service plans - worth the money?

[Mick p]

After seeing the new mercedes workshop being built and the price,it must of cost i couldnt stop wondering how much of the quoted £720 for my a1 service and mot is profit,as my warranty will soon expire,I looked into doing it independently
£48 for fully synthetic oil,£7.00 for filter,pollon filter£7.00 £3.50 for brake fluid tester(,only .5% moisture) so doesn't need replacing,£29 mot,£15 air filterthe only thing I'm not changing yet is fuel filter,and reset service counter (you tube)
£600 ish saving !
All filters either mahle,or mann,oil Castrol fully synthetic
Not rocket science really,the mot will do the rest!
Ps mercedes air filter quoted £60, I got mahle original ebay £15+1 postage

 

[markjay]

After seeing the new mercedes workshop being built and the price,it must of cost i couldnt stop wondering how much of the quoted £720 for my a1 service and mot is profit...

Very very little, if any, I would imagine. If they have just invested heavily in a new workshop, it would be a while before they turn any profit. And most likely not in the first year.

 

[Mick p]

My point was how much they take extra to cover there overall cost,which to me is very extravagant,and unnecessarily a bit over the top,after paying over £37,000, for my car, and both first services etc done at Mercedes, once getting close to warranty expiring,servicing cost suddenly double,but not double the work lol anyway, very happy with my e220d,but won't be going back to mercedes servicing, shame they tried ripping me off

 

[markjay]

My point was how much they take extra to cover there overall cost,which to me is very extravagant,and unnecessarily a bit over the top...

It's fair enough if you prefer to work with a smaller garage that has less overhead and consequently can provide better pricing.

Also, it is understandable that when a franchised dealer needs to abide by certain brand standard requirements (e.g. customer waiting areas, workshop viewing gallery, etc) they have to ensure their charges cover their brand standard costs, but some customers might not be interested in these.

My post was in response to the term 'profit' - when the business' own costs are high and in turn their charge are also high, this does not unnecessarily mean they are actually turning a profit....

 

[markjay]

...after paying over £37,000, for my car, and both first services etc done at Mercedes, once getting close to warranty expiring,servicing cost suddenly double,but not double the work lol anyway, very happy with my e220d,but won't be going back to mercedes servicing, shame they tried ripping me off

I don't know which dealer you are using, my own experience is that service prices have been quite stable over the years, although the actual cost of a service will vary depending on what's need to be done.

On most MB cars, the expensive services are year 4 and 5, on some also year 3 can be expensive.

But this is not due to a change in pricing policy, but rather due to the additional items that need replacing as the car gets older.

I also suggest that you look at the MB Service Care Plan (fixed-cost servicing), as per the thread's title, it will work-out cheaper if any 'big' services are due:

Mercedes-Benz ServiceCare

 

[Rory]

Very very little, if any, I would imagine. If they have just invested heavily in a new workshop, it would be a while before they turn any profit. And most likely not in the first year.

It doesn't work like that - they'll be leasing the building. Even if they paid for it themselves they write the cost over its expected lifetime.

Servicing is immensely profitable. One of my neighbours used to the accounts for a dealer - not Mercedes but they way they work is the same. They make next to nothing selling cars (new and used), a bit on parts and a huge amount on servicing.

 

[Mick p]

3 year old e220d 30000mls oil ,filter,fuel filter,brake fluid doesn't need changing(.5% )air filter,dust filter
,still wanted to charge £58 for mot! Bearing in mind,all checks for mot has been done on the service,apart from emissions,brake test,and entering on Vosa computer,
Merc...£713
Doing myself..£110 inc mot kwikfit, euro car parts using there flash sales
Castrol edge fully synthetic
All mahle/mann filters
I understand they have to cover there ridiculous over the top costs,but all I want is my car serviced at a reasonable price
Ps..get yourself a brake fluid tester from ebay,they are about £3, test it yourself when it gets to around 2% then get it changed,that will be around every 7-8 years

 

[markjay]

There's a reason why manufacturers stipulate brake fluid change and not brake fluid testing.

Brake fluid testers test the water content of the brake fluid at the reservoir... not at the caliper.

But brake fluid is hydraulic fluid and does not circulate - which is why when you change it you'll see dirty fluid coming out of the caliper while the fluid in the reservoir still looks new and clear.

At any rate, your car was due brake fluid change last year, and will be due another one next year, but this year it does not need doing.

 

[Steve84N]

Mental note made not to buy a car from Mick p. Skimping on maintenance, especially inexpensive jobs that are critical components is silly.

As Mark says the fluid at the business end takes a beating, both thermally and with dirt ingress past the piston seal. Seen plenty of sticking calipers due to water in the brake fluid from too infrequent fluid changes.

 

[Mick p]

Mental note made not to buy a car from Mick p. Skimping on maintenance, especially inexpensive jobs that are critical components is silly.

As Mark says the fluid at the business end takes a beating, both thermally and with dirt ingress past the piston seal. Seen plenty of sticking calipers due to water in the brake fluid from too infrequent fluid changes.

I don't skimp on maintenance, ex mechanic by trade, mot tester,and Ford main dealer employee
Main dealers make a lot of money out of people that accept everything there told

 

[Steve84N]

Who said anything about main dealers. I've argued against a service plan if you read my comments. Even at main dealer rates a brake fluid change is modest. It's not a saving worth making.

