R63 AMG The Unicorn of my Destruction

In reply to Woody:

Which is also true. I know some of the guys who buy cars here and, yea, I don't even register. It was still fun talking cars to the sales guys who are actually into cars. Two of them knew exactly what the V was and apparently the AMG tech has a supercharged fox body approaching 1000hp that I need to ask him about. We were down to discussing RE11's vs RE71R's which is a conversation you don't usually get to have with people.
So it probably didn't matter but I got to drive the kids to school in the V and talk cars. I've had worse days.

They were supposed to get back to me yesterday with the quote. I want to believe that they found this thread at MB USA and assigned some poor bastard to read through it before they talk to me next.

I'm sure that's not it, but the thought of it is keeping me entertained as I build kitchen drawers.

I know with dad's 911 we'd go to the Porsche dealer to look at cars and they'd never give us even a wave. Finally we talked to a salesman and basically got the following explanation from him "if your into the old ones you are not into the new ones, we could not even talk trade on your car we'd have to find a specialist and get them to sell it for you first"...

People who buy old Porsches are rational and good at math. People who buy 10 year old AMG's are clearly not.

hmm buy 1983 911sc in 1996 for 16k. Blow up the stock motor at 90k miles in 1999. (10k new motor) Blow up that replacement motor thanks to E36 M3ty "race" machining in 2002 (12k thanks to a new block) Blow up that replacement motor when the oil pump shaft fails leaving the motor with no oil.

After the other upgrades he did to the car. Dad had the car from 80k miles to 160k miles or so. Now he beat on the car when he did drive it. but he sold it for 30k. He recons adding up all the slips he had 65k in money into the car. In the end he sold it because just sitting in it started to give him heartburn that'd he'd break another motor...

The worst part is that when he blew the first motor I found a 3.8l motor on ebay for 4k. But he refused to consider updating the car. To this day he says that's his biggest regret as the 3.8 would have gotten him the power he wanted and had more reliability.

Anyone have any experience sourcing your own parts? A quick comparison of the detailed parts list has me saving $3k sourcing genuine MB parts through a dealer in Arizona with a big online presence vs. the prices on the quote I just received.

I got Cam solenoids for my R from this place because they were the cheapest I could find: http://www.mboemparts.com/. That is the online store for Mercedes-Benz of Naperville.

My MB friend talked me into taking our R into the dealer to get a miss fire diagnosed earlier this year. I had done all of the things that I knew to do and was getting really frustrated. Took it in and a couple of hours later I get the "needs done" list for the car. I laughed out loud when I saw $450 to change 6 spark plugs, and that was just the beginning. No wonder people get new cars, you cant afford to get things done at a dealer, the cost is crazy.

Have you hopped on one of the Mercedes forums and looked for a good Indi place around? The cost is much less and you will still get the one year MB warranty on the parts.

And I'll need to decide if it's worth $5k in labor to have them do it. There are jobs I don't want to tackle.

Trying to argue with a German company over substandard parts is like trying to walk up the down escalator. I'd just go Weistec and not look back. Plus, since only car nerds would buy a thirdhand 500 horsepower German minivan, a Weistec-built engine can be a definite selling point.

Try to get MB USA to sell you parts at cost. Then all you left to deal with is labor with the dealer.

I have purchased both Toyota and Mazda parts from other dealers online. They are far cheaper than my local dealers.

smokindav wrote: Try to get MB USA to sell you parts at cost. Then all you left to deal with is labor with the dealer.

What I really want is for MB USA to eat the parts cost (abut $3k wholesale it looks like) as good will and have the front of thr dealership eat the labor and have me put a deposit on a GLA45 AMG because Mrs. Deuce is amazingly happy that a $57k bill turned to $0.

What am i missing, how are you down to $3k? That can't be an engine. Sounds too high for just bolts and gaskets. ...is a 63 engine actually $3k wholesale?

We're down to bolt, gaskets, lifters and cam adjusters. All of the pieces that should make the spinning bits of the motor last another 100k miles.
That's part of the salesmanship here. I want to keep and drive the van for another 100k. Can you imagine what will break by then?

