This article outlines our recent experience in taking delivery of a new 2008 C300 Luxury edition through the Mercedes European Delivery program. Because Paul Vandenberg did such a great job in his article, I didn’t feel it was necessary to cover same ground he already explained in detail.

Ordering Experience

We live in Western North Carolina, and used a local dealer, Hendrick BMW/Mercedes in Hickory, to handle our delivery arrangements. Although I got the distinct impression that they do more BMW EDs than Mercedes EDs, everything proceeded as has been so effectively explained by Paul. We ordered our car in early February for pick up on June 30 as we were trying to coordinate using some frequent flyer miles, and wanted to make sure everything worked out. As a result, we have one of the last 2008 C-Classes produced before the model changeover to the 2009 model. We were told that the earliest pickup for a 2009 would be in August, which didn’t work for our travel schedule.

Mercedes-Benz USA reserves the right to change program details. Please check www.mbusa.com, or call 800-367-6372 for models and current program features.

Travel And Delivery

Our travel plans included arriving in Munich a couple of days before picking up the car and staying with family, so we didn’t use the free night at the Graf Zeppelin in Stuttgart the night before pick up, as many folks seem to. After looking at the options of booking our own hotels against the flat rate Black Forest/Alps Rally package (and the Euro exchange rate) we decided to use our five nights after we picked up the car, travelling through the Black Forest and Austria back towards Munich.

We took the train from Munich, arriving in Stuttgart at 10 AM, exactly on schedule. We walked to the front of the train station, took the first taxi in line, and handed the driver our blue taxi voucher, which he accepted without question or complaint. His comment to us was, ‘it must feel like Christmas morning, right?’ which pretty well captured our feelings at that point! Most of the 30 minute drive was spent talking about various car models, why we chose the C-Class, and if he thought they would let his Audi taxi through the gate – all in all, a very pleasant conversation.

The “green” roof on the customer center

We arrived at the Customer Center shortly after 10:30, and were met by a representative who collected our bags and gave us a claim check. We then sat with the pre-delivery agent, who reviewed our paperwork, asked if we wanted to take a factory tour, and then scheduled our delivery for 2 PM, allowing us to have lunch between the tour and the delivery. Our English tour began at 11:20, so we wandered through the gift shop and small exhibit area before the tour began.

A full-size replica of the Benz Patent Motorwagen - 1886

The tour, with an English speaking guide, began with a fifteen minute film presentation about Mercedes, its history, and the MB Design Center which is located on the Sindelfingen site. We had a small group of about 12 people, so were able to ask lots of questions. Once we moved on a bus to the factory, we were able to see 2 parts of the assembly process: the C-Class body shell assembly and the S-Class final assembly process. The Sindelfingen plant employs about 37,000 people, 11,000 on the assembly line – of which 1100 are apprentices. The plant produces about 650 C-Class, 350 S-Class, and 2000 E-Class vehicles per day. Additional lines produce the Maybach and custom/armored vehicles such as limousines. In general, it takes 4 working days to produce a Mercedes-Benz.

As we entered the C-Class line area, we were issued safety goggles and audio headsets, to protect our eyes and allow us to hear the guide. Cameras were not permitted on the tour. The C-Class line was amazing in the lack of humans! The vast majority of the body and frame assembly of all the vehicles is done by robots. The tour was allowed to get right up against the safety barriers and watch the robots grab components, weld them together, and hand them off to the next robot. Each robot works to extremely high tolerances, and the maximum variance from standard is +/- .3 mm. At the end of the line, humans validate the tolerance measurements, guided by laser measurements which point them to problem areas for correction before the body moves on to paint preparation.

We then moved on to the S-Class final assembly area, where robots and humans work side-by-side to finish the vehicles. At this point, the doors have been removed from the cars, and are stored in an assembly buffer are waiting for the chassis they belong to arrive. This provides more room for the installation of dashboards, consoles, and seats. In general, the robots handle the heavy lifting and the humans apply the trim pieces.

After the tour, we returned to the Customer Center for lunch. In your portfolio is a voucher good for either breakfast or lunch at the restaurant at the Customer Center – for up to 65 Euros for two. Since we were anticipating all the calories to come at the five-star hotels on the BF/A Rally, we chose to have salads, a glass of wine, and to share the most remarkable dessert:

Quite a blue plate special!

All together, our lunch came to about 40 Euros, so the waitress asked if we wanted her to pack us a bottle of wine to go to make up the difference. We quickly agreed!

The Delivery Process

Once lunch was finished, we went back to the Customer lounge to check in for delivery. We waited briefly in the balcony area overlooking the delivery bay until Markus called our name for the delivery.

The Delivery Bay and Balcony

Our luggage arrived at the car about the same time we did, and Markus walked us through the basic operations of the car, asked if we had questions, and offered us the owner’s manual to ‘read on the plane’. Following some quick mirror and seat adjustments, (and advice to keep it under 100 mph and 4000 RPM for the first 1000 miles) we were off around the corner to E.H. Harms, the shipping agent to complete the shipping paperwork. On the way, we stopped at the photo point to grab a quick picture of the car:

Our car in front of the customer center

Hotels

We opted for the Black Forest/Alps Rally (BF/A) package when we ordered the car. Although one free night is included in the price of the car, we looked at the quality of the hotels offered (many of which include breakfast & dinner), and decided that there was good value for the money. Your mileage may vary, of course, but we think we saved a good amount. All of the hotels we chose include dinner, often a four to six-course meal. All drinks (beer, water, wine, coffee) are extra.

