r6bruin

Hi all W203 owners.

I'm a big time bimmer fans but am recently convinced myself to get a C230 Kompressor sports sedan instead of a E46 3 series.

Since I don't know much about how the deal works for MB it'd be great if you could help me on that by posting how much you pay for the car (i.e. how much over invoice/ how much over msrp).

It'd be even more helpful if you could recommand any dealer in California, USA, that gives out good service and great deal.

Thanks in advance!

amdeutsch

Ok, lets give the newbie a break and don't flame me immediately for this. He is asking for true and good advice.
Accurate info to the best of my knowledge.

Invoice = (MSRP - shipping) * 93% + shipping

Some members on here have claimed that they received $1500 under invoice for 03s, some even claimed better on 02s due to rebates. Watch your calculations.


Now it depends on your market what price you can get and how new the vehicle is. Was it just introduced? How hungry is the dealer? Etc. All that will play a factor.

If you are comparing bimmers to MBs be advised that MBs also carry a 3% holdback.



Hope this will help you out. I read on this forum that Smythe is supposed to be pretty good at times. I believe that they are in your area so to speak.

r6bruin

Thanks for the info, amdeutsch.

For you info, from KBB, a '03 C230K sedan has a $26696 as base invoice and $28655 for base MSRP (both includes dest charge). So I'm expecting to see somewhere in the US there're dealers willing to do around $25k + tax? That'd be a very good deal to me, even though I'm not sure if I can get such deal anywhere in Calif.

Also, what do you mean by 3% holdback? Do you mind to explain a bit further? I assume you mean MB actually got the car for (base invoice price * 97%)?

As for bimmer, just in case if you're interested, it's easy to get a E46 for (invoice price * 93%) + $1500.

I'll check out Smythe over the weekend, if I remember it correctly it's in San Jose area...

Thanks.

DCX Engineer

I would be surprised if you could find a new C230k sedan for around $25k. That is about 13% off MSRP and $1700 UNDER invoice. Good Luck. Keep us posted.

Lynn

Many car companies give their dealers a holdback. It is intended to help offset the (usually) first three months interest on the "floorplan". The "floorplan" is the loan the dealer gets from his bank(s) to buy the car from the factory. If the car has been on the lot more than three months, the holdback really doesn't exist anymore, because the dealer has paid it to the bank.

The invoice is exactly as posted above by amdeutsch.

trench

These numbers were for the C230K Coupe.

As the C230K sedan has only been out about two weeks, my guess is that you're going to have to pay close to MSRP for it.

Good luck.

- BT

tom incredibie

its true about the 1500 under invoice. i was offered 1500 under invoice by several dealerships...

Matt230K

for a sedan? do you mean 1500 under sticker?

slcvr6

I can summarize what I paid for my 2002 C230K in 2 words...

TOO MUCH

TPL230

Paid $1500 below MSRP.

TPL230

Paid $1500 below MSRP.

CitronC230K_03

im paying $35,140 otd for my C230 coupe. the price for just the car was $31820 which is $1500 under MSRP of $33320. i feel i got a fair deal.

FrankW

dang...that's pretty steep for a C230k coupe. Did you get all the options you can get?

MB-BOB

Since you live in CA, I would plan to shop the 20+ dealers in So. Cal. for a deal. Lots of folks here are from SoCal and can better gice you dealer names than me, however.

It's been my experience in reading dozens of threads on this subject here, that the L.A. area (and Washington DC, for some strange reason) appear to be the only areas in the US where buyers seem to get significant discounts below MSRP. Everywhere else, the general rule seems to be MSRP, or no more than $1,000 below... a token discount, in my view.

Don't expect to get any of a dealer's holdback...

CitronC230K_03

the only options i didnt get are comand, teleaid, wood trim, and integrated phone. i pretty much got everything else, but i didnt wanna budge on thsoe options. i know its kinda steep for the c230k but im paying it. you have to remember that for citron green alone its an exrtra 1850 for the spc order and metallic paint.

btw my car arrives in long beach this saturday morning. i found the shipping schedule online and the ship is arriving here. i wanna see if i can head to the port to watch the unloading. wishful thinking but i sent an email to pasha, the shipping company.

tom incredibie

1500 under invoice. but thats before tax. the people who got 1500 under msrp is that after tax and everything?

r6bruin

Hi intakex,

Do you mind to inbox me on the discount dealer list in LA? I'm actually going to LA for a reunion next weekend and that makes a perfect time to shop around...

Thanks so much!

ezzie

The LA numbers are certainly interesting, I wonder how Edmunds got their numbers. I just ordered my car in Milwaukee for $900 under MSRP (about $1100 over invoice), which I considered to be a good deal, based on Edmunds' TMV numbers. I guess the question is, how reliable are those numbers?

2003 C230 K coupe (numbers not including destination charge)
base MSRP: $24950
Edmunds 90210 base TMV: $24189
$1500 below base invoice: $21704????

Is that really what's happening out there?

bagwell

"invoice" doesn't mean squat to me personally....just stick to how much off the MSRP sticker price. There's too many "invoice" numbers thrown around to make it useful (to me anyway!). WTF is invoice anyway...the dealer could tell you "yeh that's $3000 below invoice" uhhhh ok whatever...

FrankW

OK...that explains it because I thought the Citron Green was a standard color instead of special order.

amdeutsch

Playing the internet game I got the OK dealers to offer $500 to $550 over published invoice with a waiver of the documentation fee. That fee is nothing but an additional profit fee anyway. This was in Sept/Oct of 02 on new 03 models.

amdeutsch

I agree with you on this one.

How often have we seen *$1500 under invoice* on threads here only to find out on another thread that it was *$1500 under MSRP*. Lets also not forget that some dealers sign up for the MB offered advertisement program and that this fee is then listed on the invoice shown to prospective customers. I don't recall ever having seen an Edmunds TMV price being mistaken as invoice but I do remember seeing a cars.com price being mistakingly identified as an invoice price.

Going of MSRP seems therefore to be the best measuring stick IMHO.

CitronC230K_03

no for me it was before tax. my total MSRP was $33,320. Then $1500 was taken off the MSRP to bring it to $31,820. then the tax, title license was added on.

moomeh

before taxing and and that other crap, i got 3,000 off the sticker price of my 02 c240 which was 38,000 plus or minus a couple hundered. also, i got 0% financing for 3 years. i got a really good deal.

DCXdynodog

WoW! how'd you do that. Sept 03 hasn't gone by on my calender yet!