So much for the free MOT ...

[Will]

I think if this had been my car, I'd have taken the free MOT offer but rejected any investigative or remedial work.

I wonder if the parking brake just needs adjusting? I would think that this you could DIY or pay an indi or someone like Steve to do, and still have plenty of change from the £114 for another paid-for MOT!

Seems like they really are using this MOT offer for a bit of fishing? I'm not disputing the list of 'advised issues' that they found on the healthcheck, but they must be keen for the work...

Will

 

[Sp!ke]

I would have fiddled with the adjuster on the rear, probably given the drum a cleanup, ground the lips off the disk (if it was still within tolerance) and taken it back for a free retest

cost = 0.00p

 

[Phil Thomas]

I would have fiddled with the adjuster on the rear, probably given the drum a cleanup, ground the lips off the disk (if it was still within tolerance) and taken it back for a free retest

cost = 0.00p

Well perhaps a bit for petrol and materials? I talk now like one of those MB bean counters, no?

But yes!!! Maybe I'll change my policy

 

[evdok]

that garage sucks! drive a little further & use Worcester

 

[Rory]

The car also got a "free" health check (I was not told about this). They said the following needed doing:

1. new lower front suspension arms -- bushes knackered. Cheaper to replace arms instead of bushes. Steve says this is true.
3plus cost: £1251 (including a full realignment) .. bargain, NOT!
Labour 5.8 hours

2. new rear exhaust box -- one of the brackets holding it on to chassis broken.
3plus cost: £507. Another bargain, NOT!
Labour 1.5 hours

I'm surprised it didn't also fail on those too.

Different make, but daughter's 34K mile SEAT Ibiza is covered by a dealer service contract which includes free MOT. Dealer called after completing major service and then failing the MOT to say:
1) Nearside rear brake application uneven
2) Front suspension bush torn.

The brakes just needed servicing, yet that isn't part of even the major service, and that the bush should tear with such use is ridiculous. I'm convinced I was simply scammed - if the faults were real then the dealer and SEAT should have worked together to fix them FOC out of sheer embarrasment at the car failing.

 

[Sp!ke]

I'm surprised it didn't also fail on those too.

Good point, clearly the bushes must have been serviceable or it would have been another MOT failure point.

 

[vijilants]

I think if this had been my car, I'd have taken the free MOT offer but rejected any investigative or remedial work.

I wonder if the parking brake just needs adjusting? I would think that this you could DIY or pay an indi or someone like Steve to do, and still have plenty of change from the £114 for another paid-for MOT!

Will

Agreed Will.

I would not have asked for investigative work as braking problems are relatively easy to diagnose and fix and anyone that ever uses a main dealer should be well aware that their prices even for diagnosis are high.

Also on another note, you can't really expect bargain prices when work is carried out at a main dealership. It is a very well known fact that labour prices at a dealership is very high.

Personally I would be happy with the fact that a free health check has also been done on the car and possible areas of failure have been pointed out, and these can now be investigated further by a decent indie.

I made use of the free MOT this week from MB Bromley and I had no problems. Their service included collection and delivery so I really cannot complain. The brake fluid was a bit low due to pad wear which they also topped up free of charge

 

[SilverSaloon]

not convinced by this.

you didnt actually pay anything more than what was agreed in the 1st place....

also you have a long list of stuff that you can look into either yoursef/indi at a later date - for free..... ok, there quotes are £2k - but they are just quotes.

i took my car to the dealer for a new balljoint. agreed price, i paid. higehr than at an indi but i needed it done quick & right so was happy. they also indiated several things that were worn/needed replacement on the car and quoted prices. all stuff i should be able to look at myself but probably wouldnt of noticed myself so i'm pleased.

 

[Phil Thomas]

Good point, clearly the bushes must have been serviceable or it would have been another MOT failure point.

3 weeks after an MoT the service became due. I was given a list of advisory points by the (MB) dealer, all wear items. I ignored them, as I trust my MoT garage, who had diagnosed and corrected a ball joint wear problem.

Nearly a year later it passed its MoT. Afterwards I showed the advisory list to the MoT mechanic, who said simply that MB 'must be desperate for work'.

But to be fair, the difficulty the dealer faces is that the long service intervals (over a year apart, currently nearer to 18 months in our case) can mean that parts can wear to the point of being unserviceable between services. They have to try and second guess this, as they can have a customer faced with a failure between services who is screaming that it is their fault as they service the car. There is too the ever present threat of litigation.

