[Macgd016]

You should worry my first A35 service $850 here in Adelaide, about £500 in real money. It does make you wonder about independent specialists but do they have access to all the techno magic?

In the UK they seem to, if fact I think they have to to get a licence from MB to service their cars. As with all things you need to check before using them, I'm lucky I have three nearby, one is owned by the diagnostic engineer that MB call in if their own can't fix a fault (or at least that's what he tells me 🤣), another is the only licenced garage in the UK to work on the Mercedes SLR Mclaren but all of them are staffed by Mercedes trained technicians with many years experience and all of them have the full Xentry system and are licenced to update the Mercedes database.

I also have a SL as a weekend car which only goes out on sunny days so is very low mileage, I wouldn't consider taking it to a main dealer because I get such a good personalised service from my Indy and it is massively cheaper.

But if your car is still under warranty ............

 

[Forrester]

That is certainly true if you have one of the rare breed models or if you need a DCT gearbox oil change now that they have lowered the service schedule to such a ridiculously low mileage so that it catches many people at their second service, even if you are a low mileage user it probably saves you £100 over two services but the fundamental issue is MB are ripping us off.

The additional benefit of the SP I've found is that there is no haggling and up until now, taking my previous A45 in to account where I also had a service plan, I've never felt ripped off. Which I frequently did with my E-Classes and C-Class.

I have also found with my daughter's minis having a SP for them was a lot better than when they came out of the plan and all sorts of extras started to be suggested by the garage.

 

[Macgd016]

The additional benefit of the SP I've found is that there is no haggling and up until now, taking my previous A45 in to account where I also had a service plan, I've never felt ripped off. Which I frequently did with my E-Classes and C-Class.

I have also found with my daughter's minis having a SP for them was a lot better than when they came out of the plan and all sorts of extras started to be suggested by the garage.

I agree service plans are a great idea for many people, the point I was making when I say MB are ripping us off is the charges they make for standard servicing are far to high which of course filters down into their SP's.

Just looking at BMW & Audi, Audi charge £22.04 a month for a 24 month plan and BMW £20 for a 36 month plan so both are significantly less than MB and MB independents charge about half of what MB charge to do exactly the same work.

I know that all dealers have high overheads which means they have good reason to charge more than Indy's but I do think MB take this to a whole new level.

It's just a personal gripe of mine though and I'm sure I will get over it 🤣

 

[veeeight]

When you buy a Mercedes, have deep pockets

As long as people are willing to pay for a perceived value, they can charge what they like.

 

[Macgd016]

Mind you even MB service charges pale into insignificance compared to the cost of servicing a Mercedes SLR McLaren, apparently the cost of replacing the spark plugs is £10,000 😭, but I guess there are 8 of them 🤣

 

[Forrester]

Is the labour charge around £200 per hour. If that's correct then it explains everything else.

 

[veeeight]

When I had a Audi the dealer service hourly rate was £180 p/h so more than likely M-B will be higher

 

[Forrester]

£180 for an Audi! Probably what we would pay for my wife's before family discount

 

[garypen]

In Japan, MB's come with 3 years maintenance included, along with the 3-year warranty. So, no service costs for 3 years.
Plus, they were running a campaign when we bought ours that included the 2-year extended warranty and maintenance for free. (Approx. 1500GBP value)
That includes at least one sha-ken, as well. (Maybe two? I'm not sure.) Sha-ken is the infamous government mandated inspection in Japan that by itself usually costs around 700GBP.
So, we can basically relax for five years as far as maintenance and service goes, which is nice.

 

[veeeight]

^ Yes Service Plans are the way forward. For many reasons.

In the UK Mini have been clever about marketing and packaging Service Plans.

 

[Macgd016]

In Japan, MB's come with 3 years maintenance included, along with the 3-year warranty. So, no service costs for 3 years.
Plus, they were running a campaign when we bought ours that included the 2-year extended warranty and maintenance for free. (Approx. 1500GBP value)
That includes at least one sha-ken, as well. (Maybe two? I'm not sure.) Sha-ken is the infamous government mandated inspection in Japan that by itself usually costs around 700GBP.
So, we can basically relax for five years as far as maintenance and service goes, which is nice.

