TechSuperstar

Ok,
So my 02' C230k coupe has been nothing but perfect to me for the last 3 years. Thought nothing of getting my service A's and B's until last week when it his 60k miles and I now had to pay (been under warranty until now). So I go in to have a 60,000 mile service B done. Nobody told me i could just get an oil change. $750 later.. i felt like i should have just walked in there and bent over! Sevice B was $400. I looked at the breakdown for that service, they charged $26 for wiper blades (EACH). $$$ for oil, wiper fluid etc. Then all the labor of LOOKING (im sorry, inspecting) everthing. Then on top of that $170 for a fuel fileter, $65 for an air filter, $95 for brake fluid change. Ok so im *****in, heres the real complaints:

1: they want to charge $190 for a charcoal filter. I dont even think the c230k coupe has one. Can anyone confirm this. They want me to order one cause they didn't have it in stock.

2: after all said and dont the service tech told me they didn't rotate the tires because under MB spec the better tires should be on the front for steering traction. The car is rear wheel drive, so at what point are you supposed to rotate them so they wear evenly? he didn't answer. Am I supposed to just buy rear tires when they are bald?

3: They told me I should have rear brakes done for $300. They told me that 10k miles ago too but i looked at the pads and they are only half used. The teck told me they were 1mm below MB spec. I told him ill decide when it needs them.

I think at 70k miles ill bring it down there and get just an oil change, put the filters in myself and buy my own wiper blades.

Am I being cheap or are they?
TechSuperstar

Oil Change

if you call that rape...
Then I've been in a gangbang rape

bforde

Does not seem that high to me . . .

bryanm

Please be advised that most dealerships provide neiter a barrel for you to bend over on nor any type of lube.

TechSuperstar

$52 in wiper blades doesn't seem high? Are you kidding? I guess maybe some of my problem is the fact that I drive a lot too. I drive 20k miles a year. To me it doesn't make sense to have everything looked at twice a year for these prices. I thought what I would do is just get oil changes on the service A's instead and get the full service B done every 20k (once a year)

Buellwinkle

This is why I laugh at the people buy 2005 MBs thinking maintenance is cheap. That's because they only count the cost of A/B services and not the other maintenances covered on the 2002-2005 free maintenance plan. I was being very conservative when I said it's worth $2K. I probably wouldn't get an MB without free maintenance.

Jim Banville

I will do ALL my own regular maintenance on my C230KSS. Changing the brake pads is so easy, if I lived in an area with lots of W203 MB's, like So. Cal., I'd advertise $100 for 1hr. of labor + parts and I'd have people lined up down the street every Saturday . I'd probably make enough to make my car payments!

Jim Banville

Your brake lining sensor should "tell" you when to change them. Ask them why your sensor isn't sending a signal to change the pads.

inFiniTE LooP

$52 for these wiperblades seems expensive to me, especially since these wiperblades SUCK!!! when i clean my windshield with wiper fluid i can never get it all off of my windshield because the damn wiper blades keep leaving excess behind, now that my wiperblade warranty is up i'm gonna have to buy some better quality ones, any recommendations???

Battery!

Since I hope to remain in Atlanta, I'll take my car to you for routine maintenance, and we'll work something out.

miroj

The oil is premium grade synthetic. It costs a bomb. Filters, wiper blades and so on can be supplied to the dealer and left in the trunk. Use a wholesale broker in that event.

In Australia you can use any qualified workshop to do the work. Since it is illegal to restrict competition.

davis449

Shoot, my 60K service on my 95 C 280 was like damn near $800, I don't want to hear it.

firstkill

You should go to a different dealer.
Or be very specific when u want the "60k" service.
so i figure

30 bux for the oil
15 for the oil filter
25 for hte air filter
20 for AC filter on top of battery
80 for the "super fuel filter" when they bosch makes a cheap one for 30
40 for both blades if u got the whole thing, not just the inserts
25 for brake fluid flush and refill
25 on the power steering flush and refill
1 for the windshield wiper fluid
so we are at 261 + tax 20 bux = 281

so i would add on mebbe 3 hrs or so worth of labor to actually do those things. At 96 and hr for a dealer.. thats 569 add on the carwash.. so make it 580. I think for dealer markup.... its not THAT bad. If they changed your 2 accessory belts then I say it was "fair"

No charcoal filter....dealer always lie on brakes.....

Fk

mleskovar

"$750 later....Sevice B was $400". In Ca. you have to sign for a max amount up front before they can charge you for it. Same in Ma?l "Then all the labor of LOOKING" I am always amazed dealers (any) can get away this. Everything today is either no service required (like lubing), a simple sight check, or time/miles dependent. "$95 for brake fluid change".... not a bad price and recommended every two years or 50K miles (on my C). "they want to charge $190 for a charcoal filter".....just the C320 has those (there are two) filters. $100 on line. "after all said and dont the service tech told me they didn't rotate the tires because under MB spec the better tires should be on the front for steering traction" This sounds like they were never rotated. 5K mile rotation intervals are optimum.
"They told me I should have rear brakes done for $300. They told me that 10k miles ago too but i looked at the pads and they are only half used. The teck told me they were 1mm below MB spec. I told him ill decide when it needs them." Be careful here. My car has a brake wear sensor on only one rear wheel, yours has none. Just to be safe I pulled the rear wheels off to properly check the pads and sure enough....the inside driver's side pad (the wheel without the sensor) was almost gone. "I think at 70k miles ill bring it down there and get just an oil change, put the filters in myself and buy my own wiper blades" All the parts you need are available on line. Same brand parts as you get from MB. Only much, much cheaper.
"Am I being cheap...?" No. $400, or $750 is way to much
considering what they do and don't do.

