[QUOTE=RichardM98;3215774]My first reaction is that oil change/brake fluid flush and flex discs is about a $400 job at a dealer. So you might want to shop around if there are other MB shops in the area. As you have already figured out, a luxury car is more expensive to maintain especially if you can't or don't want to do some of the work yourself.

Having said that, the W210 (your chassis) is a reliable, safe car that gets good mileage and is enjoyable to drive.





Hey, thanks for your thoughts. The price did seem high to me as well, but as I don't know cars and am new to this relatively expensive area, I was OK with it. This place is conveniently located and has good reviews. I'm very alarmed that they said the car was in "great shape" and now it seems to have major problems in only 2 weeks with very, very little driving and nothing that should have caused any issues. It has not gone into "limp" mode yet. Is it normal for a shop to give a car a complete bill of health and then the transmission go out of nowhere? It does have 142K miles so I know anything can happen but it's disappointing.

I'm torn between taking it back there and seeing if they'll work with me since they just hit me for $640 in repairs, and taking it elsewhere to get another opinion. I'm hoping they might be willing to do the computer scan for free since the repairs were done so recently at their shop.

In any case, I've found out the hard way that you're right. These cars are a back breaker. I don't have the time, or the aptitude, to develop any repair expertise. Somehow I thought buying a luxury used car would actually lead to fewer maintenance issues. Which is why I paid up for what seemed like a really nice car but is now one of the worst financial decisions of my life. I'm now close to $6,000 in the car and would gladly sell it for $2500 just to get out of this mess. I won't put much more money into it now so it's probably going to end up with Kars for Kids or some other charity. Live and learn.

Thanks for the AutoZone suggestion. The nearest one is pretty far from me and I'm not sure I want to take the car that far in its current condition. Sounds like they often can't help with Mercedes codes anyway.