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2015 CLS 550 2015 ML 400 Previous 2020 GLB 250 2019 A 220 2005 ML 350 1989 300 E 2001 SL 500
European Delivery update
This was in Netstar today:
Dear Mercedes-Benz Dealers, This is to inform you that MBUSA will discontinue the European Delivery Program effective November 1, 2020. To our active European Delivery dealership partners, we sincerely thank you for supporting us over the years. Through your efforts, many customers experienced European delivery and have gone on to become lifelong advocates for the brand. In order to meet remaining customer needs, we will fulfill remaining orders submitted prior to program cessation. These vehicles will continue via direct shipment with delivery to your dealerships. Moving forward, no new orders will be accepted as we run out the program in Q4 2020.
What a complete disappointment! Somewhat feared and expected this would happen after both Audi and BMW discontinued theirs, but nonetheless a bummer. Glad I did it last year, but was hoping to perhaps do one more. Unless Porsche discontinues theirs to, I might have to move on to Porsche next.
I am so glad I did Euro Delivery on my 19 S63 in November 2018 (so disappointed that MB is discontinuing Euro Delivery). I was considering a Euro Delivery on a AMG GT R. Guess I will have to be satisfied with doing National Corvette Museum Delivery on my 2021 C8 Corvette Stingray. And I am such a Mercedes Benz loyalist with buying new MBs/AMGs for over 25 years. I had the absolute best experience with Euro Delivery in 2018. MBs discontinuance of the Euro Delivery program for the US is just so disappointing since these experiences solidified my brand loyalty over the years.
Originally Posted by superswiss
What a complete disappointment! Somewhat feared and expected this would happen after both Audi and BMW discontinued theirs, but nonetheless a bummer. Glad I did it last year, but was hoping to perhaps do one more. Unless Porsche discontinues theirs to, I might have to move on to Porsche next.
European Delivery is actually what swayed my decision to become an AMG owner. The only consolation for me is that with the discontinuation of the program it's making my decision to buy a 2020 E63s a little easier..........maybe I'll consider designo Manufaktur..............anyone know a guy?
2015 CLS 550 2015 ML 400 Previous 2020 GLB 250 2019 A 220 2005 ML 350 1989 300 E 2001 SL 500
Originally Posted by AMG RB
European Delivery is actually what swayed my decision to become an AMG owner. The only consolation for me is that with the discontinuation of the program it's making my decision to buy a 2020 E63s a little easier..........maybe I'll consider designo Manufaktur..............anyone know a guy?
I had a July 2020 European Delivery scheduled, to pick up my E450 Cabriolet. I had attempted to order one for July 2019 but in June I was notified it wouldnt be ready until September 2019, so I canceled and took back my deposit.
In December of 2019 I placed an order, with deposit, for July 2020. And then in March 2020, the world came to a screeching halt. I was told by my dealership the production line had shutdown and they didnt know when it would run again. I was told to fill out a form to receive my deposit back but I really wanted this car and refused. In September I was told the line was back up and I could have my car shipped to the US but I wouldnt receive the discount or waived transportation costs which were part of the European Delivery deal. This memo makes it appear as I was entitled to have the car shipped to my home port under the same terms as the ED program since I had orders prior to the ending of the program. Anyone have any thoughts if its possible to get a refund from my dealer? I finally picked up the vehicle on December 24,2020.
In order to meet remaining customer needs, we will fulfill remaining orders submitted prior to program cessation. These vehicles will continue via direct shipment with delivery to your dealerships.
Last edited by SoCal Dave; 08-09-2021 at 08:15 AM.
2015 CLS 550 2015 ML 400 Previous 2020 GLB 250 2019 A 220 2005 ML 350 1989 300 E 2001 SL 500
Originally Posted by SoCal Dave
I had a July 2020 European Delivery scheduled, to pick up my E450 Cabriolet. I had attempted to order one for July 2019 but in June I was notified it wouldnt be ready until September 2019, so I canceled and took back my deposit.
In December of 2019 I placed an order, with deposit, for July 2020. And then in March 2020, the world came to a screeching halt. I was told by my dealership the production line had shutdown and they didnt know when it would run again. I was told to fill out a form to receive my deposit back but I really wanted this car and refused. In September I was told the line was back up and I could have my car shipped to the US but I wouldnt receive the discount or waived transportation costs which were part of the European Delivery deal. This memo makes it appear as I was entitled to have the car shipped to my home port under the same terms as the ED program since I had orders prior to the ending of the program. Anyone have any thoughts if its possible to get a refund from my dealer? I finally picked up the vehicle on December 24,2020.
