An Astronomical Estimate Avoided

When we take our vehicles in to be repaired at the dealership we trust they not only know what they are doing but can get the job done quickly. Often we may be faced with the estimate from a dealer that seems to be much higher than it should be and certainly doesn’t make us happy at all. For most of us this, unfortunately, means we fork over the money to pay for the repairs and go off grumbling about the high price of what it can cost to have a vehicle fixed by the experts that know how.

One man did what we all wish we could do and avoided the cost of repairs at the dealership or at any other auto shop. The biggest savings you find when you avoid the cost of repairs from a service company comes in the form of the labor that’s charged, but this man did much more than just avoid a few hundred dollars in labor when it came to his special vehicle and what he was willing to do to make sure it was fixed up and able to drive again after he ran into trouble.

The vehicle in question is a rare Mercedes-Benz R63 AMG which is a unicorn of a vehicle and the head bolt had failed which caused the entire engine and most of the other parts to be shot. The owner took the R63 to the Mercedes-Benz dealership to find out what it would cost to have the work done because he wanted to be able to drive this vehicle still and what he was presented with was an astronomical repair estimate. The dealership wanted upwards of $57,000 to fix up the R63 and make it whole again.

Once this man saw the estimate, and the R63 only had 106,000 miles on the odometer at the time, he made the decision to buy a lift and do all the work on his own. The project itself was a serious undertaking and that the estimate given many of us would have chosen to scrap the vehicle instead, but this owner realized how special and rare this vehicle is and chose to make the needed repairs himself. He documented the process in a 98-page forum thread which is linked below and you can see the final result with the engine running up on the lift in the video link below.

While we don’t know exactly how much he saved off this $57,000 estimate, I would guess it was at least half the price since he did all the work himself. It took him eight months of labor to rebuild the engine and make the vehicle whole again. SO far the only reported problem that has stemmed from him saving this R63 is a small oil leak, which can easily be lived with. This repair bill is certainly something we all wish we could avoid and can do so with the right tools and know how. How would you react if you received a bill for this amount to repair your vehicle?

R63 AMG the Unicorn of my Destruction Forum