We happen to be light on brakes, and this means that dealers will often want to change pads at services when it is not necessary. This happened with my Citroen at about 24k miles, the usual life of the front pads for this car. We got 48k miles out of ours. But at least I was given the choice, and having looked at them a few weeks before I was certain they would be fine.

The dealer will tend to play safe for reasons of profit, self preservation, and of course customer safety.

 

[w124coupe]

that garage sucks! drive a little further & use Worcester

Just so we are clear, OP, was this Merc Stratford the "upon-Avon" one or the City one?

If its the former, then my own opinion is that they became fat, complacent and soft based on their local clientelle largely being the type to see it as "below them" to haggle and also the type to spend, spend on the car being shiny and fault-free.

Not a useful place to go with an older car...

 

[Ted]

Just so we are clear, OP, was this Merc Stratford the "upon-Avon" one or the City one?

If its the former, then my own opinion is that they became fat, complacent and soft based on their local clientelle largely being the type to see it as "below them" to haggle and also the type to spend, spend on the car being shiny and fault-free.

Not a useful place to go with an older car...

I stopped going there when they were looking down their noses at me with a four year old W210. - They were MUCH too busy looking after the people spending lots of money.
It was never the same since one of their service advisors 'Jeremy' left. Amazing how one person can affect your whole perception of a place.

 

[davidjpowell]

The only MOT test station I have ever had confidence in is one near me. It is a commerical vehicle repair garage who have a small extension and can test cars. They do not do service or repair work on the cars, but do charge the full test fee. The result is you know that they are not failing items for the work.

About 14 years ago I had a Renault 5, which failed it's mot on a number of items. I had just sorted them other than a tyre, when the engine blew up after the throttle stuck open. Eventually I had the engine replaced, and also the tyre. As I the tyre place also did MOT's I decided to kill two birds in one. They failed the car on a whole raft of other things.

Obviously then had to choose to do the work or go back to the garage that was not bidding to do the work. Suprise - it passed the MOT.

Is there a market for garages that only do MOT? I think the Spanish system is similar where the MOT station is run by the government. Could they be trusted would have to be a better option.

 

[VB123]

The only MOT test station I have ever had confidence in is one near me. It is a commerical vehicle repair garage who have a small extension and can test cars. They do not do service or repair work on the cars, but do charge the full test fee. The result is you know that they are not failing items for the work.

About 14 years ago I had a Renault 5, which failed it's mot on a number of items. I had just sorted them other than a tyre, when the engine blew up after the throttle stuck open. Eventually I had the engine replaced, and also the tyre. As I the tyre place also did MOT's I decided to kill two birds in one. They failed the car on a whole raft of other things.

Obviously then had to choose to do the work or go back to the garage that was not bidding to do the work. Suprise - it passed the MOT.

Is there a market for garages that only do MOT? I think the Spanish system is similar where the MOT station is run by the government. Could they be trusted would have to be a better option.

The Abu Dhabi system is the same, Gov't run, which works out ok...although, you can get failed for having faded paint!

 

[Adam230K]

someone got robbed!!! on every single point mentioned!

 

[C240Sport97]

I think if this had been my car, I'd have taken the free MOT offer but rejected any investigative or remedial work.

I wonder if the parking brake just needs adjusting? I would think that this you could DIY or pay an indi or someone like Steve to do, and still have plenty of change from the £114 for another paid-for MOT!

Seems like they really are using this MOT offer for a bit of fishing? I'm not disputing the list of 'advised issues' that they found on the healthcheck, but they must be keen for the work...

Will

I took the risk that the £114 would have solved the problem by adjusting/cleaning etc. Apparently, the disc is knackered so that was not an option.

I live in central London and am hopeless with DIY, hence my decision to spend the £114.

I would have fiddled with the adjuster on the rear, probably given the drum a cleanup, ground the lips off the disk (if it was still within tolerance) and taken it back for a free retest

cost = 0.00p

See above

Agreed Will.

I would not have asked for investigative work as braking problems are relatively easy to diagnose and fix and anyone that ever uses a main dealer should be well aware that their prices even for diagnosis are high.

Also on another note, you can't really expect bargain prices when work is carried out at a main dealership. It is a very well known fact that labour prices at a dealership is very high.

