Hello all -

Posted these questions in the ED forum, but that seems less active than some of the other forums on this site? Am cross-posting here to see if I can get some more responses on the questions. If that's an issue, please remove and I will just continue to track in the Ed forum.

Just put an order in for a 2020 C63S for ED pickup next April. Thanks to a lot of the feedback from this forum, we finalized our build and are on our way. The input and feedback from these forums got us a 9% discount on the final sale, and exactly the car we wanted. I can't thank everyone enough for their time and knowledge sharing.

As we finish the process we have a couple more questions and concerns that we're hoping others can help with:

1. We just received the paperwork from MBUSA which states it could be up to 19 weeks from drop off before we get the car back. I am curious what others are seeing in their ED deliveries? Based on our experience with BMW ED, 19 weeks seems like a really long time. But maybe the paperwork just states that to cover themselves in the case of extenuating circumstances? We are located in SLC, Utah.

2. We have been thinking about buying a maintenance package along with the car, but we're not sure if they're worth it? Having never owned a MB I am not sure how much maintenance costs are, although as Han said I can imagine a lot.. We are planning on owning the car for at least 4 years, so are thinking about the "Mercedes Benz Premier Service 4 year package" which includes a 10,000 mile service interval, and then 4 factory maintenance services. Based on a cost of $2850, I am wondering if it really saves any money to purchase it instead of just paying for those services over the course of the 4 years? Does anyone know the details behind each of the services noted in this package so we understand better what we are getting if we buy the package?

3. When we did our BMW ED we negotiated the price of the maintenance package. Does anyone know if MB maintenance packages are negotiable? If so, I am curious what kind of discount makes sense to ask for?

Thanks in advance for any help and feedback.

 

Congrats on doing ED. I can answer some of these questions. There is also another recent thread from somebody else here doing ED and I provided several answers and inputs regarding delivery time etc. I recommend you search for that thread. As for your questions.

1) Delivery time partly depends on where you end up dropping off the car. Dropping it off in Germany gives you the quickest delivery times. Dropping off at one of the locations outside of Germany adds up to 3 weeks to the deliver time. The car is shipped from Bremerhaven, so likely the fastest delivery is if you drop it off in Bremerhaven. That's what I did. It immediately got assigned to a vessel and about a week later it was on its way. On the other end customs and VPC time can lengthen the process. ED cars spend 2-4 weeks at the VPC to get reprogrammed and restored to factory conditions. Any damage incurred while the car was driven in Europe gets repaired there. If you are aware of any damage when you drop the car off, make them aware of it, so it gets documented and fixed at the VPC. I had some minor damages and my car spent a little over 3 weeks at the VPC. The nice thing is I received it with front plate removed and bumper restored to factory conditions, so that was a nice surprise. In total it took just shy of 11 weeks to receive the car here at the West Coast. This was my second ED, but the first one was with Audi. I dropped off in Zurich at the time and it took a total of 10 weeks. Audi did clearly not do much with the car at the VPC, though. It arrived about a week after it was unloaded. In both cases customs only took about a day, but if your car pulls the short straw and they decide to inspect it for contraband, it can take a lot longer.

2/3) I ended up getting the 4-year maintenance package. I'm new to MB/AMG and perhaps it's not worth it, although services on AMG are expensive. You can buy the package later from the service department if you don't wanna decide now. The final price is set by the dealership. They can even mark it up to cover higher labor costs in particular areas. I paid slightly more than what MB quotes on their website, but I recouped it essentially with the sale of my old car. It's always the complete deal that really counts including what you get for your trade-in.