I have a 2005 C230K, the 20k B service is coming up and I would like to know what are the drawbacks of having it serviced at a place other than my Merecedes dealership. I just see the advantage of paying $450 for something that a local shop can do for less than hald the price. Please advise. Thank you.

 

Since your car is clearly still under warantee don't take the chance that future warantee issues may be disallowed simply because you hope to save a couple of hundred dollars on a single service. Aside form the above I believe that my local MB dealerships (7) are completely trained on your particular model and will diagnose and fix items at a B serice that outside shops may miss. I have had items mentioned on service bulletins fixed or checked over the years. When your warantee expires then go where you want. Then you have nothing to lose. The Toronto shop rates are $115.00/ hr while local shops are around $85.00 so the labour differences are not significant. Personally, I would not consider using non-MB parts particularily when the car is under warantee. When your car is in, have MB check any and all little things that may be bothering you.
Just one persons opinion.

 

gg is right.

Most important of all, having the service done at a non-MB shop could void the warranty.

Second...a real good local mechanic's labor charge is NOT significantly cheaper than MB.

Third...your MB dealership knows exactly what part will go loose on your car and they tighten those things. That's just one example. In short, they know the usual symptons, bad habits and diseases associated to your car.

Finally...have you noticed...that your Mercedes uses non-conventional nuts and bolts? There are a lot of hexes and Torxes. Local shops usually do not have MB-specific tools like that.

If I were really stingy penny-pincher, I will skip the 20k service than going to a local shop.

Anyway....men are really sturbborn, so at the end you will do what you want. I am just sharing my knowledge.

 

I have always understood that dealerships play the game telling customers that if they do not get their services done at the dealership it will void the warranty. I know this is not true for Checy, Ford, Nissan, Toyota, etc. Is Mercedes-Benz an exception?

 

I doubt it would void your warranty but you would have to show proof that all the work required by a B service was done using MB parts. I guess I don't understand your reasoning. Your warrany has lots of life left. Why even go through the hassle if something goes wrong and you need the dealership. I agree with FLY. The potential labour savings would be lost if the mechanic is not intimately familiar with your car.
Let's say you require 60 minutes worth of labour at an MB dealer. You pay your labour rate of say $100/hr.
Your private mechanic only charges say $75/hr. If he takes just 80 minutes doing the job because he has to read a manual or "figure out" the problem then the labour bill will be $100. Any time more than 80 minutes means it will cost you more than $100. Do the analysis using your local rates to find the breakeven point.
Your private mechanic will also have to wait for MB parts to be delivered and will obviously have to charge you for them at MB prices (or more). If he suggests non-MB parts then no car company is going to honour a warranty if proper parts are not used.
Would you go to a real estate lawyer for a divorce. He could do the job but you will pay for his on the job training while he reads up on current case law.
Very few private mechanics are familiar with your car at this age (2005) simply because most people take the car back to the dealer while it is under warranty. Some mechanics may be familiar with prior years but improvements occur on an on-going basis.
My two cents--Go to the dealer.

 

Some good points made for both sides here. You have the choice without "voiding" the warranty. All you need is the repair order documenting what was done. As was mentioned, this is true with many makes of vehicles. Mercedes has verified this for my car as well. There are good and bad independent garages out there. As there are dealerships. You may change your mind when the car is out of warranty and you find out just how much a brake job with rotors is going to run. I just found out since my 2005 has 62,000 miles on it. Dealer did not do it. Independent did not do it. I did it.
And yes, I am capable of doing something as important as brakes. I also just did my own fuel filter, cabin filter, oil and filter change, air filter, etc.
and saved more money than you would believe. Forty years of working on cars and restoration as a hobby, so it's no big deal. My 2 cents.

 

One thing I will highly recommend is that you have ALL fluids replaced every 30,000 miles which many people don't normally do. Obviusly change out oil regularly, THAT is important. It costs a lot of money as you HAVE to use MB approved fluids for transmission, coolant, differential, etc., but it will save money down the road. A lot of people don't replace fluids enough and that causes problems down the road like transmission rebuilds... Ouch.. :-)

 

OK here is the real deal on this subject. i work for a dealer getting your car serviced at a local shop will no way void your warranty. however keep the receipts of all service work that you have done outside of your dealer in a folder then if your ever asked to supply maintenance records you can. lack of maintenance will void some warranty claims like lets say you never change your oil and at 49000 miles you go to the dealer and say i have a really bad engine knock the dealer is going to tell you go pound sand because maintenance would have prevented your lifters from going bad. now if a your local shop pinches the o ring changing your oil and all the oil pumps out and the motor locks up the dealer is going to tell you to pound sand because they didnt change your oil. however if your cam and lifters go bad and you have all the maintance records for your car the dealer is going to replace the bad items. now on the other hand if the local shop finds that your lower control arm bushings are bad now not only will your car be at the shop for a day it will be at the dealer for a day getting the warrenty work done and your out of your car even longer. so you need to decide what will be better for your car and time

 

Go to the stealership. Non-factory work may not void your warranty, but any dealer (not just MB) will be quick to point out any non-authorized work and will give you hell for it. It's all about them not having to pay for work/problems they didn't cause. I have had cars under warranty and they still give me a hard time about minor things like changing the oil myself--even with parts I bought from the dealer!! If you spent a decent amount of money for your car, which I assume you did, forget the "savings" of a few bucks and enjoy the piece of mind the dealer provides.

PS - there are plenty of incompetent mechanics working at dealers, but you have more leverage when they do something wrong as opposed to service your Mom & Pop mechanic performed.

 

I still get better service and better treatment from independent shops rather than the three STEALerships here in the valley.
Arrogant service writers, no call-backs, always seem bothered to make appointments if it isn't for something major, prices are absolutely ridiculous ($250 for a fuel filter it took me 30 min. and $35 bucks to do myself). No thanks. I couldn't care less if they "give me a hard time". Give it back to them and don't go there. Unless, of course, you enjoy throwing money away. Just my opinion.....I know....I know....you might disagree. I don't mind spending money on my car, but I hate wasting it.