I believe the car already had to have been built. I had a client who was going to pick up his car in May of 2020. Car was already built. His car was direct shipped under the Euro program, but it was already built.
I had a July 2020 European Delivery scheduled, to pick up my E450 Cabriolet. I had attempted to order one for July 2019 but in June I was notified it wouldnt be ready until September 2019, so I canceled and took back my deposit.
In December of 2019 I placed an order, with deposit, for July 2020. And then in March 2020, the world came to a screeching halt. I was told by my dealership the production line had shutdown and they didnt know when it would run again. I was told to fill out a form to receive my deposit back but I really wanted this car and refused. In September I was told the line was back up and I could have my car shipped to the US but I wouldnt receive the discount or waived transportation costs which were part of the European Delivery deal. This memo makes it appear as I was entitled to have the car shipped to my home port under the same terms as the ED program since I had orders prior to the ending of the program. Anyone have any thoughts if its possible to get a refund from my dealer? I finally picked up the vehicle on December 24,2020.
It is my understanding that as long as the order was in the system prior to the program ending, the cars would be drop shipped under the ED program along with ED pricing etc. However, the final price is ultimately agreed upon between dealership and the customer. Dealerships are not required to honor the ED discount, and MBUSA stays out of the price negotiation. It's likely that your dealership refused to give you the ED discount pretending it came from MBUSA, and you didn't challenge it.
Not coming back. After the devastating Felicity Ace fire last year, shippers are now refusing used cars with lithium batteries on board. Porsche, who I believe hasn't terminated their program yet doesn't offer it with the Taycan, either. Electrification is essentially the final death knell for these programs. Even car ferries have started to ban electric cars due to the sheer impossibility to put out a battery fire on a vessel. Just recently a Norwegian ferry company banned electric cars on all their ferries and that's in a country where every 2nd car sold is an EV.
Last edited by superswiss; 03-30-2023 at 09:31 AM.
PFL205.064 with M276.823 (Oil pump solenoid defeated)
Sad but true it isn't coming back, it really added to the beginning of the ownership experience of the vehicle though. Oh well. I guess if you are from Europe and live in Europe you could take delivery of your vehicle at those facilities used by MBUSA's European Delivery Program but I guess that defeats the point. Not sure but maybe if you do it the unofficial way by buying a vehicle in Europe take delivery and then ship it yourself.
Edit: Nevermind, scratch that, the vehicle will not be designed for the USA market and will not meet regulations.
Last edited by W205C43PFL; 04-05-2023 at 07:56 PM.
Having it done twice, once with Audi and once with MB/AMG, it was definitely a great experience and I'm glad I had a chance to do it not only once, but twice. With some time past, though, I had a chance to reflect. There were downsides to ED as well. For example the car isn't broken in and depending on how long you are staying you may not be able to fully enjoy it. That wasn't an issue for me as I stayed one month for the first one, and a whole two months for the second one and drove thousands of miles. The other issue, though is that the car could have problems. This was the case with my C63. The oil sensor kept giving me false oil warnings the entire time, and the car actually didn't drive right, which I only realized later after AMG had a couple of service campaigns to fix issues with some of the coding from the factory and they had a recall for the ESP system and I got several other software updates including for the engine/transmission in the meantime. The car drives much better now than it did during the ED and I wish I could go back and do it over.
However, I've done a couple of trips to Europe now last year similar to my ED trip minus picking up a new car, 4 weeks and 3 weeks respectively. I rented a nice Audi A6 for the first one, although that car bored me out of my mind, and a Golf 8 with manual transmission for the second. That was a fun car, and I went to Munich to the BMW Welt and Museum, and pretended I was picking up a BMW . To get some AMG time in, both times I attended an AMG Driving Experience while I was there. First one was at the Nürburgring and second one in Austria for winter driving. Honestly, I didn't miss not having my personal car, because I also didn't have to worry about it getting damaged or having issues. Particularly the Golf 8 was also much easier to get around in the tight European cities/towns and parking structures. My C63 was at times a bit of a handful.
ED did absolutely add to the ownership experience and I would do it all over again, but I'm not actually missing not being able to do another one.
