My 23000 mile service cost me £380.Is that reasonable for a V reg C240? Should I shop around for my next service which will still be under warranty?
John
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Was it routine servicing? I own a Lexus and pay roughly the same for routine maintenace however they give me a Lexus loaner while mine is in the shop.
Eleanor
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That's what you get when you drive a prestige motor.
Andy
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Struth. My Skoda was serviced for free at that mileage, and I still got a free loan car for the day.
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I believe MB dealer service charges are centrally controlled in the UK, i.e. the cost is the same wherever you go. The 27k service of my E320 Coupe was £187; the 36k service will certainly be over £500 (I had it done on my previous E320), since it is "probably the biggest service in the life of the car, sir", as they said.
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SWMBO fancied an A class - terible ride and expensive to maintain I said - "oh no" said the salesman, "services run out at £150 each". So the deal was done, 6 months later - standard mid range service (20,000 miles ish) - £340 - ouch.
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Did you find where the salesman was hiding? Shame you didn't get it in writing!
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Presumeably for those miles this is its second (therefore 'B' type) service. Not too unreasonable provided the dealer is helpful, efficient and all the work is done well.
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I'm not sure where you and Eleanor (above) are coming from. Surely you arn't saying its OK to be ripped off as long as you get 1. A loan car and 2. Nice people who rip you off. I repeat my post from above. I get the things you think are so good for free. What I don't get is the poser badge, but I don't care.
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My C240 was serviced (60,000) a couple of months ago. It was a B service. I specifically requested the radiator drained and flushed (it was due) and the brake fluid replaced (which I think added to the standard cost). Cost was about £450 (if I remember correctly - I'm trying to forget). This was at a main dealer, whose ballpark estimation of the cost was about right. The local small business specialist was temporarily closed down for refurbishment, or I might have gone there (though currently this specialist is an unknown quantity for me, as I've not had the car for that long). However, I've no complaints about the service - if I'd wanted they would have collected and delivered it from my home or workplace - I declined, as I couldn't be sure of my location(s) during the day in question. Yes, it's expensive all right - I'd have been happier with £380, I must admit!!
By the way, I did ring round various agents within striking distance before I bought the car, so as to give an idea of servicing costs, and the estimates I got were roughly the same.
Richard
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I've never done it myself, but a friend of mine always rings round and plays one dealer off with another re service costs. He claims this works for BMW (his previous car) and Mercedes, which he now drives. He saves about £30-50 per service this way.
Incidentally, his new C Class Merc has a boot lid as tinny as my 190E!!!
Regards
Pat
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You will be paying about £60/hour plus top whack for parts, oil & consumables. They will be laughing all the way to the bank, I'm afraid. You are paying for the name, the shiny showroom and the smarm.
An independent specialist will use the same parts, the same spec oil but cheaper and charge no more than £35/hour.
The whole issue of warranties tying you in to the dealer for servicing needs careful examination and has been challenged in the courts several times.
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£60 per hour - you must be joking? My local (London) BMW dealer charges £85 plus VAT! In the country it is more like £60 plus VAT.
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You wont be happy with these prices if you look at what they actually do,this information is in the little service book.
In brief,they change the oil and some or all of the filters.They then charge you more to dispose of the old oil than you can buy new oil for.
The rest is just poking at things and staring.
If you want the brake fluid changed annually,and you should,you have to ask,ditto coolant,ditto aircon service.
It is all a preposterous rip off.Apparently franchised motor dealers have to make money..
Why?
So they may commercially survive.
Do we need them?
No.
Take it to your local specialist,give a deserving business your business.
And when you want a new car log on and buy the cheapest,by all means haggle on the phone,annoying the franchised motor trade is a public service.
Or service your own,my 172000 mile 405 turbo diesel wagon,has been serviced by my own not-specially -expert hand,things like cambelts and aircon being sent to local specialists.
I notice Citroen tell me that the Xsara HdI is only covered for the last two of its three years if serviced by a dealer,so I shall have to grin and bear it i suppose,but i feel used and abused,not welcome and cossetted.
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Franchises make more from servicing than they do from selling cars. The whole point of the £60 - £100 per hour labour rate is not to make the fitter rich. It's to pay for the fixtures and fittings and most of all to pay for the building. That way, the owner of the franchise gets his customers to pay off his million quid mortgage, then, after property values generally have doubles, ends up with a two million piece of real estate which is all his. For further lessons on how this country is run, consult......
HJ
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The last time I took my wife's Carrera 2 to the local franchised dealer, the service (a big one) came in at £750 which is what they had estimated before. What they didn't tell me was that the extra work required would cost another £1500. I told them to put the car back together and finish the standard service. The discs were apparently below Porsche specified thickness and I had them replaced (genuine parts) at the independent engineer who looks after my Xantia. His price was £400 against £800 and the other work was deemed not necessary. So if you want the service stamp for resale as I do - get any other work done at an independent workshop.
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I have a 1999 Saab 9-5, due for a 78000 service soon. My local dealer (well-heeled area of Surrey) wanted £256. As I will visiting be visiting North Wales about the time the service is needed, I thought it was worth a call to the dealer there........£114 (not a mistype, one hundred and fourteen pounds) for the same service - I could go to Wales for the weekend, nice hotel, good meal, nice bottle of wine, and STILL come home with some change!!!
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