B-Class ED in Georgia

Hello friends,

New member, first post. We are in the market for a electric car and wanted to consider the B-Class. However, I understand the car is not yet available in every state. I live in Georgia and the dealers here are not telling me when it will be available other than "early next year".

Does anyone on the forum here have any ideas on when the car will be available in Georgia ? Any idea on what the lease deals are for this car in other states ?

Thanks
VanRags

vanrags said:

Hello friends,

New member, first post. We are in the market for a electric car and wanted to consider the B-Class. However, I understand the car is not yet available in every state. I live in Georgia and the dealers here are not telling me when it will be available other than "early next year".

Does anyone on the forum here have any ideas on when the car will be available in Georgia ? Any idea on what the lease deals are for this car in other states ?

Thanks
VanRags

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Whatever the dealers tell you, MB will only sell the vehicle in regulatory markets (CARB-ZEV states).

Georgia is not one of those states.


CARB states - Arizona, California, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, District of Columbia.

CARB-ZEV - California’s ZEV program has now been adopted by the states of Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont. These states, known as the “Section 177 states,” have chosen to adopt California's air quality standards in lieu of federal requirements as authorized under Section 177 of the federal Clean Air Act. Additionally, California’s GHG standards are now federal law. Maine and New Jersey are participating with ZEV initiatives, but are not signatory CARB-ZEV states.

Tony, thanks for the response and the information. After I posted on this forum I received a email response from MB USA that the car will be available in GA starting late December (which is sometime now). However, since the dealers dont know, I think that information was not correct.

Thanks,
VanRags

Vendor, can you explain what the regulations have to do with owning a car in Georgia? No tax rebate? I get that they don't sell but what is to stop our friend from buying elsewhere and having it brought down on the CarTrain from VA to FL? Of course, he can just wait too. Thanks. Just curious.

VanRags,

Welcome to the forum. There are at least two of us who have purchased from dealers in the initial release states and have shipped them to our homes in Atlanta. I had no problem when I placed my order back in March of this year with either the selling dealer or MBUSA. The Georgia registration process was simple and the ZEV tax credit form was returned to me promptly. The cars that have been brought down have been serviced at Mercedes Benz of Buckhead with no problem.

Paul

jwchwang said:

Vendor, can you explain what the regulations have to do with owning a car in Georgia? No tax rebate? I get that they don't sell but what is to stop our friend from buying elsewhere and having it brought down on the CarTrain from VA to FL? Of course, he can just wait too. Thanks. Just curious.

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My name is "TonyWilliams", and my company, Quick Charge Power, happens to be a paid advertiser (vendor) for this forum.

Owning the car in Georgia is not a problem for Mercedes. It is the act of selling it, where they get "credits" for Zero Emission Vehicles. Georgia is not one of those states.

In the ZEV states, they will earn 3 CARB-ZEV credits per Mercedes B-Class ED sold. They will get none in Georgia.

You can ship the car anyplace you want, once you buy/lease it in a ZEV state.

I suspect that you can get the $5000 Georgia EV rebate for a new car, regardless of where is was purchased. The $7500 federal tax credit also applies to a purchase only, not a lease (since you are not the vehicle owner in a lease).

TonyWilliams said:

The $7500 federal tax credit also applies to a purchase only, not a lease (since you are not the vehicle owner in a lease).

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You still get this with the lease since MBCC is buying the car from MBUSA, they get the credit and pass it on to the consumer as one of the massive discounts currently advertised in the low lease prices. Discounts of almost $18,000 have been reported here lately which include the $7,500 federal rebate and 3,000 "fleet discount" normally reserved for doctors and lawyers ect. and additional discounts by MB and the dealers along with an ultra low money factor of .003. The BClassED may be an expensive car to begin with but Mercedes is giving them away right now at a huge loss to try to hit their numbers in the 10 smile states.

sendler2112 said:

TonyWilliams said:

The $7500 federal tax credit also applies to a purchase only, not a lease (since you are not the vehicle owner in a lease).

Click to expand...

You still get this with the lease since MBCC is buying the car from MBUSA, they get the credit and pass it on to the consumer as one of the massive discounts currently advertised in the low lease prices. Discounts of almost $18,000 have been reported here lately which include the $7,500 federal rebate and 3,000 "fleet discount" normally reserved for doctors and lawyers ect. and additional discounts by MB and the dealers along with an ultra low money factor of .003. The BClassED may be an expensive car to begin with but Mercedes is giving them away right now at a huge loss to try to hit their numbers in the 10 smile states.

