W203 Bi-Xenon Headlights, wierd pricing??

[Evan]

How come if you try and buy a set of Bi-Xenon headlights for a C-Class they are a $770 option through the dealer, but if you buy them outright they are like $2300?

I really like the look of the new Bi Xenon lights and i would imagine a huge difference in nightime driving.. How can i get a pair of these for a reasonable price.. I like the idea of paying $770 for both of them!

I expect that much of that cost is installation. If you come up with an economical alternative I would be very interested in learning about it.

Have a great day,

[Evan]

I could install the Bi-Xenons myself,, the only thing that needs to be done by the dealer is a reprogramming..

[ROGER E.]

Converting a W203 to Bi-Xenon is a plug-and-play direct interchange after you remove the bumper cover. There are no external parts. If the car had the earlier single xenons then you are done. If it didn't, the bi-xenon feature must be enabled at the dealer. Keep in mind that if the car did not have xenons before, the headlight self levelling won't exist because the front and rear level sensors will not be present. Whether the connecting wiring will be in the harness is unknown to me.

[ROGER E.]

I neglected to mention that your $2400 quote for a pair of assemblies is out of line. You can buy them from Performance Products for about $1400. These are MB parts. Figure one hour of shop time to install them.

[braverichard]

Well Evan said it costs $2,300 if you order it factory installed on your car not if you get it through the dealer. M-B options are always outragiously priced. Like $3,000 for adaptive cruise control, when Nissan/Infiniti and Toyota/Lexus offer it as an option on their cars for $1,000.

[ROGER E.]

No, Evan did not say the factory option price is $2300. His quote of $770 is about right when the lights are ordered when the car is built. The walk-in price at a dealer, purchased over the parts counter before discounts is in fact around $2300. Order them from Performance Products for about $900 less for the pair.

See my previous posts for the rest of the story.

[mctwin2kman]

You can get them from PP or MBENZNL on mbworld.org for about $1400. MBENZNL has the unit to program the Xenon Present Setting in the computer as well.

But alas, I got mine on the car before all these people had them available aftermarket wise. Mine were only $750 as an option.

[ROGER E.]

Jamie, what do you mean, "alas?" Do you mean you wanted to pay more than the factory option price? Surely, not.

PP is apparently Performance Products which I mentioned in an earlier post and I think MBENZNL is in The Netherlands, both quoting about the same price. I would also check Caliber Motors price since they are far cheaper than my local dealer "retail" prices. For example, I just bought a set of '04/'05 taillights to upgrade my C320 and paid $123 each versus my local dealer's quote of $175 each. Caliber's standard 2-day FedEx ground fee is less than my local sales tax.

[mctwin2kman]

Roger, I meant actually that I was going to order what I wanted. But alas they found a Coupe in one of the two colors I wanted with exactly what I wanted. Which was a loaded C230K Sport Coupe with everything except the phone and nav! Which is what they found in Pewter at Port in Baltimore that the dealer ordered for stock and he traded with my dealer. I had it a week later and loved it ever since. My wife drives it so I got the 190E so I could have a Benz too. But the coupe we got with the C7 17 inch wheel package with the body colored door handles, short throw shifter, aluminum pedals, sport wheel. The C5 package with Bose, Leather, Pano Roof! C1 Power seats. C4 Bi-xenon and headlight washers. Heated Seats and CD Changer, as well as 6 Speed Tranny.....