Wife's car 2024 GLE 450 is her 4th MB SUV plus I'm on my 3rd S class. I have been taking the vehicles into MB dealer for periodic maintenance on schedule for almost 30 years. "A" service costs about $350; it's basically an expensive oil change but I want to have the MB techs look over the car and check things I might have missed-- I'm not particularly automobile savvy. My experience is that "B" service costs about $850. They pad the cost with stuff like air filter change but ok, they've got to eat too. Lately I've been noticing that my dealer has been bumping up the cost with some BS stuff like $100 oil treatment additive despite the fact that the owners manual specifically says "do not use additives." I know that the service writers are on commission.
Today I took my GLE in for B service 20,000 miles. The service advisor gave me a sheet for B service with "Recommended Maintenance" totaling $2400. WTF? I read it and saw that they had layered on "intake throttle body & fuel system Injection Cleaning Service" at $650, alignment $300, tire rotation $90, and some other stuff like "premium deposit control additive and ethanol defense" (no price listed, probably too embarrassed to say). BTW Costco and Discount Tire among others will do tire rotation for free.
The sad thing is that I know the service writer; I've used him more than a few times in the past. I thought he was my friend, that he was a trusted advisor and I could rely on his recommendations. But today's experience made me think that he tried to **** me in the ***.
I'm done. There's a local mechanic that I do trust; I've used him for out of warranty stuff in the past but now he'll get my periodic maintenance business too. Not sure if he can do mfr recalls but I'll avoid the local dealer if at all possible.

 

I'm not sure how others deal with car servicing or dealerships, but since owning my car, it's been one issue after another.
After purchasing it in Sydney and driving to Melbourne, the daytime running lights stopped working, and the Mercedes Me system wasn’t functional. Within a few weeks, the battery died, I received a low oil warning, and there was an oil leak from the engine mount.
One particularly frustrating issue was with the engine ground connection. Despite having the car inspected, the workshop failed to diagnose the problem. I spent a lot of time testing with a multimeter, checking voltage drops, and eventually traced the issue myself—corrosion on the engine ground connection, which was causing inconsistent electrical behavior.
When I tried to claim repairs under the dealer’s 3-month warranty, they initially tried to deny coverage, saying the warranty only applied to "moving parts." I had to push back and eventually escalate the issue to the dealership’s managing director before they agreed to take responsibility. After that, Mercedes carried out some goodwill repairs: they replaced both headlights, fixed the rocker cover oil leak, and also replaced the battery and engine mount under the dealer warranty.
Even after a year, the engine was still burning around 750ml of oil every 12,000 km. When I took it to an authorised Mercedes workshop, they discovered that the rocker cover was cracked and had not been sealed properly. I was charged $1,600 AUD for the replacement. I accepted the cost, even though I still don’t know what exactly was done during the previous goodwill repair.
On top of that, I paid $1,300 AUD for a transmission service and $500 for rear brake pads. After returning home, another issue surfaced—there was a problem with the EGR system, which turned out to be assembled incorrectly. I had to take the car back the next day to get it fixed.
I also paid an extra $1,000 AUD for a “B service.” Later, I found out that they hadn’t replaced the air filter or cabin filter—only the engine oil and oil filter were changed. I also noticed some cracked plastic parts that were overlooked or ignored during the service.
After all these experiences—especially having to fight for basic warranty coverage and repeatedly discovering poor workmanship—I’ve lost a lot of trust in mechanics. At this point, I prefer to handle as much maintenance as I can myself and only rely on workshops for very specific repairs that I can't do on my own.

 

I just had the B service done on my wife’s 450e. It was $1,000 but, I knew that upfront. No up charges, but I was surprised there was no info on treadwear or brakes.

 

Do you get air filter replace ? I guess they won't do it air filter or cabin filter

 

It’s on the list, I hope they did it.

 

I do all of my own maintenance -- been raked over the coal too many times by the dealership in the early 2000s. Never again. Same thing with my Pcar. All maintenance on my own.

 

You may need to look at the invoice to see what they do. Now I know you have to pay extra $1xx for air filter.

 

There is no requirement to use their suggested treatments. These are not approved by Mercedes and could be used as an excuse to deny warranty coverage in the future. If you had the prepaid maintenance, I guarantee that those services would not be included. You should also watch out for the “severe service” ploy where they pull out the severe service maintenance schedule and convince you to do unnecessary maintenance.

