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At first I was looking at an E450 cabriolet. Talked to a dealer in Ky. He would give me a quote but no order without $5k on CC. Offered $500 off an $82k car. Decided against it. Talked to MB of St Charles. Decided on a C300 cabriolet. $67k. Offered $800 off after I pushed him. The cabriolet is different. Don’t know if there will be a 2022. The redesigned 2022 sedan has already been announced. To place the order, needed to put $5k on CC. March 5th for maybe June. As you have stated, there could be delays.
Don’t know about the other stuff. I will negotiate with selling dealer. I’ll hold off on extended warranty until I see if I keep the car.
OH. I thought you were saying they wanted $5K deposit before they would offer a quote. Which sounded outrageous. My dealer only wanted a $1K deposit, I put on CC, before ordering the car but would have put down $5K too without hesitation as I did my homework and really want the car. And, just double checked, they did charge the $1K to my card
OH. I thought you were saying they wanted $5K deposit before they would offer a quote. Which sounded outrageous. My dealer only wanted a $1K deposit, I put on CC, before ordering the car but would have put down $5K too without hesitation as I did my homework and really want the car. And, just double checked, they did charge the $1K to my card
Yep that was my suspicion. Thanks for finding the official announcement. I suspect they are in the process of converting all Mercedes me connect accounts over to HERE Traffic if they didn't have it from the beginning already, which would explain the hiccups. How did you confirm the traffic provider for your car? I've been trying to find this, but all I can see is the expiration date. I'm guessing that all model years that use Mercedes me connect will eventually get HERE Traffic or already have it. The older models with mBrace may be out of luck.
I completely forgot i sent this to Mercedes Customer Support a while back. I just got a reply today. Yes, looks like mBrace vehicles may just be SOL
Me:
Not sure who to send this to... Mercedes offers 3 years free live traffic with new cars. But they don't warrant how long traffic subscriptions will be available for a model year. I've read on the forums where people suddenly find they can't renew their subscription. Does Mercedes guarantee some number of years of traffic service availability? (How long AFTER the first 3 years?)
Mercedes reply
Thank you for your email to Mercedes-Benz USA.
From the initial mbrace service activation Live Traffic services were complementary for three years. Our sincerest apologies for the inconvenience. However at this time, this service cannot be renewed, and we are currently investigating if service may be provided in the future.
We realize our apology will not negate your expressed dissatisfaction, but nonetheless, do extend it most sincerely.
I think most MB dealers want $5k to factory order a vehicle. That being said, my salesman who also is the sales manager takes a CC deposit, but never puts it through. For the W211 purchase I made several floor limit CC transactions while waiting for the car. The bottom line is that I got an additional 2% cash back on the purchase price. They may not let me do that today.
Deposits are often controlled by local laws. In CA no deposit is needed. I cancelled a factory order several weeks after it was placed and there was no deposit to worry about.
2019 E 450, 2016 E350 4matic (retired), 2018 Ford Edge Sport, 2008 Porsche Boxster
Originally Posted by TugboatBill
Deposits are often controlled by local laws. In CA no deposit is needed. I cancelled a factory order several weeks after it was placed and there was no deposit to worry about.
I have ordered two BMW 5 series and my present 2019 E450.
Each dealer wanted a deposit: $500
I put it on my credit card. When the car came in, the $500 was deducted from the selling price, which was about 12% off of MSRP.
Caveat: I live in the NY Metro area where within 50 miles there are over 20 MB dealers all wanting my business.
FYI: I just tried to file a complaint with the BBB Auto Line. I got a message that MB does not participate. I believe the MB CPO program should have warned about TomTom being discontinued.
Mercedes (MBUSA) has been doing this for decades, going back to cell phones, cellular service, and emergency help communications. They seem to get in on the tail end of technological waves which then go obsolete sooner. They probably need to outsource their infotainment development to Tokyo.
