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There are stories like that, they actually don't exist. For example, how to get a glass repair in Las Vegas.
Take the following ingredients: a Mercedes G63, a cute little stone, Las Vegas, a road trip and Safelite. The whole thing is then mixed thoroughly and comes out? A windshield repair in Las Vegas.
With colleague Jens from rad-ab.com I wanted to go back to Los Angeles with a G-Class from Mercedes-Benz after CES in Las Vegas. If you are in the USA, you have to be on the road for at least one day by car. After all, the USA is the country where you can do three things really well: shopping, feeding and driving. Simply out into the wide country. Set the cruise control to 55 miles and then drive for hours. The route from Las Vegas to Los Angeles in particular can really be understood for precisely this form of driving.
In recent years, Mercedes-Benz has organized a road trip before the NAIAS in Detroit. The appropriate pictures and stories were then found under the #Tag “MBRTjahreszahl”. In 2016, the time between CES and NAIAS was a little short, with a road trip in between. But after Jens and I had looked at the most important auto topics at CES, (new E-Class cockpit and EDAG's Soulmate), we didn't want to fly back home just to fly back to the USA shortly afterwards. For us it was clear: if anything, then do it right. And if Mercedes-Benz doesn't organize a road trip, well, we'll do our own “MBRT16”.
View the photos of #mbrt16 on Instagram
From Vegas to LA
The route from Las Vegas to Los Angeles is a) not particularly long (5.5 hours are nothing, at least in a road trip sense) and b) actually rather monotonous. Unless you are into that "let your eyes slide through the landscape" and the feeling of getting lost in it. Our G-Class as G63 is not one of the most boring cars in the world. The sheer resentment that is brewing under the roughly drawn bonnet can regularly frighten you. The V8 roaring of the angular commercial vehicle also lets US ears listen with delight. At all. There is no better place to enjoy driving a beautiful car. Here in the US, envy is not an issue. Drive a $ 139,900 SUV? 563 PS strong? Well, you will have earned it. And then you get your thumbs up. At the gas station, the Milfs smile with a subversive twitch in the corner of their eyes from their Acuras in the direction of the “big black G-Wagon” and your “Bro '” at the gas pump hits your shoulders. “What a great car, man!”
This is the USA. Where driving a car is still fun. Also because the gallon of fuel is on sale again. And a 5.5 liter V8 turbo takes it from the tank with relish and generously. And even that noble drops just costs significantly less than ours. (V-Power taps the Americans for 1.05 $ a liter.)
Hoover Dam and time zone + 1
Instead of just taking I-15 out of Vegas, you should treat yourself to the Hoover Dam as a detour. The Hoover Dam is less than an hour from Vegas, and whoever passes the dam loses another hour. No - not because the dam was so wide, but because the border between Nevada and Arizona runs exactly in the middle and is therefore one of the six time zones in the USA.
Rockfall right at the start
Before we went on the tour with our G-Wagon, we were thrilled by a rock fall in the windshield. The Ami calls it a chip. But no matter what you call it. You don't want it.
Carglass repairs, Carglass replaces
The thought was: what happens if we later drive the G-Class through the mountains around the San Bernardino National Forest? It goes up a few meters. And anyway. You don't want to risk a crack in the windshield either. Oh and in general, CARGLASS is one of the partners on mein-auto-blog. Let's just try the real thing. So a short email sent to Germany. And within hours, an agreement was reached between CARGLASS Germany and SAFELITE USA (a group: Belron). A G-Class with stone chips in the windshield? That is not how it works.
Safelite - Las Vegas: "Where You Can Get Help"
I didn't believe it myself. Time difference between DE and USA. From one subsidiary company to the next (Carglass / Safelite) and then from “immediately” a repair? Even with this contact with CARGLASS Germany, that should be difficult at first. But deceived.
Service in the United States has always been something different. Or it's just a BELRON thing, this quick help in the event of glass damage.
