BubaE350

Just went to my local MB dealer in Pembroke Pines and was quoted a $1,200.00 price for a A3 service on my E350 W212. This included, oil change and filter, air filter, flush the brake fluid and re-fill, check brake rotors and pads for wear, replace cabin air filter and reset the service interval on the computer. Are they crazy? What a rip off! Are these the actual costs for this work? I'm in shock! I own tractor trailers and an oil change costs me $185.00 with 11 GALLONS of oil, oil filter, fuel filter, lube all the moving points and if we have to top off the differentials and transmission it could go up to $240.00. Just use this as a comparison. Are they for real at MB?

KEY08

PatrixUSA

...or check with other dealers in your area, as $1200 for that service is excessive (and yes, crazy!). Paid $620 for same service in CA, and even that seemed high imo. Shop around or go for indy shop.

Welcome to mbworld, and good luck.

DFWdude

No, they are not real, and have never been real. They assume you're willing to pay 3-times the price for an up-market car, so you must have more money than brains. Can't really blame them for this, as there really are some people with more money than brains...

Here's my Driveway "A Service"...
$38.64 – Seven Qts, Mobil 1 0-40 (the good stuff) from Walmart
$24.74 – OEM MB 2781800009 Oil Filter Cartridge from MB dealer
$16.08 - Cabin Air Filter from Auto Geek (for the price of one OEM CAF you can buy 3 cheapies and replace them on a whim)
$13.49 – OEM Mann C28004 Engine Air Filter from eEuroparts
$10.00 – DOT4 Brake Fluid (Not really needed until the 4th A Service, if then)
$102.95 - Total

The Dealer wants $1200 for all this? Since they apparently consider their time priceless, ask yourself if your time is any less priceless, (or $1100 priceless)? I find 2-hours of my precious time (in Oct so I don't break a sweat) and roll up my sleeves. Using my topsider oil evac, I don't even need to roll up my sleeves.

It takes me less time -- and far less effort -- to change the oil/filter than it does to hand wash my car.

cetialpha5

A service is usually around $300. For $1200 it must have a few other things in there like spark plug changes or transmission fluid change. Those rates are high because they have to pay for those free snacks/car washes and/or free loaner.

Mud

I'm in the same camp as DFW, except I use Mann oil filters and Pentius air filters . I typically buy a few from Rockauto to have on hand when I'm ready to do some maintenance.
Mann oil filter less than $10
Pentius air filter each about $5
Two Mann air filters about $17

I've used the Pentius air filters for years on our vehicles and I do oil analysis testing once a year. Zero issues about any contamination.

Oil filter info
https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w212/581968-couple-oil-filter-pics.html

But the overall point is that if you want to, you are able to provide good quality maintenance at reasonable cost. Plus it gets you familiar with your own vehicle which is never a bad thing. Since my car is still in ELW there's been some dealer warranty items and I paid for dealer transmission filter/fluid change . That was $325 and worth it to me. My SA knows me and the car and I've never had any problems about doing my own maintenance.

El Cid

Never understood the A3 type designation. My dealership refers to services as A or B and then adds on the additional items that are required for mileage or age.
Regardless, dealership charges $250 for A and $550 for B. The B is an A plus replace cabin (combination) filter, brake flush and fluid. For my vehicle both services also include a tire rotation. Dealership always has coupons or specials which reduce the above charges.
Due to low mileage have sometimes delayed services for a year or two - cabin filter for instance. SA agreed.

cetialpha5

Oh yeah, don't forget the $130 off $250 service, that one expires June 15th.

PatrixUSA

^^ see mbusa coupon site here. (fyi)

Peachy

You got ripped off big time, should be less than half that price.

markrg

Hello,
I own 2 W212`S .
2010 & 2016.
Both are E550 4MATICS
Great cars , Maintenance done by MB dealerships only.
$$$ But trustworthy dealerships.
Not some mechanic learning on my car??

durand

I go to star garage in Margate and ask for joe they are very good and have one of the lowest prices 954-969-9610

BubaE350

Nothing else wrong, just a plain simple A3 service. I bought the car with 37,600 miles and in a year it has 43,200. Why that stupid service interval is coming up, I don't know!

BubaE350

Thanks DFWdude, you're justifying what I thought, but I thought it be fun to go find out what they would try to screw me for. The local guy down the street that works on MB's and is probably more honest quoted me $230.00. Most of the crap MB recommended isn't needed yet he said. Figures this is an AutoNation dealer (stealer). My mom was quoted in a AutoNation Nissan stealer $700.00 for some crappy service parts replacements on her Sentra with less than 12,000 miles. But they were so busy trying to screw her, they missed a simple tail light bulb out. For shame, taking advantage of an 80 year old woman! But this is why I hate MB stealers in S. Floriduuuh. This is my fifth Benz and I haven't learned my lesson yet. I love the cars, but jezzz...

DFWdude

You're welcome... and thanks to you for observing a phenomenon that is not just confined to Mercedes-Benz dealers. It appears to me that ALL car dealer service departments want insane amounts of cash for menial and in many cases un-needed services.

Furthermore, Service Departments don't "fix" or "repair" things anymore. They REPLACE parts only. Back in the day, I used to replace parts to repair pre-electronic ignition distributors. But no more... several years ago, I paid a Ford dealer $600 to "replace" a distributor, because the dealer refused to "work" on it. Sad, because to this day I just know that distributor needed a part replaced that cost no more than $5.

The downside of today's "plug-n-play" tuning is that it also promotes a "plug-n-play" attitude for everything else.

Ryan Flynn

I just took mine into the downtown Los Angeles Mercedes dealership, they quoted me $199 glc 300