[akshay4587]

Originally Posted by Merc_Freak

Hello all, after being recommended by a few bhpians I decided to get my E200 serviced from Global Star, Okhla. They quoted me 22k for a “basic” service and also offered me a complimentary Mercedes me adapter. So I have booked a slot for next week with them. But just out of curiosity I also called up T&T, Okhla to ask about their price, as I used get my car serviced from them before. Surprisingly, they quoted a ridiculous ₹48000 for the same “basic” service !
I’m really confused now. So my question is, is T&T trying to rip me off or is Global Star too good to be true ?

Why don't you ask for the break up of the service?
This will give you an idea, if you are getting ripped off or not.

[DrSumit]

Friends, I am looking for advice/ suggestions on reliable FNGs in Kolkata for my W204 C200. For example I need to replace brake pads and I spoke to a recommended workshop called Monkey Garage and they seem unable to source the pads. GoMechanic quoted ~28k, which isn't too shy of MB at ~40k and therefore doesn't make sense. Boodmo has more negative reviews online than positive, and with no CoD options, I'm not going ahead.

Could someone please suggest? I'm new to the 5/6 figure maintenance world, therefore your experience with reliable FNGs would really help.

[dhruvritzed]

Originally Posted by DrSumit

Friends, I am looking for advice/ suggestions on reliable FNGs in Kolkata for my W204 C200. For example I need to replace brake pads and I spoke to a recommended workshop called Monkey Garage and they seem unable to source the pads. GoMechanic quoted ~28k, which isn't too shy of MB at ~40k and therefore doesn't make sense. Boodmo has more negative reviews online than positive, and with no CoD options, I'm not going ahead.

Could someone please suggest? I'm new to the 5/6 figure maintenance world, therefore your experience with reliable FNGs would really help.

Hi, I arranged ATE front brake pads via a fellow BHPian who also serviced my garage, you can DM him Viraat13, I can assure you that the prices were a fraction of what you've mentioned, he can courier you too.
P.S I am in no way associated to him, just sharing a good experience.

[drjaygoyal]

My X3 is 2.5 yrs old and run 24000 till date.
Already serviced twice and front and rear brake pads changed.
Thank god for BRI. Else would have to sell my Vento to pay for these services.

[sgm]

Hi,
I need some advice on AdBlue refill. Mine is a BS6 C 220D. The car is due for its 2nd service in a month and has done 12.5K KM after the 1st service. I have started getting AdBlue level low warning and now it is can last another 1200km as per the level indicator. Every time I start the car, the warning pops up. It started when the level dropped below the 1500KM mark.
Would it be safe to drive for another 750km and take it for AdBlue refill and service together? Or in case of any emergency, can I get it filled from any place outside MB service station? When I contacted the service centre, I was told not to get it refilled on my own.
I have Compact Service package and AdBlue cost is covered under the BS6 package. I noticed that the level was not full (85-90%) after the first service and had it been 100%, one refill would easily last 15k KM. The tank can hold 25L and AdBlue consumption is about 1L/600KM.

Thanks

[deep_blue]

Hi! Has anyone changed their car battery off late & how much have you paid? Just got the red warning light for battery on my c200 w204. Headed to Metro Motors tom morning & was just wondering of approx cost.
Strangely also got the abs/ems warning light & wonder if it’s related or a separate issue

[el lobo 6061]

Originally Posted by deep_blue

Strangely also got the abs/ems warning light & wonder if it’s related or a separate issue

Yes its related to car battery. Low voltage battery can result in warning lights to lit up on dashboard.

[sgm]

Originally Posted by RohanDheman

Surprisingly my brake pads are still going strong at 35k and are good for another 5k kilometers. Will purchase the pads myself from Brembo most likely and replace them at the FNG during the service next year.

An eye opener for me to hear that the brake pads can last this long on MB vehicles.

I have sent my C220d for 2nd service at 20k KM. I have got an estimate of around 37k for both front and rear brake pads replacement I was expecting it to last for 30k KM.

I'm gentle with my braking and acceleration, so I was expecting the brake pads to last much longer. As I do many highway trips, I don't want to wait for the warning lights to come up when I'm in the middle of some highway trip.

