Dealer vs specialist... again
Discussion
It's an age old question, but here goes… how important is full main dealer history?
I'm due a service, which is about £500 for MB main dealer and £320 from a specialist
Going to the specialist wuld mean I lose mobilo breakdown cover as I have full MB history so far (including repairs such as £600 for recent suspension work!)
The car is an 06 CLK 220cdi with 72k on the clock. It has full MB history so far, and I'm half thinking this may mitigate the above average miles when I come to sell?
Generally, if 2 cars are offered for the same price, most people would assume Joe Bloggs prefers the full main dealer history, but does it really make any difference? Personally, I am happy with a specialist (I ride a Ducati which I prefer to take to my specialist as they have a mauch better reputation than any main dealer) but don’t want to save £200 now, to give it back later through a reduced sale price.
Am I over analysing this?
I'm due a service, which is about £500 for MB main dealer and £320 from a specialist
Going to the specialist wuld mean I lose mobilo breakdown cover as I have full MB history so far (including repairs such as £600 for recent suspension work!)
The car is an 06 CLK 220cdi with 72k on the clock. It has full MB history so far, and I'm half thinking this may mitigate the above average miles when I come to sell?
Generally, if 2 cars are offered for the same price, most people would assume Joe Bloggs prefers the full main dealer history, but does it really make any difference? Personally, I am happy with a specialist (I ride a Ducati which I prefer to take to my specialist as they have a mauch better reputation than any main dealer) but don’t want to save £200 now, to give it back later through a reduced sale price.
Am I over analysing this?
I have stuck with the main dealer for my R129. At the end of the day, I think he's better than my specialist (I use MB Newcastle who are excellent), I want to retain the Mobilo cover (because I use the car for long journeys away from home), the car is a keeper, and there comes a point when a full main dealer history really does set a car apart (but not for about 15years and 200k miles).
steeevvvooo said:
It needs an A service, as well as brake fluid, air filter and fuel filter
Most dealers will do an A service for £200 now - in fact my local dealer, MB Chester, list an A service on 4yr old CLK at £175. They make their money from the additional work items which are ridiculously expensive. However I would hope to be able to get that work done For a lot less than £500. Try calling a few dealers.ipsg.glf said:
I've always found Specialist Service much better than Main Dealer.
I've found the inverse to be true - I've had a series of quite appalling episodes at the hands of "specialists".OP - I'd question your MB dealer - MB Leeds do an A service for £196 (last November) for an SL500 - obviously the fuel filter and stuff will knock that up. They will often match the independent price.
Personally I think I will stick with MB for my old (2002) SL500 - even now I'm not in the slightest bit convinced that non-main dealers are able to work on them properly.
Dog Star said:
I've found the inverse to be true - I've had a series of quite appalling episodes at the hands of "specialists".
OP - I'd question your MB dealer - MB Leeds do an A service for £196 (last November) for an SL500 - obviously the fuel filter and stuff will knock that up. They will often match the independent price.
Personally I think I will stick with MB for my old (2002) SL500 - even now I'm not in the slightest bit convinced that non-main dealers are able to work on them properly.
Sounds like you need to find yourself a *good* MB specialist................OP - I'd question your MB dealer - MB Leeds do an A service for £196 (last November) for an SL500 - obviously the fuel filter and stuff will knock that up. They will often match the independent price.
Personally I think I will stick with MB for my old (2002) SL500 - even now I'm not in the slightest bit convinced that non-main dealers are able to work on them properly.
steeevvvooo said:
the A service is actually about £200. But fuel filter and air filter were not cheap from memory, and brake fluid is probably at least 1hr labour on Mercedes master time guide.
At £100 per hour labour (plus VAT as well I think!?) it can soon get to £400-£500.
Some of the dealers used to list these items on their websites and I have a chart (dated Aug 09) of the prices, although I didn't note which dealer I got it from!At £100 per hour labour (plus VAT as well I think!?) it can soon get to £400-£500.
For a CLK is lists:
Brake Fluid £80
Air Filter £90
Fuel Filter £130
on some model it lists air & fuel filters done together for £180, but doesn't show that for CLK.
As best I can gather, all those prices are about double what would be reasonable. Brake fuild takes a dealer about 10mins, air filter 5 mins. Fuel filter is slightly more of a palava. If you negotiate up front there should be fair room for movement.
Rumour has it that the dealers are *very* quiet, so if you humm and harr about whether to use the dealer or take it elsehere then they should be accommodating. Always a chance you'll get someone who doesn't give a toss though.
Incidentally - what on earth are people doing letting garages change their air filters? £90!! Plus fitting.
I always do plugs (if required - horrendously expensive at a garage for an SL), air and pollen filters, brim fill the washer fluids and make sure my discs and pads are ok before a service. All these are easy peasy but MB will charge the earth to do them.
I always do plugs (if required - horrendously expensive at a garage for an SL), air and pollen filters, brim fill the washer fluids and make sure my discs and pads are ok before a service. All these are easy peasy but MB will charge the earth to do them.
Dog Star said:
Incidentally - what on earth are people doing letting garages change their air filters? £90!! Plus fitting.
Price above inc fitting.Dog Star said:
I always do plugs (if required - horrendously expensive at a garage for an SL), air and pollen filters, brim fill the washer fluids and make sure my discs and pads are ok before a service. All these are easy peasy but MB will charge the earth to do them.
The snag you'll have there is that, according to posts on the MB forums, many dealers now won't stamp the service book unless you have all the service work done that is called for according to time / distance.Much as I hate dealers, I think this is fair enough really. If the work called for isn't done, then the car can't be claimed to have a full MB service history. You could say you've done it yourself, or even got an indie to do it, but is the garage supposed to check your work?
Hmmm, interesting. Those prices sound v similar to what I was quoted.
Agree that its scandalous, and can easily be done at home. I recently did a fluids and filters change on my commuter bike so am fairly compentent with simple servicing.
As above though, the issue is regarding the "full MB history". If I want to maintain it, I have to stump up the cash. If I'm going to lose it by changing some bits myself I might as well do it all as none of the currently required bits are above an afternoon of spannering and swearing on my part.
Agree that its scandalous, and can easily be done at home. I recently did a fluids and filters change on my commuter bike so am fairly compentent with simple servicing.
As above though, the issue is regarding the "full MB history". If I want to maintain it, I have to stump up the cash. If I'm going to lose it by changing some bits myself I might as well do it all as none of the currently required bits are above an afternoon of spannering and swearing on my part.
Deva Link said:
The snag you'll have there is that, according to posts on the MB forums, many dealers now won't stamp the service book unless you have all the service work done that is called for according to time / distance.
Well I've had no problem at all with that. The actual filters etc are only replaced if needed and obviously when they look it's going to be blatantly obvious that they are brand new. Either that or they trust me.Either way I've had no problems and my book is full of MB stamps.
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