truelove

okay, i have the option of buying a car locally or up in chicago. the one in chicago will end up to be only about 700 bucks cheaper give or take 100 bucks. but if i buy here at a little more expense, i get free car washes and loaners and the dealership will take care of me more if i ever need it. what do you guys think?

Xeon

i dont know how far you are from your chicago dealer...but think of it this way, do u wanna drive all the way back if theres something wrong with your car? well....u can drive to the local one...but put it this way...they might not be tooo happy to see your car too often. If you can have the written price list from the chicago dealer, bring it to your local dealer, and ask for a better price? maybe 300 more then the chicago dealer? thats fair for carwash.....loaners..and cookies??...damm..come to think of it..my dealer is all the way in san francisco, while i am stuck in LA !

Harris

How about asking the local dealer to sell the car for a few hundred bucks less and dont take their free car wash and loaners? I never trust other people washing my car, especially when its free, how good of a job can they do? Will you go there everyday? Wash your car yrself on a Sat afternoon can be a very good exercise!! Free loaners.... ask yr gf or wife to give you a ride! To me, these freebies are things that you can live without them, but actual hard cash discount is something that will benefit your pocket right away!

yacoub

Definitely agree with harris, these dealers are not saints and they may **** you off or provide bad service no matter what is promised-you may end up at the other dealer anyways, take the cash and run; do not let the dealers fool you with their gimmics about freebies, etc...
PS. Take twenty out of th $700.00 and go get yourself a box of cookies each week

MB-BOB

IMO,

1) Drop-kick the cookies... You want cookies, go to the grocery store...
2) Punt on the Car washes, too. Wash your car when you want to, using labor you can trust (you) and products you know.
3) Ask the local dealer SERVICE MANAGER (not salesmonkey) if they provide loaners if you don't buy the car there. Most dealers do so... may not be a Mercedes-Benz, but as long as it's a ride you can use without charge (other than gas), who cares?

Then, ask the local dealer to match the Chicago dealer on price. If they won't, but still provide the loaners, then make the trip to Chicago and buy your car. You can buy alot of cookies, and car care products with $700.

You can still have your car serviced under warranty, locally. They're obligated to do so, whether you buy there or not.

nboyd

It does not matter where you buy the car from, they treat the car the same way. What happens if your local dealer closes or you move or you have a bad experience with them, etc.

Whether you get a loaner or not will depend on the local service centre. You may try calling another local dealer and seeing if they offer loaners.

Nathan

J&JC230k

Free car washed are good but I don't like other people washing my car either. What I do like is, my dealer vacumms my car.

The free loaner isn't so free if you get suckered into buying rental insurance like I did. It's cool that you get to test out other cars but next time I go back to get my car serviced, I would have someone else come with me as my ride.

whitecar2003

I would ask the Chicago dealer to fax you a quote (since you're 100 miles away) and then take that to your local dealer. If he's a player they should match the price or at least get close.

RedC230K

Bob,
All salesmen are not monkeys. That's majorly offensive to the "good" ones who bust their asses for ingrate customers.
Your attitude is exactly why I left my job as an MB salesPERSON.
No hard feelings,
Josh

schwarz c230

Having the dealer wash a black car is called a free scratching, unless you like swirl marks wash it your self

Austin-c230k

Also free carwashes apparently differ from dealer to dealer. I went to mine in Austin and they apparently was like.. what are you talking about? We only wash the cars for free if your getting serviced. I told them that it was standard with the purchase of the car when i bought it in Houston and they gave me back the answer of. Each MB dealership is independantly owned and operated and never heard of anyone asking about it before. I guess its nice being the only MB dealership in Austin vs 3 in Houston. Regardless i'm taking my car back to get serviced in Houston, i feel they'll do a better job since they make money from MB from the service and would probably like to keep me as a customer vs losing me to one of the other MB dealerships in town. Soo i'd check about that from the dealer, make sure you actually get what your assuming you'll get.

-Austin

MB-BOB

Josh, the term salesmonkey has developed over several months here, and is not meant as a derogatory term. Just reflective of the actual job a sales consultant does.