Personally I would be happy with the fact that a free health check has also been done on the car and possible areas of failure have been pointed out, and these can now be investigated further by a decent indie.

I made use of the free MOT this week from MB Bromley and I had no problems. Their service included collection and delivery so I really cannot complain. The brake fluid was a bit low due to pad wear which they also topped up free of charge

Agree with most of what you say. The main thrust of the post is about the very adventurous pricing.

not convinced by this.

you didnt actually pay anything more than what was agreed in the 1st place....

also you have a long list of stuff that you can look into either yoursef/indi at a later date - for free..... ok, there quotes are £2k - but they are just quotes.

i took my car to the dealer for a new balljoint. agreed price, i paid. higehr than at an indi but i needed it done quick & right so was happy. they also indiated several things that were worn/needed replacement on the car and quoted prices. all stuff i should be able to look at myself but probably wouldnt of noticed myself so i'm pleased.

See above responses.

Just so we are clear, OP, was this Merc Stratford the "upon-Avon" one or the City one?

London.

 

[Shude]

also you have a long list of stuff that you can look into either yoursef/indi at a later date - for free..... ok, there quotes are £2k - but they are just quotes.

My half-priced MOT at the stealership resulted in a fail for several items. There was also a long list of advisories that were probably fairly accurate.

If I was to agree to all those works the bill would have been £4350!

I simply paid for my service and MOT then drove the car to an independent workshop in Kirkham near Preston where a pleasant, bearded gentleman fixed the failure points and a couple of the advisories for about £300. MOT passed without incident (at a different testing station) with a substantially smaller advisories list (which may or may not come as a surprise).

IMHO £20ish isn't bad considering it generated a massive list of things which will likely need looking at sooner or later.

 

[Smiley]

I would take a very good look at main dealer advisories before spending the cash. The last time my 124 went to a main dealer was several years ago for its 126k mile service - at which the advisories were 1. front discs and pads need replacing; 2. engine mounts need replacing; 3. prop shaft flexi joint needs replacing; 4. rear exhaust box requires replacement "soon".

I bought the brake parts and went to fit them - er hang on those aren't worn out.....kept them on the shelf and eventually replaced at about 170k miles (yes another 40 odd k) - before the discs reached the min thickness and before the pad warning light appeared
The engine mounts are still the same 80k odd miles later - OK they probably DO need replacing now
The prop flexi joint is still the same one - again 80k ish miles later and no sign of any vibration and no visible problems when looked at
The exhaust turned out to be a weld seam that had gone rusty - had it welded at my local garage a couple of years later - about £25.

I could have spent a four figure sum at the main dealer having that list of advisories seen to.......

 

[C240Sport97]

I am going to get Steve to check out the advisories and see if any of the things mentioned actually need replacing.

The rear discs will be done as I have been meaning to get them done anyway.

The real thrust of my email is not just that MB dealers are looking for work (which may or may not be necessary [necessary being a different standard for every one, depending on your attitude to risk, maintenance and your budget]), it is also, and more so, their utter 'rip off' prices ...

I mean, 5.8 hours to change lower front suspension bushes (albeit including alignment!)!! Another example is more than £600 for new rear discs, pads and brake shoes .. this is a boggo E230, not an AMG. These 2 examples are, to me, plain 'robbery' -- bear in mind that these are already discounted 3+ prices. The actual 'standard' prices (which were provided for comparison) were about 10% higher.

I agree that we all have to make a living, and I understand that the prices were quotes that you can negotiate on. However, I don't expect MB dealers to operate like traders in a Morroccan souk, where they expect you to knock at least 50% off the starting price.

 

[robertjrt]

At least you had an MOT, Mercedes-Benz Chelsea refused a booked MOT from me. It would seem that MB Chelsea are not an MOT station, so, where do they go?

MB Chelsea were charging "full whack" for an MOT!

I understand that Local Authorities have MOT stations, there was one in Bristol who were very hard to find, they did not need to advertise as they were busy dealing with all the Council vehicles.

 

[C240Sport97]

At least you had an MOT, Mercedes-Benz Chelsea refused a booked MOT from me. It would seem that MB Chelsea are not an MOT station, so, where do they go?

MB Stratford send the car out to a local MOT garage. MB Stratford does not have MOT test facilities.