MB-BOB

Many of you are capable of negotiating your own deals for cars. However, if you are time limited, or don’t want to deal with the Salesmonkey-go-round (caring sales consultants on this forum excepted), don’t understand or don’t care about floorplans, holdbacks, advertising fees, etc… Have you considered hiring an auto-broker?

I have purchased my last two cars through a broker in St. Louis and have been thoroughly satisfied with the pricing and the experience. My particular broker has been in business almost 25 years. He can negotiate for any brand of vehicle, and can barter deals for delivery anywhere in the country.

It costs a $30 processing fee to register with his service (shows your committed to a purchase). That’s it. He gets his money negotiating with the fleet managers at dealers, relationships he has developed over many years. He shoots you his lowest possible price. No advertising fees, no dealer prep fees, no paperwork fees, no electronic filing fees, no pinstripe pack fees, no bull-crap. His only limitation that I have seen is that, while he does have an office, he doesn’t have store-front facilities, so cannot take trade-ins.

For the $30, you are buying the broker’s negotiating ability and access to quantity discounts, not his research capability (even though he is quite knowledgeable). So, you need to do some up-front homework… stuff you would (should) do anyway if you wanted to negotiate your own price. You need to narrow down your shopping to the car model you want to buy (including option codes, from any of the on-line services: Edmunds.com, Kelleybluebook.com, etc.). The usual, “I know more about the car I want to buy than the salesman” kind of stuff. You should know more – you have to live with what you buy, the salesman doesn’t. Neither does a broker, for that matter.

If you want to buy a car locally, you’ll need to provide the name of your preferred dealer(s) and a phone number(s). The more time you have to buy a car, the more flexibility the broker has to find deals from a wider number of sources. This dealer has even driven cars across country to deliver them (you pay his expenses).

I’m bringing this thread forward, because if it’s really true that some MB dealers don’t want to waste time selling their bargain basement cars, then why bother them at all. Let the broker work with your dealer. He’ll spend less of the dealer’s time, and you won’t feel like you’re imposing on a salesman looking for that SINGLE CL sale he will make this year.

Anyway, I’m rambling (as usual). If you are interested in pursuing a broker, send me a Private Message and I’ll put you in touch.

young

actually, i made a purchase thru auto-by-tel once and i was fine w/ it. i even tried CarsDirect this time but the dealer referral didn't call me until a week later and i couldn't wait.

i'm willing to deal w/ a broker. $30 seems reasonable. how is local law handled? like tags, etc. usually, the dealer handles that here in pennsylvania. what about special regulations like California emissions? ... jeez, i feel like a infomercial audience monkey...

MB-BOB

Every deal is different... especially the local law stuff. This broker has told me about the procedure to order cars from the factory to accomodate CA emissions, and about a time he ordered a Corvette from a wholesaler in St. Louis. The ultimate customer lived in Colorado, but wanted to pick-up the car in St. Louis, so he had to specify an order code for a high elevation ECM setting from the factory in Bowling Green, KY, even though the car was to make a short stop in St. Louis, waiting for pick-up. Not sure I explained that well...

He bought my C320 for me in St. Louis for delivery in TX. He knew the registration process in TX (but I called the local DMV to verify, and he was right, it's always good to check). In TX, dealers collect sales tax and order the tags for you too. (In MO, you pay taxes and get plates at the DMV.) But if you bring a car from out of state there's a procedure to follow similar to moving from state to state.

I'm sure he doesn't have the current low-down in every state, and you may have to help find him some information, but I found that to be fun... more so than haggling with a stranger over price.

Using a broker takes a real leap of faith. I wasn't sure I'd like it at first. But everything worked out fine and I am a happy camper. I found this guy on "word-of-mouth" recommendation from a friend, and after buying two cars from him, now, I can certainly recommend him, too.

Darkman

What kind of discount did you get for your C320?

MB-BOB

I didn't get a $500 over invoice discount like some of the Southern Cal owners claim they got in July, but I did save enough to afford two plane tickets to St. Louis for me and the wife, expenses for a weekend there and the ride back to Dallas, and still had enough left over to be quite happy.

I ordered my car last March, when all the dealers in N. TX and MO were getting MSRP and not apologizing for it. The actual discount one gets with a broker is a moving target. The broker sheepishly confided to me the other day that he recently sold an E-Class and passed along more than twice the discount that I got 8 months ago. All due to the economy, of course.

I did get the 6-disc CD changer for $700 (not the best deal, but better than $1200) in addition to my "discount" and the subject of dealer "advertising" and other BS never came up.

dasMafia

sounds interesting, does he do any pre-owned deals???

also, if you could send me some contact information, I'd appreciate it... I'm also curious about leasing??? how does he handle that mess.

Email me and let me know!

SoCal240/6

Sounds interesting, if the broker can use his "bulk buying" to get a lower price than the general public can get, it seems like a win/win situation.

I suppose you could test the broker's price by going to a few dealers and offering to pay $200 below the broker's price (without telling the dealer where you came up with the offering price). If the dealers say "no way," you'd know you are probably getting a great deal.

On the other hand, if they say yes, you have a little bit of a dilemma.

SoCal240/6

also, sounds like you got a good deal. I live in So. Cal., I had to pay full MSRP for my C240 in December 2000. I called everywhere, no one would discuss even a $500 discount, even if I committed to ordering the car on the spot. (I didn't pay any advertising fees or other BS,either, though. Just the sticker on the car, state tax and state registration).

Although your $700 for the CD is a little high, I got mine for $430 plus $120 installation.

MB-BOB

SoCal... I think I got a good deal at the point in time when I ordered the car. As you point out, they weren't giving any discounts in S.Cal in Dec, 2000, but once the newness wore off six months later...

The Mercedes deal is not the best I got from my broker. My previous brokered car was a 1993 Ford Probe GT (first year new body style and before the rebirth of the retro Mustang). At the time, the car was very popular, and you had to factory-order GTs in my part of the country. I tried several dealers myself, and the best I could do was $700 off of MSRP just under $20K. Most dealers wanted full MSRP, for a FORD. LOL

Enter the broker, and the price I paid dropped to $50 UNDER dealer invoice (a tad under $17K). Now, at that point in time, that was a good deal. Of course, once the '95 Mustang came out, Ford couldn't give the Probe away. My bad!

The barometer I use is that if the broker can do better than I could do myself, I'll choose the broker.

Das Mafia, I'll send you a Private Message with info. I can't email you directly through my firewall at work.

SoCal240/6

The broker idea actually sounds pretty good.

In the (highly unlikely) event that I ever buy a new car again, I think I'd give it a look.

Darkman

I have no idea how much you saved after reading that. How much did you get off MSRP? Numbers please if you don't mind me asking.