Mercedes-benz Of Taunton

I bought my first Merc in 1998, in Surrey, and shortly thereafter found that Vince Ewing (now service manager in Taunton) had moved to Mercedes Exeter. I had come across him when he worked for Ford, and managed the servicing of my 1994 Mondeo - a lovely car to drive but not well-enough built to cope with high mileages, with failures of multiple starter motors, drag links and window lifts. I have since run C Class estates, usually into hundreds of thousand of miles. Not a perfect series of vehicles, but crucially far more reliable, with lower whole-life cost-per-mile operating costs. I was having the car serviced in Hertford Mercedes, who did a reasonable if impersonal job, but on past association, picked up with Vince again, when i found he was working for Mercedes, ex-Ford. This has been a fruitful relationship. Living near my now-sold second home in Exmouth - he simply collected the car and brought it back, MOT'd and serviced with any additional needs met. There is merit in the Service Manager collecting and driving one's car - he'll be able to pick up things that one might miss, if slow-developing, though given Merc's reliability, I can't think of anything extra picked up that way.... Windscreen wipers maybe? Fair value in Main Dealer terms, and a peerless personal service, to the extent that I drive to Devon and stay with friends now, whilst the job is done, rather than have it done locally in Hertfordshire. I shall be sorry to lose this quality of service - but Mercedes no longer supply the car with either a spare wheel, nor the space to put one if bought separately, so with regret, when the current car becomes due for replacement I shall have to look elsewhere. I have had too many punctures over the years, to want to start spending unscheduled periods of time waiting for Mobilo (Merc's recovery service) to come to my rescue, and then probably having to buy a new tyre in a hurry at a premium price. Not a well-thought through piece of product development. And apparently Merc. wheels are now prone to failure, too. BMW too. (Had to sort out an issue on my God-daighter's Mini). Very low profile tyres on alloy wheels with British potholes is a recipe for trouble - why this isn't understood properly in a mystery to me!