MarkL

The dropping of the free maintenance and the rise in MB prices was definitely a factor in my decision to replace my '02 C240 with a new BMW 330i instead of the C320 I had been contemplating. In fact, I find it hard to believe MB dropped the maintenance plan with competition from BMW.

GGM

In Florida they also have to give you an estimate up front. You sign that they can go ahead with the repairs. The final bill can be no more than 10% above that estimate without prior permission.

GGM

GGM

I also will probably be replacing my '03 C240 with a non MB because of the lack of covered maintenance. I wouldn't have bought this one without it.

GGM

Buellwinkle

Heck, even Mitsubishi and Volkswagon offer free maintenance let alone the other lux cars like Audi, BMW and Jaguar.

BabyBenz6spd

I've also been raped Today!!! I went in for the shceduled SERVICE A @ 13000Miles.

I was charged $160 for pretty much an oil change, and they cleaned my in-cabin filter........and other inspections of fluid.




Service B is not for another 17000 miles.......but I'm going to change the engine oil every 6500 miles at local autoshop for about $60 with Mobil 1 synthetic.


The problem is if you don't go to these Mercedes Services, can they void your warrenty? I'm definitly going to look into some other cars after my warrenty run out on my 05 C230. I know Benz are expansive to take care of.....but damn!

nlpamg

man, that isn't too bad. I remember I spent close to $800 (30,000 mile service and front brakes) for my 1997 C280 Sport when it hit 30,000 miles (and I had to buy new tires on top of that too). I know how expensive MB service is, but I chose the '05 b/c I didn't want to take the big hit in depreciation (with the 05's being out already and getting a car that's "technically" a year old) and I like the way the 05's looked a lot better than the prior years (I love the AMG kit).

plus, you can prepay for 3 services for like ~$450... the only cost I'm worried about are the brakes, I know they're going to tell me that I have to replace the rotors, and with the rotors being cross-drilled and such, I have no clue as to how much more they'll charge.

inFiniTE LooP

only thing with that is you may wanna bring your own oil filter to wherever you get it done, because a lot of oil change places don't carry filters for mercedes, i've tried to do this before and the mechanic had to leave the shop and go buy one and then he told me if i wanted oil changed there again i have to bring my own filter, so just a word of precaution

C434ME

I am an assistant service manager for a Vovlo store. Our 60K service is $695 plus another $75 for the cabin air filter. The price you paid seems average for the amount of service that is done at that mileage. Our 60K service is a 5 hour service with a great detail of inspections done to the car. You get what you pay for, well most of the time. Independant shops can do the same service but you will want to make sure that the tech doing the service is qualified and has the right amount of knowledge. The dealership does have access to all the up to date information about your vehicle and knows exactly what to look for when they inspect it. I can't tell you how many times we get cars that come in that have just had a service somewhere else and we find the most elementary things wrong with the car.

Service is expensive, but so are the cars.

TechSuperstar

I originally brought the car in 20k miles ago (40k miles on the car) and the service tech told me I needed front brakes. He said the sensor light would come on any day, so I believed him and got the front done. Then at 50k miles he said it needed rear brakes. I told him I would wait this time until the sensor light came on. He told me there was no sensor on the rear brakes. Been driving it for another 20k miles since then and everything is fine (though they tell me it needs brakes). Does anyone know the truth? Does it have sensors on the rear? Also, nobody commented on whether the C230k has a charcoal filter?

GDawgC220

Many times at the dealership (this is from experience), they've told us that on our ML, we need front brake pads, only about 1,500 miles left on them before the sensor comes on. We declined as the brakes felt strong and made no metal on metal or any other noises when stopping. Well, we drove for another 7-8k miles before the pad light came on! If they were right and the light came on around 1500 miles after, or even 2-3k after, fine, I'd say they're right but 7-8k miles???

Same situation recently with our w220, they say we need new front pads and rotors at 38k...said sensor would come on soon, within 1 or 2k miles. We're at 44k now and still no light and brakes still strong with no squeeling or screeching.

Sometimes I wonder...

But IMO, yes, you do pay for what you get (most of the time), but it is steep. Try to find an independent MB dealer/service place, that's what we did. Rates are a little cheaper. The place i go to has two labor rates, one for repairs and one for services (oil changes, etc). Another option is to buy the synthetic oil and filter yourself and put them in your car and let your service advisor know that you brought your own parts. It'll be much cheaper than having the dealer supply them. In most cases, you can find Mobil 1 syn on sale online or instores...just keep an eye out for them and stock up

YoYiTo

I went to my local dealer to find out how much is service b. The rep told me $450 because my warranty ran out at 60k miles. I asked the rep what does Service B consists. He told me wheel rotation, oil change, inflate tires, wiper change, tranny oil change, differantial oil change and some other things I cant remember.

I said forget it. I do everything myself at home and it will be half of the cost. I just need to find someone to reset the computer because it says I'm 1,200 miles overdue.

I remember taking my dad's Range Rover and he was quoted $850 for service and $1,200 for an air bag suspension that was leaking + $120/h labor for the replacement. My dad and I did that at home and the suspention cost us $300 it only took us about 6 hours to change it.

Another time I took my '92 325i just for a quick inspection it had 158k miles on it that time and the car was running weak. They said that I needed to change my 2 of my piston because there were all messed up they qouted me $1800 + labor. The same when I got home and checked the engine I only needed to change my spark plugs and the wired and it ran perfect and still does at 162k miles.

I dont trust anything what the $tealer says anymore. I rather inspect the car and do the labor myself or if I cant do it I'll get my mechanic. Doing it yourself you'll learn everything about your car.