Well, got mine done by my trusted source, who gave me a pretty high quote over the phone. They came in at around £200 on the day - the saving coming from the work taking less time to do than the guide (I am guessing that’s a Mercedes manuals) they had told them.

I am wondering if the guide tells them how much to bill for each part of the job - in effect laying down the profit margin. I bet the Chrysler Mercedes outfit sticks to that like glue.

Some may say that what I ended up paying was far more than it would be if I had done it myself, but I’d rather pay to have the job done properly. There were a lot of checks done - I got a long breakdown of what was done, and the car felt somewhat perkier on the way home. Given the time of year, I’m pretty glad it had a good looking over too.

Needs new rear tyres next month - but I know the money saving tricks on that one now.