I've heard about the free carwashes, and in houston they do them without question. But just found out here in austin, apparently they don't have courtesy carwashes. Talked to the service manager about it and he said that its included in the service of the vehicle, but he's never heard of people just coming in for them. Told him about the carwashes i get when i'm in houston and he came back with "each MB dealership is independantly owned". My question is where did you hear about the free carwashes? I just assumed they all did them.

Also i asked about how much it would be to install a MB CD changer in my 230k and they quoted me... 1000 smackers for parts and labor?! 600 bucks for labor is a bit steep for an hour or 2 job don't ya think?

-austin

 

I never would have bought the MB without the free car washes, that was the deal maker over the Subie WRX. The CD changer cost me $123 to have installed at my dealer in So Cal and I got it at AutoClass.net for $435 shipped with bracket and fiber cable. I also have the Audio 10 CD (replaces the cassette radio). It sounds way better, good bass and it will work with the changer if you get both.

 

This does seem to differ by dealer. The same as the MB loaner cars. I suppose it depends upon the competition as well. If there are other MB dealers in the area, he would have to do something to get and keep customers. Free car washes seems like an easy, and inexpensive solution. However, if there is no choice for the customer, then why even have the extra expense?

1000 clams is a lot for the CD changer + install, but I think that is around the avg. price. Since I would assume most people that buy this do so at the time of purchase, and then get it rolled into their financing, it's not such a large hit. If you do a search on CD changers, there has been much discussion on it, with lots of different people doing different things.

 

Pardon me, but why would you want the dealer to wash your car, especially if you have a black one?

Oh look, there are some more swirls.

 

It takes them a few washes to get enough swirls to bother me and then I wax it and it hides swirls a little longer and then when it gets really bad, I use a high speed buffer to get them out.

 

That could be true.. There is only 1 MB dealer in Austin, where as there are 3 in Houston. Competition is good. As for the CD changer i'll probably just buy one off the net for around 400 bucks and do it myself. Tho I was hoping to pay 150 bucks for the dealer to do it.

-austin