I have a 25-foot motor home on a Mercedes-Benz “Sprinter” chassis. The mileage on my six-year-old RV is 40,838. My RV manual says at that number of miles my RV is due for a “Type A” service.

Previously I had always gone to the Mercedes-Benz Dealer in Liberty Lake, WA. But this time I chose the Missoula dealer because I would drive significantly fewer miles and thereby save time. The drive to the dealer in Liberty Lake, WA is 240 miles and takes a little over four hours to get there. Whereas the drive to Demarois Buick GMC Mercedes-Benz in Missoula, Montana is only 119 miles and the estimated drive time is 2 hours and 13 minutes.. So, I chose Missoula. Big mistake.

The service advisors (two of them) quoted $500 to $700 for the Type A Service, which is about the same as the figures given me by the Liberty Lake dealer. However, Nate, the service advisor kept upselling me saying Mercedes also recommends “this and that”. My bill ended up being more than $2,000. Yes, I fell for being “upsold” and I paid a heavy price for it.

Below is an important read for anyone having a vehicle serviced. Read it and hopefully avoid my very expensive mistake. The piece explains how vehicle dealers and even repair shops practice a system of “upselling” that can cost you thousands of dollars..