One of my farmer friends buys a new Chevy every year... pays MSRP because he's too stupid to ask for better. In this case, I'm sure the salesperson who greeted him at the door actually negotiated the sale (what could be simpler than taking a naive person's money?) I'm sure the salesperson, his boss and the dealer management laugh their butts off over this for the rest of the day, or until the next victim walks in the door, whichever occurs first.

For my part, in 30 years of negotiating car purchases for myself and members of my family, I've never bought a car from the "salesperson" who greated me at the door... or from his boss. Instead, I buy my cars from someone at least two tiers up the sales chain... You know, someone who actually has authority to sell me a car at a price I am willing to pay... I don't snobbishly ask for the Sales manager or dealership principle first hand... I always go through the motions of sharing yuck yucks with the door greeter, first. But I know, and he knows soon enough, that I will not close a deal with him, because HE, the salesperson, has no authority to do so.

My father called them "order takers," because that's all that most car salespeople do... they write down your name and the price you're willing to pay, take your credit card and Driver's License as hostage, and transfer the order to someone who can make a decision. The term salesmonkey has evolved here, simply because a Chimpanzee can be trained to do the same thing. It's not meant to be negative... I don't have as much authority to make delegated decisions on my job as I want, either.

There's another (more sinister) side of automobile sales that dealers use to part you from your money, and this is called "monkey business." But that's for another day.

Most of the people I know who've quit the car sales business have done so not because of ungrateful customers, but because their conscience wears them out over the myriad of sales tricks, gimmicks, and borderline fraud that dealership management requires of them to make sales... I prefer to think you one of these people, rather than someone who got fed up with customers.

Um, no hard feelings...

raymond

Based on my experience with the C230, buy it at the dealership that's nearest to you - you may have to go there often, as I did. Also, BOB, don't discount those cookies - when you're waiting for a car for the nth time, the cookies can help to calm your nerves - maybe MB puts some MJ in them?

viper

Ouch MR-BOB. Not nice to call your friends "stupid".

tommy

As far as the term "salesmonkey", I don't use it - I'm neither Asian nor a salesperson, but I throw it in the same hopper as "rice"; whether overtly intended or not, both terms are derogatory.

I would choose the local dealer as well - but not because of breakdowns (raymond and Buell are not good sources for objective answers on reliability data of c230s), but because you'll end up getting an easier time of making appointments, them squeezing you in when you need something looked at immediately, etc. I can't imagine that your local dealer will stick to their guns on the $700 difference. If they do, it might be worth it to go non-local, but if you can get it down to only a couple hundred, it might be worth it to bite the bullet.

MB-BOB

LOL, raymond! However, my luck works such that when I enter the "Waiting Room," all the good cookies will be picked clean, and I'll be left to choose from knarley bake goods that nobody wants.

MB-BOB

MB-BOB says, "But you know, MSRP only means Manufacturer's SUGGESTED Retail Price. You can ask to pay less than that amount. In fact, the dealers expect you to ask for less. They even inflate the price, expecting to give some back to you."

FARMER BROWN replies, "Well, that may be the case, but when I take my wheat to market, I expect to get the FAIR price I want. I'm sure them car dealers put a price on a car because that's what they think is FAIR, too. So, iff'n I want my fair price for my wheat, I think it's only right to give them car dealers their fair price, too."

MB-BOB, "D'oh!"

raymond

Now hold on there just one minute!

I have acknowledged several times on this forum that although I had big problems with my C230K, that I am in the minority, and that my car is not representative of the overall reliability of the C230K. Just as someone who says "My C230K is good" is not trying to give objective data on how reliable C230Ks are, only his own. If you're suggesting that I fabricated the accounts of problems with my MB, then come out and post it.

My feelings have now been severely wounded, and I'm going off to have a beer and a MB-brand MJ cookie to help me cope.

