What are the chances of a February build having the chips for the wireless charge and the massage seats? Or anything else I can't think of that is a chip part.

I am not sure I want to buy and depreciate a car that is not my "dream car".

Thank you!

 

I'd wait. I don't think it's going to get better until MAYBE late 2nd quarter. Having said that... do follow MB's press releases on the situation, there is a chance it could get better sooner but given the current perspective it's going to be a while...

 

The chip situation isn’t getting better until 2023 or 2024.

 

What else is a chip related part that I would miss?

 

I would not be surprised if there are more chip related items causing shortages of more items than those already known.

 

AR nav and dashcam are another 2 options that aren't available at the moment.

i'm surprised there's so much love for the wireless charging. i'm usually using carplay, which requires the phone to be plugged in. even if i weren't using carplay, my iphone max barely fits in there...it's a pain to get it in and out. i'd honestly give up my wireless charger for one free service if i could.

 

Agreed. Also the easy solution for wireless charging is to get a wireless charging pad online and just plug it into the USB port. That is what I did in my Cayenne, same location as the charging pad and works just fine. Some of the ones out there now are so darn thin you can't even see it.

 

I think this is a question for the MB dealership, in my opinion. I'd say you have a 40% chance. It's a chip "shortage" not a chip "depletion" situation. Will likely take a long time.

My opinion only - I wouldn't buy a car right now unless I absolutely had to, not want to. I have a 3rd car we want to replace for a Jeep as a fun car. No way I'm paying over $50k for a *** Jeep!

 

Is the GLS/GLE actually priced higher than normal now or is it that no discounts are given off the sticker price?
I have driven a minivan for 7.5 yrs. It's great and test driving all these cars has made me appreciate it even more. But I would like some technology and luxury and a little excitement seeing my car in the parking lot soon! I also thought it would be a good time to sell it with used car prices so high?

 

discounts are not only gone, but dealers are def pricing cars above msrp. there's been roughly a $20-25k swing from what i paid (in may) and what my dealer is currently asking (and getting) for a GLS450.

 

So one dealer told me 10% above sticker to build, but my local dealer says they are not doing that. So if the dealer not pricing above the MSRP, am I ok? Has Mercedes itself raised prices?

 

you can order a car from your local dealer, but there's no guarantee they won't sell it out from under you or ask you for a premium at time of delivery, so just be wary of that. on the flip side, you can always order, continue to look, and buy something off the lot if something better comes along. just my .02.

 

Oh gosh that is awful. Even with a deposit? This is smaller city dealership and the the dealer we are working with has been there over 20 yrs.

 

My guess is that local dealer will not do that to you but as was said you can refuse the vehicle. Maybe just make sure if it is missing features you want (that suddenly happen after order placement) how it would be handled. My guess is if they are not doing that now they will not once your vehicle gets built. And as other threads show certain features are no longer available so you have to factor that in and at times they do not know what may get cut during a certain build period.

The Mercedes dealers in my area were charging above MSRP most even for orders and not just off the lot. I made it clear I would not pay above MSRP. I ended up with a BMW for the first time as BMW dealerships in my area were not charging above MSRP for on lot or orders. But much like with Mercedes, certain features can no longer be had depending on the model.

It is a tough market right now with the chip shortage. So you have to weigh do you want that new car thrill now and yes you will get more for your minivan but you may also be buying a vehicle with less standard features due to the shortages. The BMW I was able to find had the features I wanted but I did settle for the smaller X5 over the X7. I really was only looking at the larger vehicles for the dogs and when we go on vacation so I can make the smaller one work with external carrier for luggage. And then maybe I can hand this X5 down in a couple years if I decide I really want a larger vehicle. I'm actually pleasantly surprised with what I ended up with.

Good luck.

 

I'm actually surprised you can get a feb build. I ordered 3-4 weeks ago and got a mid feb build date, march delivery. The is always a risk they sell it to someone for more, that happened with my first dec build date. I'm paying msrp and plenty are happy to go 10-15k over for something on the lot or available sooner.

