Sp!ke
Administrator
I decided to book my car in the other day with Andy Gayle at www.mercedesservicing.com following various bits of good feedback I have heard about his workshop, and his willingness to offer free advice to all over on the other forum.
I arrived at 8:30, the workshop was larger than I expected with loads of Mercs outside of all ages and types - even a fabled E500 owned by one of the technicians.
I dropped the car off and was given a lift to the local tram stop so I could explore the delights of Birmingham’s ‘Bull Ring’ (an absolutely huge, very futuristic and well designed shopping mall) whilst my car was being pampered.
On my return, I was given a brief tour of the workshop which was well equipped and very busy with ten ramps all in use. All the staff were courteous and professional, all of them happily working on there own with no need for assistance or supervision. As for Andy himself, I found him to be a very nice chap, clearly an enthusiast and who took pride in his work but made some time for me and didn’t seem to mind me picking his brains on a number of issues.
Below is a picture inside the workshop. The pictures a bit poor as light was fading and I didnt have a wide angle lense so I had to stitch three pictures together to get this shot. I think the technicians scarpered once they saw my camera
It was busy though!
Below is from another angle. The liquid you see on the floor is only water from a car that had just been washed.
My service should have been a minor service which would have worked out to £70 labour + parts. I expect a true total for a minor service would normally be about the £120 - £130 mark once you add the cost for oil (Mobil 1, 10W/40), filter and VAT. However, I also wanted my coolant changed, my clutch master cylinder replaced and belt sorted out which pushed the bill to a little over the £300 +VAT mark in the end. Not particularly cheap but that master cylinder turned out to be a b*tch of a job and made up for the majority of the extra labour.
All in all, I think I am happy with the quality of the work. I felt confident with Andy’s advice and the ability of his staff. Its a long way out of my way but I will be using him again.
I arrived at 8:30, the workshop was larger than I expected with loads of Mercs outside of all ages and types - even a fabled E500 owned by one of the technicians.
I dropped the car off and was given a lift to the local tram stop so I could explore the delights of Birmingham’s ‘Bull Ring’ (an absolutely huge, very futuristic and well designed shopping mall) whilst my car was being pampered.
On my return, I was given a brief tour of the workshop which was well equipped and very busy with ten ramps all in use. All the staff were courteous and professional, all of them happily working on there own with no need for assistance or supervision. As for Andy himself, I found him to be a very nice chap, clearly an enthusiast and who took pride in his work but made some time for me and didn’t seem to mind me picking his brains on a number of issues.
Below is a picture inside the workshop. The pictures a bit poor as light was fading and I didnt have a wide angle lense so I had to stitch three pictures together to get this shot. I think the technicians scarpered once they saw my camera
It was busy though!
Below is from another angle. The liquid you see on the floor is only water from a car that had just been washed.
My service should have been a minor service which would have worked out to £70 labour + parts. I expect a true total for a minor service would normally be about the £120 - £130 mark once you add the cost for oil (Mobil 1, 10W/40), filter and VAT. However, I also wanted my coolant changed, my clutch master cylinder replaced and belt sorted out which pushed the bill to a little over the £300 +VAT mark in the end. Not particularly cheap but that master cylinder turned out to be a b*tch of a job and made up for the majority of the extra labour.
All in all, I think I am happy with the quality of the work. I felt confident with Andy’s advice and the ability of his staff. Its a long way out of my way but I will be using him again.
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:bannana: :bannana: 
