List, I have the loan approved for the C-Coupe and will buy Black with Oyster Leather, C2 and Auto.

I live in the Bay area and called all the local dealers last weekend and of course they said "no room for negotiation".

Oakland have the above car without factory leather but offered after market, which I'm finding a little tempting.

I was planning to call Laguna Niguel but I really do question whether the saving would be big endough to justify the trip.

Has anyone managed to get any kind of deal in the bay area. Free CD changer or something like that? I think a free CD changer would sell it for me at MSRP.

Also the San Fran dealer says 2 to 3 month delivery but has anyone actually experienced delivery witihn this time frame?

 

ticket to laguna costs what - $60 on southwest airlines? - spend a day - goto disneyland - drive up on the pacific coast highway for 8 hours - sounds good to me

do your negotiation over the phone as some did. and ask them if they can pick you up at the airport!

heh, not saying you have to but i could imagine myself doing something like that.

 

It would take at least two days to go down there and pick up the car.

Two days of my time = $????
At least one night in a hotel = $150
Gas = $???
Airfare of for me and my wife = $400+
General costs of any trip ie eating out for every meal, treats and entertainment $?????

Of course there are advantages on going down south and making a trip of it. But it is not liek I can schedule when I want to go down as they will notify me of the delivery. It could become extremeley inconvenient and I don't have much flexibity with my job.

I just think the discount would need to be significant to justify the hassle of the trip and time to achieve it.

If I can get something off from a dealer locally then I would take it.

The reality of the expense for this trip is not $60.

Nathan

 

I think your experience is pretty standard. I haven't heard of anyone in the SF area who got any kind of deal on the new Coupe. Perhaps in other parts of the country it isn't selling as well as here, leaving more room for negotiation (and I thought we were the at the epicenter of the dot.com fall-out). Of course the cost of living and doing business is so much higher here than other regions of the country, that the dealers are probably being squeezed by the small profit margin they are allowed by the no-haggle MSRP pricing. Or maybe its a local Bay Area MB conspiracy. In the past I always got great deals using my credit union and dealing with the fleet manager - no MB dealers belong to any of these programs, though. Ultimately, I just figured if I was that worried about saving a couple of hundred bucks maybe I shouldn't be considering a MB.

Regards, BT

 

Maybe consider expanding your search within a 2-3 hour drive (like Sacramento). It is surprising that Bay area dealers are all refusing to negotiate. In high cost of living CT, dealers were willing to do 3% over cost, as in some other areas.

I would dial for deals, and maybe as for a sales manager. Tell him you are ready to buy, and this is the price you want to pay.

On my 230, the discount from MSRP worked out to about $1400, so if I was in N. Cal. I would definately take a crack of dawn flight, be at the dealer when they opened, and enjoy a pleasant drive back home. (Hey, I drove many times from LA to Haight-Ashbury in one day in the 60's--some of them I even remember).

I don't know what your wage bracket is, but if you go down on a Friday, spend less than 700 on meals, hotel, air, you still wind up paying yourself $700 in aftertax dollars for one day off work. Now if you are a 300/hr consultant, thats not so good, but it might be in your range.

 

You might want to consider buying from CarsDirect.com, they have a price of $806 off sticker. That's enought to buy the CD changer.

 

"If you are worried about saving a couple of hundred bucks maybe you shouldn't be considering a MB"

I bought a Focus 1 1/2 years ago after being told VW wasn't for me if I wanted to negotiate on the price.

I had the cash but felt that the brand image had taken over. If I'd bought the VW I would not be looking at a new car now. The Focus has spend most of it's life in a Ford service centre.

People with the "I own a MB" should live in Europe, to remove the stigma. They would realize people in Europe own MBs because they want quality, reliability and safety.

Most people I know, in England, who buy an MB, do so because it is better value than Ford, Renault and Vauxhall. With those cars they will end up losing more money in the long run and the equivalent cars cost about the same.

Some Americans are too attached to brand image.

For me the C-Coupe equals value for money and that is why I'm buying one.

"I want to get as good value for money as possible, so maybe I should consider buying an MB." Sounds much better don't you think?

Sorry if I de-value your badge name but blame MB for trying to market a car towards me.

Nathan

 

heh, you didn't tell me the wife had to go. here is what I would do (note that i say "I", not necessarily "you").

buy a southwest airlines ticket from oakland to LAX. - $70
have laguna niguel pick me up (or get JamE55 to pick me up ). free
gas for 500 miles - $30
breakfast/lunch at fancy french restaurant (macdanielles) - $6 (you're going to eat that day whether you're in SF or in LA so i don't even think this should count) or better yet! INandWaitBurgers!!! (or tommy burgers - oh yeah! - wait i'm digressing)
my time isn't worth much i give it $100.

so total of $206 for me. assuming DrMike's calculations, its worth it to me.

 

I don't know how you get 8 hours from Laguna Niguel to SF. I can do it in 6 1/2 hours and that's with meal break and two rest stops and a gas stop. It's a piece of cake, take the 5 north from Avery Parkway, set the cruise at 75 and go home. To save money on lunch they provide brownies that are terrific, just grab a handfull and stuff them in your pocket, free lunch/dinner (only kidding).