Wireless charging is meaningless since you have to plug in for car play. If you bought an aftermarket wireless CarPlay adapter that might be a different story.

I think I likely scenario is that future model years ('23,'24) will be stripped of less essential options to conserve chips and avoid having to delete things from orders. Since pandemic started, options have only been going away, not to my knowledge have come back. I mean Mercedes deleted their 8 cylinder engine, which deleted entire models that were dependent on it. That said, Mercedes is actually doing way better than BMW on this. With Mercedes, you get what you order. With BMW, they've been calling audibles and pulling options like touch screens, parking assist and anything but the most utilitarian stereo at the last minute on the production line. Those would be whammy surprises for me on a $100k car I have been waiting 6 months to receive.

 

So I heard the opposite regarding Mercedes. I started off and delayed ever considering BMW as I was trying to make a purchase of another Mercedes work. My discussions at the end were I could place an order, however packages could become a "lite" version where features were removed. In come cases those features could not be retrofitted at a later date but there were also cases where some features removed to conserve chips could be added back later under recall (i.e. the SOS button was non functional on some and could be added back later) . So I was warned I could order and things could be deleted. I then asked what if what got built did not match what I wanted and the dealer said I could refuse delivery and get my deposit back. I also heard each month what was impacted could change and they sometimes do not have advance notice. I believe the same thing is happening across many brands. And add in how I had read this summer when the V8's got cancelled that people's orders that were already placed were getting converted to V6 engines. So that tells you Mercedes has and will delete major features on existing orders.

So specifically I was trying to stay brand loyal only for there to be too many barriers (i.e. charge me above MSRP, features could be deleted if I ordered, and order delivery timelines were way longer for Mercedes however better than what I was told earlier in the summer when I first tried ordering).

So for me there was BMW stock on lots (which I do not normally buy off the lot) that matched what I wanted and they were not charging above MSRP. I actually got below MSRP because of military family incentives (i.e. like I used to get via USAA and thought went away but the BMW dealership said it went away in the one form but came back another way). So I ended up in a better place than I ever expected to be buying in this climate. I think each brand's approach is different and maybe some supply chain agreements are different, I'm not sure. My understanding is BMW is selling more units so somehow they are outpu8tting more. And feature deletion is happening across many brands. For me I got a touch screen and trailer hitch on an X5. If I had wanted to order an X7 I think I would have still gotten the touch screen and the trailer hitch but I decided the model I found had what I would want and I could take delivery immediately.

Just needed to clarify I was specifically told by one of the local dealerships that they could not guarantee a package or its contents when I was trying to make a Mercedes order work for months. That is when I threw in the towel and went for a known quantity.

 

it's gonna vary depending dealership. i was pleasantly surprised mine didn't try to do that to me - i ordered in jan and picked up in may for agreed upon price, even without a deposit. refundable deposits aren't contracts, so dealers don't have to sell to you. i honestly don't know why they even bother taking deposits, other than to make sure you at least come back to get your money if you decide to walk away from your build.

altho not a mercedes, but a colleague of mine had a 992 gt3 on order for quite some time now (a couple/few years) with a dealership he has a relationship with/bought from. the sales associate pinged him early this year and "notified" him for the first time of the $60k premium that will be tacked on to his order.

part of the issue now is that there are a lot of people flipping cars for profits. so instead of letting these "middle men" take the profit, dealerships are getting a piece of the action by raising prices themselves.

 

GT3s are going crazy right now. My local dealer just got two in on the lot (non customer orders) and immediately put a $120k premium on them. Worst part is they are already sold after about 4 days.

 

then i guess $60k isn't too bad for the gt3! i was at my dealership last week and there was a matte black amg gt black series on the floor - it was roped off so i couldn't see the print. fortunately, my sales guy was there to let me know it was $340k msrp + $350k mkt adjustment for a whopping $690k!!! bonkers!

 

I saw a black series like that in Atlanta with a 350k mark up