Hi,

When the 325xi was still parked in my garage, I regularly visited www.realoem.com for BMW part # & other information for any model & year (Euro & US models also). It also displays nice pictures for most parts.

Since I now own a Mercedes, is epc.startekinfo.com the only site like realoem.com for us?

(note: I would have looked myself but a epc.startekinfo.com database error keeps me from registering. I will try again tomorrow).

Its the same system your MB parts department uses

It's for USA residents only ... which could explain your registration problems.

Interesting comment. Inside info on location? The OPs IP is US based.

true. i'm in the good 'ol state of pa.

i'll try to register again

They require a CC to register I think (can't remember for sure), and you have to re-register every year. It was free though.

Correct. Just used for registration purposes

Billing address for credit card has to be in USA--not checking the IP address of computer accessing.

Someone replied the site is/was free. I created my login just over 3 months ago, used it a few times to pre-diagnose minor things before taking car into the dealer, could swear it was free for a year. Haven't visited for about a month. Now I can't log in anymore, instead get a screen with radio buttons above the credit card fields requiring fees ranging from $18 for 1-Day Access to $3,000/year. Is this a recent change in their policy, or did I initially wander into some page that let me create a free trial account? I can see where these rates make sense for a shop but for an occasional DIYer like me it's way too pricey.

I think you got into the wrong site, try this link and login again. I just reregistered, its still free.

http://epc.startekinfo.com/epc/login.jsp

I had a problem renewing my registration. After working with the MBUSA IT folks with no sucess I tried a different credit card and it worked.

Wasn't it supposed to be free for the first year? If that is still the case, no wonder their IT guys were able to make it work, before the system saw you as a new customer.

https://mbworld.org/forums/2518219-post1.html

I am on my second year and it is free.

bfot ftmfw?

Hi, well after getting error messages from the post-login "launch link" for several hours after my earlier post, including random variations on the pricing options a few times, I was finally able to run it again since Sunday. I had it bookmarked from the start so it must be problem on the backend that got resolved, but thanks for providing a link to double-check against. BTW, what might have fixed my login was that I eventually, randomly, got a screen to create a new free account. I used a different credit card than before, but with the same personal details. It responded that a new account had been created, but with the same ID and consistent (258 days) remaining time as before. So something is looking at the "logged in but won't launch" account details. Turns out the old card I used originally was a card that was stolen and deactivated in Feb, suggesting that they are at least occasionally checking for an active credit card account at login even though they aren't billing it. And, if the card is deactivated, the system hiccups.

My apologies if my post has drifted slightly off the original topic, but it seemed worthwhile to share the experience since the issue of free/fee came up. Also, if anybody else encounters this, try a different card.

All I can say is startekinfo is awesome. I'm using right now with the invoice I got from the MB garage here in Germany to help me translate some of the parts. (The part numbers are universal, their names are not lol)