[siren373]

My GLA has its 4th year warranty expiring in December and Mercedes has quoted 2.35 lakhs for 5th and 6th year warranty. Checked online and edel Assurance is quoting 1.5 for the same. Has anyone had any experience with them?

Also getting the regular service package for the next four years for 1.5 lakhs which doesn't look bad so planning to pick that up.

[Sahil]

Where can I source an original star hood logo? And what’s the cost?
Some moron tried to steal mine and yanked it off.

[Analyst]

Help needed. My C Class's (located in Mumbai, 2015 model, out of warranty, 40k kms only, petrol) AC Cooling is not working. One fine day a few weeks back, I started the car and found that the cooling is just not happening although there is no sign of AC being faulty anywhere. I was traveling for a couple of weeks after that and just sent the car to the workshop (Autohanger Lower Parel).

The ASS guys have come back with a whopping bill of 2.3 lakhs as the estimate. Of this, the main damage is coming from replacement of Evaporator (as per them this cooling coil is not working problem) which is costing a whopping 1.1 lakhs along with expansion valve of another 20k and labor charges of 60k. Merc guys are saying that if you get it done from outside, they might repair the cooling coil but it would not last for more than 3-4 months and would again need something.

There is some scope as per Merc guys for discounts and all but I don't feel it would go below 1.5 lakhs or so which itself is too much considering that the worth of a car 6-7-year-old is not even 20 lakhs and this is just a cooling problem.

Would be great if the boarders can guide me on what should I do? What kind of max discounts on such a bill is possible with Merc? And if someone can help me with any trustworthy guy in Mumbai who I can visit to get it addressed. And what can be the estimate of such work outside of Merc? Lots of questions, apologies for that. But this estimate of almost 2.5 lakhs came as a big shocker !!

[earthian]

Originally Posted by Sahil

Where can I source an original star hood logo? And what’s the cost?
Some moron tried to steal mine and yanked it off.

Happened to me thrice. i bought it from the AD of MB on two occasions...as expected costly. And once from a dealer here. Vaguely remember that the MB one was Rs5700+ and the dealer about Rs 3000/- Its available on Amazon but dont know about the quality.

[voldemort]

A lot has happened over the last ten days:

1. Routine service + some extras
2. AC problem
3. AC diagnosis

My 2016 W212 Mercedes-Benz E-Class has run a little less than 52000 km till now. Mostly trouble-free, though there was a breakdown incident, along with a few other non-critical incidents (certain electrical equipment -- puddle lamps, steering adjuster etc -- going kaput) in the first year of ownership. And in early 2019, the air-conditioning mechanism was replaced. All of those were covered under warranty. Other than these, the car was fine.

Routine Service

The new Mercedes-Benz dealer in Kochi is Coastal Star (the old Rajashree Motors shut shop (Shutters down for Rajasree Motors, dealers of Mercedes Benz in Kochi and Trivandrum)). Coastal Star has a showroom and a service center in Kochi (and also in Trivandrum I think), neither of which I have seen.

We told them to pick up our car and get it serviced. The usual stuff. They took the car away on a Saturday morning two weeks ago. They did what they call a "basic service" which includes the usual oil change, filter change etc, it costs around ₹30k. They mentioned this rough estimate amount upfront when I originally called them for booking the service.

In addition to this, I asked them to do the following things:

• Brake pad replacement. Just preventative maintenance. It was mentioned during the previous service that I should replace them sooner or later, and I had deferred it last time.
• AC filter replacement. Increasing blower speed only increased the noise and made no difference to cooling.

The car was back by Wednesday morning. Total bill came to a whopping ₹80k, but I've accepted this exorbitant Benz ownership costs.


Also, they recommended that I should change the engine mounts and shock absorbers because they're worn. I don't know about engine mounts, but the ride quality remains as good as ever. So I deferred these jobs. And besides, they don't have the parts in stock anyway. The estimate for that is below:

AC Failure

Last Friday I went to Trivandrum for the long weekend. For the record, the braking feel was exactly the same as before; I don't know if there is supposed to be a difference or not after brake pad replacement. Still, the stopping power was good, and so I guess it's alright. By the way, I never liked the feel of the brake pedals. Though the stopping power is good, the pedals feel spongy. There's no initial bite. It has been like this right from when we bought the car.

