Thinking of buying a CLS55....thoughts/opinions please

[rockits]

So this is quite funny now and GDPR gone mad! I got a reply back from Sytner Mercedes Milton Keynes. They have given me a price for both an A & B Service.

Part of my desire to get a service done at this dealer was because they have completed Services 3-12 on this car from years 4-13. I have done this before with Volvo twice where I have had the service done there, given them a copy of the V5 as proof keepers-ship (not ownership really....side issue!) and they printed me a basic list of when the car had service or work done there and what it was. Only basic but lets you know when non-menu servicing work was done and any additional works/parts have been replaced outside of normal menu service items. It helps if you know when brakes have been replaced or struts or airmatic pumps etc. but you get the drift.

So I receive this reply back in part:
In regards to the service history due to GDPR we cannot provide you with a print out, this can only be provided to the owner at that point in time. If the current owner no longer has their paperwork, we can provide them with the history from when they owned the car if they came into us with their V5 and a form of photo ID. We can only provide the basic information on service history, being the date, mileage and location. I’m sorry for any inconvenience by this.

Now I know people want to be careful of GDPR but there is no GDPR issue here is there? There is no personal data released. The only data is related to parts changed on the car. I am sure the car doesn't mind. They must hold that information as they would have no way of knowing when/if any parts had ever been replaced on that car. Surely they don't delete all historic data and service history related to the car do they?

Anyone had this anywhere else before? I can understand wanting to protect personal data of course but I am pretty sure this causes no issues does it?

 

[rockits]

Aside from the fact they of course recommend a B Service which comes in at the bargain price of £495.40 plus £11.50 for the safe disposal of waste oils and filters. The A Service would be with the combination filter it would be £388.36 plus £11.50 for the safe disposal of waste oils and filters. Crikey have prices gone up? Or do Mercedes charge more than other manufacturer main dealers I have used?

I have a 2010 Jaguar XJL SuperSport 5.0 V8 SC and the services at Grange Jaguar are either £199 or £299 fixed per year. I am sure the Volvo main dealer pricing was similar to Grange Jaguar for the XC90 4.4 V8 I had as well.

Is there something special about a CLS55 in comparison to the XJ or XC90 or Mercedes main dealer servicing in general?

 

[moodi]

Hi, yes indeed I remember. Very interesting and useful day that one.

How do you feel about the CLS55's compared to the GTS?

Mixed feelings:

CLS is probably now my all time favourite car. It just does everything I need perfectly - will come back to this.

GTS turned more heads and had the wow factor. Anywhere you drove was a special occasion. But for much of this reason, it was also not a sensible daily (yes, I did it) for fear of damage, adding on miles affecting resale value etc. Sound was incredible, especially just on gentle drives around town. You could make amazing sounds at relatively low revs between the first 3 gears so didn't need to hit anywhere near full chat to announce your presence. And when you do open it up.... oh boy.

GTS was definitely slower than the CLS. I've driven a lot of 'fast' cars and quite a few properly fast cars. The GTS is safely in the former. But this completely depends on your style I guess. Despite its size, the GTS was surprisingly easier to drive on the limit. I think the differential, suspension setup and steering (very good feedback - on par with my E46 M3) helped greatly.

Now the CLS is; Faster, cheaper to run, comfortably sits 4, child seat friendly, supermarket friendly and so much more. For my needs, I no longer wanted a car I could drive some of the time to put a smile on my face, but rather something I could drive all the time to do the same. The CLS does all of this and more. Top features are the torque (especially when tuned) and suspension (adaptiveness). The interior is iconically luxurious and reflects Mercedes at their best. Next upgrade is a Quaife LSD, coming soon...

 

[moodi]

Is there something special about a CLS55 in comparison to the XJ or XC90 or Mercedes main dealer servicing in general?

Dealer Tax? Servicing is cheap enough on these through any independent specialist. Try Autoclass in MK. Highly regarded here and I am happy with the few times I have used them (never for servicing).

