cfugle

I keep seeing folks posting build dates for their MB orders. Is this something anyone can track or does it require the dealership's involvement? Sorry if this is a stupid questions but I placed my order mid-April 2017 and I would love to track this info if possible.

mtberman

In my case, the info came from a PDF of the order screen. The dealer emailed it.

One of the fields in the Status section of the order is Est Prod. Date. On my particular order, the data in that field is "2017/06/1D" meaning the first ten days of June 2017.

There's another field called "Shipment" and I notice it has spaces for the name of the vessel, ship date, and ETA. Once the vehicle is produces and shipped, those fields will be populated.

RickInHouston

I've found them on the driver's side door sill. The black sticker that has the barcode on it.

Philamg

Dealer should be able to tell you when your car is being built and inform you if this changes, buyers don't have access to the system.
Info on door sill is only useful once you get the car.

/////Tbro

+1

I also think once built and VIN generated the dealer should be able to track (you might be able to this on some websites as well that I've read) what ship it's on if it's being delivered overseas. Obviously the invigoration is extremely limited. But as for the built date, dealer can tell you all that.

mleun481

You need to know the name of the ship the vehicle has been assigned, VIN only means vehicle has been built. It still needs to get to the port, get assigned a ship and may have to wait for that ship to arrive. Ships belong to carriers. Wallenius is probably the only carrier that lets you search by VIN. But, if the vehicle is not on any of the ships from Wallenius, searching their site doesn't help you. How do I know - this is what happened to me. Mine was on carrier K-Line, ship 'Cape Town Highway'. Only when assigned was dealer able to give me the ship name to track. In other words - you need to keep in contact with your dealer.

/////Tbro

You always need to keep in contact with the dealer to get the info. But from other threads on this website it appears you can go to the carriers website once this is known and the VIN can be used to search as the cargo ID.

mleun481

You are describing what happens if your carrier is Wallenius - there are other carriers that MB uses that do not let you search by VIN. That means 'go to the carriers website once this is known and the VIN can be used to search as the cargo ID' is useless in this scenario.

dieseldoc

Mine came over on the Sunrise Ace. I got the info from my SA. I tracked the ship using an app on my phone. Could not track using vin.

mtberman

I've done tracking several times and you only need the name of the vessel.

Car carrier ships bringing cars from Europe usually circumnavigate the world in one direction. They don't usually shuttle back and forth. If the dealer's screen says your car is on the HMS Donald Duck, you can use your maritime tracking app to find the HMS Donald Duck. It will probably be in the ocean somewhere between the port where your your car was loaded and the port where it will be dropped off. The drop off port, by the way, is also listed on your order.

My suggestion to the OP would be to visit the dealer on a slow day. Ask the sales advisor or manager to look up your order on the MB system and show it to you on their computer screen. There you'll see everything you need to know: Est build date, drop port, status, etc. Once the car is built, you'll see the VIN and the vessel name, too.

/////Tbro

Here's to the day we can can track our MB orders like a Dominoes Pizza Order up to delivery.