I would find a new dealer.

 

Thanks good tip. Looking at their "Recommended Maintenance-Modified" sheet I see that it says "extreme service"

 

Just tell them no, that you only want the maintenance as outlined in the manual.

With that said though, find a good independent MB specialist. You will get better work at cheaper prices. I have one that even has loaners.

 

Give a neighbor kid $30 and he can rotate the tires.....

 

I'm not letting a neighbor kid jack up and rotate the tires on my $140,000 Mercedes lol.

Anyways you can't get neighbor kids to mow grass or shovel snow anymore, let alone work on cars. Plus the liability...what if the car fell off the jack and onto him? Not a good idea.

 

Watch out for wheel offsets before rotating tires. My 20” tires on my GLE 450 have different front and rear offsets. Even though the tires are the same size, they would have to be dismounted and remounted in order to rotate front to rear. I think the 19” wheels are the only ones that can be easily rotated.

 

Yeah very good point

 

I understand the frustration. My local MB dealer I've been going to for service started charging an extra fee during A/B service for resetting the service indicator, multi-point inspection, and to refill the washer fluid.

I balked at the fee. Told them no, I'll reset the indicator myself by following instructions on Youtube.

I went home and left them a 1-star review o Yelp.

I will never be back.

F those guys.

LA has lots of dealers to choose from.

 

I never Ever let them sell me anything that is not in the recommended service from MB. I'm an old guy and my wife and I have been driving MB cars since 1983. For the last ten years when I take delivery of a new car I have the SM call MB to give me a free 3 year prepaid maintenance. They have complied and given it to me as a loyalty gift. My wife's 25 E450 was our 29th new Benz. Some have been absolute crap but most have been good cars.

 

LOL...If you think that the MB'tech' who is rotating your tires cares about your car, will tighten bolts or is sober/able to pass a drug test....there is a toll bridge I am selling.....

 

But he works for a dealership that is responsible for anything that happens to your car while it is there, and they manage their own liability for their own employees. Having some kid do something like that in your driveway is just an absurd risk. Just do it yourself...

 

I hope you were joking.

 

It's an owner's responsibility to read the work order before signing it. Once you sign it, you're approving the work. If it includes additives, you're approving the additives.
Don't walk off before inspecting and signing (authorizingl) the work order.
I don't know an independent within 100 miles that has the test equipment or communications with the factory that might be needed with these complicated cars. Maybe 1,000 miles.
But I do drive 60 mi past the closest dealer to use the one I trust.

 

Its an oil change and a tire rotation. Lets not over emphasize the skill and information required lol

 

Half joking...I do my own.

 

Upselling stuff is fairly common. It's a business that tries to maximize their profit like any other business. My dealership makes these additives suggestions, too. They happen automatically in their system, but as said above, it's your responsibility to approve or decline them. More and more dealerships are no longer independent and owned by larger corporations such as Sonic Automotive, so they are under pressure to maximize revenue. That's why you get a work order that you sign if you approve of what's on it, and if further work is required you get an updated estimate to approve. I get those online and then I just reject it completely if I don't want any of the additional work, or I decline individual line items. I don't really see the issue here.

As for servicing at the dealership, they do plug in the car to the mothership for remote diagnostics and potentially install required updates. Indy shops often don't have that as the tools are expensive. I use a trusted indy for many of the standard maintenance items such as brakes, tires etc. They are good, competent, honest and I know the owner, but I had to show them how to retract the rear brake pistons, because their laptop software they used couldn't do it. Had to show them how to get into the workshop menu to do it right from the instrument cluster. No external tools required. They had never seen this before. So yes, indies don't necessarily have all the tools and information that you think they have, I do have XENTRY etc. myself, so I can run diagnostics and stuff in my garage. MB makes this stuff more complicated, and are even encrypting the ECUs now, so you need an expensive license to do certain things. With other brands like VAG or BMW you can get a cheap phone app and a Bluetooth OBD dongle to do this stuff w/o needing specific tools and licenses.

 

Sounds like you need a new Indy. Don't have any of those issues with mine. Obviously anything electronic I would take to the dealer, but we are talking about regular A and B scheduled maintenance here.

 

Dealerships have always been negative experiences for me in the past.