BTW, I seem to have terrible luck with cars. I have now had 2 flat batteries with the new Volvo S60 2.4T. I'm beginning to think it's a liberal democrat sponsored program to get us all to buy union-labor made American cars, with which I've had absolutely zero problems....

tommy

Lies! It's all lies! :p No, not saying that any of your problems were not real, just that some of the newer members seem to be afraid of ALL ccoupes as a result of a couple of really bad examples, which yours was, of course.

I'm not suggesting anything, except another beer.

Yes, we liberals will not be happy until everyone is driving a Ford or Chevy. That way we can employ union members at factories, mechanics' shops , and rental car counters nationwide.

Boo2

You don't have to have your car serviced at the dealership you bought the car. Get the car from Chicago, then service it locally. I bought mine from Loeber, and will have its warranty services at Autohaus.

RedC230K

Nope, No hard feelings. I think you have a radically different view of the biz than I do, but maybe it's different in the Midwest.
I made all of my own deals and customers were not allowed to sidestep us primates.
I can honestly say I saw far more dishonesty and deceit from customers than I ever did from salespeople.


But, back on topic.
I don't believe it's absurd to make money for providing goods and services to people. I spend far more money on groceries and household goods than I do on a car. Yet, I've never tried to negotiate buying a gallon of milk for "invoice".

Boo2

Sad to say, but it is a stereotype that more often than none, fits the bill. Of course there are exceptions to the rule, but a majority of car salesmen are like that. Doesn't matter if its the East, West, or Midwest. I think that the dishonesty you experienced from customers was a defense mechanism developed from the years of dealing with different car salesmen and their tactics. I don't think buying a gallon of milk from the store is the same thing. Milk is a fairly homogeneous product. The spread and product differential between different stores is pretty tight. Cars, on the other hand, have different types, prices, quality, etc. I'm glad that you are different. I would probably buy all my cars from ou.

yacoub

I had one of the worst experiences in my life buying a car from a local MB dealer because of the deceit and fraudulent activity they tried to get away with; in the end, they returned my vehicle and full refund, but very unhappy customer and dissatisfied from such a brand name as MB! Shame on the dealership and Mercedes-Benz for allowing such behavior from the dealership!

On a positive note, there are many other luxury brands in competition and willing to pick up the slack!

MB-BOB

Nope, it's not a Midwest thing, we people in fly-over country put our pants on the same way as the rest of you "smart" people.

And my observation is from the customer's POV, not from an insider's POV, and is based on countless examples of dealer deceit, some only 3 months old. I could put the industry to complete and utter shame, so don't press... Other posts in this thread are supporting my POV.

As I said before, the salesperson was always "there" in the final discussions where deals were struck. However, as the sales manager and the asst. owner would crowd themselves into the salesperson's cubicle (or tree branch), along with my wife, myself, and the "primate," you would catch the gleam of anticipation in everyone's eyes as the experienced closer steps in to "whip me -- the customer-- into shape."

By this time, the initial salesmen had long since been marginalized to the role of "Wooden Indian" seated quietly in the corner, having been told by his supervisors (not me) to sit back, watch and learn from the BIG DOG how it's done.

Sometimes, we would fail to resolve a measley $100 disagreement in price, simply because the Asst. Owner was more interested in demonstrating to his grasshopper salesmen that he is the real pro, rather than in closing a deal. P-I-T-I-F-U-L.

...That would be because a grocery store operates on pure volume and has an average mark-up for all products of 1%... milk frequently is sold as a loss leader below "invoice." I understand the average MB dealer operates on 7%+ mark-up prior to dealer incentives... more if the customer isn't educated and the dealer personnel smell blood in the water. But wait, that would make them "sales sharks" instead of salesmonkeys... Oh, well.

revstriker

I agree with most here. My experience with car dealers has been about the same. If you are not educated going in, they will try and take you for everything they can! I remember someone recently asking if the price that the dealer gave him on an 84 SL600(?) was correct (In the general forum I think). After looking at KKB, the price was twice as much as it should have been! Even if you say well, that's a USED car, does that mean it's ok for them to screw you on a used car, but not on a new one??? Come on....

If dealers really wanted to sell cars at one price point based on the options and model, then they would have "no haggle" policies similar to Saturn. The price that's marked is the price you pay.