Steve Parker from SAFELITE USA had made an appointment within a few hours (consider the time difference) and invited us to come by with the G-Class.
Shortly after the second coffee of the day (9:30 am), we arrived at 4601 E Cheyenne Ave and met Steve and his team there.
BELRON service worldwide The highest standard
The funny thing about the story is, the parent company of CARGLASS, the company Belron, really ensures a process of repair that meets the same standards in the same world. And we are talking about an 1a service. It didn't take 30 minutes and we were freed from our stone chips by glass cosmetics.
For me personally it was the first “glass repair”, so far I had never repaired a rockfall. And certainly not on a press test vehicle. But after my-auto-blog and CARGLASS have been working together successfully for more than 3 years, I just wanted to know. And then also this “nasty” number with the G63. Well, this is not an everyday car. And then just like that “oops-di-hops”. But, and you can say that in the end: SAFELITE and CARGLASS have not only worked together well, certainly, a corporation - but how often do you experience in the big corporations of the world how everything goes haywire - no, also on At the other end of the world, the service concept is lived out with the same ambition that I have always seen as a show.
I have already attended the “Best of Belron” events three times. Events in which Belron fitters from all over the world compete against each other - and every time I thought to myself: You have to test that. You have to put the boys to the test.
What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas
The old saying about the sinful metropolis in the desert. And it is the same with glass damage 🙂 - because when we finally set off towards Hoover Dam, the rock fall was already history.
Without falling rocks towards Los Angeles
If you have left the Hoover Dam behind you, it is best to turn around again. Because further to Nevada would be towards the east coast. And we didn't have that much time in 2016. So, via Boulder to I-95 south. At Searchlight then on 164 heading west. Until it goes back to I-15. If you are lucky, you will stand for a while at a level crossing on the 164 and see one of the kilometer-long freight trains. We stood, honestly, for five minutes and one car was lined up after the next. The USA. Everything is a little bigger here. Thanks to “Super-Gulp” and a gallon of sugar water in the car, however, you never have to expect dying of thirst.
If you have a little time, you can take the 247 south from Barstow and the 18 from Lucerne Vallye towards the San Bernardino National Forest and Big Bear Lake.
It never rains in California - Nobody said anything about snow
At the beginning of January it will be cold in the Nevada desert. Even California can be uncomfortable and if you drive to “Big Bear Lake” at an altitude of over 2.000 meters, you will encounter snow a few hundred kilometers from the Pacific. We encountered a lot of snow. And even if the G-Class is considered the veteran of the off-road vehicle and even if there are three differential locks on board - you won't make anyone happy on snow with summer tires. And if you also press the 760 Nm of the V8 towards the all-terrain tires, then a G-Class digs its way through the snow - without propulsion. A lot of feeling at the gas tap and quickly back towards the “snow-free” road - without a visit to Big Bear Lake, but not without having done a good deed.
Los Angeles, the city of angels and the black G-Class
Instead of crossing the San Bernardino Mountains, we steered the summer tires of the G-Class back into the “Apple Valley”. Yes - we capitulated to the snow. Let's just say it as it was. But that one on Snow not only has to move forward, but also to stand - we also dealt with recently.
Back to the I-15. On to Los Angeles. This city is always stunning. Eight-lane highways, slow-moving traffic on every strip. As a European, you may not imagine it if you weren't there yourself. And while you rely on Tesla and Co in many parts of California, you prefer to drive real cars in the dream factory. Black G-classes for example.
A good 10 hours after we left the SAFELITE workshop in Las Vegas, we had arrived in the City of Angels. No, a short road trip could not replace a real road trip. But we learned a lot about car windows, the great service from Safelite and summer tires on snow.
In Los Angeles we have the black G-Class to be on the safe side exchanged for an Aston Martin, And honestly, it would be embarrassing to drive the same car at the traffic lights in West Hollywood as any soap star would it?
PS: No. Wouldn't it be 😉 But the Aston Martin fits Hollywood even better ...
Even more photos: