Hi all, i bought a Second hand 2009 C300 sport early this year and recently the Plan A service message pop up asking me for a service. must i go for the service or i could drag the time more? because $300 for the service is not a small amount of money. appreciate it if someone could answer me. =)

 

On the service, it should tell you either by how many miles or days you have to take it. If that time is up, take it in. You don't have to get this service done at a dealer, a good indy shop can do the service just as well for less.

Bottom line, take it to get the service. A service for $300 sounds a little steep for a V6, should be a little cheaper. Shop around if there are other indy and dealers, get the best price and go at it.

 

Shop around. You should be able to have A service done at the cost of 200 dollars.

 

indy shop charged me $125. go to one specialized for mb

 

Call your nearest MB dealer and check if they will match this Service A coupon from MB of Fresno - $129. I gave this to somebody in the East Coast and he was able to use it.

Good Luck!

http://mboffresno.com/Specials-Service.aspx

 

This is really sad, every few weeks some newbie will pop up and ask similar question..
IMO, if you are not prepared to take care of your car, maybe you shouldn't have bought a Mercedes in 1st place..
There are ways to save $$ and still have your car properly maintenanced..
Look around for service coupons, or find a good independent mb shop..
If you think $200 for service A is expensive..I can't imagine what you will do when it's time for service B, transmission flush, brake fluid flush, filters replacement, etc etc..

Same goes w/ gas, when your car is designed for premium gas, don't cheap out and use regular..in all honesty, how much can you save? $4-5 per fill up? $200-$250 a year?

 

Agreed. I don't understand the idea of a person buying something valuable and not being interested to learn how to properly take care of it.

We just watched an episode of Pawn Stars where somebody had a bottle of 1921 Dom and nobody ever thought, in the last 50 years or so, to learn how to store the darn thing to maintain it's ($10k) value.

Moral of the story: When you buy high quality, it often will last you a lifetime, even in this day in age, but only if you take care of it per their maintenance suggestions. I think half of the "they don't make em like they used to" meme is because people used to be frugal and learn to service and maintain and take care of their things.

And I also agree that.. whether or not you bought it new or used, you're now driving a $40,000 car. If you can truly afford a 40k car, 300 IMO isn't much money. It's significant in that, I'm a tight *** and would be damn sure I need to before I let go of $300, but it's not a lot of money.

Here nor there, you did buy it, so I think it's good advice for you to put $100 aside a month for this car for maintenance. Just put it in a separate account. Once a year evaluate how much you need to deposit into the account that year, the way escrow is recalculated each year on a home mortgage.

 

lectures on life aside for the moment, for some of us it's a stretch to swing a relatively new c-class. i know that over the years that i have stretched my car budget cause i just fell in love w/a cayman s, c63, 911, etc. to me addison does appear to be interested in taking care of his mb which is why he posted and asked for some sage advice from forum brethren in the first place. i wud strongly recommend that he get the A service done expeditiously and to keep documentation of such so that he can enjoy full protection of his remaining warranty. i have coupon hunted (many dealers will meet/match prices) and used independents and have saved hundreds/thousands of maintenance dollars over the years. enjoy ur c-class addison!

 

+1

 

This may offend some here but do you realize that MB overcharges substantially for their routine maintenance?! This is a fact when you see that a certified indepedent shop can do the same maint. for basically half the cost!!! If you think the stealership does it "better" you are sadly mistaken...most indies are former MB techs! There is a huge market for them because many people who cannot or refuse to pay MB's outrageous service charges go to them. It is common sense really and if more people used indies than MB would be forced to make their maint. priced more in line with nearly every other auto brand.

For those of you on your high horse saying "maybe you shouldn't have bought a Mercedes"...get real! A used C is roughly the price of a new Honda Accord and that is part of the appeal. It is a whole lot of car for the money. And yes you don't expect to pay $200-500 for routine maint. on a $30K car. Most of us who bought pre-owned are car enthusiasts who understand and appreciate why the C is better than any other new car we could have bought for the same price. Some may have purchased only for the three star appeal and status associated with it.

You should be using this forum to educate new owners not to chastize them because they don't want to spend the outrageous service costs...steer them towards an independent shop, educate them on proper maint., and if you enjoy the dealership raping you with their service costs you can continue to pay them. Keep in mind you're driving a C, not an S, or CLS...this is a great car but I wouldn't feel too high and mighty. Just wait till MB releases it's B class here in a few years...are you going to blast on people who buy them when they ***** about service costs? You think that someone buying a car in the $20K range will pay $450 for Service B? MB will have to work in free maint. for the warranty period or drastically cut service costs to attract those buyers.

On a final note I have enjoyed this forum immensely and a big reason is the lack of "snobbery" I've witnessed until now. Lately though there's been much more of it and I feel some may need a reality check.

 

you're just throwing money away if you buy without shopping around. A search through the local dealers' websites revealed a $50 discount at one place over another. It took me a few minutes to find it (wasn't there last week). Do you want to save $50 or not? Do you want to give someone $50 more than you should have for the same exact product/service? That's why people ask. The more money you don't give away, the more disposable income you have for life's luxuries.

BTW, thanks for the Fresno link, will have to try that one here in NY.

