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Brake Pad, ABC and Check-Engine Warning Lights - 2005 Mercedes-Benz CL65 AMG Long-Term Road Test


Our 2005 Mercedes-Benz CL65 went to the shop for brake pad, ABC system and check engine lights. In return we got a $16,000 repair estimate.
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Could you also give us a parts cost. Most of those things seem like an easy DIY.
Looking online, Rear Brake pads are $171, so ~$200 fo install isn't to bad.
The dealer is not a place to take a 10 year old V12 MB.
Oh, and I've never seen a $16k bill before. This car is a ticking time bomb if that much stuff actually needs to be done. German cars are notoriously bad if you leave that much maintenance undone.
The proper place being the salvage yard?
$1800 in labor to diagnose and install $240 worth of plugs?!
Were you perhaps wearing a baby seal costume when this transpired? Good grief!
I bid $520!!
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
$1104.95- only $730.95(295%) more than my dealer.
My point being that it would seem that some of the dealers in the Santa Monica vicinity see maintenance and repair work as the ultimate opportunity to screw the customer...
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-2021 Sahara 4xe-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
From a financial perspective it's hard to say this ownership experience has been anything but a total bust. I think a lot of us knew going in that buying a used exotic car cheap is a money trap. But from a journalistic perspective this exercise is a success. Because now we have a published example of how big a financial mistake it is.
But without knowing the actual labor involved it's impossible to break down how much of that is inherent badness of the car vs. inherent badness of the dealer.
There are plenty of service departments selling $2000 brake jobs for Camcords too.
That thing is junk.
Pep Boys or Firestone would be nuts to take on a job like that so a boutique specialty shop would be in order.
I think I would find a capable Indy Shop and ask them what absolutely HAD to be done and then I would run like a thief in the night away from that nightmare!
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-2021 Sahara 4xe-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
Also, Mercedes is one devil of a car to work on, so the boys in the trenches tell me.
I dunno. I think with an out-of-warranty Benz, you're kinda behind the 8 ball.
So, passed on plugs back at 60k, passed on brakes and valve stem seals now...be interesting to see the offers they get...
Think that would happen in a commission shop?
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-2021 Sahara 4xe-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-2021 Sahara 4xe-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-2021 Sahara 4xe-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
In general I think that is true, but I feel like the reason more "enthusiast" shops don't work on Mercedes is because of your last point. My independent BMW/Porsche guy actually really likes Benzes, but says it is just too expensive for him to work on them. MB requires a plethora of expensive Benz-specific diagnostic equipment and even when you get all that stuff it is still a bear to work on them.
Having said that, you definitely can find fantastic Benz-only repair shops. I know of 3 within 20 miles of me. All do excellent work.
Why does Edmunds buy such wrecks? You guys must be pretty flush.
If you sell it, you'd better disclose the issues. I predict you'll get less than $20k.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-2021 Sahara 4xe-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
This CL highlights these potential issues with one high end vehicle and the costs to add full support for it to a shop are in a single word, prohibitive. It really doesn't even matter that the tech working there has the skills and is also willing to get the training that would be required. The tooling and software expenses alone often drive the shops CODB (cost of doing business) up so high that they bleed customers at the other end of the spectrum for having tried. The problem that the trade faces is this CL is only a focal point of the big problem. These kinds of costs are not limited to just this one car. Shops are facing this issue with every marquis on the street and that is one of the reasons for the specialty shops. It's the smartest business strategy for now but comes with it's own long term obstacles. Today we see manufacturers releasing new software and scan tools every four to five years, often obsolescing the previous version and now the tools turn off if a shop decides to stop the support or the tool's updates. If a shop aligns to a given manufacturer they are taking an open ended position to spend a lot of money that the person across the street isn't spending (shop or back yard Joe) and that person could very likely do just the spark plugs and the rear brakes on this CL for a lot less than what was spent while stopping short of the rest of the work. That of course means the customer gets to save money on the overall expense while the shop that made the investment to do the whole job only gets a return for that effort from a fraction of the work that the other options don't support. When you add in all of the rest of the challenges from not being able to attract the people that the trade really needs today to become technicians, to the cars simply not needing as many repairs as they used to it all adds up to a business model that isn't sustainable.
On a parallel note, while writing this a local body shop called and they need help with a 2014 Subaru with an air bag system problem on a car they are repairing. At this time I'm out of the picture to even try since I know that I don't have support for that manufacturer past 2012. Now if it made sense to spend a few thousand to help them fix one car, then.......
For those requesting a list of declined repairs. I can't give everything away at once. That info will be in the wrap up, which is currently in the works. Lots of numbers to sift through for this one.
As for why we didn't use an indy shop... We tried, a couple of times. One shop owner missed a simple diagnosis, basically dismissing us. This gave the impression he was either incompetent, which was unlikely, or not interested in the business. Another simply said he didn't want to work on it. I wanted the indy shop route to work out, but it didn't. And these experiences left a bad taste in our mouth. We ultimately traded dollars for factory technicians, parts, tools and the one-stop convenience of the dealership.
Stay tuned for the sales process and wrap up.
- Mike