I have a 2018 AMG E63 that had LiveTraffic presumably with TomTom as the service provider. My initial 3 year subscription ended in March of 2021. I have a great relationship with my dealer. I contacted my resource at the dealer and he was able to get my LiveTraffic reinstated for one year as a courtesy. He never said how he was able to do this, but he was able to accomplish it by working with someone at MBUSA. In March of this year (2022), my subscription again ended. I called my resource at my dealer and asked that it be extended again. He was able to get it extended once more, with an end date of March 2023. All was fine until about a week ago (August, 2022), when LiveTraffic stopped working. When checking my subscription details on the navigation screen, it says my subscription to Live Traffic Information is not active or has expired. This happened once before. I called MB Tier 2 Support. They gave me the canned response that they cannot extend the subscription, etc, etc, etc. They sent a refresh signal to my car, which initially didn't do anything. I did a hard reset of my COMAND system. Once I did that, the end date was reset to March 2023, and LiveTraffic started working again. But with this last issue which occurred a couple weeks ago, neither a refresh signal nor a hard reset brought LiveTraffic back. I unfortunately think it is really gone this time. And sadly, my resource at my dealership has moved on to another role at another company, so I don't have him to work this issue for me.
Much like most of those who have chimed in on this topic, I would like someone from MBUSA to comment here and provide us with some guidance. Did TomTom (or whomever) finally pull the plug on 2018 model year cars that use TomTom? If they did, and that's the end of the discussion, then let us know that. There is a lot of wasted effort and time being spent by people like us trying to navigate a maze of customer service reps across many companies including MB, TomTom, Sirius, etc.
2019 E 450, 2016 E350 4matic (retired), 2018 Ford Edge Sport, 2008 Porsche Boxster
Originally Posted by Mem30306
I have a 2018 AMG E63 that had LiveTraffic presumably with TomTom as the service provider. My initial 3 year subscription ended in March of 2021. I have a great relationship with my dealer. I contact my resource at the dealer and he was able to get my LiveTraffic reinstated for one year as a courtesy. He never said how he was able to do this, but he was able to accomplish it by working with someone at MBUSA. In March of this year (2022), my subscription again ended. I called my resource at my dealer and asked that it be extended again. He was able to get it extended once more, with an end date of March 2023. All was fine until about a week ago (August, 2022), when LiveTraffic stopped working. When checking my subscription details on the navigation screen, it says my subscription to Live Traffic Information is not active or has expired. This happened once before. I called MB Tier 2 Support. They gave me the canned response that they cannot extend the subscription, etc, etc, etc. They sent a refresh signal to my car, which initially didn't do anything. I did a hard reset of my COMAND system. Once I did that, the end date was reset to March 2023, and LiveTraffic started working again. But with this last issue which occurred a couple weeks ago, neither a refresh signal nor a hard reset brought LiveTraffic back. I unfortunately think it is really gone this time. And sadly, my resource at my dealership has moved on to another role at another company, so I don't have him to work this issue for me.
Much like most of those who have chimed in on this topic, I would like someone from MBUSA to chime in here and provide us with some guidance. Did TomTom (or whomever) finally pull the plug on 2018 model year cars that use TomTom? If they did, and that's the end of the discussion, then let us know that. There is a lot of wasted effort and time being spent by people like us trying to navigate a maze of customer service reps across many companies including MB, TomTom, Sirius, etc.
I have a 2018 AMG E63 that had LiveTraffic presumably with TomTom as the service provider. My initial 3 year subscription ended in March of 2021. I have a great relationship with my dealer. I contact my resource at the dealer and he was able to get my LiveTraffic reinstated for one year as a courtesy. He never said how he was able to do this, but he was able to accomplish it by working with someone at MBUSA. In March of this year (2022), my subscription again ended. I called my resource at my dealer and asked that it be extended again. He was able to get it extended once more, with an end date of March 2023. All was fine until about a week ago (August, 2022), when LiveTraffic stopped working. When checking my subscription details on the navigation screen, it says my subscription to Live Traffic Information is not active or has expired. This happened once before. I called MB Tier 2 Support. They gave me the canned response that they cannot extend the subscription, etc, etc, etc. They sent a refresh signal to my car, which initially didn't do anything. I did a hard reset of my COMAND system. Once I did that, the end date was reset to March 2023, and LiveTraffic started working again. But with this last issue which occurred a couple weeks ago, neither a refresh signal nor a hard reset brought LiveTraffic back. I unfortunately think it is really gone this time. And sadly, my resource at my dealership has moved on to another role at another company, so I don't have him to work this issue for me.