 

No one wants to over pay for service, and the point I am making is not about price, it's about TAKEN CARE OF YOUR CAR
If service A is due, GET IT DONE, if your car require premium gas DON'T FILL IT UP W/ REGULAR
There are ways to save money and still properly take care of your car
Look around for service coupons, find a good quality indepent mb shop or do some easy stuff like filter changes yourself
There is a difference between be able to buy a 30k used c-class and able to or willing to spend the $$ to take care of the car
If you can't or dont' want to take care of the car you buy, then you are better off spend the $30k on a new accord or camry period

NO WONDER THERE ARE MISCONCEPTION THAT EUROPEAN CAR LIKE MB AND BMW BREAK DOWN EASY W/ AGE...
I AM WILLING TO BET MOST OF THOSE CARS THAT HAVE TRANSMISSION OR OTHER PROBLEM ARE CARS THAT ARE NOT PROPERLY MAINTENANCED

 

hi all,

thank you very much for some of the valuable answers to my actual question and ofcourse do appreciate some who went too far from my original question. i guess everyone has their own sets of "opinion" not gonna offend anyone here.

and exactly like some said, i am willing to take care of my car and not saying am NOT going to do it. its a discussion forum for people to raise question to experienced owner and thats exactly my original intentions. thank you.

 

Why don't you do the oil change yourself and top off all your fluids? That will save you a bundle and you won't have to procrastinate with your service A.

 

I agree that everyone should maintain their MB appropriately, never said anything to the contrary... I just wanted to point out that some peeps on here are getting a little too preachy when a new guy is asking for some help/advice. Specifically when someone says that they shouldn't have bought one if they can't take care of it. A simple "look for coupons" or "find a good indy shop", and have them do the maint. per your owner's manual would have been sufficient. It's the 'tude some of you project that gets me fired up.

Congrats new guy and as a former new guy your best bet is to find an independent shop to do your A and B services. For more complex maint. such as the transmission service at 39K miles I would go to the dealership.

 

is there anything the dealer does "in the books" during these services that keeps the warranty intact? For record-keeping like this and that was done at X miles? I figure no because people bring it anywhere including other dealers.

Do they simply reset the light (which I know we can do)?

 

It depends where you are and local laws. For US & Australia e.g. as long as you can prove that the service was done your warranty stays intact. In SA it has to be done by a dealer.

A Service is an oil & filter change & walk around inspection as per your service book. Most stealers change wiper blades and other things to bulk up their profit.

DIY the oil & filter change & keep your receipts if in US

AND

https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...st-models.html

All anyone is saying is you must do the service.

 

Damn. You said a lot of truth in there, there is too much preachy snobbery on this forum in a lot of respects. Not to add, there is quite of bit of logic and deductive reasoning in your thoughts.

Good point as well, however MB has been known to have some dogs to the point of being unacceptable. Don't forget about the 2000-2004 period where MB allowed QC standards to dip way below much cheaper vehicles. The MB rep/brand is still paying for it, too many instances of cars catching on fire, 120K S Class brand new and would start when they felt like it, sunroof would open and not close back, and on and on. MB has had a hell of a lot of problems on new cars, let's be real here.

I got your point exactly, I knew what you meant, hence my first post to you. Congrats, and enjoy.

Don't forget to add services such as brakes, those can be done at an indy for much less using the same OEM parts. I definitely would only get transmission services at the dealer, agreed.

Bottom line, it is crazy when you do a little research:

1. Some dealers charge up to almost double for the same OEM parts you can get off the web. Why?
2. Some dealers charge up to twice as much for the same service. Just speaking about dealers, not even touching the indy market. I have gotten quotes from dealers ranging from $200-$600 in price difference for the same job. WTH?

Shop around, do your research.

 

They took it at Huntington NY... thanks again. Only 2k mi after a year... they said we'd just continue to do service A for a while.

 

Unfortunately my dealer refuse to take the offer and charge me original price. they said they provide more services compare to Fresno.

here is their plan A detail.

http://www.hollowaymotorcars.com/ServiceBrochure.pdf

 

^ call around... our original dealer stood firm too so I tried others. If it's still a no-go, it looks like you can just do the synthetic oil and filter for $90. On my sheet the only other things they did was fix tire pressure/reset TPM, top fluids, and check brakes/tires/battery. Resetting the timer you can do yourself.

 

Check with a good indy. Call it a day.

 

I have had my car for about 7 months now and instead of service A showing up, it's service B. Is this right? I had assumed that A would come before B, but according to an Indy shop, the Services have no real sequence, only the hours involved with the maintenance.

 

I had a similar thing happen and I just followed the maintenance schedule per MB manual. A year ago the dealership did the B service before I bought my car...13K miles later my service message said that I was again due for B service, however, per the owner's manual it was actually due for A service.

Since your car is new, your first service should be A. Just tell them you want A service or do like I did and just tell them to do an oil change and reset the maint. minder yourself (instructions on youtube). Most indies will go ahead and check all the fluid levels and let you know if anything is amiss. My indy, who I like, said that they wouldn't reset the maint. minder because I didn't have them do the "recommended B service" even after I explained that the B service was done last time... Let's be honest they are in it for the money too, they are just less blatant about overcharging you than the stealership.

Just follow the scheduled maint. per the owner's manual and don't pay much attention to the maint. minder. My conspiracy theory is that the dealership resets the service reminder incorrectly so that the uninformed customer will go ahead and have another B service performed right after the first one...this gives them $450 rather than $200. Another stealership scam and I'm sure a ton of people go ahead and pay it because they don't know any better. Any MB service tech. reading this, please chime in and let us know why you would ever need two B services in a row?

 

I received your email, and I spoke to a service advisor. The cost for a service A is $238.00 + tax and if you were to take the vehicle to a private shop it will void the warranty on your vehicle. If you would like to schedule an appt with our dealership I will be more than happy to take care of that for you, just let me know what day and time is good for you?

Nicole L. Walker
Mercedes Benz DTLA Motors
Customer Call Center
(213) 748-8951 ex 2421
nwalker@dtlamotors.com