[ghaff]

Leasing is mostly just a financing model for people who like to have new cars. It hasn't been economically sound for individuals maybe ever. The shortest I've owned a new car was 5 years and that's because it was a dog from Dodge.

Exception may be some European cars which have a reputation for very expensive dealer maintenance after the warranty period.

[jcgrillo]

Mercedes dealers in particular are thieves. Mercedes-Benz of Boston tried to bait and switch me replacing an AC compressor on my 1999 E300D Turbo. Initial quote was $1750, after they had the car a couple days they made up some bullshit about the condenser being bad and said therefore it would be $5000. I told them to go fuck themselves, bought the necessary refrigerant handling equipment, and did it myself. This was 5 years ago. Still nothing wrong with the condenser.

IME it's 100% of the time better to buy whatever tools you need and do the necessary research to DIY than to take a car to a mechanic. And certainly never a dealership.

EDIT: Almost forgot. When I checked the pressure in the AC system after getting it home before working on it, it was super high. What I suspect they did (because I told them I wasn't going to pay their usurious rate) was just cram a bunch of refrigerant into the system from their recovery tank in the hopes it would blow seals and screw me over. So, yeah, avoid MB of Boston in particular.

[ghaff]

If you don’t want to do your own maintenance, I’ve been told that you really need a good independent mechanic for German cars unless you want to spend a fortune.

At one point I did an event at BMW’s place in SC and was really tempted but came to my senses.

[jcgrillo]

Yeah it's 100% true. A good independent mechanic you trust is very important if you're not DIY