 

[markjay]

Brake fluid testing is usually carried-out by a garage in order to establish if the brake fluid needs chsnging prior to the scheduled replacement date.

It is also used by some garages in order to establish if the brake fluid needs replacing when presented with a car whose service history is unknown (and thus giving the garage the opportunity to fairly offer additional work to the customer).

A sample is taken from the bleed nipple in the caliper and the tested using a boiling point tester.

A water content test carried-out on brake fluid in the reservoir is meaningless both because the fluid in the reservoir stays relatively fresh and because conductivity testers (as opposed to boiling-point testers) and notoriously unreliable.

 

[Deletedmember130310]

My point was how much they take extra to cover there overall cost,which to me is very extravagant,and unnecessarily a bit over the top,after paying over £37,000, for my car, and both first services etc done at Mercedes, once getting close to warranty expiring,servicing cost suddenly double,but not double the work lol anyway, very happy with my e220d,but won't be going back to mercedes servicing, shame they tried ripping me off

"My point was how much they take extra to cover there overall cost" - what else are they supposed to do??? charge less than the work costs them and run at a loss?

different work is required at different service times, hence the different prices - but as a qualified mechanic, I am sure you realise that.

Higher prices does not equate to a rip off - a rip off is paying for something you don't get.

 

[Deletedmember130310]

3 year old e220d 30000mls oil ,filter,fuel filter,brake fluid doesn't need changing(.5% )air filter,dust filter
,still wanted to charge £58 for mot! Bearing in mind,all checks for mot has been done on the service,apart from emissions,brake test,and entering on Vosa computer,
Merc...£713
Doing myself..£110 inc mot kwikfit, euro car parts using there flash sales
Castrol edge fully synthetic
All mahle/mann filters
I understand they have to cover there ridiculous over the top costs,but all I want is my car serviced at a reasonable price
Ps..get yourself a brake fluid tester from ebay,they are about £3, test it yourself when it gets to around 2% then get it changed,that will be around every 7-8 years

£58 is the DoT mandated price - if you use a garage charging less, you face the risk of them finding additional work that may be required (in their opinion) That is why I always use the local council operated MoT centre as they have no interest in upselling repair work.

But as a MoT tester, I am sure you are wise to those tactics.

 

[markjay]

Merc...£713
Doing myself..£110 inc mot kwikfit, euro car parts using there flash sales

I am assuming that the quote from MB was for parts and labour, while your own cost is based on (non-MB) parts only as you do not place a monetary value on your own labour. Fair enough.

In this case this is what you will save by NOT replacing the brake fluid at the due date:

(You may need to buy two because the change capacity is slightly over 500ml).

 

[Deletedmember130310]

MMmm - 1/2 pint of beer or change my brake fluid.....

 

[markjay]

£58 is the DoT mandated price - if you use a garage charging less, you face the risk of them finding additional work that may be required (in their opinion) That is why I always use the local council operated MoT centre as they have no interest in upselling repair work.

But as a MoT tester, I am sure you are wise to those tactics.

Perhaps not absolute proof of what you are saying, but certainly supporting evidence... :

I have always used for my cars local MOT centres charging £50-£55, and in the past 25 years I only had one MOT failure (cracked ball joint boot that can allow dust in....) and the MOT tester wasn't interested nor able to fix it (I had Terry at WG replace both drop links at the time).

 

[Deletedmember130310]

Perhaps not absolute proof of what you are saying, but certainly supporting evidence... :

I have always used for my cars local MOT centres charging £50-£55, and in the past 25 years I only had one MOT failure (cracked ball joint boot that can allow dust in....) and the MOT tester wasn't interested nor able to fix it (I had Terry at WG replace both drop links at the time).

in my own case, an example was a franchised dealer advising (but not failing) dust and scoring on brakes. A year and 3000 miles later, a different MoT centre made no comment. My intrigue was the car had been serviced 1 hour before the 1st MoT and was given a clean "health check", but the MoT tester AT THE SAME GARAGE noted an advisory. The garage couldn't explain that....

 

[Mick p]

Mann and mahle are mb parts,as fitted at factory,and brake fluid doesn't require changing yet,so yes I'll have a couple of beers

 

[DUFC]

Been doing some work on this for our new GLC due at the end of July. We plan on only having two services in our ownership period :

Service A £355.18
Service B £492.58
Total cost for above £847.76
Service Plan (2 services) 24 mths @ £32.00 = £768.00
Saving £79.76
Dealer : Service intervals are every 12 months from the date of registration or 15,500 miles - whichever comes first.
The services alternate between the A & B Service, the first service will be an A priced at £355.18.
The second service the B and the brake fluid change (due every 2 years), will total £492.58.
Service Plan - the vehicle will require 1 service per year, the monthly cost would be £32.00 per month including VAT. So you could cover 2 services, and make 24 payments of £32.00
I received confirmation from MB that the £32/month does include the brake fluid change - consequently the service plan looks to be the way to go.
MB service plan charges set out here : https://tools.mercedes-benz.co.uk/c.../service-care-pricing.pdf?owda=misc&owda=misc