Great Service at Dealership - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Scott98 · #1 11-08-2004, 09:46 AM

I dropped my '85 300D off at the dealership this morning. This is the first time I have ever taken my car to the dealership. I have to say I am very impressed so far with the service. They were very friendly to me even though my car was clearly the oldest one on the lot. They also had one of their employees drop me off at work because I worked close by and I would have had to wait 20 minutes for the shuttle bus.

I dropped it off to get a front end alignment (I put new tie rods on this weekend) and to get the transmission fluid flushed. They said the flush would run between $125-150 depending on parts and the alignment would be $119. So how did I do on price? I figure the price on the flush was about right but I didn't know about the alignment.

Scott

boneheaddoctor · #2 11-08-2004, 09:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scott98

I dropped my '85 300D off at the dealership this morning. This is the first time I have ever taken my car to the dealership. I have to say I am very impressed so far with the service. They were very friendly to me even though my car was clearly the oldest one on the lot. They also had one of their employees drop me off at work because I worked close by and I would have had to wait 20 minutes for the shuttle bus.

I dropped it off to get a front end alignment (I put new tie rods on this weekend) and to get the transmission fluid flushed. They said the flush would run between $125-150 depending on parts and the alignment would be $119. So how did I do on price? I figure the price on the flush was about right but I didn't know about the alignment.

Scott

Two of the Mercedes dealers here charge $95 and $99 for alignments.

Brian Carlton · #3 11-08-2004, 10:05 AM

I just got the flush done on the trans at my local indy who does transmissions. Charged me $95. and I brought him the filter! I thought that was a ripoff, but, he explained that "it's a Mercedes" and "The dealer gets quite a bit more for a flush" and "I use about 15 quarts of oil" and "it takes an extra hour to do it".

I was there when he did it. Took all of 75 minutes for the entire deal, and that included looking for the t/c drain plug, which, apparently, the SDL does not have.

The standard fluid change, without the flush, is $35. It pisses me off to have to give him $95. for an extra 20 minutes of work.

If I had a decent lift, I'd do it myself in a second.

Rant off.

GTStinger · #4 11-08-2004, 01:08 PM

Which dealership was it? I had a very poor experience with McGeorge in Midlothian.

300 SD was pulling to the right, they wanted to do over a grand of front end work to align it. I told them to align it "As best they could". They charged me $98 and said they tried but the alignment "Wouldn't hold". Car still pulled to the right as bad as ever. I went down the street and had Merchants align it, they got it to sail straight and true down the center of the road.

Additionally, McGeorge told me my rear brake hoses were badly cracked. I crawled under and they hadn't even wiped off the ten year of road dirt on them. You couldn't see rubber, let alone tell if it was cracked.

boneheaddoctor · #5 11-08-2004, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTStinger

Which dealership was it? I had a very poor experience with McGeorge in Midlothian.

300 SD was pulling to the right, they wanted to do over a grand of front end work to align it. I told them to align it "As best they could". They charged me $98 and said they tried but the alignment "Wouldn't hold". Car still pulled to the right as bad as ever. I went down the street and had Merchants align it, they got it to sail straight and true down the center of the road.

Additionally, McGeorge told me my rear brake hoses were badly cracked. I crawled under and they hadn't even wiped off the ten year of road dirt on them. You couldn't see rubber, let alone tell if it was cracked.

HBL Mercedes in Tysons Corner VA charges about $99, and the other is American service center Mercedes in Arlington VA charges $94.95, will be taking my car there, they have a good rep.

Scott98 · #6 11-08-2004, 01:26 PM

I took it to McGeorge near Broad and Parham. We'll see how everything goes when it's time to pick it up. So far so good. BTW, the few times I have bought parts there they have also been very friendly.

Scott

Hatterasguy · #7 11-08-2004, 01:30 PM

Changing the trans fluid is a job I just can't stand for some reason. The next time around $100 sounds like a great deal to me!

btw Brian I have changed my trans fluid twice their is a t/c drain plug. You have to rotate the engine around to find it but it is their.

Brian Carlton · #8 11-08-2004, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hatterasguy

btw Brian I have changed my trans fluid twice their is a t/c drain plug. You have to rotate the engine around to find it but it is their.

He rotated it around three times. He looked for it. I looked for it. No drain plug anywhere in the opening that faces the transmission support bracket.

Hatterasguy · #9 11-08-2004, 01:45 PM

hmm thats strange... Maybe not the original t/c?

boneheaddoctor · #10 11-08-2004, 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hatterasguy

hmm thats strange... Maybe not the original t/c?

Or maybe he just missed it. If he didn't have a helper (one watching while one is cranking over the motor) its not impossible to miss.

Scott98 · #11 11-08-2004, 02:01 PM

Just got a call from the dealership. The car won't be ready until tomorrow. The reason is that they have one technician who worked on these cars back when they were new and they like him to work on the older ones. He got busy on something else today and can't get to it. They said they have other techs that could do it but they just prefer to use him because of his experience. I think they were mostly concerned about him doing the alignment. I took that as a really good sign. It sounds like they really care about my car and giving me good service.

Scott

Scott98 · #12 11-09-2004, 02:48 PM

Well I picked up my car today. The tranny flush only cost $110. It's not often that you walk out of a place paying less than they quoted you ($125 -150). They still weren't able to do the alignment though. The machine is broken and they will call me when it is fixed. They also promised to give me a coupon when I come back. They were all still very friendly. I might have simply lucked out on this dealership.

Scott

boneheaddoctor · #13 11-09-2004, 03:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scott98

Well I picked up my car today. The tranny flush only cost $110. It's not often that you walk out of a place paying less than they quoted you ($125 -150). They still weren't able to do the alignment though. The machine is broken and they will call me when it is fixed. They also promised to give me a coupon when I come back. They were all still very friendly. I might have simply lucked out on this dealership.

Scott

Some shops still care about helping the customer and haven't lost sight of who pays their bills. Looks like you found an honest one, if not a cheap one.

TimFreeh · #14 11-09-2004, 04:06 PM

On the W126 chassis there is a cross brace that goes right across the torque converter, it blocks access to the TC drain plug.

Remove the six bolts and remove the brace and the plug is pretty easy to see.