That seems a very enlightened attitude to selling cars, are you sure it is a Mercedes 🤭

 

[Forrester]

In Japan, MB's come with 3 years maintenance included, along with the 3-year warranty. So, no service costs for 3 years.
Plus, they were running a campaign when we bought ours that included the 2-year extended warranty and maintenance for free. (Approx. 1500GBP value)
That includes at least one sha-ken, as well. (Maybe two? I'm not sure.) Sha-ken is the infamous government mandated inspection in Japan that by itself usually costs around 700GBP.
So, we can basically relax for five years as far as maintenance and service goes, which is nice.

In the UK 3 years free services comes and goes for selected A-Class models, depending on MB sales.

 

[garypen]

That seems a very enlightened attitude to selling cars, are you sure it is a Mercedes 🤭

I think they're trying to boost sales whatever way they can, as they're kind of expensive for the average Joe in Japan. The ¥5M (£33K) I paid for this little hatchback is the average annual income in Japan. So, they have to offer extras to increase the perceived value, I think. Especially to assuage the fear of excessive repair and maintenance costs.
Although, I do see a lot of three-pointed stars on the road. So, they must be doing something right.

In the UK 3 years free services comes and goes for selected A-Class models, depending on MB sales.

By "sales" do you mean limited-time marketing campaigns? If so, that's what the extra two years of warranty and maintenance was for me.
But, the standard is three years warranty and maintenance. All of the "luxury" brands that we were looking at in Japan (MB, BMW/Mini, Audi, Lexus) offer that same basic coverage. Lexus is even a little better with 5 years warranty and 3 years maintenance. (Toyota does know how to make reliable cars.)

As an additional service-related perk, I believe my dealer also include a 6-month new car "mini" service, which includes an inspection and fluid top-off, which is a nice little gesture on their part. I guess that's part of the famous Japanese "omotenashi" one often hears about. (I'm not sure if that's an MB-Japan thing, or specific to my dealer, which is a smaller one, and is known for offering a higher level of personal service than the huge mega MB dealer. I'm very glad we chose them.)

 

[Forrester]

I think they're trying to boost sales whatever way they can, as they're kind of expensive for the average Joe in Japan. The ¥5M (£33K) I paid for this little hatchback is the average annual income in Japan. So, they have to offer extras to increase the perceived value, I think. Especially to assuage the fear of excessive repair and maintenance costs.
Although, I do see a lot of three-pointed stars on the road. So, they must be doing something right.


By "sales" do you mean limited-time marketing campaigns? If so, that's what the extra two years of warranty and maintenance was for me.
But, the standard is three years warranty and maintenance. All of the "luxury" brands that we were looking at in Japan (MB, BMW/Mini, Audi, Lexus) offer that same basic coverage. Lexus is even a little better with 5 years warranty and 3 years maintenance. (Toyota does know how to make reliable cars.)

As an additional service-related perk, I believe my dealer also include a 6-month new car "mini" service, which includes an inspection and fluid top-off, which is a nice little gesture on their part. I guess that's part of the famous Japanese "omotenashi" one often hears about. (I'm not sure if that's an MB-Japan thing, or specific to my dealer, which is a smaller one, and is known for offering a higher level of personal service than the huge mega MB dealer. I'm very glad we chose them.)

Take a look at this previous thread especially the last post on page 1 Free servicing

 

[garypen]

Take a look at this previous thread especially the last post on page 1 Free servicing

Amazing that they are so inflexible there, that one day can make a difference in receiving a promotion.
In Japan, you get the advertised promotional item based upon when you make your purchase, as is the case in the US, generally, as well, from my experience. (Most buyers in both countries tend to choose in-stock vehicles, when possible, to avoid long waits and to take advantage of dealer discounts, which are rarely offered on made-to-order vehicles.)

