If anyone is sitting on the fence right now waiting to purchase or lease, you should jump on a lease- the going money factor for a 36 month lease on a C300 4-matic is .00069.......which is 1.67%!

I'm leasing a Black over Almond C300 4-matic Sport with P1, MM, Burl Walnut, and reverse camera.....AND they are swapping out the 18 in AMG wheels from another car to mine. The MSRP is just under $44k and I'm going to be just under invoice. The payment with just drive away fees up front (about $1800, includes bank fee and first payment) is around $500. If you put a couple of grand down you'll be less than the mid $400s. Not bad for a $44k car.

I was looking for a used one and realized it makes wayyy more sense just to grab a new one.

 

The problem I've had in making a lease work is that the extra miles would cost as much as the original lease.

How many miles are included and what's it going to cost you for each extra mile?

 

They're getting hungry, a Lady at work today got her phone call to turn in her C350 and forget the last 6 months of her current lease...

JP

 

Lol @ hungry for leases, I leased my 2009 c300, 4matic, P1, ~41K sticker, I had out of pocket $5800 (incl taxes, fees, everything) and get 12k miles/year. I pay $371.75 a month.

I thought it was a pretty good deal. My dealer also said that I could bump up my mileage to 15k or lower it to 10k at any time before my first year into the lease. But after that point you either have to pay for the excess mileage or buy the car. Funny how you don't get a credit for turning in a car low on the miles.

 

My deal includes 12k/year. You could bump it up to 15k/yr at not much more cost. I'm not sure yet what additional miles cost, but if you do drive more than 15k per year then perhaps leasing isn't for you.

 

I dive somewhere between 15-20,000 miles per year.

 

Why is this a deal all of a sudden? The lease rates on C-Class has been unchanged from Nov of last year. The money factor and residual have not change at all from the time Nov 4 lease program were released. And the current lease rates are good till Aug 2 2010 as all C-Class are included in the Summer Event.

I am not claiming the current deal is bad compared to comparable cars on the market, but it certainly is not a smoking deal all of a sudden. Considering they are 8241 new C-Class currently on the ground at dealers in the USA and 2011 models are going to start showing up at ports in the USA within 60 days deals should get considerable better as Mercedes will more than likely offer more factory to dealer incentives than they are currently offering. As Mercedes will want most of those C-Class to be moved before 2011 are released to dealers.

So no reason to pull the trigger now unless you have no choice because your current lease is expiring and even then you can get 3 month, month to month extension from MBF. Leasing deals should get drastically better come Aug 2 or Sept 6 if there are still a substantial number of C-Class still left on the ground.

 

I just started looking at leasing a C class within the past month, sorry if I appeared to be saying they got better- I just meant they are great now. With that being said-

The fact that the residuals haven't changed since November make it a better deal each month it remains. In November of '09, I bet it would've been much harder to get $4k + off of MSRP on a 2010, which is certainly doable now. Most manufacturers, particularly BMW, decrease the residual every month or two through the model year, pushing the lease payment higher and higher. Now you can take advantage of the same residual from Nov '09 (per what you're saying) yet get much more off the MSRP since we're halfway through MY2010.

No matter how you cut it, 1.67% is a great rate, it doesn't matter what you're buying. When it happens to be a Mercedes-Benz, it's a win-win!

My dealer didn't tell me the rates were good through August....they clearly told me they would only be good through June and that they "could" change. That kind of bums me out because to be honest I probably WOULD have waited another month or so, but I was petrified to lose the great rate- it's happened to me before.

I was driving myself crazy looking for a used C ('09) with all the options that I wanted with low miles and in the right color, and was having difficulty finding what I wanted. Plus, the going price for one was in the low to mid $30k range CPO. If you put a few grand down and finance, even over 72 months you're looking at a payment of close to $500....you can lease a brand new one with the same money down spec'd exactly how you want it and you'll be close to $100 less. Great deal in my book!

I'm just surprised that I haven't seen more talk about leasing on here, I've been combing the threads here and on Edmunds Leasing forums and really never saw a deal that blew me away.

 

I was able to get a 2010 C300 4matic with P1 package, ipod kit and wood trim with a sticker price of $41,600 for $1761 drive away fees (including first month, acquisition fee and security) at $347/month plus tax. This includes 12k miles a year. I leased at the end of March.

 

Got a costco card? The costco negotiated price has been invoice on C300 and C350 for almost 1 year now. USAA negotiated price has been $1k below invoice for the same period.

Actually you wrong about that too, on models selling well, as the year goes on the manufacture will lower the residual and lower the money factor and the leases normally stay about the same or get a little sweeter manufactories in general do not throw tons of support on models early in the model year unless it a car that had weak sales the year before like the C-Class. So the program early and late in the year tend to yield payments fair close to each other, unless the manufacture adds more support to a model. In 2008 Mercedes drastically lower all the residual on all Mercedes to a level that is so low that the only thing Mercedes has been been doing is tweaking money factor and not touching the residual at all. It is true BMW tweaks both numbers except for example a BMW 328I Coupe Residual in Sept of 2009 @10k miles per year was 66% and was drop to 64% in April, the C300 started at 61% and stayed constant. So when you set the residual 5% lower than your competitor you do not have much room to lower the residual at all.