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Exactly. You, Mr. Consumer, do not get the $7500 federal tax credit on a lease. The owner of the vehicle does.

They MAY pass that tax benefit on to you, or they may not.

They did. And more. The B Class ED is the cheapest Mercedes you can lease right now in any of the electric mandate states. Including the so-so CLA.

I live in Charlotte and purchased mine from a dealer in NJ. I had it shipped down. The end of the year deals are crazy. I leased mine $49.5k MSRP knocked down to $31.5k, $3k down, $308/ month, 10k/ year 3 years. That's a lot of car for the money. I don't know how much Mercedes is losing on every sale/ lease, but it can't be cheap.
I bought a Clipper Creek 7.7wk, 32 amp charger, 25 ft. cable for $620 shipped and paid $350 to have it installed. This is my first EV and I gotta say, it's pretty sweet.
I went for the B after test driving the Tesla S and i3. I think it was the best fit for me and the family over the others.

rmfamily said:

VanRags,

Welcome to the forum. There are at least two of us who have purchased from dealers in the initial release states and have shipped them to our homes in Atlanta. I had no problem when I placed my order back in March of this year with either the selling dealer or MBUSA. The Georgia registration process was simple and the ZEV tax credit form was returned to me promptly. The cars that have been brought down have been serviced at Mercedes Benz of Buckhead with no problem.

Paul

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Hi Paul,

Glad to know we can purchase the B-class ED here in Atlanta. If you don't mind, could you please share details of what kind of a deal you got and which dealer you worked with?

Thanks!

What is the name of the Mercedes dealer in NJ from which you leased your 2014 MBe?

I was told by a Mercedes dealer in Maryland that I could buy the MBE but I could not lease it because I live in Virginia.

Does anyone know of MB dealers in other "energy" states that will lease to a customer in a "non-energy" state, such as Virginia?

I leased from a dealer in Maryland, and I live in North Carolina. So that's false.

Hello All -
I am also a first poster and also in Atlanta.
I recently went to MB Buckhead to try to find out more about the release outside of CARB states and got a bit of a run around. They ended the very short conversation by telling me they thought MB was going to cancel the 50 state release so I wouldn't be able to get the car serviced here or anywhere. I am assuming this is incorrect and they just wanted to sell me something they had available. Needless to say I left very frustrated with the sales department there.
In any case, I would also love to hear more about the buying process from those who had to buy and ship their car down. I pm'ed rmfamily and snowds about your experiences here in Atlanta and with MB Buckhead.
Thank you everyone for all the information I have gleaned from this forum.

Hiro

Any MB dealer can get parts and technical support for the B ED. And any tech can work on the non-high voltage parts of the car. They may not have a tech who attended specific B Class training but we have had other hybrids available in the past which require high voltage certification so any of the larger dealers should have a tech who can work on the high voltage systems if need be.

Sendler -
Thank you. Those are very good points. I didn't really think about the hybrids because I never see them (don't think I have seen one in the wild).
I'm not too worried because the other Atlanta folks are getting their cars serviced at the very same dealer.

Just to follow up.
I did end up buying a 2014 B-Class ED from Owings Mills MB. The sales associate I worked with was helpful and willing to work with a long distance buyer (many dealers were not). His name was Joshua Pomles.
Shipping down to Atlanta was no problem. Tag and title are still pending but I will follow up if there are any snags.
Special thanks to forum member Snowds for all the help. He met with me here in Atlanta so that I could look at his car and also gave me great advice along the way.

I am also going to lease a 2014 B from a MD dealer and will be shipping it down to Atlanta. Is there anything in specific I need to ensure before I take delivery? Especially concerning the TAVT.

suresh said:

I am also going to lease a 2014 B from a MD dealer and will be shipping it down to Atlanta. Is there anything in specific I need to ensure before I take delivery? Especially concerning the TAVT.

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I'm planning on doing the same thing, waiting to hear...

I ended up leasing one from a MD dealer with $730 down and a payment of $382 per month including the TAVT ($319 without the TAVT)

MSRP was $49670
Cap cost was $32296
10k miles per year

Total Payments -> 319*35+730=11895
TAVT -> 2260
Cost of owning car =11895+2260-5000(Georgia Tax credit)=9155 (18.43% of MSRP)