Van service/mechanical repair survey ?

Just a quick survey ...

I had a Merc Sprinter LWB van that developed a fault in that it went into 'get you home mode' losing all power. Tried a couple of independant garages but they did not have the right equipment to hook up to it for fault diagnosis. I thus needed to take it to an Merc Commercial Main Dealer. I paid about £70 for them to put the diagnosis equipment on, and as it did not pin point the fault, another £75 per hour while they diagnosed it trying different things. I was waiting for 3 hours sweating as the clock was ticking away. They did fix it (split turbo pipe) but I had a massive bill - and it was all labour - no parts. A bit excessive I thought.

Just wondering whether you:
a) Get your van serviced at a main dealer (and if so why)
b) Use an independant van specialist (and if so why)
c) Use the your local car/garage independant (and if so why)

Thanks,

Gerry

 

Thanks for that - keep the answers rolling in everyone ...