Hello. I am a new MB owner. I just bought a 2007 SLK 280. I need advice on normal maintenance. Do you do all your work at a shop that specializes in MB? Do you do oil changes at a generic place like Valvoline? The nearest MB shop to me is: https://mbautogroup.com/
They want $200 for an oil change and $400 for transmission service. These sound like dealership prices to me. Are those prices high or normal? I am in the San Diego CA area. Just east of La Mesa, 91941. Anyone know a good shop in the area? I am surprised that there are so many MB specific shops around.

 

Were you able to find a good repair/maintenance shop in the San Diego area? I am also in need to find a reputable one. Thanks

 

No. I used this place Clifton Mercedes Independent Sales & Service in El Cajon. They are OK but their shop looks too clean and fancy, like a dealer. They do sell cars too. I will try this guy someday Dieter Fischer's Service in La Mesa. This guy sounds a little too bull**** and I think it is a one person shop. I keep meaning to drive past it and take a look.

The first place recommended that I need new wipers. But I just replaced them a couple of months earlier. Thar puts me off. I am guessing that they always say that because most people do go too long before replacing. The place I bought new front tires at also had signs about getting new blades. Easy money. They also said I need new struts. Probably do at 120K miles. That second shop scoffed at that and said that MB struts last way longer than that.
I do need a new windshield washer motor. I will get around to letting that second shop do that and then I can see better what he is like. And let him inspect the struts.

 

Nope I'm plenty familiar with the dealership environment. Those are fair prices. The dealer would be $300-500 for Service A, and the trans service would be $600-1000 here. The parts cost alone for the trans service is about $160, and it involves removing and reinstalling the pan and gasket as well as an oddball fill procedure. You can however take your oil change kit to someone and pay $50. Parts cost for my S550 is $8/quart of Amsoil Euro x 9 and a $15 Hengst filter kit. I sell an oil change for $180, sometimes just rounding up to $200. Oil changes typically aren't as profitable as people would think, it's a 15-30 minute drain in some cases, it's taking up rack space I charge $150/hr on and your non-customers are constantly shopping you and will bail on their appointments over $20 here and there so oil changes unless I know you have been a pain in the *** for me to schedule and manage. Imagine I have to unrack a Range Rover with an air suspension overhaul just to change some broad's oil in record time just to please her lol

I have a service shop, most of my business is Mercedes. It's not because they are unreliable, it's because it's good business, the customers value their vehicles, you don't deal with shoddily modded vehicles in the case of BMW, and the quality of the vehicles are good so you're not cleaning up after the manufacturer in the case of Ford. If you tell a customer to buy a set of $1000+ Michelin AS4's they will just pay the bill. My BMW customers will drive oil soaked cars that are overheating but still ask me to install cheap coilovers or do a walnut blasting so they can try to save gas money.

DO NOT use a quick service place. There are specific, very important o-rings that get replaced on the oil filter caps that often get missed or installed improperly which can either total a vehicle or dump your oil on your engine and soak sensitive electronics and belts. You do not need to use a Mercedes specialist at all, but you should use someone that has worked on them in the past. I did not start out as a Mercedes specialist, actually my goal was Porsche/Audi and it never ended up that way. You also need to make sure the oil being used is a European formula which has a low volatility, and is designed for 10,000 miles of service in these engines. If not, the oil can burn and send all the soot into your sensors and catalytic converter. Mercedes design their cars to burn rather cleanly, part of that success is their oil specifications. BMW has a rather impressive 0w20 spec these days, LL17FE+.