We picked up the car on Monday, June 30, and were scheduled to fly back to the US on Sunday, July 6. As indicated, we have family near Munich, so we knew we would be staying with them Saturday evening. That gave us five nights to experience the local hospitality, and since my wife was reluctant to spend the whole trip in the car, we opted for three stops: the Parkhotel Adler in Hinterzarten (in Germany’s Black Forest for 2 nights), the Interalpen Hotel in Telfs, Austria (Near Innsbruck, another 2 nights) and one night at the Hotel Zur Tenne in Kitzbuhel, Austria.

As Paul said in his article, the Mercedes program hotels are, without exception, some of the most luxurious places we have ever stayed. The service was impeccable, the food was incredible, and the accommodations were, indeed, luxurious.

After a quick run down the autobahn (keeping it under 100 mph, Markus, really!) we turned into the Black Forest and arrived in Hinterzarten. The Parkhotel Adler has been operated by the same family since 1442, and the two currently used buildings date from 1639 (replacing the 1442 structure which burned in 1638) and 1904.

In front of the Parkhotel Adler

On our rest day, we took a drive through the Black Forest, stopping at the German Clock Museum in Furtwangen, took a hike at Germany’s highest waterfall in Triberg, and wandered along the L186 back road (with marvelous views and great curves) from Waldkirch to Sankt Peter.

Wednesday morning, we began our trip to Telfs by visiting the ‘Garten Insel Mainau’, near Konstanz on the German/Swiss border. This island has been owned by the family of Swedish Count Bernadotte for many years, and is open to the public – both as a beautiful garden and castle art gallery, but also as an environmental education center.

A sample ten-day Austrian Vignette toll sticker

Before jumping off for Austria, we stopped at a gas station and purchased a ten-day Vignette toll sticker for €7.70. The appearance of these stickers varies, but ten-day and sixty-day stickers will be punched around the outside edge to show the period of validity. The fine for driving a car in Austria without a valid Vignette sticker is 120 Euros.

Following a brief car ferry ride across Lake Constance, we drove down the north shore towards Bregenz, Austria. Once in Austria, we picked up the A14 autobahn towards Innsbruck. Shortly after we left Bregenz, clouds began to gather, and by the time we reached the 8 mile long Arlberg Tunnel, we were happy to be driving on dry pavement for a while. Popping out of the long tunnel, we passed through many shorter ones before leaving the Highway at Telfs and heading up the winding road to the Interalpen Hotel. Although more recent (it opened in 1985) the Interalpen is just as nice as the Adler, and has the advantage of stunning mountain views.

Views from our room in the Interalpen Hotel

For our last night (Friday, July 4), we drove a little over an hour to Kitzbuhel, to the Hotel Zur Tenne. This hotel is as lovely as the other two, consisting of three interconnected houses on the main (pedestrian-only) streets of downtown Kitzbuhel old city. Unfortunately, as we arrived, so did several hundred motorcyclists for the Harley-Davidson Owner’s Group Rally. Peaceful downtown Kitzbuhel was transformed, to say the least. We did escape the noise to take a hike around very peaceful Schwarzsee, located just a couple of kilometers out of town.

The beautiful Schwarzsee near Kitzbühel Austria

Saturday morning, we drove to the E.H. Harms facility in Garching, north of Munich to drop off the car. As advised by many, we removed the warning triangle, first aid kit, warning vest, and front license plate to hand carry home. The rear tag needed to remain with the car.

On July 11th we received an email telling us that our car would ship on Tuesday, July 15. The ship carrying our car, the WISTERIA ACE, is scheduled to arrive in Jacksonville on July 21st or 24th. Allowing a week to prep and deliver to Hickory, we expect to pick up the car less than 30 days after we dropped it off!

Some lessons learned

A Parkscheibe and the sign from a parking area where a “Parkschein” is required

1. While you’re at the customer center, buy a ‘Parkscheibe’ (€4.50). This is a parking tag that allows you to indicate your arrival time (Ankunftzeit) in a parking space. You’ll probably need one at some point on your trip – it makes a cool souvenir, too.
2. Areas marked with a parking sign (white P on a blue background) that includes the legend "Nur mit Parkschein" require you to go to a (nearby) ticket dispenser to purchase a ticket (Parkschein). The ticket will show an expiration time, and must be left in plain sight on your dashboard. It helps to have a few 1 Euro and 20/50 cents (Euro) coins handy for this purpose – otherwise parking can get very expensive!
3. Because portable GPS navigation systems are convenient and inexpensive, we chose not to order the Comand navigation system for our car. Instead we downloaded maps of Europe into our TomTom ($69 for the map set). With the European maps loaded into our TomTom, we were able to select stopping points, potential points of interest, and do route planning in advance – this was a real time saver once we were on the ground.
4. Cell Phones – we happen to use ATT/Cingular, whose GSM technology is compatible with the European standard. I added the International roaming option for $5.99/month, and checking in with family used only 4 or 5 minutes at a cost of $.99 minute.
5. The Munich drop off point for E.H. Harms is in an industrial/warehouse area north of the city. I assume that most people drop their cars at the Bayerische Hof (as was our original intent), and so the agency is not overly concerned about how owners get ‘back to civilization’ once they drop their cars for shipping. We asked if the agent could call a cab, to which he replied ‘the train station is only 1.7 kilometers away’, and produced a map showing us how to get there. We’re in reasonably good shape, and it was a lovely sunny day, but if these conditions don’t apply, you might want to make a backup plan, or leave the car at the Bayerische Hof!
6. Check with your hotels to see if any special events are scheduled during your proposed visit. Be prepared to adjust your itinerary if you find any conflicts you are unhappy about!