Ask for Tuvan or Mark Hoye, they are great people.

 

heh heh, i'm going 55 and i'm taking the pacific coast hwy, not the 5 (too boring)

 

I think that some people in the US feel this way also.

This is soooo true. But we are not alone. Brand is pretty important in Europe too. Do you know what a pair of Levi 501 costs in Germany?

Same reason for me. With a baby on the way, safety is a big concern, and I was impressed with MB for this reason.

Good luck with your purchase Nathan. I'm sure it will be more satisfying than the Focus, and maybe even the VW. Hope you can work out a good deal. Keep us posted.

 

Cheers for the feedback. I asked my wife to look at the post and she thinks we should buy from Laguna Niguel.

Susan would prefer to consider the trip an adventure rather than a hassle.

I'm leaving the negotiations to her because last weekend I almost bought a C-Coupe at MSRP with after market leather.

Image sells everywhere but the image of MB in Europe is more about quality.

Nathan

 

Just wanted to add an experience with the dealership in Stockton.

her are some of the lies:

8 month wait.
leather not available on c-coupe
Mercedes have a non negotiation policy on all cars. MSRP only.
If a dealership negotiates they lose allocation from mercedes.

Nathan

 

I don't believe this is true, Laguna Niguel will negotiate on price and they sell more cars every year. From the looks of the LN lot, they are on the way to passing Fletcher Jones for the #1 spot.

 

Nathan, thanks for misquoting me.

I never made any insinuation regarding your personal ability to afford a MB - I was speaking of my own experience. I didn't feel that there was enough of an incentive for me to spend hours hunting around for the best price since the difference between invoice and MSRP wasn't that much. I also felt it was in my best interest to begin a relationship with the dealer that would be doing the servicing. I had noticed with previous cars that I always got much better treatment from the the dealer I purchased the car from than when I went to a another one (of course this dealership might have just had a much better service department - but you never know). Also on the off-chance I get served up a lemon, I think I'm better off with the dealership from which I purchased the car.

Regarding MB's brand image, I agree with you there, all of the taxi's in Europe are diesel E-classes (because they run forever); I think most of the high and mighty MB owners (of which you apparantly classify me) in the US would crap themselves if there were A- and V-classes rolling around here. Unfortunately, here in the US it does market itself as a "luxury" brand, meaning everything about it will be more expensive than other brands (maintence, etc. after the warranty period). The stupid "Mercedes Enthusiast" magazine is $8 for god's sake, what's with that?

 

the mercedes enthusiast in a British publication. CAR and EVO are also $7.95. i must see like 5 different BMW mags, VW mags, but only 1 Merc magazine. btw, i agree, its expensive

 

young, actually I knew that the reason for "Enthusiast's" expense was that magazine was European, although CAR and EVO are twice as thick for the same amount of coin (probably because this extra thickness is comprised of ads). I brought it up becuase I had a friend who was going to the bookstore pick me up a copy. She was astounded at the price, which led me to comment, "Welcome to the world of Mercedes."

Also, there used to be a another MB magazine called "Stars and Cars", which was strictly about MB racing - I have a couple of issues but I'm not sure if it still available. Unfortunately they never sold it on the newstands here in the US, which was too bad because it was pretty cool.

 

oh, i thought you knew; i just wanted to clarify for anyone reading your post. CAR/EVO are very slick also, great photos and fun articles - i really enjoy them.

i know the Merc Car Club has the STAR magazine, but i would have thought that Merc would have an owner's mag also. BMW, Acura, Subaru, etc all seem to have them. the ones where the owners' gush about their cars.

 

Trench, sorry if I painted you with the same brush.

For me the stigma of an MB was on my Cons list.

I have been offered a deal from Laguna Niguel for $700 over invoice which after tax will represent about $1500 dollars saving. After my original apprehension about goign all the way down there I have seen the light.

I have to say that Sacremento offered $500 dollars originally and I was very interested but I don't think they would be able to match this price.

Kwik, With regards to the Laguna Niguel lot. They apparently have 28 C-Coupes on the lot and nearly 400 MB cars.

It was the Stockton Dealer who lied about no negotiation. I read recently that someone only accepts 2 lies from a dealer before they walk. I got 4 in less than a minute from Stockton.

Nathan

 

No problem, Nathan. Wow, that's a huge number of coupe's in stock down there - no wonder they can deal. I've never seen more than two at any of the dealers around here (if they even have any). The funny thing is I ordered mine almost six months ago and am still waiting - you'll have your's before I get mine if they have one in stock with the options you ordered.

young, the "Stars and Cars" appeared to be an official MB publication, only adds for MB and from offical sponsor products (Mobil 1, etc.) It was subcontracted out to Haymarket who publishes "Autosport", perhaps from MB-UK since it was in English. I too am surprised there isn't an offical owner's magazine. I wonder if they publish one in Germany?

Cheers, BT