Much like most of those who have chimed in on this topic, I would like someone from MBUSA to chime in here and provide us with some guidance. Did TomTom (or whomever) finally pull the plug on 2018 model year cars that use TomTom? If they did, and that's the end of the discussion, then let us know that. There is a lot of wasted effort and time being spent by people like us trying to navigate a maze of customer service reps across many companies including MB, TomTom, Sirius, etc.
A common problem we've heard. My opinion: MB dropped TomTom because they started to provide their own maps and traffic (MB, BMW and Audi bought HERE Technologies in 2017). I think it's a sh*tty thing to do. They should have at least given MB customers something like a 10 year phase out period. Can you use Android or Apple CarPlay instead?
Last edited by LookingAround; 08-05-2022 at 09:12 AM.
I live in metro Atlanta, so having real-time traffic is pretty much a must for making even short trips to locations I know well. I do use CarPlay often for the tight integration of media-streaming services like Amazon Music, Spotify and so on. And the real-time integration with Apple Maps and Google Maps is nice. Oftentimes, CarPlay and Google Maps are better than even LiveTraffic, but there are times when the tight integration of the MB services and navigation turns etcetera through my Heads Up Display is nice (not available for CarPlay). Conversely, there are times when I don't necessarily want to connect my phone for the more advanced features of CarPlay, I just simply want to quickly use voice commands to tell COMAND "Home" and be off with real-time traffic updates without connecting my phone via CarPlay.
I very much realize that in the scheme of things, this is low on the priority list for most people. But the fact that my dealer was able to "pull some strings" and get my LiveTraffic extended, means that there "is a way" for this to be accomplished, but you need to know the "right people" to get it done. That rubs me the wrong the way.
At this point I suspect the issue is a different one. The few model years that use TomTom are also still on the effectively discontinued mBrace platform. Starting with 2019 models, mBrace was replaced with the new Mercedes me connect platform which now powers all the newer NTG 5.5 and MBUX models. Mercedes me connect now uses HERE Live Traffic and can be renewed. MB just recently finally rolled out the store in the USA where we can renew the services including live traffic.
Most of the remaining vehicles that still use mBrace also are still on 3G and not LTE. Come November, all those vehicles will lose their connectivity altogether when Verizon shuts down their 3G network, but these vehicles also currently get their live traffic from SiriusXM and not TomTom. So MB effectively has no incentive to do anything about mBrace Live Traffic provided by TomTom. mBrace will likely get shut down completely at some point. The early W213 that have LTE connectivity, but still use mBrace will likely fall victim to this and will get no solution. There's a small chance that MB might migrate them to Mercedes me connect, but I wouldn't hold my breath.
Similar situations can be found with other brands. Audi for example abandoned vehicles as new as 2018 due to the 3G shutdown, because it turns out even though they use LTE for the Infotainment, some of the connected car features such as remote locking etc. were still using 3G and those services stopped working in February when AT&T shut down their 3G network. Audi is offering an OBDII dongle through a third-party that offers some of the connected car services, but no remote locking and such.
At this point I suspect the issue is a different one. The few model years that use TomTom are also still on the effectively discontinued mBrace platform. Starting with 2019 models, mBrace was replaced with the new Mercedes me connect platform which now powers all the newer NTG 5.5 and MBUX models. Mercedes me connect now uses HERE Live Traffic and can be renewed. MB just recently finally rolled out the store in the USA where we can renew the services including live traffic.
