£198 To Fit A Battery ??

[SimonTheSailor]

A friend has just got a quote from Mercedes to fit a £268 battery for £198 ?!

This can't be right surely ?! It's a 2017 GLA thing.

Is there some programming that needs to be done or something ?

[vikingaero]

Most new batteries on el-premium cars need coding.

[Alex_225]

Some batteries do need coding to the car, which I suspect isn't cheap and if it can be charged a bit higher then it will be from a dealer.

I know some Mercs have trickier batteries to physically install but I suspect a GLA probably just has a batter in the usual more typical location under the bonnet.

[ScoobyChris]

If you are comfortable with DIY, you can buy a hand-held OBD-II scanner that can handle the necessary coding of new batteries to the car, etc.

Chris

[Suspicious_user]

SimonTheSailor said:

A friend has just got a quote from Mercedes to fit a £268 battery for £198 ?!

This can't be right surely ?! It's a 2017 GLA thing.

Is there some programming that needs to be done or something ?

For the start/stop?

[SimonTheSailor]

A bit more research suggests a stop/start car has another smaller battery too ?

[SimonTheSailor]

Suspicious_user said:

SimonTheSailor said:

A friend has just got a quote from Mercedes to fit a £268 battery for £198 ?!

This can't be right surely ?! It's a 2017 GLA thing.

Is there some programming that needs to be done or something ?

For the start/stop?

Must have been quoted for the main battery but have just found out about these smaller batteries.

All the things work in his car and the clock has remained up to date so could well be his stop/start battery

[braddo]

Find out where the battery is located because that might be a factor. In my old Cayenne the battery was underneath the passenger seat so I had to follow a detailed youtube video to replace the battery and it took way longer than a battery in the engine bay or boot would take.

[911Spanker]

Seems reasonable for a modern car.

One reason why I don't buy them.

[Golden Guinea Charlie]

At a MB dealer that will be 1 hour labour which is probably their minimum charge.
Tell your friend to go on here

https://forums.mbclub.co.uk/

And ask where his nearest reccomended MB independent garage is.
If he can do the change himself get a Varta (MB original) from https://www.tayna.co.uk/
Excellent service and will likely be vastly less money than what he has been quoted

[TheJimi]

What is the function of the coding?

Until relatively recently, I didn't even know battery coding was a thing!

[J4CKO]

£466 to get a new battery on a fairly modest car, they really do wring as much as they can get out of the punters dont they ?

Battery in my mind is £80 to £120 and five minutes with a ten mill socket and or spanner.

[TheJimi]

J4CKO said:

£466 to get a new battery on a fairly modest car, they really do wring as much as they can get out of the punters dont they ?

Battery in my mind is £80 to £120 and five minutes with a ten mill socket and or spanner.

Exactly that in my mind too!

I feel like this is almost deliberate complexity being engineered in.

[Krikkit]

ScoobyChris said:

If you are comfortable with DIY, you can buy a hand-held OBD-II scanner that can handle the necessary coding of new batteries to the car, etc.

Need to buy the >£100 MB-specific scanners though, not just a £6 ODB2 adapter and generic app

J4CKO said:

£466 to get a new battery on a fairly modest car, they really do wring as much as they can get out of the punters dont they ?

Battery in my mind is £80 to £120 and five minutes with a ten mill socket and or spanner.

AGM stop-start batteries are rarely anything like £120 for a decent size, plus a diag fee etc. It's pretty expensive but not as cheap as a £50 Halfords job

[Lefty]

I had a c6 rs6 a few years ago audi quoted 3 hrs labour at £140 per hour. Plus the cost of the battery. Plus VAT.

[Golden Guinea Charlie]

Just put the reg of wifes GLA 1.6 petrol into Tayna batteries,
£150 - £160 gets a Bosch, Varta, or Yuasa (car has stop start)

[Gigamoons]

TheJimi said:

What is the function of the coding?

Until relatively recently, I didn't even know battery coding was a thing!

Think its simply a way to make customer DIY harder / increase dealer revenues.

[J4CKO]

Krikkit said:

ScoobyChris said:

If you are comfortable with DIY, you can buy a hand-held OBD-II scanner that can handle the necessary coding of new batteries to the car, etc.

Need to buy the >£100 MB-specific scanners though, not just a £6 ODB2 adapter and generic app

J4CKO said:

£466 to get a new battery on a fairly modest car, they really do wring as much as they can get out of the punters dont they ?

Battery in my mind is £80 to £120 and five minutes with a ten mill socket and or spanner.

AGM stop-start batteries are rarely anything like £120 for a decent size, plus a diag fee etc. It's pretty expensive but not as cheap as a £50 Halfords job

Yeah, but £468, would be spendy at half that, am sure they rely on the customers not making a fuss, it is a "premium" car after all "Whats that you are saying Mr Smith, complaining about the £468, what ? can you really not afford a Mercedes ? Maybe sir should scuttle off to the Dacia dealers across town ?"

Its a bit like weddings, funerals, vets, private medical stuff and dentists, you aren't meant to say anything, just agree, get stuff arranged, crack on and then weep in private when you get the invoice and stick it on your credit card.

£468 to put a new battery on is obscene, had to get one for my sons Golf and that was £120, that has start stop etc. I know they have to make money but thats taking the piss.

[Puddenchucker]

Recently had an AGM (stop/start) battery fitted to my Yeti.
Just over £170 for a Varta, including coding, at a local independent. Took less than 20 mins.

[crowfield]

I took my Mercedes to a local independent specialist 4 years ago for a service ( I bought the car from them the year before ) They said the battery was on its way out and would need replacing - cost around £300 for a stop start battery. I pointed out that the car didnt have stop start and said to leave it. They said come the winter the car wouldn't start as the battery was bad. 4 years later it is still starting first time every time. So much for "specialists "