Have you compared rates offered by other manufacture on comparable cars?
Audi A3 money factor is 0.00008 and A4 is 0.00019 and I can list a ton of Japanese cars who money factors are lower than 1.67% today.


First off not sure how you can compare buying to leasing. You are renting a car with a fixed amount of maximum millage vs you are buying a car and have an equity position which means when you go to get another car depending on your down payment, loan terms means you will get some money back. Leasing is almost always a lower monthly payment and limits your losses on trade in, that is the whole point of leasing. It not like you discovered something new.

Not sure at what you were looking at, but for example if you search cars.com for E-Class coupes used their are a few listed and all of them are listed for $3-4k off MSRP of a comparable new car. You have to be idiot to pay that for that car. If you think any dealer or private party is going to pay you same price for your used car than what a new car can be bought. If you were looking at used 09 C-Class you should be able to buy one for at least $13-15k off comparable new car MSRP considering you can get $4-5k on a new car.

One last thing, I am not knocking the C-Class leases or the C-Class itself. In this economy almost all cars are selling close to invoice or below not just C-Class. I am not claiming that the C-Class leases is expensive or a bad deal either, just stating that you did not discover anything new, the C-Class has had a very favorable lease for close to 8 months now. The fact you either never noticed or looked is irrelevant to the fact that Mercedes has had some big support on C-Class in the form of very appealing lease deals compared to comparable cars and what lease payments were on this cars 3 years ago when they first came out.

 

1st point: No I don't have a costco card, looks like I should get one for my next purchase/lease

2nd point: I am absolutely NOT wrong about this because it HAPPENED to me. I dragged my feet in November of 2008 and the residual on my pre-ordered 2009 BMW 135i Convertible dropped by 2 points and the MF stayed the same. So my payment went up about $40. Not the end of the world monthly, but over 24 months it cost me close to a grand. In my experience, BMW doesn't play with the MF very often, and I have leased several BMWs.

3rd point: Lets talk apples and apples here, shall we? First of all, the C300 4matic with Nav would be comparable with an A4 Quattro Prestige, which when equipped with Sport, lists for almost exactly what my C does. You're wrong on the MF, you didn't quote the quattro rate: it's .00025 which, granted, is still a great rate. HOWEVER the residual for 36 months and 12k miles is 44%.....13% lower then the C. This makes the lease payment on this Audi over $100 MORE per month and $3600 MORE over the life of the lease than the C lease, and I'm not even bringing up tax......still a comparable deal in your book? Don't just compare rates when you know there's much more to a lease. I didn't want a Japanese car and didn't research them.

4th point: When did I ever say I discovered something new? I simply posted up to try and share some good information with others on this forum. Sometimes it's tough to see past the posts about "slamming, murdering out, dubs, etc" but I thought that maybe my information could help someone else out. I'm not sure why you seem to have taken offense to this.

Last point: Ok, so $13-$15k off a new car would put it at $30-$34 grand after negotiation which is basically what I said. I'm just telling you what I saw the cars listed for here in Mass. Check out the CPO prices on mypreownedmercedes.com for 09 C classes with nav and 20k miles in the Boston market.

 

My 2010 C300 lease is 398 a month and 4345 down (taxes, fees, plate, etc). I think for a Benz, that was a pretty sweet deal. The negotiation took about 2 hours.

 

$476 incl. state tax/ 39 months/ 39K miles/ no money down back in October 2008 on a 2009 with P2/ Multi-media/ Navigation/ Wood/ 4Matic/ Sport.

 

Do you even bother to read what I said?

Did you not understand part about Hot Models? BMW 135 Convertible was one of the hottest car mid 2008 when they came out and BMW was not providing any lease support on them at all. Manufactures do not subside leases on cars they do not need to do if they selling well. Look at the E-Class Coupe and Cabs money factory on those cars are 0.00280 and 0.00395 respectively. Considering interest are at 0% do you think their is any reason why anyone should be paying over 6.5% or 9.5% interest on a car who has decent credit? Mercedes can charge those high interest rates because people are willing to pay them, just like back in 2008 when the 135 Convertibles first came BMW was demanding a premium for those cars. So do not kid your selfs and uses examples on "Hot Cars" and them apply them to models who are being heavily subsidized and say "See I was right." As clearly very few cars today are commanding a premium and C-Class is clearly not one of the few.

Excuses me, did you forget what you said? I will help you remember by quoting it for you to refresh your memory.

Where did you mention before, that lease special was good based on the residual being high and money factor being low? The above is what you said, and you said because the rate was "1.67%" it was a great deal. If you are now changing your mind or revising your statement that is fine, I have no problem with that except, The audi A4 Quattro Prestige is not comparable to "C300 4matic with Nav" as A4 Quattro Prestige weather you like it or not believe it or not, is more comparable to C350 4Matic, with Leather, P2, MM,HK, Keyless GO and Rear view camera as Prestige A4 engine is bigger than C300 and more inline with C350 but even setting a side that fact, Prestige line comes standard, with leather seats, Keyless GO, Nav, Back up Camera, Xeon lights, curve illuminating lights which would require you to add to C300 P2 package in addition to all the above other options I already named. So you are talking about a comparable C300 priced around $48k is comparable to A4 Prestige at $43.5k and if you want to get picky that means you need to C350 really and price shoots up to $54.5K vs $43.5k or about an $11k difference in price. But hey next time why not compare the BMW 335IS to C300 and claim both are comparable too while you are at it, picking the biggest engine from 1 manufacture and pitting it against the cheapest small engine from another manufacture and ignore all other standard options which are options on the cheaper model and count those as $0.


I am going to refresh your memory and again, maybe you changed your mind about what you wrote, or meant to write something else.

Remember saying that? I am going to give you a math lesson just for argument stake and to prove a point. Goto bank of america web page and look in Mass, used car rate for 72 month is 4.35%, assuming a 6.25% sales tax, selling price of $32k, $2.5k down, 72 months, your payment would $493.72 per month vs your claim a comparable lease payment was "around" $500. That sure seems close to $500 per month, if you have bad credit or are stupid enough to use dealer higher interest loan and do not do your own research on what rates currently are on used car loans based on the fact interest rates are at 0% today, that is no one fault but your own and again does not make leasing a cheaper or better for everyone. Leasing in almost all cases results in a lower monthly payment over buying the same new car but if you are comparing a used car which is much cheaper to begin with that almost certainly in all cases is not true.

No you did not offend me or upset, you just made some claims which were completely wrong like I have shown above or acted like you discovered something that no one else already know and considering their is a thread called "What price did you pay for C-Class" in which people have been reporting sub $500 leases on C-Class going back to July of last year, your "breaking news" or great info is nothing more than you not knowing how to use the search feature on this board, because if you did, you would have known buying the C-Class via Costco program = automatic invoice.




I look at that site, and funny thing is all the cars around $33-35 are fully loaded cars with keyless go, P2, leather, MM, HK etc which new cost closer to $48k new, and not what you claimed at all in any of the above posts. No way you are getting a fully loaded the gill C300 with an MSRP of $48k for "around $500" per month with $1800 down like you claim. That car would lease out for about $575 or so, assuming you got the dealer to sell it to you at "Invoice" which would be $44184. I doubt dealer are going very much below invoice currently unless you are getting some type of fleet discount from your work. So for a lightly loaded C300 with P1, Nav and MM only their are 4 in Mass listed between $29.8-31.2k, that car new is only $44k.

Again I am not claiming the C-Class lease is a bad deal, but you use misleading statements, like comparing loaded car to stripe car, then say try to justify your reasoning on why you think you got a good deal or why you think leasing was a better value for you.

 

Once again you have wrong info. The BMW 135i first MY that came out was a 2008- the first ones were delivered at the end of the summer of 2007. So when I ordered mine in December 2008, the car had been out for over a year already, and it wasn't a hot car at all. BMW dropped the residual because it was getting closer to MY2009.


Wrong again, Audi only offers ONE engine for MY2010- the 2.0T engine, which by my math, is smaller than the 3.0 or the 3.5 Benz engine. I used the Prestige because the MSRP is closest to mine. But no problem, do me a favor and run a lease payment for the Quattro Premium Plus model with the SAME OPTIONS (nav, sport, etc), which is the mid level car, and by your eyes more in line with my C300. Lets see where the payment ends up apples to apples.

Most people have no idea what a residual or MF is, so I tried to make it simple and put the 1.67% rate. Next time I will break down the lease line by line including taxes in each of my posts.

If I put $2.5k down on my lease the payment would go down to about $430 per month. If you multiply this by 36 months it comes out to $2500 in savings over your payment for the first 36 months. Plus you're getting a brand new car as opposed to a used one.


Ok, next time I will be sure to keep my good lease deal to myself because clearly it's not helping anyone.

I'm not misleading anyone, my first post listed out the particulars of my deal.

At any rate- I'm done with this thread. I'll give you the last word, go ahead.

For everyone else, my original point stands. The lease deals are good on the C300 right now (and apparently have been for a while), so anyone in the market for a used one may want to consider a lease as a good alternative provided you can stay within the mileage limitations and keep the car in good condition. Good luck!

 

I just bought used 08 C350 Sport with 13K miles on it for 29.5K it has my favorite color, but not 18' wheels. I still would prefer look for a little longer buy my own car then lease. This one clean and nice, but it is quite hard to find low mileage used car with all the requirements. I would not consider lease, because you still loose when you return the car. I have no problems selling my cars when I do not need them and get great price because I keep them pristine clean.