PFL205.064 with M276.823 (Oil pump solenoid defeated)
Originally Posted by superswiss
Having it done twice, once with Audi and once with MB/AMG, it was definitely a great experience and I'm glad I had a chance to do it not only once, but twice. With some time past, though, I had a chance to reflect. There were downsides to ED as well. For example the car isn't broken in and depending on how long you are staying you may not be able to fully enjoy it. That wasn't an issue for me as I stayed one month for the first one, and a whole two months for the second one and drove thousands of miles. The other issue, though is that the car could have problems. This was the case with my C63. The oil sensor kept giving me false oil warnings the entire time, and the car actually didn't drive right, which I only realized later after AMG had a couple of service campaigns to fix issues with some of the coding from the factory and they had a recall for the ESP system and I got several other software updates including for the engine/transmission in the meantime. The car drives much better now than it did during the ED and I wish I could go back and do it over.
However, I've done a couple of trips to Europe now last year similar to my ED trip minus picking up a new car, 4 weeks and 3 weeks respectively. I rented a nice Audi A6 for the first one, although that car bored me out of my mind, and a Golf 8 with manual transmission for the second. That was a fun car, and I went to Munich to the BMW Welt and Museum, and pretended I was picking up a BMW . To get some AMG time in, both times I attended an AMG Driving Experience while I was there. First one was at the Nürburgring and second one in Austria for winter driving. Honestly, I didn't miss not having my personal car, because I also didn't have to worry about it getting damaged or having issues. Particularly the Golf 8 was also much easier to get around in the tight European cities/towns and parking structures. My C63 was at times a bit of a handful.
ED did absolutely add to the ownership experience and I would do it all over again, but I'm not actually missing not being able to do another one.
I am curious, did I miss it in your previous posts or did you ever state your reason why you never considered BMW coming from audi then to AMG. Was there a certain thing you hate about BMW or that something that simply doesn't work for you?
I am curious, did I miss it in your previous posts or did you ever state your reason why you never considered BMW coming from audi then to AMG. Was there a certain thing you hate about BMW or that something that simply doesn't work for you?
Quite a bit off topic, but I went from BMW to Audi to AMG, so been there done that. When the M3/4 had a V8 I found the RS5 with the V8 to be a better car for everyday driving. BMW focuses a bit too much on track prowess. When I switched to AMG, both BMW and Audi ditched the V8 in this class, and both abandoned the dual clutch transmission in their performance models. I'm not a fan of the ZF8 in those cars. It simply numbs the experience. AMG is the only one left that understands torque converters don't belong into high performance models. So the V8 in conjunction with the 9-MCT is what made me buy an AMG for the first time, after both BMW and Audi downsized to 6 pots and added torque converter automatics.
Last edited by superswiss; 04-05-2023 at 09:10 PM.
PFL205.064 with M276.823 (Oil pump solenoid defeated)
Originally Posted by superswiss
Quite a bit off topic, but I went from BMW to Audi to AMG, so been there done that. When the M3/4 had a V8 I found the RS5 with the V8 to be a better car for everyday driving. BMW focuses a bit too much on track prowess. When I switched to AMG, both BMW and Audi ditched the V8 in this class, and both abandoned the dual clutch transmission in their performance models. I'm not a fan of the ZF8 in those cars. It simply numbs the experience. AMG is the only one left that understands torque converters don't belong into high performance models. So the V8 in conjunction with the 9-MCT is what made me buy an AMG for the first time, after both BMW and Audi downsized to 6 pots and added torque converter automatics.
I see, makes sense. Unfortunately AMG decides it is a good idea to skip the 6 pot idea and not follow BMW and audi and went straight to 4-pot.
Anyways back on-topic, I do thoroughly enjoy what you shared with your experiences with ED in the other thread, it was great read and shame they got rid of it as the experience is very unique for those who never tried it before now they never have a chance to anymore. I understand that you tried it twice (congrats) and enjoyed it.
10-20-2020, 09:02 PM
. To get some AMG time in, both times I attended an AMG Driving Experience while I was there. First one was at the Nürburgring and second one in Austria for winter driving. Honestly, I didn't miss not having my personal car, because I also didn't have to worry about it getting damaged or having issues. Particularly the Golf 8 was also much easier to get around in the tight European cities/towns and parking structures. My C63 was at times a bit of a handful.
