BigHat

This might get a broader range of comments elsewhere but I thought I'd keep it here in the SL family.

The wait for my car continues to be hard. Ordered it on 15 Feb, but the earliest build slot was for 5 April. A couple of questions:

1. Is the build date the start of the process? I know when I used to track ordered BMWs, the car was built in a couple of days, the then the issues were always the delay in awaiting shipping to the port and then awaiting a ship to pick it up.

2. My dealer is telling me that based on the 5 April build date, I can expect to get the car around the end of April, give or take a few days. Does that sound right to you folks? Delivery will be the Port of Baltimore (an hour north of my location). Again, based on BMW experience the ship used to drop cars in Nova Scotia then work it's way down the east coast ports. Have to assume it's the same for MB.

Any opinions or recounting of actual experiences would be appreciated.

Matt

jpeardm

I know what you mean. Mine took forever due to Skyroof and other parts delays.
Mine went like this:
Ordered April 21, 2012
Built end of August
At Port September 25
Delivered October 6

BigHat

Thank you for posting. Based on what you experienced I might get it close to the end of April, especially if it doesn't have to sit in the port awaiting transportation for very long. Hopefully, NLT early May.

Gunther

BigHat, It's usually 6-8 weeks for those of us on the East Coast. A couple more for the West Coast. So much of it is luck and also the priority on your order.

In Nov 2003 my sister ordered an E-class; we ordered my SL the beginning of January of '04, but put a condition on the sale that it had to arrive prior to March 1. My order went to build faster (they grabbed an existing slot) whereas my sister's order bounced a few times due to people like me (good sibling rivalry). The long and short is that even though ti was about 6 weeks apart in ordering, our cars ended up on the same ship. However once it got to port my car was prioritized to make our deadline and my sister's showed up almost 3 weeks later.

...and it also makes a difference if your car is built and ready to ship when the freighter is almost full vs. mostly empty.

California John

I am on the West Coast. Mine was supposed to be built in the first week of December and it was. The salesman kept me abreast by sending me copies of the current status that was shown within MB's tracking system. Then it was supposed to arrive in LA in the first week of January and it was actually in the second week. Not bad. It only took a couple of days for the car to be built...and then a bit longer to get to port and on the ship, etc. Pretty straightforward from my experience.

BigHat

John,
Your timeline is pretty much what my rep. thinks too. Hope you're right.

M3 left on a truck to Iowa last night. Dealer spotted it on Autotrader. Sold in two days for very good money. Now I'm driving a Mazda SUV (winter car) until the SL arrives. Going to be a tough wait, but I've ruled out a medically induced coma.

Of course, if the temps stay as cold as they have been, vert use isn't something that comes to mind. The irony is the day (Feb 15) I decided on the SL over the M6 it was 65 degrees and I got to drop the top.

California John

if anyone is curious I'll email them the MB pdfs O received that not only show status of order but also show exact confirmation of the details of the order - from paint codes to every other detail.

BigHat

A few weeks ago my SA wrote to say I had a "build date" of 5 April. Just got an email to say it's completed and is assigned to a ship for CONUS delivery. I had hoped for a late April delivery and I'm thinking that's got to be a strong possibility.

I used to track the ships my BMWs rode on and as I recall there was a stop in England, Ireland, Nova Scotia, Boston, NJ and then Baltimore (my stop).

Any thoughts on if MB cars follow the same route? Think a April delivery remains highly possible? Don't know if it's awaiting a ship to load on or if that will go quickly, but thinking a 2 week ocean transit would be worst case.

BigHat

An FYI for those that care about delivery issues. My car had a build date of 5 April. I wasn't aware if this was a start or stop date, but must have been the completion date as my SA shot me a note saying it was built that day and awaiting shipment.

It may have coordinated well with a ship departure, but it's on the way and will arrive in Baltimore on the 20th. I should be able to pick it up around the 25th or so.

BigHat

Again, built on the 5th of Apr. On a ship the 8th. Hit Baltimore late Sat / early Sunday (21st). Dealer informed me it released and ready to truck down to N. VA so they must work on Sundays.

I share this only as a data point for others interested in the current shipping times, etc.