For all of you that want to own a Benz..

[Zuhaib]

Its not that great...
The work was an A-Service and all four brakes + rotors. I would have taken the car somewhere else for the brakes if I had the time, but got lazy and thought it would take me longer to find a good aftermarket shop. Now I will start looking.

 

[TC]

WTF?

What did they do? Just the brakes? What else is included in the A-Service?

 

[WannabeSS]

This is why i wont own a german car.

 

[The_Finn]

jesus and i thought 1000 for rotors and pads for the mazda was retarded

 

[watto]

^^It's got nothing to do with it being German.

 

[WannabeSS]

^^It's got nothing to do with it being German.

Sure does. All the damn dealers require a premium and charge you and arm and leg just for parts and labor. its stupid expensive.

 

[watto]

Sure does. All the damn dealers require a premium and charge you and arm and leg just for parts and labor. its stupid expensive.

I have a German car. My repair costs aren't horrific.
My Mum has a German car. Her repair costs aren't horrific.
My Dad has a German car. His repair costs aren't horrific.

 

[Zuhaib]

WTF?

What did they do? Just the brakes? What else is included in the A-Service?

Well the A-Services is pretty much a oil change service with them doing other things to your cars (wipers, lubing moving parts etc).

The brakes where full Pads and Disc with brake flush. They quoted $1333 just for the brakes.

Edit: On the cost it all depends.. If you want a German car makes sure to have a good non-dealer shop for basic work like Brakes and etc. I have two VW's and its not too bad to run as there is a lot of nondealer VW shops here. But with the pads having only 2mm left (I saw them) i did not want to take wait and in what i learned with my Jag the non-dealer workshops in San Francisco still charge too much.

 

[nist7]

And this is for the 2006 S500? Why the hell do you need new rotors? (5 min search came up with two sets (front and rear) of brake pads at a total price of around $200)

Yeah....don't worry. I have no intention of buying any Mercedes.

 

[thedguy]

^^It's got nothing to do with it being German.

German car dealers rip us off. BMW's and Mercedes both are quite expensive to maintain here. In fact the local BMW dealership charges higher hourly labor rates than the Ferrari/Maserati/Bentley dealer does.

Oh and simple, cheap parts, are way over priced. The locking plate (it's a simple piece of brass that looks like a washer) for a 91 318is wheel bearing is $25. The entire wheel bearing costs that much, including the bolts.

jesus and i thought 1000 for rotors and pads for the mazda was retarded

Wait what???? $1k for rotors and pads on a 323 (gtx)? I know it's a special edition, but thats what you'd pay for 'em on a brand new evo with Brembo's

 

[CrzRsn]

Sure does. All the damn dealers require a premium and charge you and arm and leg just for parts and labor. its stupid expensive.

So according to you, its the dealers that make it expensive, not the fact that its German. A Toyota dealer could charge a huge premium too, they wouldn't be too popular, but they can still do it.

When the dash illumination on my Audi went out... my 3 local Audi dealers quoted me from $500 to $900 to fix it. One told me that the bulbs were not replaceable, and that I needed a whole new instrument cluster (the $900 one). The other two told me it was possible, but would take hours to do, and Audi dealers charge $110 an hour.

I ended up buying the dash bulb kit off blauparts.com, some auto shop repair software off eBay, and the Audi CD for that software for $50 total. Spent 2 hours in the garage, and voila... just as bright as new, if not brighter.

 

[thedguy]

I also forgot to mention, that when the oil pump on my brothers bmw decided to explode, it destroyed $1400 worth of aluminum on the front of the engine (timing cover and casing with integrated oil pump). It was actually cheaper to drive 600 miles round trip to Chicago to pick up a used motor and use it for parts. Total bill was about $400 plus about 8 hours of labor.

Had we paid a dealer to do it, it would have been $2500 in parts alone (the entire timing gear was shot), plus about 5 hours of labor at $110/hour. Total bill would have been roughly $3100 (this assumes they cut us some slack on things like oil and coolant, and didn't force us into a new waterpump/thermostat).

So according to you, its the dealers that make it expensive, not the fact that its German. A Toyota dealer could charge a huge premium too, they wouldn't be too popular, but they can still do it.

When the dash illumination on my Audi went out... my 3 local Audi dealers quoted me from $500 to $900 to fix it. One told me that the bulbs were not replaceable, and that I needed a whole new instrument cluster (the $900 one). The other two told me it was possible, but would take hours to do, and Audi dealers charge $110 an hour.

I ended up buying the dash bulb kit off blauparts.com, some auto shop repair software off eBay, and the Audi CD for that software for $50 total. Spent 2 hours in the garage, and voila... just as bright as new, if not brighter.

Any wonder why VW/Audi has trouble getting repeat customers?

 

[Zuhaib]

And this is for the 2006 S500? Why the hell do you need new rotors? (5 min search came up with two sets (front and rear) of brake pads at a total price of around $200)

Yeah....don't worry. I have no intention of buying any Mercedes.

Well it has about 37K miles on the clock. Used to drive a lot more till I got the GTI, and now it spends a lot of time driving in the city with its great hills. Big car, lots of hill, equals a lot of brake use.

I dont know where you saw $200, but from performanceproducts its about $500. The dealer charged about $650 for parts. That is is OE, if i went aftermarket I could save some.

EDIT:
I just saw this: http://www.performanceproducts4benz.com/productpage.aspx?pid=104029&name=Brembo+Brakes
Now that is crazy...

 

[andyhui01]

I have a German car. My repair costs aren't horrific.
My Mum has a German car. Her repair costs aren't horrific.
My Dad has a German car. His repair costs aren't horrific.

I think he serviced at a dealer watto... my mate has an A class and a service cost about 600-700 at the Mercedes dealer IIRC.

 

[Cobol74]

Yes UK dealer service prices are stupidly huge - we got lots of non dealer specialists however. Always wanted an MB but prices for servicing at dealers ha!

 

[watto]

I think he serviced at a dealer watto... my mate has an A class and a service cost about 600-700 at the Mercedes dealer IIRC.

We service our cars at dealers, too... Dad has done alot of legal work for the BMW and VW dealer though

 

[Austere]

Suck it up, be a man, work harder, make more money.

 

[eddysdaman]

I did work experience for two weeks at a Mercedes Dealership in the Servicing Departments. You'd be surprised to know how well the cars are made for you (the consumer) but when it comes to ease of use for a mechy to do servicing, its an afterthought.

Let me give you an example:

We had a red S500 (mid 90s) come in. Air Conditioning had had it, and was being replaced. The car was worth about $AUD10,000 (heaps of Kms, and was owned by someone I coulda sworn was the head of the Russian Mafia) anyway, I remember reading the quote. $15,000AUD.

Most of it down to labour.

It's bad, yes, but they do know what they're doing and in the Mech's defence, its not them, its the guys at MB HQ

 

[D-Fence]

Sorry, but driving a S500 and crying about 1600$ of service costs is pathetic. FYI: For my Ibiza I paid 650? Service with new discs and pads.......

 

[ahpadt]

Sorry, but driving a S500 and crying about 1600$ of service costs is pathetic. FYI: For my Ibiza I paid 650? Service with new discs and pads.......

/agree

You own a fucking luxury car - you should be able to pay the bills for it.