Most of the remaining vehicles that still use mBrace also are still on 3G and not LTE. Come November, all those vehicles will lose their connectivity altogether when Verizon shuts down their 3G network, but these vehicles also currently get their live traffic from SiriusXM and not TomTom. So MB effectively has no incentive to do anything about mBrace Live Traffic provided by TomTom. mBrace will likely get shut down completely at some point. The early W213 that have LTE connectivity, but still use mBrace will likely fall victim to this and will get no solution. There's a small chance that MB might migrate them to Mercedes me connect, but I wouldn't hold my breath.
Similar situations can be found with other brands. Audi for example abandoned vehicles as new as 2018 due to the 3G shutdown, because it turns out even though they use LTE for the Infotainment, some of the connected car features such as remote locking etc. were still using 3G and those services stopped working in February when AT&T shut down their 3G network. Audi is offering an OBDII dongle through a third-party that offers some of the connected car services, but no remote locking and such.
Thanks superswiss for the explanation. Your remarks make sense and helps fill in some of the gaps. My 2018 E63 does have LTE, so grateful I won't lose connected service later this year, but am frustrated by the lack of LiveTraffic.
A number of people on this forum seem puzzled by those of us who don't want to use CarPlay or AndoidAuto every time, but there are instances where I just want to get in my car and go. And thus, use the native navigation built into my car.
Still others have reported they called TomTom Customer Service, and still others have called SiriusXM attempting to get LiveTaffic through that avenue. I too tried that a couple years ago. All failed. The Tier 1 Customer Service reps at TomTom and Sirius don't seem to have the knowledge to answer such details questions about LiveTraffic on 2018 model cars. Mercedes Customer Service reps that actually do know, simply read a script stating that service can't be renewed.
As I mentioned before, I wish someone that is in the know from either MBUSA, TomTom or SiriusXM would chime in here and give us an official response. But as others have commented in other forums, it may be a legal issue that is preventing them from speaking up.
2019 E 450, 2016 E350 4matic (retired), 2018 Ford Edge Sport, 2008 Porsche Boxster
Originally Posted by Mem30306
Thanks superswiss for the explanation. Your remarks make sense and helps fill in some of the gaps. My 2018 E63 does have LTE, so grateful I won't lose connected service later this year, but am frustrated by the lack of LiveTraffic.
A number of people on this forum seem puzzled by those of us who don't want to use CarPlay or AndoidAuto every time, but there are instances where I just want to get in my car and go. And thus, use the native navigation built into my car.
Still others have reported they called TomTom Customer Service, and still others have called SiriusXM attempting to get LiveTaffic through that avenue. I too tried that a couple years ago. All failed. The Tier 1 Customer Service reps at TomTom and Sirius don't seem to have the knowledge to answer such details questions about LiveTraffic on 2018 model cars. Mercedes Customer Service reps that actually do know, simply read a script stating that service can't be renewed.
As I mentioned before, I wish someone that is in the know from either MBUSA, TomTom or SiriusXM would chime in here and give us an official response. But as others have commented in other forums, it may be a legal issue that is preventing them from speaking up.
If you have Mercedes ME connect, after the trial period, Live updates are $50 per year.
Point of information: I received a notification from Mercedes Me that my trial period had expired last week: I was not aware that the trial period had expired: as my tech savvy daughter said: "Dad if you didn't even know that the trial period had ended, why would you bother to renew it?": She of course is correct and I did not bother to renew:
If I need traffic information I use WAZE, which in my opinion is substantially superior to Live Updates.
If you have Mercedes ME connect, after the trial period, Live updates are $50 per year.
Point of information: I received a notification from Mercedes Me that my trial period had expired last week: I was not aware that the trial period had expired: as my tech savvy daughter said: "Dad if you didn't even know that the trial period had ended, why would you bother to renew it?": She of course is correct and I did not bother to renew:
If I need traffic information I use WAZE, which in my opinion is substantially superior to Live Updates.
I gave up trying to get Mercedes’ to continue offering live traffic. I started using Carplay and like it much better anyway—more detailed directions, notifications farther in advance, warnings about road hazards and other improvements .
