TG, I know what you mean about Mercedes’ repair bill. My wife had a C240 once upon a time and when she brought it in for an oil change, they say it’s due for some basic service where they mainly just check stuff, change the oil and air filter, and they want $900 for it. I bought better brake pads for that car and found out Mercedes doesn’t install parts, you’d have to buy it from them. I think they wanted around $1k for that too. I end up getting a shop installed the better than OEM pad for much cheaper.
That’s one thing that I like about Infiniti. You can buy your own parts and have them install it. I trust them more than just some no name shop on major repair. But you can save a lot of money by buying the parts online and skip those “services”. I usually just ask them what are the major things that need to be replaced for that particular service. I then go buy the parts online and have them install it. They end up inspecting the car anyways and I save a bundle.