BickUW89

I'm a BMW owner, and took great advantage of all the information available on Bimmerfest.com (the Ask-A-Dealer thread, in particular) when negotiating and purchasing my BMW.

Now, my wife wants a Mercedes, so naturally I migrated to these forums to try and learn as much about MB as I've learned about the BMW experience. I'm surfing these forums and left scratching my head - where're the dealers, and threads about leasing/financing strategies, etc.?

My MB buying time horizon is about 12 months from now - can we get something going along the lines of Bimmerfest on here?

Check this out and see what I'm talking about: http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=20

amdeutsch

You posted in the leasing forum. Just pm/email Leasecompare = mod

BickUW89

I know I posted in the leasing forum - that was the root of my question.

On Bimmerfest, dealers and prospective lessors/buyers discuss how to negotiate leases, what kind of deals they are able to negotiate, dealer tactics, etc. - all in an open manner that allows the average Joe to become an informed consumer. On top of that, the dealer sponsors on that forum have a reputation for offering competitive deals w/o all the sales BS that makes car buyers leary.

I'm really suprised to see that there is no such similar forum here for open discussion about the intricacies of MB leases, corporate incentives (i.e. hidden trunk money), and ways for the buyer/lessor to be more well-informed before heading to the dealership!

So then the next question is, can we get the ball rolling?

Nimbus

The real question you need to ask is why would a dealer want to give away all their true vehicle costs, finance/lease rate costs so you can goto them asking for close to those numbers or exactly those numbers or sometimes even below those numbers?

In another words, if you were to run a business would you publish your costs in public so your customers can trim your profits as much as possible in a retail negotiating business?

luk

The answer is simple although in order to get to it you have to snap out of the common, "business as usual", American frame of mind.

People who value their money will become informed consumers.

An informed consumer will find the information the dealers are so careful in hiding, one way or another. People who pay MSRP or close do not surf the web in search for a deal, and, God bless them, they are the reason there is room in the market for mortals like the rest of us.

If you give the information up front, you as a dealer, came across as honest and helpful. You save everybody a lot of time and aggravation. You build a faithful clientele.

A good deal will make many people get into a BMW, MB or Audi, vs. an Acura, Infinity or Lexus.

BMW dealers (at least the ones from Bimmerfest) learned this lesson first, and benefited from it greatly.

Regards!

BickUW89

Those numbers are already publicly available information - just go to a bank to get a loan and they have all the info you need.

My point is, buying cars is already an intimidating process, because the dealer holds all the cars and the buyer is usually less well-informed. What's wrong with educating buyers/leasors on the fine points of the deal.

They/we do that over on Bimmerfest, and everyone wins. What's wrong with having a user-led forum for MB where us consumers can talk turkey? How can we get something like that going on this forum?

MARK CUMMINS

The Mercedes Benz Club MBCA has a program if your a member for at least 12months you get a decent discount

BickUW89

well, I appreciate everyone's response, but y'all are still missing the point of my post.

Go check out the Ask-A-Dealer forum at Bimmerfest and see how much info sharing is going on between users/buyers and several very reputable BMW dealerships. It's a very open forum with straight up answers to questions about leasing, financing, incentives, how to negotiate, etc.

My original question remains: Why is there no such similar MB discussion forum?

fynride1

I completely get your question and I am in the same situation as you are. I am trying to get an E Class for my wife and obviously am not going to pay MSRP. You are completely right about the BMW forum - it is much more helpful in this regard.