I got quoted over the phone for five spare tire studs because my car didn't come with any, I get there and they said its $9.95 a piece. Total came out to $50+ bucks...sheeeesh. what a rip. MB of Walnut Creek btw.

Anybody else go to the Dealership to get these? I know internets cheaper but needed them right away just in case*knock on wood*

 

I literally bought the exact same thing from my MB dealer last Friday 5-4-07 here in MD. 5 spare tire lug bolts, for $19.90 in a plastic bag. If thats what you bought....Id give them a call and ask why they charged you more than double....

 

Dealerships are free to charge whatever they want for parts. It pays to shop for parts. I have myself been witness to a $200 difference in price on the same window regulator motor (not for my benz).

 

funny you say that! I picked up some parts (fog lite glass covers, ect..) for my girlfriends clk and it came out to $91.55 and all I had was a 100 bill and 4 20's. He said, "just give me $80 and we will call it even."

I should try that on the purchase of a new car and see what happens.

 

dumb question here, i threw my spare tire on this monday and used the normal lugs, should i have not done that ?

 

I was buying lug bolts just last week. I called Beck Imports and was quoted $3.90 each and called Mercedes Benz of South Charlotte just to compare and they said something over $6.50 a piece. The Benz dealers are less than 20 minutes apart and when you need 10 of those things it doesn't hurt to call around. I'll always check both dealers and oempartsdirect before I buy anything.

 

Weird, when I first called they told me that it was 20 something dollars for the spare tire kit that comes in a case or bag and would take a couple of days to order them, then when I got there, the counter guy said "oh we can't order those, these bolts here are the ones you need because you got quoted for a spare tire kit that was for a donute spare not a full size." Even when I told them it was for a 1999 CLK430. Maybe because I look young and they think I'm somebodys spoiled brat and the dealership is in Walnut Creek, CA which is a pretty rich area... ehh whatever. thats my rant.

 

I used the same lugs on the spare that were on the wheel. I had a blowout on I-95 so its not like I had a lot of choices. It worked fine. They stick out a lil but so what? I was more worried about running that 225 (a front sized tires is my spare) on the back axle with a 245 on the other side.

 

Yep. Ya definitely gotta shop for the best price with parts.

 

I dont know about you...but this whole situation would bother me enough that I would return the $50.00 lugs and buy them from another dealer for $20. I hate feeling like I got jipped.

 

They will rip you off any way they can and expect you to smile and say "thank you sir, may I have another?"

I posted a story in another forum about my experience there a few months back. I came in with a problem; my passenger seat handle (to move the seat forward and allow someone to get in the back) seemed to have stopped functioning. While the handle moved, and you heard the mechanical "click", the latch that holds the seat down wouldn't move, and thus the seat back would stay put, disallowing access to the back seat.

I left the car with them, and a couple hours later they called and said I needed to have the cables replaced because they were broken. They wanted over $600 for the job, so I said hold on, I want to think about it.

I came in to take the car away, and they charged me $160 for "a diagnostic". Why am I putting the term in double quotes?

Well, I went to a shop across the street and asked for the cost of such a fix. They quoted $350 or so - about half the price of the dealership. OK, I would still come ahead even counting the $160 I paid the WC dealer. I was going to do that, but on the way home I stopped at a local independent benz shop and asked what they would charge. The guy said it might be that the cables just needed tightening up and I was welcome to come the next day to have him look at it.. It was closing time, so I headed home and decided to look at it myself.

So I get home and get a good look underneath with a flashlight. And what do I find? something is stuck in there. Looked like gum or something. Maybe one of the carpoolers I take ever so often tossed it on the floor and it got stuck in there. Apparently it held the latch together so it wouldn't move, causing the whole problem.

Spent 10 minutes to take the sticky material out. The seat? works perfectly since then.

So they never actually performed any "diagnosis", which to remind you they charged me $160 for, because if they did, they would have seen the same thing I did. Basically they were going to rip into the bloody seat to replace perfectly good cables that didn't need replacing just so they could rip me off on a fix that I didn't need.

That was the point when I decided I will NEVER do business with them again; not service the car, not buy my next one, not anything. Jerks. I've since then started using a mobile service that comes and works on the car next to my house, and I get the triple benefit of getting fair pricing, good service AND being able to see everything that is happening at all times.