 

[rockits]

Mixed feelings:

CLS is probably now my all time favourite car. It just does everything I need perfectly - will come back to this.

I couldn't agree more. You don't really need to spend more than £10k-£20k IMHO to have a car that does all you need it to do pretty much. I really don't care about the year, the plate, the miles etc. as it is all show and vanity in reality.

The Model 3 Performance is too fast for the road. I love my little Peugeot GTi's for what they do so well. So much fun and engagement at much slower speeds.

I bought the 4.3 Manual Vantage as it is not the quickest but not slow. However is so well balanced, great steering, engaging, alive and sounds epic. It was £25k and the most expensive car I have ever bought. No sane normal grounded person really needs any more than any of this.

 

[rockits]

Dealer Tax? Servicing is cheap enough on these through any independent specialist. Try Autoclass in MK. Highly regarded here and I am happy with the few times I have used them (never for servicing).

I know dealer pricing is of course higher but Grange Jaguar are a big flashy Jag main dealer. The XJ is one of their premium models but the servicing seemed very reasonable. Of course they c0cked it all up but that is a given isn't it?!

£500 seems a lot for a fairly basic annual service or not much more. I pay no more for my 4200.

 

[C240Sport97]

I miss my CLS55 still. If I could get an additional parking space, I would buy it back.

For me, the colour combination was and still is worth the money. While the “blue baby” was mine, it was over serviced and never abused. All the paperwork is in the folder.

Perhaps you should view and drive both, then decide.

 

[Abb]

Dealer Tax? Servicing is cheap enough on these through any independent specialist. Try Autoclass in MK. Highly regarded here and I am happy with the few times I have used them (never for servicing).

Is it a coincidence the seller of the first one listed in this thread (the black) has Autoclass in their username and location is listed as Milton Keynes! Coupled with the fact all the other items they have listed are MB spare parts, I would say not

Perhaps selling on behalf of a customer?

 

[Abb]

All said and done, the blue one wins hands down! The wood interior trim (which I am not a fan of either) could be replaced/wrapped/hydrodipped etc (imagine that in gloss black) and the wheels easily changed too.

The rarity of the colour combo would be enough to sway me, to what looks to be a nicer, well cared for example of this marque.

 

[Archierust202]

Dealer Tax? Servicing is cheap enough on these through any independent specialist. Try Autoclass in MK. Highly regarded here and I am happy with the few times I have used them (never for servicing).

Does anyone know the difference between Mercedes Designo Black paint and normal black paint?
It might look better after it has been detailed inside and out.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Aside from the fact they of course recommend a B Service which comes in at the bargain price of £495.40 plus £11.50 for the safe disposal of waste oils and filters. The A Service would be with the combination filter it would be £388.36 plus £11.50 for the safe disposal of waste oils and filters. Crikey have prices gone up? Or do Mercedes charge more than other manufacturer main dealers I have used?

Prices have have gone up a lot in recent years, and I suspect it’s to help service contracts look more appealing.

 

[cheddar]

If it’s the same designo black as was on my car, (platinum black), it has a stunning goldish effect in good light when clean, for me with lack of cleaning that means 99% of the time it just looked black.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

I know dealer pricing is of course higher but Grange Jaguar are a big flashy Jag main dealer. The XJ is one of their premium models but the servicing seemed very reasonable. Of course they c0cked it all up but that is a given isn't it?!

£500 seems a lot for a fairly basic annual service or not much more. I pay no more for my 4200.

I think it’s an element of both - Jag are great value and Mercedes are trying to have your eyes out so the gap is bigger than it should be!

 

[Larkone]

So this is quite funny now and GDPR gone mad! I got a reply back from Sytner Mercedes Milton Keynes. They have given me a price for both an A & B Service.

Part of my desire to get a service done at this dealer was because they have completed Services 3-12 on this car from years 4-13. I have done this before with Volvo twice where I have had the service done there, given them a copy of the V5 as proof keepers-ship (not ownership really....side issue!) and they printed me a basic list of when the car had service or work done there and what it was. Only basic but lets you know when non-menu servicing work was done and any additional works/parts have been replaced outside of normal menu service items. It helps if you know when brakes have been replaced or struts or airmatic pumps etc. but you get the drift.