In my opinion, no better than ambulance chasers. They smell money. I don’t believe there is any chance of a lawsuit working. Maybe MB should have planned better but, to blame them for tech changing is ridiculous,
Can someone that has a 2019 pls confirm if your Live traffic is working after the 3 year term? I’m about to trade mine in for a 2019 CLS53 and I think the the app shifts to Mercedes me CONNECT. Not sure if this means that the data provider for the 2019 models is still TomTom?
Can someone that has a 2019 pls confirm if your Live traffic is working after the 3 year term? I’m about to trade mine in for a 2019 CLS53 and I think the the app shifts to Mercedes me CONNECT. Not sure if this means that the data provider for the 2019 models is still TomTom?
I don't know yet as my 3 years expire next month, but I already renewed a few days ago, so that there won't be any interruptions. Yes Mercedes me connect uses HERE Live Traffic. Since it can be renewed, I don't see any reason why it wouldn't continue to work. I renewed all the services except for Remote Engine Start as I never used it. The Mercedes me connect store to renew the services became available a couple of months ago in preparation for the 2019 model's services expiring. Those whose services expired before the store went live got another complimentary year and I have not heard from anyone that Live Traffic stopped working.
Thanks! Is it the MBUX in your car? I think the MBUX in the CLS did not show up until MY21. Wife has a GLE and the map update process on that is relatively simple on the MBUX system. Just that my home address is not available on there.
Originally Posted by superswiss
I don't know yet as my 3 years expire next month, but I already renewed a few days ago, so that there won't be any interruptions. Yes Mercedes me connect uses HERE Live Traffic. Since it can be renewed, I don't see any reason why it wouldn't continue to work. I renewed all the services except for Remote Engine Start as I never used it. The Mercedes me connect store to renew the services became available a couple of months ago in preparation for the 2019 model's services expiring. Those whose services expired before the store went live got another complimentary year and I have not heard from anyone that Live Traffic stopped working.
Thanks! Is it the MBUX in your car? I think the MBUX in the CLS did not show up until MY21. Wife has a GLE and the map update process on that is relatively simple on the MBUX system. Just that my home address is not available on there.
No, I have a 2019 C63S coupe with COMAND NTG 5.5. Same as the PFL W213. BTW, I checked the live traffic subscription in the car today and it was properly extended through 9/2023 as expected. Map data and live traffic is pretty accurate for me around here. Map updates come out twice a year. The only thing to be aware of is the OTA update only updates your home region. If you want to update all the other regions and voice recognition then you have to manually download the update from the web portal onto an SD card or USB stick and update the car. I pretty much do that usually instead of waiting for the OTA update.
Now I just need Mercedes to get my home address to show up on the their maps.
Originally Posted by superswiss
No, I have a 2019 C63S coupe with COMAND NTG 5.5. Same as the PFL W213. BTW, I checked the live traffic subscription in the car today and it was properly extended through 9/2023 as expected. Map data and live traffic is pretty accurate for me around here. Map updates come out twice a year. The only thing to be aware of is the OTA update only updates your home region. If you want to update all the other regions and voice recognition then you have to manually download the update from the web portal onto an SD card or USB stick and update the car. I pretty much do that usually instead of waiting for the OTA update.
Now I just need Mercedes to get my home address to show up on the their maps.
The map data comes from HERE. You can report missing streets, addresses etc. on their website just like you can with Google Maps. If nobody reports it, it won't magically show up unless you live on a major street that regularly gets driven by HERE's camera and GPS equipped cars.
Thank you on all counts. The E43 lost the live traffic after I bought it and it just bothered the hell out of me even though I always use CarPlay.
Originally Posted by superswiss
The map data comes from HERE. You can report missing streets, addresses etc. on their website just like you can with Google Maps. If nobody reports it, it won't magically show up unless you live on a major street that regularly gets driven by HERE's camera and GPS equipped cars.
03-20-2021, 10:33 AM
