gdmarques@cox.n

Dropped of my new (to me) 1992 500SL with a Mercedes trained mechanic yesterday who works independently now. He called this morning and said the car was in overall very good shape. The only things needed are a power steering hose ($50 part, 4 hours labor), an Idler arm bushing kit ($135 parts, 2 hours labor). He also said I needed rear brake pads soon ($90 parts and labor) and one of the air intake hoses was "falling to pieces" and said the part was around $20 and there wouldn't be any labor cost. All in all I am looking at about $650 total with parts and labor plus another $70 for an oil change (synthetic oil.)

This fellow charges $60/hour labor which seems fair enough, he seems like an honest guy and his shop is clean enough to eat off the floor. Seems to me like pretty reasonable charges for the work. What do you all think?

kerrypacker

You got it going for you man. You won't get it any better than that. Whatever, keep that technican happy.

mebeJOE

You are getting off so cheap. In Los Angeles, a "B" service will run you $475. It is a glorified oil change. $60 per hour is about 1/2 what they charge out here.

gdmarques@cox.n

I thought that was pretty good too! Labor rates in the North East run around $100/hr for nondealers. I didn't even bother calling the dealer.