So I receive this reply back in part:
In regards to the service history due to GDPR we cannot provide you with a print out, this can only be provided to the owner at that point in time. If the current owner no longer has their paperwork, we can provide them with the history from when they owned the car if they came into us with their V5 and a form of photo ID. We can only provide the basic information on service history, being the date, mileage and location. I’m sorry for any inconvenience by this.

Now I know people want to be careful of GDPR but there is no GDPR issue here is there? There is no personal data released. The only data is related to parts changed on the car. I am sure the car doesn't mind. They must hold that information as they would have no way of knowing when/if any parts had ever been replaced on that car. Surely they don't delete all historic data and service history related to the car do they?

Anyone had this anywhere else before? I can understand wanting to protect personal data of course but I am pretty sure this causes no issues does it?

If the service record has any personal details - name, address, phone number then this is classed as personal information and they cannot share it without agreement from the owner of the data.

If it was your personal data then would you not want it treated the same way? You would be amazed how even something like a service record document with letterhead etc. so seemingly official and legit could be used to imitate the real person.

 

[rockits]

Prices have have gone up a lot in recent years, and I suspect it’s to help service contracts look more appealing.

I think you are right as of course they have pushed the benefits and suggested such a plan to me.

 

[rockits]

I think it’s an element of both - Jag are great value and Mercedes are trying to have your eyes out so the gap is bigger than it should be!

Nail on head I think. They must have based it on something though so the parts, labour rate and time spent or all of these must be a fair chunk higher at Mercedes than Jaguar. It is not a zillion miles off twice the price

 

[rockits]

If the service record has any personal details - name, address, phone number then this is classed as personal information and they cannot share it without agreement from the owner of the data.

If it was your personal data then would you not want it treated the same way? You would be amazed how even something like a service record document with letterhead etc. so seemingly official and legit could be used to imitate the real person.

I think this will be a real hot potato over the next few years. In essence it will mean any paper records of any car will be shredded. However this will only apply to a company as GDPR is not directed towards a private individual. Therefore a little hypocritical and flawed. Either allow it or don't. I think it is GDPR gone mad personally.

My old TVR Chimaera had a ton of paper history from day one. All with name and address of previous owners. So if a dealer/trade sold this (which they did) then they should have disposed of all those old records. So a 50 year old Ferrari worth say £5m sold by a dealer would need to shred all evidences of paperwork causing a GDPR breach? That is going to cause some ripples surely.

I replied back to Sytner to question the GDPR aspect. Also that they should worry less about GDPR and concentrate more on IT systems/network security as we know this is a massive issue so displays far greater vulnerabilities than GDPR ever will....by a hundred fold! IMHO opinion IT system/network security and the process around it is so poor in many many many company's. We see it ever day.

 

[rockits]

Interesting:
Dealers binning service history because of GDPR - Page 1 - General Gassing - PistonHeads

 

[Larkone]

You don't need to shred the paperwork, you just need to redact it. You may think it is GDPR gone mad but your view would be different if you were a Data Protection Officer for a company and was responsible for a company not being fined by the ICO - up to 4% of annual turnover. If you are really lucky you could just get away with an ICO 'consensual audit' (love that term and have always wondered what the consequences are if you refuse) and having been through one it can be a lot of work and puts you on the ICO radar - still not good. On that basis you can see why companies are overly cautious and err on the side of healthy paranoia to the point it appears ridiculous to yourself just trying to get the 'publicly available' information. Consider though if you were given those personal details and started to contact the previous owner(s) and they had not consented to have their information shared and objected. Better IT systems that can produce service records for the car rather than the owner would be the way forward.

 

[markjay]

When I last bought a second hand car, the dealer showed me redacted scans of the V5C and service history before the purchase, but after buying the car thet gave me the originals which weren't redacted.