A & B service is a ‘Mercedes tax’ scam IMHO. There’s a reason the dealerships are called stealerships lol… They rely on people just accepting the high cost of ownership because ‘that’s the way it is with a luxury car’. The person who hasn’t ever/doesn’t know how to release the hood latch is the dealerships best friend. “Hey, want them wiper blades replaced?” That’ll be $150.
As already mentioned, a reputable indi shop is your friend for preventative maintenance. I can get my oil changed for $140 USD with Motul and a complementary multi point inspection vs what you paid for a glorified oil change + ‘fluid/safety check’ that Mercedes officially calls ‘Service A’.
Another example: I paid $550 USD in March of 2021 for oil change, rear diff service, and brake fluid exchange. That’s essentially half the price of your Service B, plus I got diff service. The only thing missing is the filters (engine + cabin), which are like $40 a pop and take a literal 5 mins to swap.
The air filters are some of the biggest dealership scams there are and drive up the price of the A + B service. They’ll charge something like $150 to do a engine air filter in a 45 when you have to loosen four torx25 screws to open the filter box and rotate the filter like 40 degrees. I think you could train a monkey to do it lol. That’s ~$100 in labor right there that is added to your service A for 5 mins of work.