But.....I have to do it in a way that doesn't make them think every service appointment with me will be a pain in the ass. Which it won't be. The things I want them to do (transmission fluid change etc.) I don't mind paying for.

mazdeuce wrote:

smokindav wrote: Try to get MB USA to sell you parts at cost. Then all you left to deal with is labor with the dealer.

What I really want is for MB USA to eat the parts cost (abut $3k wholesale it looks like) as good will and have the front of thr dealership eat the labor and have me put a deposit on a GLA45 AMG because Mrs. Deuce is amazingly happy that a $57k bill turned to $0.

Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

Just my .02. Seems to me it's possible you may get a bit more cooperation if you moved up the timetable for putting that deposit on the GLA45 AMG (if that's a possibility) instead of hinting at a future purchase if they play their cards right. Bring Mrs. Deuce to the dealer and give them a chance to make you guys a "customer for life". Sounds cheezy but make a tangible tie between them treating you right on the R63 and selling a GLA45 may help your case. Again, just a thought..

I can put a deposit down in half an hour, but there is no way the whole scheme will meet Mrs. Deuce approval unless it's all agreed to on paper. And just in case anyone forgot, Mrs. Deuce earns the paycheck around here, her approval is kind of important.

Rusted_Busted_Spit wrote: I got Cam solenoids for my R from this place because they were the cheapest I could find: http://www.mboemparts.com/. That is the online store for Mercedes-Benz of Naperville. My MB friend talked me into taking our R into the dealer to get a miss fire diagnosed earlier this year. I had done all of the things that I knew to do and was getting really frustrated. Took it in and a couple of hours later I get the "needs done" list for the car. I laughed out loud when I saw $450 to change 6 spark plugs, and that was just the beginning. No wonder people get new cars, you cant afford to get things done at a dealer, the cost is crazy. Have you hopped on one of the Mercedes forums and looked for a good Indi place around? The cost is much less and you will still get the one year MB warranty on the parts.

When I had my C class I took it to the dealer for some sort of basic service. I got the car back with their "recommended services". It was multiple pages and totaled $7,500. I think the car was worth around $5K at that point. I LOL'd.

Yeah, i wonder if getting Mrs deuce involved would help. They've been dealing with you, but I assume they don't know you're not the sole financier of this adventure. Dealers being butt holes, im guessing they assume you make the $$$ and she's a housefrau. I kmow that happened when we went to get swmbo nissan. Shocked em all to E36 M3 when the numbers guy came out and was gonna shake my hand and i was like...don't look at me, I'm not buying it. Throwing them off could be amusing......especially since most sales people believe women are far more vocal in voicing complaints.

And if anyone is thinking "layers of stupidity", you're absolutely correct.
Mrs. Deuce has been reading this thread and I fully expect a comment to that effect this evening.

In reply to java230:

Will the dealer be more or less likely to eat the labor if you buy the parts elsewhere? I don't know about dealers, but some Indy's tend to resist using parts they didn't source. (Purportedly b/c they don't know the quality etc., probably really because they want the markup they can charge.)

In reply to ManhattanM (fka NY535iManual):

Fair point, never had the dealer install... Indy shop had no issues. Most of the parts were installed myself.

Dealer labor rates are already a bit silly, I'm kind of offended that they want me to pay over what I'm seeing as list price for parts on top of that.

In reply to mazdeuce:

Maybe try pricing the parts at mbmanhattan.com? Its the MB dealership in New York City, which as I understand it is owned by MB corporate, similar to how the BMW/Audi/Ferrari dealers in the city are owned by the corporate parent (as opposed to being independently owned). If nothing else, it could be a reliable reference for "list" price.

I don't 'blame' anyone at the dealership for the prices. The AMG tech built the list of what was needed, those prices popped up, addition, done. It's not their job to find me a good deal on parts.
It's the weekend now. I'll make my spreadsheets and go talk to them again next week.