… and as they age, their repair costs can become really high.
+1… sort of…
If the OP is planning on getting rid of this 17 year old car w/in the next few months, then it would probably be economically wiser to just do one side. On the other hand, if the OP is going to try to get a few more years out of this car, he should ask himself the following question:
When the strut on the other side gives out (in a few months, or–at best–in a couple of years), do you really think it would be cheaperat that point to replace it?
Two reasons at this point why I would refuse to work on your car.
The tendency to insist on doing one side only; and the shop foreman is wrong.
Arguing over the parts markup and the amount of labor involved. Do you negotiate the price of groceries at the checkout; or any other service for that matter be it plumber, dentist, or lawn care company.
Ok, here’s the deal, you have an expensive car to maintain, you don’t like that, and that’s understandable. Now that you’ve complained about it for nearly 3 weeks, deal with it. Get it fixed, or not, and move on. Please.
Right back at ya. It’s a public forum you get what you get, some you like some you don’t. Simple as that. Please feel free to add me to your ignore list, I really don’t give a tinkers damn if you read my comments or not. I can feel the flag fest already.
I am glad that you are not working on my car since you are wrong on both 1. I am not insisting on one side only. Its the shop that is doing so. 2. California law allows one to question the parts and labor quote. Professional services quote is entirely negotiable. Yes you can negotiate with your dentist or plumber. Not with a retail shop. Dont try to be smart when you are not? I ask questions with humility not with bombast.
Now, you are choosing to violate the TOS of this forum, and I don’t think it is a good idea for you to do that.
Here is the relevant portion of the TOS:
"You may wish to respond to something by disagreeing with it. That’s fine. But, remember to criticize ideas, not people. Please avoid: Name-calling. Ad hominem attacks"
:“California law allows one to question the parts and labor quote”. Care to provide a link to that particular statute? As an ex-CA resident I’ve never heard of it and there is a huge flaw in the thinking if you believe you can negotiate a dentist or plumber bill.
You say that you are not insisting on doing one side. What you are insisting on is having both sides done at a deeply discounted price of 1500 per side.
That shop foreman is still 100% dead on wrong and my suggestion, as before, is to buy a pair of Arnotts and find an independent shop to install them. That saves you money on the markup and quite likely a cheaper labor rate per hour charge.
For what it’s worth, I’ve had Arnott air struts on my Lincoln for 7 or 8 years with no issues. My prior Lincoln I converted to Arnott coil springs; also with no issues.
Nothing wrong or illegal about that. Dentist or plumber may not be willing to negotiate, nothing says they have to. If it results in a stand-off, customer says “no, I’ll use a different service provider instead.” Have to pay for work that’s already been done of course. I do my own plumbing, but I have negotiated with dentists.
In OP’s case, the quotes do seem a little on the high side, but I personally have no idea whether that’s a competitive price or not, never had that exact experience. I think OP already knows life’s a flea market. Supply and demand is what sets the price. Dealership shop may have a 20 day back up, so plenty of work to fill their schedule if OP decides to take car to different shop.
OP may be confused about amount of labor involved. As mentioned above there’s considerably more hours involved in this job because of the “4Matic” (AWD) .
Were I in OP’s postion, I seek out a second opinion from an inde Mercedes shop. Then between the two shops I’d try to negotiate the best deal I could for a job that does both sides.
Years ago I had a co-worker friend who’d negotiate just about anything. If he wanted to buy some electronics or camera equipment that was available from multiple retail vendors, he go from shop to shop saying “Hey, you want $75, but the shop on Main street will sell this to me for $65, will you match their price?” If they said “Ok”, then he’d go back to the shop on Main street and say “Hey, the other shop will sell it to me for $65 too, but I’m here to give you a chance to beat their price” …
If you look at this person’s other threads he qualifies as a difficult customer . This is a person who should just lease what ever he wants so he has a warranty and less conflict .
Based on personal experience from an seasoned mechanic in another post, you should be good to go with the Arnott unit. You will almost certainly need to replace the other strut before the one you are replacing now. It’s up to you whether you wait or not. I suspect that the cost would about double if you did both now because the work on one side does not require anything on the other side. So, the worst that would happen is that you will be back in the shop soon to replace the other air shock soon. The extra cost would be not driving the car while it is repaired. If you can do without the car for a week or so, it might make sense to do just one, it certainly a case can be made for doing both at the same time.
