dariusf

I'm looking at this 2010 C300 4matic dealer demo with 8k, P1 and MM. The brand new price according to Benz and edmunds.com is MSRP 43k, Invoice 40k and average purchase price in my area 41k. I'm trying to figure out what is a fair price I can pay for this car. How much would be a realistic discount I could expect over new?

Thanks for any input

BEEPbeepZIPtang

your seriously looking at a dealer car that has been demo'd for 8k miles? good luck with that.

dariusf

Sure that a private owner should take care of the car more then a dealer demo. But then generally people taking in their Benz to the dealer for repair I would think will not trash the demo car It does have 3.5 years of warranty left plus 1 extra year via certified. If i don;t get a good discount then I will just look at a brand new one. Not worth saving 3-4k over new. We have the car for a 2 day demo and it might end up being too small for the kids etc. Might need to go with E class anyway.

C300Sport

I would never, ever consider a demo car. You should be able to get a fairly good discount on a new 2010 anyhow.

TaxEsq

I don't get why anyone would not purchase a demo - its low miles, and sure its had multiple drivers - but come on, lets be honest this isn't like a rented ford festiva - get real guys. Especially if you plan on trading it in before the CPO warranty runs out - which in actuality, on a new car is better because it gives you one extra year, it's a no brainer.

Anyway, I have a dealer demo - 2010 c300 sport W4 MM COMAND P1 - I got it for 31k. It had 9k miles on it - they did the service A for me when I got it as well.

Very good deal.

dariusf

Agree, I would hold Mercedes owners in higher regard that I would think treated a demo somewhat well. Sure one does not know but even if someone pushed the car, its nothing I would not do to it when I drive it. I like to push my cars and actually drive them One would think occasional 'spirited' driving should not be an issue for this type of car.

I got my CLK at 29k miles and two owners. No way to know what they did to the car. On top of that I had to pay for 2 year aftermarket warranty.

Now for 31k thats a great deal. You saved about 10k over brand new. I offered the dealer 35k but they would not do it, not sure how you got yours for 31k.

dariusf

Just talked with the wife and we are not sure about this car. She is moving from a loaded Lexus RX330 and this car, while a nice car, its a bit of a step down in regards to the appointments and finish. It just does not feel like a luxury car (with all due respect to the existing owners). Perhaps with MM and P2 it would feel better. Its also a bit small in the back as we need to fit two buster seats for the kids.

TaxEsq

Excellent deal. 31k was a steal for me, when they said yes. I was shocked.

C300Sport

Oh well, I guess opinions are like a$$h0les and everybody has one. For my money, I will buy a new car or a one owner long before a loaner or rental vehicle. I honestly don't think that most people purposely abuse a loaner but I do believe they have very hard earned miles.
Anyhow, I got about 20% off my new C300 and know exactly how it has been treated since about 100 miles and that's how I like it.

TaxEsq

To play devil's advocate - the first hundred miles are very hard on a car, who knows what people were doing on those test drives...

dariusf

wow, is that 20% off MSRP? That would imply getting a new 43k car for ~ 35k, hard to believe. According to Edmunds people on the average get about 6% bellow MSRP. Perhaps we are not getting such good deals in Chicagoland.

dariusf

Thats why I'm looking at the discount amount and if it makes sense verses new. So far the price that dealer wants to get for it (-3k over new) does not.

You got 10k off on your car and that definitely would make it worthwhile to look at

snarlingchicken

I highly advise that you just hold out for another month or two. All US MB dealers will be cleaning out their 2010 C class models as the 2011 models get phased in, and you can expect quite the discount once they do. I bought my 09 C350 as the 2010 models were being introduced. Sure I didn't get the new mirrors, but I didn't mind. I did get 10k off MSRP though

jwschmid

9 months ago I purchased a dealer demo which was a 2009 C300 4Matic Luxury MM P1 for $31K while its invoice was nearly $45K. It had 15k miles on it. This demo was driven by one of the managers for the dealership, so it wasn't like an actual "demo" driven and abused like a rental car, so i really didn't see any difference between this demo and purchasing a regular car with 1 owner. The fact that it was CPO made the deal even sweeter. I think that demo vehicles are an excellent buy since they frequently come with CPO, low miles, and in my case ~33% less than invoice for less than 1 yr old. This dealership (in new jersey) said many of their employees drive these demos for up to 1 year and then get a new one, so they sell many demos yearly and sell them very cheap with a CPO on each and every one. I have not had a problem with mine since purchasing it and would certainly purchase a demo again.

al_ctsurgpa

I also Purchased a dealer owned 09 C300 Sport 4matic. 7700 miles on car when purchased. Got the Car for $29800. That was hard to walk away from. Considering anything new was pushing 40K. Also 1 owner 2008's were getting 30K-31K as the dealer was into them for as much I guess. I saw getting a 09 for such a good deal took much of the future depreciation off of my hands. I am 2mos into ownership and the car has been perfect. I went over the car inside and out including the MB Service record, they offered it a CPO of course with the additional 1 yr warranty etc. I know some people never consider such cars but with a little scrutiny good deals can be had. Happy CPO MB owner here. This is my first of what looks like many MBs.

Thanks to all in the forums for great information.


09 Silver C300 sport 4Matic, only aftermarket 35% tint to rear.

NickCats

TaxEsq - Same deal I got on my demo 2008 CPO C350 that I picked up last year for $31k with 9k miles.

dariusf - not sure if leasing in an option, but I got an email from MotorWerks in Barrington Wednesday :

2010 C300 Sport 4matic - 36 month - $862 due at signing includes the tax, license, title and doc fees. 10k mi / yr ( $40,970 MSRP ) - $449 / month

http://motorwerksmercedes.com/C-Class-email.aspx

( this is a smoking deal in Illinois since we have to pay the total cost of the sales tax on the MSRP for a lease )

Also - ML350 for $559 / mo - 39 months - $5,104 due at signing

Excludes title, taxes, registration, license fees, insurance, dealers prep and additional options

http://motorwerksmercedes.com/ML-Class.aspx

( Not sure how the ML350 compares to the RX330 )

Good luck !

Nick

C300Sport

Fair enough.
I am also thinking of all the scrapes and scratches from dragging everything in and out each time the car is sent out. I have seen the finger nail scratches, bumper scratches at the trunk, foot scuffs all lover the doors and door seals. These can often be touched up and/or buffed out but your paint still pays the price. How about all the drinks and food that may have been spilled and likely are all down in the perforated seats? Will that seat motor last for the life of the car with soda residue all over it? How about people who seem to want to launch cars over speed bumps through potholes/rough roads, etc? There may be no evidence of that in a newer car but things may have been loosened up, banged up and generally beat all the hell without manifesting much of anything you can notice...yet.
Besides the fact that I am so freakin particular with my car, I have gotten to where I keep cars for a long, long time. For me, it makes if worth paying to avoid any of these issues...

huir

It really depends how long you are gonna keep this car.
If I were gonna keep this car for more than 5,6 years, I wouldnt bother buying a used one.
But if the case is for 3,4 years, I would go for the one you mentioned in the post. You got the warranty if something goes wrong with the car. And you would either trade it or sell it by the warranty runs out.

BlackjackM

This is what I would worry about more so than the engine being beaten on by soccer moms while their ML is in the shop. The loaner C300 I drove had at least one ding on it and a few scratches. Also, honestly if I took it to a store or mall etc I parked it right up front, whereas with my own C I park it far away. So if you are going to consider a demo, I agree to look that thing over with a fine tooth comb, inside and out.

I agree with this as well- 3 to 4 years (within the warranty period) if you can find a clean demo, it probably makes sense. But I wouldn't want to keep it much beyond that.

BEEPbeepZIPtang

Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000105 EndHTML:0000003771 StartFragment:0000002340 EndFragment:0000003735 Very bad deal. You could get a 2010 with 0miles, same pkg, for close to those numbers. Demo's are NOT taken care of properly AT ALL. They do not go through break in periods....they lay dormant on lots for days/weeks at a time, or they are started or stopped constantly while driven VERY hard...either or. They are not allowed to property warm up allowing the oil viscosity to be at optimal performing temp before the potential buyer gets in and immediately mashes the gas.



Not to mention how long does a demo ride last...5-10 miles tops? 8k worth of demo'ing? That is nearly a full years worth of the car getting the sh*t beat out of it.

I'm having a hard time justifying buying an CPO'd 08 RS4 (the rarity is what attracts me). The thing is immaculate and was the dealership owner's personal DD...simply because its used, I am doing everything I can to talk myself out of it. If was a demo, I wouldn't even be reading the window sticker.

TaxEsq

then dont buy one - I'll have it 4 years at the most (all covered under the warranty) and then it's gone...so, I have the same exact car as everyone else on the board but without the upfront costs associated with it...looks/seems like a no-brainer to me.

NickCats

Please show me a brand new 2010 c300 sport W4 MM COMAND P1 for $31k

Nick

NickCats

According to AutoTrader there are 3477 new 2010 C300 AWD for sale in the US.

Highest Price:$49,150

Lowest Price:$35,900

Average Price:$41,536

( and the one for $35,900 has 5,364 miles on the odometer )

Nick

BlackjackM

You can't purchase a 2010 brand new with P1 and MM for $31k- that would be like 13k off sticker and no matter how bad they want to move them they're not discounting them that much.

dariusf

Well thats the advertised price. I tried to see how low I can get the price down on one of the demo's. They started at 39k. I was not able to get it down to $35k Lowest they wanted to go was 37k and thats only 4k bellow average sale price of a brand new one per edmunds.com. Not worth it.

Perhaps once the 2011 Cs will start getting in to the dealers, they will be more flexible on the 2010 price. Was told that Chicagoland will be getting in 2011s in Sept/Oct.

If I can't get a used one, demo or private owner, thats ~ 10k miles in great condition and save 8k or more, I will just get a brand new one with the options I want.

Besides that we decided that the C is just too small in the back seat with the two kids and their buster seats. Hard time closing the seat belts with buster seats. We will have to look at the E or 5 series. Still same deal with savings on used verses new. The only thing with E is that there are no loaners available and as we want the new body, there are very few used 2010 available.