nearly new low milers around that you would have to question why anyone would want to do that.

 

[ddentrec]

Well, got my car back from M-B Bedford after spending almost £500 on the 'B' service.

Positives:

1. Brake disks replaced under warranty.
2. They did not breakdown the actual service work completed: took me 10 minutes to work out that they had not completed all the tasks I asked them to complete. And they had my car for almost a week!
3. Service was personal-but see below.
4. Courtesy car was a new E-Class, and was free .
5. Fixed rain sensor now seems to work...

Could do better:

1. Why, oh why, do the dealers seldom complete all the minor tasks you ask of them-even when writing to them in advance? Car now has to go back again to get this work done. MB Cambridge was even worse-4 visits to replace a clearly faulty CD player. This really p****s me off. (Answer: they have 22 cars to get through, and DCUK pay dealers peanuts for this kind of work...)
2. Why no breakdown of the work completed? There is no paperwork to support that new brakes were even fitted (though I can see that they are). VW (Vindis) used to do this.
3. Service good. But had the feeling I was being fobbed off when I challenged them about the incomplete warranty work I requested.
4. Workshop seemed 'Kwik-Fit' grubby--not the sort of thing that could be put on public display unlike some VW dealers who have a 'public viewing area'. Bit disappointing really.

Overall:

6/10.

Value:

3/10

 

[Piff]

As an update, took the car along to the Dealer today and asked for another quote.

This time it came out at £580!!!

Bit of difference from £270. When asked, the chap was unable to understand how I'd been given that quotation.

Ho hum. Guess I'm off to France then - been quoted €400 for the same service by Groupe Gorrias, just outside Boulogne. Pick up some great food and fine wine, fill the tank with cheap diesel and still save money.

I bough an A-class from Gorrias in 2000. Great service & english speaking. I had a subsequent quote from them for servicing which was reasonable.

Had a later service carried out by UK dealer which included a phone call to me "mid service" - we've discovered the front brake pads need replacing - extra £96 - shall we go ahead? I was very busy at the time and instructed them to proceed.

When I checked the bill later, I found that the £96 included the labour for "removing & refitting the wheels". The service was supposed to include this to check the brake pads & discs! I also though after that I should have asked how many miles the pads had left in them - I was only doing 8000 miles a year in that car, services were comming up every year & the brake pad wear indicator had not illuminated.

 

[Rory]

1. Brake disks replaced under warranty.

I saw you're earlier comment about the disks being badly scored after only 20K miles. I think you've done well to get the warranty to cover it though - did they explain why MB had agreed?