Has Mercedes Stopped Selling "OE" Spark Plugs and Glow Plugs?
 

The last 2 times I bought spark/glow plugs at my local dealer they sold me Bosch parts in Bosch boxes...the same exact parts I can buy at pep-boys or other chains in the same packaging.

Has M-B stopped private-labeling these parts? I know the M-B parts are made by others and are usually the exact same part anyway but this is the first time I can remember not buying the parts with the M-B markings on them in their own special packaging...

I am just wondering if maybe my dealer has gotten greedy and just is selling aftermarket parts at M-B prices now? I can't imagine that if this is the case that M-B USA would look too kindly on this.

If you got glow plugs in a BOSCH box at dealer they are selling OE parts but NOT from MB.

Are they supposed to do that? It would seem that their commitment to M-B as part of being a dealership would include having to sell the parts which M-B makes. They basically sell the same parts pep-boys sells for 110% of M-B MSRP and that seems to be a rip off.

MB doesn't make spark plugs, or thousands of other parts for their cars. It's only a question of which brand name comes on the box.

OK, I know M-B does not make their branded plugs themselves, the point is they tell manufacturers like Bosch how the parts are to be made to their technical specifications and sometimes they perform additional Q-C testing during packaging. Then M-B "brands" the part by putting their own PN on it and packing it in an M-B box or baggie.

Maybe the generic Bosch part is absolutely identical to the one which M-B has made for them and brands and maybe not...all I know is that if M-B sells the branded part then the dealer should not be selling the Bosch part to customers and telling them it is an M-B part. My invoice had the M-B part number on it, not the Bosch number on the box...so isn't that deceptive?

They are obvously installing these in customer's cars, billing them using M-B part numbers and charging M-B prices (actually they charge 10% over MSRP) so customers think they are getting genuine M-B parts and are really getting the same exact part they could get from any parts store.

I know for a fact that with some filters the M-B version is different than the generic ones made by the companies that make them for M-B. I have compared them side by side. Maybe for spark and glow plugs there would be no difference but who knows? All I know is if I go out of my way to buy parts from my dealer I want them to be genuine M-B parts and these were not.

The bottom line is the reason the dealer does this is to make more money...its greedy, deceptive and probably against the agreement they have with MBUSA to sell only branded parts.

I bought a set of glowplugs for my former '84 300SD at the dealer a couple of years ago, and they handed me Bosch glowplugs in a Bosch box. They billed me for genuine MB glowplugs, when I questioned the authenticity of the parts, I got a blank look and a comment that MB sells them that way now.

Right, even though the Bosch box had no MB part number only the generic Bosch number, they must think people are stupid.

My last straw with them was when they refused to let me have a copy of the service records for the ML320 I purchased new at the same dealership and they were the only one's to touch it until it went out of warranty. The service writer claimed that the records were not my property, and that I wasn't allowed to look at them. :rolleyes:

MB dealer was the only place I can find the non resistor Bosch spark plugs for my 2.3-16v. Expensive but worth it. Even Phil ordered them for me from MB.