Kevin T

Can anyone confirm exactly which individual features make up the Driver Assist package on the 2015 GL450, and especially how to tell if a particular vehicle is so equipped?

I'm about to enter price negotiations and need this to help determine NADA value. My financial institution uses NADA, so...

Thank you!
Kevin

Isawelvis

Have someone run the VIN number, preferably at a Mercedes Dealer. I think there is someone on this site who does it but can't recall it now. Maybe too late if you are closing the deal.

fabbrisd1

You have Driver's Assist package if the center star in the front grill is a "flat plastic hologram" - if you have metal/3D Star - then you do not have Driver's Assistance.

All that said - since ou are buying a GL from a non-Mercedes dealer - yes you should not rush thru things - until you have at least (1) full spec sheet (2) full CarFax and best with (3) best service records you can get..

You have the balance of the 4yr/50K mile new car warranty - IF confirmed with a MB dealer by phone

Kevin T

Thank you both.



Before committing to buy, we did visit the Mercedes dealership to learn more. Ours is a one-owner 2015 GL450 with around 25K miles, up to date on services, purchased locally with pre-paid maintenance and extended MB warranty. According to the MB finance manager, the maintenance plan isn't cancellable, but the extended warranty is. As of last Thursday, the plan had not been cancelled by the original owner. I have the Volvo sales manager from whom we bought the car trying to reach her to ask her if she'd be willing to transfer the warranty to us. We'd be glad to make it worth her while. I'm sure she paid less when new than the plan would cost today.


Someone responded very quickly to my post in the VIN decoding thread. Between what I learned from the data sheet he posted and what I learned at the dealership, this purchase decision was easy.


I'm coming from a 2016 Volvo XC60 R-Design. The GL offers a very different sort of driving experience. Maybe I'll become a more responsible driver.


The car has many of the safety features we hoped for, but it doesn't have the hologram emblem mentioned by fabbrisd1. I read elsewhere that there is a difference between "driver assist" package and "active driver assist". One feature I'd grown to love on my last car was adaptive cruise control, whereby the car maintains a set following distance from the car in front. It doesn't look as if this car has that.


Since we bought the car from a non-MB dealership, the staff was unable to provide much information on the car's systems. I hope to go back to the MB dealership and see if I can entice someone to give my wife and me a class. It would be worth a lot to us not to have to try to figure everything out from the manual. My wife found some YouTube videos on the car, so I should probably view those first.

fabbrisd1

1. The Mercedes extended warranty is not transferable if you bought your rig from a dealer - only transferable if you had bought directly from a private seller

2. Your MB dealer "might" be of help on a specific issue - but few/none dealers are going to give you full intro which can take up to 1 1/2hr/2hrs - frankly speaking you did not buy the car from them.
Please go to mbusa.com - under the Owner's Section on the upper right corner - browse resources - and you find videos covering most of the major systems in your MB

Keep the beat !

Kevin T

Thanks very much for the advice on where I can find detailed product information.


It's interesting that the Mercedes finance Mgr. suggested the warranty could be transferred from the original owner to us, as long as they haven't initiated cancellation yet. As of last Thursday they had not yet cancelled the coverage, according to whatever MB computer system he checked while we were in his office.


It's possible I somehow misunderstood, but my wife and I both took away the idea that he was referring to a MB extended warranty, and not a third party plan.


I'll try to get clarification from MB, but in the meantime I've asked the Volvo sales manager to speak to the former owner on our behalf and possibly have her contact me. We've bought five cars from through this same helpful person, first as a salesperson and later as sales manager. I think we get even better support there than the average customer.


If that doesn't work out, we're still happy with the purchase. Even the finance manager said our deal looked very good. He had us review the used GL's they had for sale, and while they were very nice, the one at our price point was two years older with twice the miles. Two newer GL's (2016 vs. our 2015) were priced 7K more than ours was, and both had considerably more mileage. I'm sure there is an advantage to buying from the MB dealership, but we were already near the top of our price range. I'm also confident that we received a better trade offer for our Volvo at the Volvo dealership than I could have expected at the MB shop.


We weren't counting on such a transfer working out. If we can't go with a factory extended warranty, there are always 3rd party plans.


I wouldn't expect MB dealership employees to spend significant work time helping us instead of doing what they're paid to do. I was thinking I might be able to make it worth some of their "off the clock" time. I would be surprised if NOBODY would be interested in making some extra cash on a day off, but it might be tricky finding someone willing to do so without creating an uncomfortable situation.


I'll start by reviewing the info in the owners section of the MB web site. Maybe that will answer all our questions, or at least narrow it down to the point that we can ask specific, intelligent questions either here or at the dealership.


Take care,
Kevin