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[LadyV]

Hi,

Smartie B's MOT is due at the beginning of October and I have received a reminder from Smart of Stevenage- take a look at the reminder that I have:



A ForFour on the MOT reminder! I think they are taking notice.... 

[CrazyG]

It's good to see a ForFour being used by MB at last.
But having said that, I'm not sure whether....
(a) it's about time...   or   (b) it's a bit late now...   

[Fox]

I am wondering if they check your reg and send you a relevant one... It would be a nice collection to have!

[LadyV]

Well perhaps other Smart owners (I am sure a few people on here own a ForTwo as well as a Roadster- CrazyG  ) could advise if they have their MOTs done by Mercedes and what reminder they get!

[brulaw]

I really like that Image .... 

  Good luck For the M O T  ,   Mine went through yesterday without any hitches .... 

[Timelord Mitchturbo]

Yay! Love the picture!  The doctor is in the house!

[Unknown]

Nice!

I got a good reminder off Halfords... 50% off the MOT.

[mr singh]

im still getting mercedes branded stuff from smart of leeds

[CrazyG]

Well perhaps other Smart owners (I am sure a few people on here own a ForTwo as well as a Roadster- CrazyG  ) could advise if they have their MOTs done by Mercedes and what reminder they get!

Sorry to say I'd never use MB !
I've seen way too many Smarts (and Merc's) with FSH that haven't been serviced,
or had 'shody' workmanship, or 'botched' repairs/maintenance, and even had parts
replaced unnecessarily.  I'm amazed at how much money is quite literally 'thrown away',
just to have the MB stamp in the Service Book.
But why ?
Especially so when any Smart authorised independant can stamp it ?
They will cost you less, and you'll usually get a far better service.
Why ?
Unlike MB/Smart Dealers these are small businesses. If they fail to provide a good
service then the word soon gets spread about, either by mouth, or via any of the
many Forums that there are, and they'll end up loosing customers and business.

[LadyV]

Hi G,

Completely agree, but I'm
Not having my car serviced. I'm just having the MOT and MB are the cheapest option at £28.00 for the MOT, health check and a valet.

I've taken my car for an MOT at a private dealer and they have charged £60.00 for the privilege!

I use MB as they are the most cost effective in this case.

As mentioned in a previous post, I haven't actually had my car serviced as we do the basics ourselves.

[Fox]

I agree, never use mb for servicing, but an mot doesnt include any work on the car, just checking to see if it has any problems - which they generally want to find so they can charge you to fix them. they wont pass a bad car (cant in most cases as much is electronically registered) for that reason too - and they do he health check which is worth an hour of anyones labour time - and a full valet... Worth at least £20.

As a fan of indies I will always go to them for servicing, and i will be straight on the wagon to say mb have awful customer service most of the time and charge silly amounts for work, but i dont think anyone can argue against £28 for a mot, check and clean - valued at.... What... £120? (£50 mot £50 checkup £20 clean - and thats being generous)

As an indie myself (self employed freelance web designer/developer, photographer and photo editor) I know exactly what its like and i also know, you have to expect people to take the best deal and sometimes you cant compete. I have always gone to an indie in the past for my mot but my last mot bill (no valet or check, just one new wiper blade) came to £75

[CrazyG]

Apologies for my 'mini' rant about MB and their service or 'lack of'.

Fox I'm amazed you got charged £75 ! !
The standard charge for an MOT is £54, and a wiper blade assembly £10. (Total £64).
I'd hazzard that wasn't a particularly good indie that you used that time.

Oh, and the reason MB do cheap MOT's....
1/ the Dealers offering this have their own MOT facility in-house...so they
    can charge whatever they like.
2/ to make customers think that if the MOT is cheap then the servicing will be cheap
3/ they have now made the diagnostic check a separate charge of £50.
    (To do a proper service you have to have the car plugged into the diagnostic !)
(Post amended from here on down)
4/ they have a great yet simple way to make up the difference of the MOT....
    if your car fails the MOT, they have the 'legal' right to refuse to let you take your
   car away as it is a safety hazzard ! So you then have to agree to have any work done
   by them at premium rate and with overpriced parts before it is then re-tested.

Smart Independants don't do MOT's or have MOT bays....which is why they charge you
the same as they get charged by the MOT station.  They do not get any discount.
The only 'ace' card they hold is that they are presenting your car as 'a garage', and as
such they are permitted to take the vehicle away and fix it if it fails the MOT.
Indies usually carry out a full check of any car before presenting it for an MOT as they
would look right t#@ts if they didn't and presented a car with faults.
So in some ways the difference in cost...£28 vice £54 is worth paying in my opinion.
And...if they found anything amiss...their labour and parts charges are cheaper than MB.

[LadyV]

Hey,

Yes it was rather expensive- hence we use MB for the MOTs.

Well touch wood nothing needs doing on Smartie B- they have been good to us for the past two years and obviously if something needs doing, I will get quotes before even considering going to them for any repairs/parts.

At the end of the day £28.00 is cheaper than £54.00 and you don't have to take up any servicing with them if you don't want to. Standard VOSA rules still apply 

[LadyV]

I am pleased to confirm that Smartie B passed the MOT - I only needed to get new wiper blades.

Mercedes called me to advise this and said that new blades from them would cost £61.00!! They actually said that Smart made the blades and they were more expensive than any MB ones! £45.00 for the blades and the rest for labour!

I went across the road and picked up a set of three for £26.00 including the housing for them- what a joke!

Some other good news, I might be sorting my alloy wheels out very soon, details to follow.

[brulaw]

Glad to hear smartie got a clean bill of health  ....... Mmm ,  new Alloys on the way  ?