 

[Macgd016]

Well my A250 had its extortionatly expensive main dealer 2nd year B service and mandatory brake fluid change yesterday, an interesting experience. Having only done 9000 miles I expected to have the call that all was OK & the car was washed and ready to pick up but instead I received a video of my 'complimentary' visual health check from a nice young mechanic called Dave who took me for a video tour of the car, how nice I thought 🤣

He kindly pointed out that my wipers were smearing so recommended new ones front and back, then he showed me the tread depth, 3.94 on the front which he called 3 and 5.76 on the back which he called 5, he said the back ones were 'probably' ok but the fronts needed changing, oh and although there was no sign of uneaven wear I would need a 4 wheel tracking service.

I was still smiling to myself when my very own private service advisor George called me to take me through the recomendations and price them up for me. £65 for the wipers, they didn't have matching Hankook tyres in but they did have (significantly more expensive) Continentals and could even price march KwikFit prices at only £327 fitted and £95 for the tracking. How surprised he was when I said I didn't want him to do any of these extras, not even the wiper blades he said almost desperately 🤣

Now I'm all for garages giving advice on items that need doing or might need doing soon but this sort of blatant up selling is criminal. The wiper blades just needed cleaning, most people change their tyres a 2mm (agreed some will change them at 3) but recommending replacements at 4mm is shocking and recommending 4 wheel tracking when there is no evidence of uneven wear is just profiteering. The problem is many many people don't, or don't want to know about cars so assume they are being given good advice and just cough up.

As if this was not bad enough I noticed that my oil level was below max when I got home so either the car has suddenly started using oil since the day before, they haven't done the drain plug up correctly or they didn't put the correct amount of oil in, I will investigate when it stops raining.

So much for rip off garages, I won't be using this one again

 

[Forrester]

Well my A250 had its extortionatly expensive main dealer 2nd year B service and mandatory brake fluid change yesterday, an interesting experience. Having only done 9000 miles I expected to have the call that all was OK & the car was washed and ready to pick up but instead I received a video of my 'complimentary' visual health check from a nice young mechanic called Dave who took me for a video tour of the car, how nice I thought 🤣

He kindly pointed out that my wipers were smearing so recommended new ones front and back, then he showed me the tread depth, 3.94 on the front which he called 3 and 5.76 on the back which he called 5, he said the back ones were 'probably' ok but the fronts needed changing, oh and although there was no sign of uneaven wear I would need a 4 wheel tracking service.

I was still smiling to myself when my very own private service advisor George called me to take me through the recomendations and price them up for me. £65 for the wipers, they didn't have matching Hankook tyres in but they did have (significantly more expensive) Continentals and could even price march KwikFit prices at only £327 fitted and £95 for the tracking. How surprised he was when I said I didn't want him to do any of these extras, not even the wiper blades he said almost desperately 🤣

Now I'm all for garages giving advice on items that need doing or might need doing soon but this sort of blatant up selling is criminal. The wiper blades just needed cleaning, most people change their tyres a 2mm (agreed some will change them at 3) but recommending replacements at 4mm is shocking and recommending 4 wheel tracking when there is no evidence of uneven wear is just profiteering. The problem is many many people don't, or don't want to know about cars so assume they are being given good advice and just cough up.

As if this was not bad enough I noticed that my oil level was below max when I got home so either the car has suddenly started using oil since the day before, they haven't done the drain plug up correctly or they didn't put the correct amount of oil in, I will investigate when it stops raining.

So much for rip off garages, I won't be using this one again

Was this Bristol?

 

[Macgd016]

Was this Bristol?

No it was Sytner in Weston Super Mare.

 

[veeeight]

£65 for wipers sounds about right, £30 ish for the 3 piece wiper set, plus £33 Labour charges (10 mins @ £200 p/h).

Got keep those expensive biscuits and coffee going.

 

[Reteb]

£30 for 3 piece wiper set? Where? I paid more then this just for the fronts