The car was working totally fine on Friday and Saturday. Even the AC cooling was pretty good after the filters were replaced; did not feel clogged.

We started our return trip to Kochi from Trivandrum in the morning.

This car has 3 zone AC, for driver, passenger, and the rear seats.

Immediately after starting the engines I noticed that hot air was coming from the passenger side, and cold air was coming from the driver's side and the rear. And by hot, I really mean HOT. Not ambient outside air, but real hot air.

Did some basic things like tweaking the temperature, turning off the zones so that all 3 zones pump the same temperature etc, turning the AC off and on, turning the entire car off and on etc. Nope, didn't fix it. Since we were closer to Varkala than Trivandrum, we didn't bother heading to the Trivandrum MB workshop. And besides, it was a Sunday.

So we made the journey back to Kochi without AC, with windows down. it was a very sunny day and there's no such thing as winter in Kerala. It was kind of hilarious; me sitting at traffic lights like an idiot sweating profusely in my Benz while those around me were chilled in their lesser cars (I don't mean any disrespect). This is what my life has come down to.

At least there should've been an option to completely turn off the zone for passenger side so that we would've been able to use some air conditioning. I consider this a design failure. This multi-zone climate control is something that always seemed like a gimmick to me, and a lesser car without this feature wouldn't have had this trouble at all by design.

I accept that these Germans come with high maintenance cost. What is unacceptable is having things break down even after paying those high costs.

AC Problem Diagnosis

Co-incidentally, Mercedes-Benz contacted me via email to seek feedback about the service that was done last week. I mentioned the AC problem that developed, and they said they'll get in touch with the local dealership to resolve my issue quickly.

Called Coastal Star on Monday morning. They picked up the barge on Tuesday (yesterday) and said that and actuator was faulty and needs to be replaced.

However, they do not have the parts in stock. So for the moment they're doing a "temporary fix" that'll sort the problem for the time being, but that it can fail again any time so I'll have to do the part replacement eventually. This temporary fix costs a little over ₹2000.

Doing the "proper fix" repair work involves removing the dashboard, and thus has a high labor cost. I'm not comfortable getting my dashboard taken apart, but I don't have much options anyway.

Here's the estimate:


So, this year these are the expenses we've had so far:

• Battery replacement that was done in April: ₹40k+
• Routine service: ₹80k
• Now they're asking for another ₹40k for doing that actuator fix.
• (This is in addition to the insurance cost)

My car is turning out to be a money pit, and even after spending the money it still fails! I'm thoroughly disillusioned by the brand.

For now the car is back home. They actually had the audacity to send a small flower pot gift. I mean, was that supposed to make us happy?! Their driver who dropped the car back wanted to take a photo of us holding the flower pot in front of the car. This was ridiculous and we refused.


If getting flowers and candies are what a luxury car ownership is (as opposed to peace of mind), then I don't need a luxury car. I want reliability over luxury.

[androdev]

Just curious, would it help to close the hot air blowing vents and only keep the cold air vents open? Having to do such a long journey without AC must have been very frustrating. Hope it gets fixed to your satisfaction.

The bill amounts you mentioned are within expected costs for this car (basic oil service 30k, AC filter 10k, brakes front 20k, rear 20k add up to 70-80K). Not saying it's ok, just that these are the expected costs at MB dealers. Battery 40k+ seems to be high, should be 30k max I think. These days these batteries are available in the market for 25k or so.

Mounts etc should not be needing replacements at 50K km usage unless the car sees a lot of bad roads or rash driving. Even otherwise, it's perfectly ok to wait till you start hearing noticable sounds while going over bad patches.

MB brakes generally lack feel but they are effective (unlike a BMW which feels very sharp). You will get brake wear indicator warning, so it's unlikely you will end up with a worn out brakes out of the blue.

They must be brain dead to expect the owner to pose with a plant after a routine service visit.

Hopefully the AC issue is a one off case and it will be fixed to your satisfaction. Such inconveniences are unacceptable and certainly makes you lose trust in the brand.

[earthian]

Got this letter today. Must say I appreciate MB's tracking my 14 year old C Class and fixing a defective part: