Enze6997

Ok So I am buying this coupe...

C230k six speed...
C5
C7
Black leather / Silver metalic (like everybody else)
No CD changer...(going for the aftermarket)

MSRP
29040 + 665 freight

what should I expect to be able to haggle down to?

is 28k reasonalbe? should I try to get the changer thrown in?

Whats a good approach for negotiation?

I am a newbie to the car buying world, straight out of college and all I want to try to get the best bang for my buck.

Thanks for any advice.

timorgan

I've heard many times that most MB dealers will not negotiate on pricing.

Good Luck,

Tim

Enze6997

from the impression the one dealer gave me ... he would do around 28k for the setup I described

KWiK

If I was ordering that car I would offer them $28K without CD, $28.5K with CD. I would not be willing to go any higher.

The going rate currently in SoCal is ~$300 over invoice.

Buellwinkle

Try getting a price from CarsDirect.com if it's available in your area. This way you have a max price you would be willing to pay and still get a car. Getting a 1,000 off on a C230 is pretty good. Unless they are a very high volume dealer there isn't much incentive to do it. Find out who sells the most MBs in your area as they get the most incentives from MB.You can get better deals from MB dealers in CA because that's where the highest volume dealers are.Also negotiate on your trade in if you got one and try to get free labor on add ons like a CD changer at their costs.

As for negotiating the best one is good cop/bad cop. They play this on you. The salesmen, the good cop tries to play your buddy, give me an offer and I'll take it to the manager, the bad cop. The manager always says no and submits a counter offer through the good cop. They go back and forth until they wear you down. You have to foil them at their own game. You can disrupt it by forcing the manager out. He's usually too busy they tell you so make an appointment when he's not. Odds are they won't let you break their routine so they'll bring in a ringer, a high commission salesmen called the closer. This is not good. So what do you do. Become the good cop wanting to do the deal at all costs but you have a bad cop, a girlfriend, wife, whatever (it can be imaginary person on that you call from a cell phone) that rejects their bad cops offers. They'll want to talk directly with your bad cop but since they didn't let you talk directly you refuse. This usually works and gets me the best deal. Most people hate going through this but the art of negogiating is what makes car buying fun for me.

Good Luck

revstriker

LOL!! This is exactly how they do it! I think this is in the "used car salesman manual" . This is also very good advise on how to deal with the good cop/bad cop thing!

theLeland

Forget Negotiation. Your best bet is to go to Carpoint.com or some other similar site, spec out the exact car you want, and see what it lists at and what the dealer pays for it. (Don't forget to add in $500 for the CD player with install and a $400 Marketing fee.)

You'll see that the margin on this car is pretty small - in my case I think it was about $1800. Afterwards I went in to the dealer with a printout, said I wanted to give him a quick and easy sale without wasting a lot of his time, and that I wanted $1400 off MSRP. He said fine and that was that.

Know what you want to pay, and if the dealer doesn't give it to you (and its a fair amount) just go to the next dealer down the road. Never negotiate with a car salesman - its what they do for a living and you will always lose.

Also on carpoint you can request a quote online - sometimes they'll send you an email offering a discount right off the bat.

theLeland

Always negotiate financing separately from the purchase price.

Start with the dealerships that have a good service reputation.

revstriker

Although I agree with everything you have said here, I think whether you win or lose depends upon your negotiating skills, and knowledge of what you are negotiating for.

Edit: I also agree with you about financing seperate. Get the price down FIRST, and don't get sidetracked by questions like "How much do you want to pay each month?".

One more thing, I disagree about the "marketing" charge. I know that some dealers charge this, but I feel that this should be included in the MSRP. Just my $.02.

Spyke

Before I made a decision I asked my salesguy if they added a "marketing charge" and he said "oh no, Mercedes doesn't do things like that". There were no other add-ons to the cost of mine, other than the shipping fee (or whatever they call it)

galaxygrrl

Revstriker is correct that the price you pay has to do with your negociating skills. That said, I think www.edmunds.com has very good information on buying a car, I would look that over.

Good luck.

Flashman

I got the same exact car you are thinking of ordering. All I did was email every dealer within a 2 hours radius and ask "what is the best price you are able to offer me on a C230 w/ C5 and C7 option packages? I will be ordering the car for delivery."

I got an $800 discount from MB of Clearwater. They called it an "Internet Discount". I then negotiated myself out of paying any 'delivery/documentation" fees (another $399 saved). So my total discount came to $1,199 or $27846 delivered.

There are two very good short books you might want to read before going in, they are all about negotiating and were written by the same people who negotiated the Salt II treaty with the Russians:

Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In

Getting Past No : Negotiating Your Way from Confrontation to Cooperation

The second was recently renamed, you may also find a copy under the older name: Getting Past No: Negotiating when the other side refuses to give in. (something like that)

I strongly recommend these if you have little experience negotiating an agreement.

Chuck

Anyone run into this? It's apparently a growing trend where they charge you a hundred or so bucks. These are NOT the fees that go to the State for license transfer etc. - they're in addition too.

