July 28, 2014
Mercedes Benz E350 Factory Delivery in Sindelfingen, Germany
While living in Germany we had the idea of taking factory delivery of a car that we'd take back to the States. All of the German car companies offer this service where you buy a car from a US dealer, take delivery at the factory in Germany, drive it around Europe for a bit, take it back to the factory, and then they ship it across the pond to your US dealer for final delivery. It's a pretty cool deal and MB takes 7% off the list price and your not charged for destination and such. Most people only drive it around for a week or two, but you can keep the car in Europe for up to 12 months. Since we lived in Europe we didn't have to buy the plane ticket to come over and pick it up so it was a total score. We'll drive it for a few months then ship it back once Doug's ex-pat gig is finished.
At the Kundencenter (Customer Center) in Sindelfingen, Germany is right next to the main factory that makes the CLA, E and S Class cars. When we arrived we check-in to set a time to collect the car, then took an hour long English factory tour of the assembly operations (no photos allowed), ate lunch at the customer center restaurant (free for Euro delivery customers and very good), did a bit of shopping and then collected the car. Overall, it was an incredible experience we won't forget.