Ynot

Is the "D" sticker the same as the highway tax sticker or the Autobahn Vignette required for driving in Austria? If not, what is it used for? thanks.

Motzkoman

ynot:
No, they are two separate things. The "D" sticker tells law enforcement in other countries where your license plate came from and needs to be visible from the rear. The tax sticker is put on the inside of the windshield, usually drivers side.

With the new Euro-union, new license plates have a colored stripe on the left (usually blue) that has the letter designation in it, but the customs plates in Germany have a orange strip on the right side with numbers that designate an expiration date.

The second picture below shows the customs plate well (expiration 15th of October 2004), while the first shows how I poked a hole in the "D" sticker and hung it from the license plate screw so it would not be stuck on the paint. The Euro Delivery packet you get will include the "D"...

northbenz

Clever. I just never bothered to put the D sticker on in the first place. In Germany they can tell from the numbers on the plate itself where the car was registered. I suppose if you were going to traverse through multiple countries though it might be a good idea to have the D sticker visible. You can ask your European Delivery specialist at the Kundencenter about how important putting it on really is, but I got the impression that the most important thing was to have it with you in case you got stopped and that it wasn't really necessary to attach it to the car. That sticker you need in Austria is something else. The first time I missed the gas station pull out where you could pick them up. The next time I got the sticker, but never had any problems either way as no one stopped me for anything in Austria anyway. Interestingly, you really only need it if you travel on certain roadways in Austria (the major autobahns I believe) as it is really more like a toll, so if you stay on country roads you techically are exempt as I understand it.

Ynot

Thanks for the quick responses, make more sense now. I might not attach the "D" sticker if I don't have to on my car.

BTW, Lori from ED is awesome, she was able to find promotional airline tickets for Lufthansa so, I brought a ticket and got the other for free.

Maverick

My understanding from the woman who handled the paperwork at the Euro Delivery office at the factory, and who gave us the sticker, is that it is absolutely required if you drive outside of Germany. If you stay in Germany, I think it just makes them fiercly proud and inclined to invade neighboring countries: "D... D... Uberalis..."

Motzkoman

Deutschland, Deutschland, über alles...

steve-p

Technically the D sticker would be mandatory for use outside of Germany. However, a lot of people from the UK don't bother with a GB sticker when taking a car to the continent. You are unlikely to get stopped in France for example just for not having the sticker. I would just stick it on the back window, if anywhere.

Motzkoman

I had mine hanging from the license plate screw like above because we had the top down a lot, so the back window was in the boot and not visible..

Vodil

Are people able to negotiate better than the 7% off MSRP for ED?

If I can negotiate 5% off MSRP for a regular 2006 order from a dealer, is the 7% on top of that?

Also if you are doing ED, can you get better deals by shopping all around the country?

What have people managed to get on 2006 ED orders?

Ynot

Vodil,

I don't think you can do any better than 7% off for ED. The SLK is still a hot selling item. My dealer told me the best he can do is $1000 off MSRP if I had one ordered, he also told me that most dealer will not give a dime off if it's ordered. If you are flexible and don't care for much options then try ebay.

I managed to get the 7% advertise discount for my 2006 ED.

Vodil

The negotiation is seperate for ED vs non-ED, but if you can get 5% off MSRP to order one, that dealer will probably give you the 2% plus 7%. They all have allotments and they can move them to ED. Officially MB hassles them for going below the 7%, but if the ED salesman wants his sale (as opposed to the regular guy), he may be able to work something out.

On the other hand, I got the stonewall from a couple of local dealers who said no 7%. In reality they were going to pocket it as a real nice commission. I guess they figure they are going to sell all they can get, so why not sell over the sticker price so to speak.

Vodil

Anyone drive over (through actually) the Alps? I was thinking of spending a week in Tuscany, but wondered about Italian driving.

northbenz

We went into Milan with our European Delivery 300SD years ago. Parking and the hastle of city driving was next to impossible so we left our car at a dealer for a service and used public transportation to get around. Driving outside the city was no problem though and the Alps route was worth taking.

Vodil

I have heard that cars with the "D" sticker get targetted in Italy for break-ins. Has anyone had any hassles with this?

Where is the "D" sticker really needed in new Europe?
What happens if you don't have it on?

steve-p

Technically, it is required for any country except Germany, because the temporary plates are not Euro-style plates which have the country registration letter on them. However, I just picked my car up from Bremen and drove it back through Holland, Belgium, France and into the UK, and I didn't bother. And anyway, Mercedes-Benz didn't even give me a D sticker to put on! You would most likely get away with a warning if you were stopped and you had a sticker, but hadn't put it on, or if you said that Mercedes hadn't given you one. It's very unlikely you would get stopped for not having one though. They might take an interest if they stopped you for something else like speeding, or if you were unlucky enough to have an accident.

For driving in most European countries you also need to carry a warning triangle, first aid kit and a fire extinguisher. In Spain and Italy, you also have to carry a high visibility jacket in the car, believe it or not. In France, you are supposed to carry a kit containing spare bulbs. In practice, most people don't bother with any of this crap. It's not really a big deal.

steve-p

There's some advice on what you are supposed to carry here:

http://www.theaa.com/allaboutcars/ov...equipment.html

And more here:

http://www.rac.co.uk/travelservices/european_advisor/

However, like I said, I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Ynot

I agree with steve-p, it doesn't seem that important. While I was there I notice only wagons and really old cars have them. I didn't use it and was never stopped or questioned by the police. IMO, it's ugly, why would you want to ruin your car with it. If you want to play it safe and if you are doing ED, you can purchase a magnetic one for 3.60 Euro at the MB store.

mhsherman

Good info guys.

Sounds like I should just plan on getting the magnetic sticker from the shop when I am there.

What other kinds of handy things do they sell there?

Ynot

Not much, mostly clothing and little accessories, pens, pencils, model cars, etc... I thought I might need a suitcase to fit all the things I was going to buy but I end up buying nothing.

steve-p

Same here. In fact, the shop was pretty disappointing compared to the hundreds of items which are available to order from any Mercedes-Benz dealer. Speaking of which, in the current UK brochure there is no longer any AMG stuff. So it you want something like the AMG baseball cap, get to along to a dealer quick in the hope they might still have some stock because it seems it has been discontinued. My local dealer still has one. I'm trying to get hold of a black nickel AMG keyring from last year's brochure, but it's proving difficult.

northbenz

Reviewing this thread is quite educational after just getting back from Eurodelivery. I should have picked up on the suggestion to leave the D sticker off even though the reference was to thieves in Italy rather than France.