I was wondering if your costs included ALL labor paid, AND a running total time you've spent working on the car, task by task listed. You really need to break it down in $ & time for us. Labor charges are costs too. Not just your parts you imported from Germany.

You 're not answering the question, as far as I can tell. I care not whether you work on it yourself - I was looking for a running total of your cost for labor, broken out for us to go over.

Haven't read all of this long thread. However, based on Subject, I can comment.

When I was working, I used my 85 300D a lot. I was able to charge mileage for out of town trips, so kept track of what my actual costs were. This would have been from 1995 to 2007. I bought the car used for $13,000 when it had done ~120k km. In 2007, mileage was about 400k km and I assumed low vale - maybe $2k. I had rebuilt engine installed in 2001 ($7k). I would need to go back and double check my records, but number I used was about 19c/km or in US currency, about 24c/mile. This for depreciation, fuel and maintenance.

__________________
Graham
85 300D,72 350SL, 98 E320, Outback 2.5

I tend to keep an eye on cost per mile as well. Especially when you are using something with real depreciation involved. You find a way to reduce that when purchasing new if possible. One way is leftovers from the previous year.

They are becoming a real issue as many manufacturers cannot get their production schedules right. One brand lost six percent market share last year.

Why I am not sure as their cars are not that bad. A dealer is not that happy to source one for you if not in stock of course. At a price you want to pay.

A call to the actual brands company might help sometimes. They may tell the dealer to bring one in for the you.

Anyways I think the wives corolla is in the 30 cents per mile area currently with everything factored in. A lot more miles in any given month reduces this further.

Hi again,

Yeah I do find it odd that some people seem angry that I don't DIY everything myself and claim that I'm bragging haha! I do some things but definitely not all, it's much easier/cleaner to pay someone if you live in a a condo in Toronto. I can afford it and I'm not bragging by any means. I've paid less for my vehicle and maintenance then a used 2015 Kia Spectra. lol. To put it in Kia terms for you!

The total labor paid for everything is under 2k or approaching (USD), not a lot for all the work I've paid to have done for major services that I didn't have the space/time for at the time. My costs are more then the average W123 owner mainly because I only buy Mercedes Benz/OEM parts, not just because I have some of the work done at shops and sometimes outsource to German specialists.

My mileage since buying the vehicle: 185,000km
My total labor costs: approx. $2000USD
Parts: $6000-7000USD approx.
Distance travelled per week since 2014: 1000 miles

__________________
1976 Mercedes 240D (Sold)
1985 Mercedes 300D Turbo Diesel: 500,000KM
1986 Mercedes 300E (Sold)
1988 Mercedes 300E (Sold)
2002 Mercedes C240 (Sold)
2008 Mercedes C350 4matic

A great site for purchasing industrial rubber products!

Industrial Rubber

And " old guys " will just end up shooting the attacker without facing any jail time as this is an obvious disparity of force.

While not everyone is a grouping is going to be the same , stereotypes come from preponderance of actual actions.

https://nypost.com/2018/05/22/parents-win-suit-to-kick-deadbeat-son-out-of-their-house/

I'm a car guy, used to have a shop and can fix absolutely everything on a car down to the smallest component part. I have no issue with someone that pays to have their car fixed.

Do those against Marco5 feel high end race car drivers are unworthy because they don't build / fix their own car? Sure up to the 1970's the driver sometimes built / fixed some items on their car but anything past that has gotten too complex / time limited.

And, if our guy was not paying to have the car fixed, it would likely be languishing behind a gas station somewhere deteriorating. Would that be better?

You are still repairing your own cars I suspect. Up here in Canada to get a couple of rotors and pads installed parts included.

Average place 250.00 to 300.00 Canadian or 175 to 225 American including tax. Average retail parts cost included at a garage 188.00 Canadian with tax. Or 125.00 American. Toyota Corolla.

I ordered rotors and ceramic pads yesterday by mail including 2 day shipping. Cost 50.00 American or 64.00 Canadian plus tax. About an hour of my time to change them is worth 200 to 230.00? And generally this is a nothing job. You should experience the cost for substantial work. Even worse if you do not specify. You may even pay more for deluxe rotors.

Four liters or about 3.5 quarts of a decent engine oil and filter. In the older jetta diesel I am driving is 168.00 Canadian or 120.00 American. average oil change price here. Same oil and filter doing it myself is about 40.00 Canadian when the oil is on sale and I only buy and stock it then.

Today I changed the belts on one of our lawnmowers. I noticed there is too much slack developing in the belt pulley shaft. The lawn tractor otherwise is rock solid. So now I have to find out if I can change the shaft bearing in the transaxle. .

Everyone has to make a living but at the same time it is pretty bad around here now for mechanical type services. I went in for a safety check a few years back. Mandatory here. Rubber bushings in the a arms where getting bad. Quoted me 1200.00 to change the arms with bushings .

They told me the bushings where not available. They wanted 800.00 for two new Toyota parts. Went home and ordered the bushings. About thirty dollars for both sides. Perhaps an Hour each side to pull them and install bushings and reinstall.

What is happening locally is when the warranty is done they buy new cars. Now in all too many cases if they feel you are a mark. The bills can be something else. With all kinds of ridiculous surcharges. The dealer back shops today locally are almost empty. Dealer mechanics primarily are doing warranty work. Plus trying to sell tires etc. Smaller garages are almost gone. Only chain operations and dealers are left basically.

I also have no issues with those that pay to repair a really old car needing a substantial amount of work. It just seems financially unpractical today at least here.

Where these bushings genuine Toyota or aftermarket? Dealers generally don't install aftermarket parts so if they are not in the parts system they can't get them.

I like your post a lot - see the problem lies with my generation, even the one before it. That is what I'm trying to get across. To sum it up, 90-95% of my generation will buy a Prius, Ford, Kia, Honda, Toyota, new or one year old for $21,000+, drive it for 5-7 years, trade it in for a new one and repeat. People my age specifically with jobs are spending 2-3x that on pickup trucks or brand new Lexuses.

I have a huge problem with this. It's creating an absolute throwaway economy that does not need to exist. I don't have the luxury of doing a lot of the work on my W123 myself and yet, I'm driving a nearly fully restored mechanically fit W123 for around $15,000. The car will last now for decades as long as I stay on top of maintenance.

I just wish more people would be willing to take a solid body/engine vehicle like an older Mercedes W123, W115, W116, W126, R129 etc, throw 5-10k at it and be happy for decades. There's so much more character in these 60's-80's benzes. The main core systems will last forever as long as you replace the surrounding components with quality parts (filters, hoses, pumps, bearings brakes etc).

__________________
1976 Mercedes 240D (Sold)
1985 Mercedes 300D Turbo Diesel: 500,000KM
1986 Mercedes 300E (Sold)
1988 Mercedes 300E (Sold)
2002 Mercedes C240 (Sold)
2008 Mercedes C350 4matic

A great site for purchasing industrial rubber products!

Industrial Rubber