My dealer quoted me over the phone an A service is $295 and a B service is $750 . They offer a $25 coupon and a $75 coupon respectively. Asked about an express service and was informed that it is the same as the A service however they get you out within an hour. Do these prices seem to be reasonable, I previously negotiated a service contract with my purchase however this time I was not able to. BTW, a service contract is usually a good idea when you lease, however, when you buy you are generally better off with pay as you go. Thanks

 

I paid about 300 for my A service last year. My B service is coming up in a couple of months. My local dealer that I bought from wants about the same for the B service. I'll be driving about an hour away to get the same service for about 500 so shop around if you can

 

Did my service B last Tuesday at Fletcher Jones in Newport Beach CA $699+Tax. Called around all dealers basically same price. No coupons available and if you want a loaner to go back home have to make a 2 week appointment loaners are scarce.

 

I just had an A service done, $323. I had a $25 coupon so that knocked it down to $298. You asked if these prices seem reasonable...I'd say $300-ish for an oil change is not at all reasonable.

 

Sounds about what I pay for those services here in the west coast of Florida

 

I know this has probably been discussed at nauseam, but I did purchase the pre-paid maintenance on the new vehicle and am wondering if it was the right choice. I guess I’ll have to see what you all say and talk to my service adviser. I’m just not sure I’ll put enough mileage on the car for it to benefit me. Investigation started, lol. It is fully refundable which is great!

 

Talked to the dealer about whether the service plans are worth it when we were buying our 2022 GLE and they said your not really saving any money with the service plans. The only benefit would be if you wanted to finance the service plan you could throw the service plan cost in with the financing of the vehicle...we paid cash so it didn't make sense to get the service plan since there is no savings.

 

Your service intervals are mileage OR time, so you'll get all those services, which are required to maintain the warranty.

We're in the same boat - my wife only has 16,000 miles on her 2019 GLC at 4+ years. We still need the services, mileage or not. It will include brake and tranny fluid flushes, wipers, etc. based on time.

We bought the extended [size=13px]warranty Prepaid Maintenance[/size]. It was a toss up until we verified the "time" based services are included. And we bought just before the package prices went up (Jan 23).
And since our purchase, shop rates have gone up to $260/hr, and we don't care.

 

Talked to to my service advisor today. Told me the best maintenance plans to buy which he can sell would be for the 40k B 50k A and 60k B services. Says those would be the most expensive services with tune up and transmission oil change. Said transmission oil change alone is close to $1k. Will see what price he gives me on those 3 packages when the time comes but did say can save close to 500 dollar’s combined compared to paying all 3 plans separate. Can someone ask their service advisors what they recommend on those plans.

 

service A: oil change- material 50 dollars. time 0.5 hours. Why does it coast 300 dollars?

 

There are a lot of opinions on this but the final one is simply: Because enough Mercedes owners are willing to pay it.

 

BINGO!

 

And like everything else prices will be going up don’t be surprised Service A will be close to $400 next year.
The Best or Nothing.

 

i get it. But why are those owners calling around and looking for coupons ?

 

More likely it's the Shop having to pay more for everything. The Technician, the oil, the building, the heat.
In general, Service Departments have been less profitable since Covid.

​​​​​​Actually that's true of almost everything.😒
​​​​​​

 

A non MB shop would probably charge close to 200. Service A also includes a few more checks. I guess it comes down to how much 100 is worth. I could see why people want to stick with MB. You pay a lot more for this than a similar vehicle. You pay a lot more tax for similar houses to be in a better neighborhood/school district. Why not pay a bit more for oil change for the same reasons?

 

My god daughter has a Toyota. Their equivalent to an A service on a $43k Highlander cost her $99 two weeks ago.
This is a Mercedes dealer "issue".

 

Most Mercedes dealers have a basic, economy service as well. Ask.

Feedback we've seen here is the Economy Service is about $150 for 9 quarts with filters. Parts alone are $100+. A more robust engine than a Highlander, which uses 6 qts.

 

They itemized it out...sort of. Looks like $207 for labor, and I have no idea what the Flex Service package is.

 

Pre-paid maintenance is worth it only if you lease and ONLY if you roll it into the lease. It’s not worth it if you finance the car or pay cash for either the car or maintenance plan.

The reason why leases make it worthwhile is because you are only playing part of the cost due to the way leases are structured. In other words, it’s residualized.

Take a $3,000 prepaid maintenance plan that is rolled into the capital cost of the car. Since, for the term of the lease, you’re only paying part of the overall capital cost, by extension, you are only playing part of the overall prepaid maintenance cost. At a 55% residual, for example, you’re essentially only paying $1,350 dollars for that plan, which is a great deal (it’s probably a little bit more since the residual value doesn’t change).

I think this is why the cost is so high because of this. So, only buy the prepaid maintenance if you lease and roll the cost of it into the lease.

 

Burying your Prepaid Maintenance in a lease is one way, if you are OK with higher monthly payments and taxes. It doesn't change whether the PPM is a value to you - if it's not a value, it doesn't matter how you pay for it.

The best (and easiest) way to assess if the cost is worth it to you, is to Do The Math.

​​​​​​What's your car's age and mileage, what services are due in your expected ownership period, and compare those (current) costs to the price of the PPM.

As suggested earlier, your Service Advisor (or Service Manager) is a great source for making that comparison. I always use them as a resource when pondering such things.

In many situations, the PPM is worth the money, in others it's not. There's not a blanket statement that covers all situations.

 

some people still love to save money regardless of their net worth.

 

Whenever we buy any new vehicle, I always have the engine oil changed earlier than the schedule says, which for our GLE-580 is 1 year or 10K miles. I don't like the idea of having all the break-in metal floating around for 10K? We are scheduled to get it done at 2K miles.
On used vehicles or boats I change all the fluids before we put any time on them. Sometimes it's a little harder than others! LOL

 

That's the spirit.

 

I have had prepaid service plans with MB, BMW and Audi. I think they are great if you keep the vehicle.

last year I traded a MB for a new one. Negotiated a reduced price on the new service plan. Was trading in the old MB and realized I had 1 yr service remaining unused. Asked to transfer it to my new purchase and was told that was not possible because the plans are locked to the VIN. It took a lot of effort to get MB corporate to credit a year onto the new vehicle. In the end a senior person was very helpful

I also have a 7 year old Q5 at my vacation home. Bought it with prepaid service and in year 4 bought more. This year when getting annual service I was reminded that next year was my last prepaid. I asked if I could buy more and was told I could. When I checked the 4 year cost it was 30% less than the listed price of those 4 services.

The other benefit is you avoid inflation. If the price of service goes up, you have already paid for it.