Mr. Xristo

It all depends on the dealer. When I purchased my '01 SLK320, there was zero room for negotiations. The dealership is a very high volume dealership in South Florida. The only reason I received $500 below MSRP was because the salesperson I was going through was a former Submariner, like myself. Funny...

It made sense to me. Why would he want to "haggle" with me, when someone will walk in behind me, and take it, on the spot, no questions? There are exceptions, as with everything.

What I HAVE learned is to "negotiate" the price of the car FIRST. Then, after you have a contract with a set price, then, and only then do you mention a trade-in. If you mention trade-in from the beginning, the dealer will work the numbers in his direction.

E55 KEV

Quote from SL55AMG:

If this was reality the dealer would have alsolutely no cars on his lot or in his inventory. The cars would be sold as soon as they hit the dealership. Some buyers are overly anxious. And anxious buyers pay to much. Good deals come to those that wait. The car will still be there the next day and the next. Some people fall for marketing hype and believe that demand is greater than supply. Bull! Your goal is to purchase the car as close to invoice as possible and $500 off MSRP is no deal. For people who believe that you can not negotiate on Mercedes just got off the proverbial Turnip Truck or will buy a bridge in Brooklyn.

If you don't know how to negotiate forgot the large dealership with arrogant salesmen - go to small dealership with starving salesmen.

rlomba8204

It depends on where you are. Where I live, where three of the local dealers are under the same ownership and so, as you might imagine, they are not inclined to negotiate. Another important factor is demand obviously. Since we had to order our car due to high demand, the best we were able to do is to get the cd changer thrown in. Finally, one of the posters indicated that MB dealers are not that inclined to negotiate anyways, and I have found that this is true. It is kind of like going into Brooks Brothers for a suit, it costs more, the quality is excellent, as is the service, but don't expect them to cut you a deal on the price.

s810

In California they do. They might call it an 'advertising charge' or something like that. It's what you gotta pay the dealer because of the benefit you received from their advertising. In any other industry, it's called the cost of doing business. For auto dealers, it's free money.

If you want to be a hard ***, you can tell the dealer you will not pay for a service that you didn't use. You never saw any advertising that directed you to their lot nor did any ads influence your purchase decisions. You chose Mercedes because you've always known about the reputation for quality and you found your way to their lot by driving down the road where all the other auto dealers are located.

'Document Prep Fee' is another bogus charge they might try to stick you with. Again, you can be hard *** and refuse it by invoking the 'won't pay for a service I don't need.' Offer to register the vehicle with the Department of Motor Vehicles yourself. If you're getting a loan against the vehicle or are leasing the car, they might want you to sign something acknowledging that they can repossess the car if you don't pay them for it. That's for their benefit, not yours. You don't need any documents prepared. All you need are the keys.

You can also try telling them that you charge a 'legal review and signing' fee which just happens to be exactly what they charge for 'document preparation.'

Again, it comes down to being a hard *** over what usually amounts to less than $400 dollars. I didn't fight these fees with Mercedes because they weren't excessive. When we bought my wife's VW a few years ago, they had four or five seperate charges tacked onto the final bill. They only totalled $200 but we offered them 3% over invoice and these extra charges were so clearly bogus that we refused to pay any of them just on principle.

Mr. Xristo

Well said!!

s810

The best thing to do is get the invoice price from any of the major automobile websites (carpoint.com, kbb.com, edmunds.com) for the base model and all the options you want. These sites also offer great tips for negotiating a good deal.

If you're after the latest, newest, coolest vehicle available, you'll probably pay more than MSRP. If you're willing to take whatever they have on the lot, you'll be in a much better bargaining position.

Keep trade-ins and financing seperate from price negotiations. You can tell them you haven't decided what to do with the old car yet and that financing won't be problem for you. If you do have a trade-in or are interested in financing, know what your old car is worth and try to get an idea of what an auto loan will cost you through your bank or insurance co.

Take somebody with you for moral support. Don't wait until you need a new car to get one. Always be ready to get up and leave.

Always negotiate up from the invoice price instead of down from MSRP. Also keep in mind that "invoice price" isn't the whole story. The salesman might cry you a river of crocodile tears about how he's not making any money by selling you this car at $1 above invoice and how he's just trying to feed his family and put a roof over their head and blahblahblah. If it's true that the dealer isn't making any money on the cars, then when tax time rolls around, the IRS will want to know why he's not going to be paying any income tax. And a "...with a July 1 fiscal year...and cost of goods allowance...and accelerated depreciation...and a one time charge...how does $300 a month sound?" circular logic monologue ain't gonna fly with the tax man. If you want to delve into how car dealers earn a living, check out the Auto Dealerships Market Segment Specialist Program Guide the IRS publishes for their agents who audit car dealers for tax compliance.

c230_2k2

I would first check the invoice price online then try to hangle within invoice and msrp....i got mine 300 above invoice..