Long story short, I bought my 2015 ml350 4matic into the dealer to get a bulb replaced.
Service tech told me I need new tires and brakes. total cost is $3623(1k tires, 1k front brakes, 1k rear brakes).
Is that normal? my old lexus costs 300 to get brakes replaced. not 1k.
Anyone have any suggestions to have said parts replaced somewhere else?

 

I just spent $1600 for all four brakes at the local dealer for my 2010 ML.

 

The fact that you went to a dealer to replace a light bulb might be the dealer's cue that they can over charge you for ANY services they please to offer you.

 

I just found my receipt for the 2010 ML brake job done at the dealer. The net cost was $1200 net. $1700 quoted with a $500 credit because the car was at the dealer for the Takata air bag recall. This was in March 2019.

Breaks done on my 2009 ML at Breaks Plus in Jan 2018 was about $1100 as I recall.

 

I was quoted from my dealer about $1200 for rear only, so I went to a local garage (Mercedes specialist) and they charged me about $600.

 

Total OEM parts cost from whole sales dealer
will be 700 +/- 100
Plus labor about $160 per hour. It will take about 3 hours
So about 750 parts and 500 labor. About $1200,
Usually dealers add markups to the parts sometimes up to 100%.

Any car shop can do it, MB not much different as any other car, only difference can be release rear electric motor. But its easy to do.

 

$2k for brakes is high
$1k for tires might be a little low depending on size/brand/model
$3k for all of it might be in the ballpark, depends on the tires

Approx $1200 for front and rear pads and rotors for a German SUV is the going rate across several vehicle brands

 

I don't know much about cars, I purchased this ML for my mother. But you make a good point M~Factor.

Parts came out to $2081.05
Labor came out to $1382
Miscellaneous $95
Shop supplies $24.95

$1382 in labor at $160 an hour is 8.6 hours....to replace brakes and tires? a whole work day?
they charged me $278 a tire but i found them online for $224 each.
Also what the hell is a miscellaneous and shop supplies...I can't help but feel like im getting screwed.

 

Car sales brings the lowest revenue to any dealer, service and kickbacks from manufactures is the main source of income.
So, if you want to save, buy tires on TireRack, and get them installed at Costco for 50$ include balance.

Brakes, check rotors if they in spec get OEM pads only or aftermarket (Akebono) and let some shop install them.

MB is a luxury car, expect to pay 1.5x more for service vs main stream.

 

Whilst I do most of work on our cars myself (for fun not to save) I do have a mechanic I use for Dyno tuning etc.

I did the rear brakes on my 2012 ML in about 2 hours and if my mechanic tried to charge me for 3 hours and at $160.00 US per hour I would have some very straight words with him. My mechanic (as do most here in OZ) charges around US$90.00 per hour for labour.

My experience with Benz Dealers has been good, except for my local MB Dealer whom I would let touch my ex-wife.

 

Mercedes has very conservative wear limits for rotors. It sounds like you needed all four. Mercedes rotors are never machined. That's the main reason parts costs for a brake job are not like Lexus. On the other hand, the brakes work pretty well.

Because the calipers have to be unbolted, wired up and the rotors pulled, there's a lot more labor than a typical brake job where you just swap the pads. It's part of MB-world.

Shop supplies are stuff like brake cleaner, maybe grease if they repacked the wheel bearings and, who knows, maybe rags.

On the other hand, you should sleep easy. And doesn't the car ride and handle better with fresh tires? Enjoy.

 

I should have said I replaced the rotors as well in my 2 hours rear brake replacement.

 

It’s the labor rate that’s out of whack, and the number of hours they charge which may or may not be based on a reasonable labor standard.

Parts are shoppable and a market price of sorts can be known. I recommend OEM brake parts.

Shop supplies are a generic cost of doing business charge, and in my view insignificant in the big picture.

 

I see you're in NJ as well, would you mind sending me the info to the specialist?

 

Duly noted, thank you. Does the forum have a recommended site to purchase oem parts?

 

It is in Pennington, NJ (https://unionlinegarage.com/). They didn't used the MB OEM parts. I believe it was Textar pads (not sure which rotors).
I wish they were OEM parts (I may look for a new place for the next time), but it was $449 for rear, and $499 for front to be exact (last year though).

Quick google search returns bunch of MB specialists in NJ.
https://www.benzshops.com/benzshops/new-jersey/

Good luck!!!

 

dealer quoted me $3k to do pads all around and rear rotors.... i used all OEM parts that came to about $750 in parts. $2250 in labor ? I like my service rep and the AMG tech and they both felt bad ... they don't set the price... AMG tech even told me to google the emergency brake procedure...

and yes this 2-3 hrs of me guiding a friend thru it.. my arm was in a sling at the time...

You got to pay attention....

Some stuff is reasonable, some is robbery.

 

I just bit the bullet and got it done, lesson learned. Thank you for all the replies you guys have been very helpful. Cheers

 

Further to DanD.'s, post, I listened to a transportation industry senior executive today, who stated that parts and service is a 50% gross margin business, compared with single digit gross margin for new vehicle sales. This was a fairly broad context statement, so it can be imagined that the gross margin on parts and service varies by brand. It's not unthinkable that Mercedes dealers in some localities earn 100% gross margin on parts and service.

While in warranty, I will mostly likely use the dealer for maintenance listed on the M-B schedule. Out of warranty, I will mostly DIY.