Dematrius

I'm looking to purchase my first car. It's a 2010 c300 sport 4 matic premium. 13,931 miles. The dealer is offering for $26,994. What would be the best price for me to drive away with it?

iownedu

That's cheap as hell if its certified! But you just missed the year end deal where they pay your first 2 payments up to $900 and 1.74% apr.

Dematrius

I just checked with the dealer, the vehicle isn't certified but still has warranty until 7/2014.

Mikstr

Does the Vehicle have a clean car-fax? I was going to purchase a 2009 C300 until the car-fax listed it was in an accident & had to be towed. The MB dealer was telling me it was no big deal!... I bailed on the 2009 & paid a little more for a 2010 c300 4 matic that was CPO for peace of mind.... The promo was great as well....

Dematrius

Yup, clean car-fax, 1 owner no accidents. Any suggestions on a good haggle price to walk away with?

Baja1ab

I just bought my 2010 Sport (RWD 24k mi) for $24k. They wanted $26,995 but I'm a tough customer and I NEVER pay asking price.

$26,9XX was the most common asking price for the car car I was shopping and I found and many dealers wouldn't budge for me. I even found one that had been at a dealer since March (I could see when the got it on the Carfax) and they still wouldn't budge. Just be patient and if you don't feel like you're getting the deal you should, walk away.

Also, bring a smartphone w internet access and find a good and simple auto loan calculator. I had one dealer tell me that they couldn't see how I was getting to the payment I wanted, even at the sale price I wanted. I typed it into the loan calculator and showed the "finance director" that said it and told him it was pretty simple math if all variables are what they say. Come to find out they also had a $1,395 "dealer prep" fee they were trying to hide = BS.

Needless to say, I walked out. The finance guy called me the next day and and left me a voice mail saying they could do the deal I wanted the day before. He also left his cell phone number for me to call, to which I texted a picture of the C300 I bought that day. It had fewer miles and was cleaner.

Just go in educated, informed and stick to your guns- don't let your emotions get in between you and your wallet. Good luck!

ddeliber

Is it at a MB dealership? If it is, then I think an important question would be Why isn't it certified? A 2010 with low miles is a prime candidate for CPO status and why it isn't CPO'd is important. The problem is that their answer will just be, because we are trying to keep the price down (it costs a dealer to get the extended warranty from MB) even if that isn't the reason (maybe it didn't pass the inspection, I don't know).

WRT price, first does it only have Premium 1 package or are there other options on the car? 14k mi is really low for a 2010 so most of them out there with similar miles are listing for more, but all used car prices are negotiable even if they say it isn't. Do you have a trade? If so, sometimes dealers are willing to pay a bit more for a trade than it is really worth just so that they can protect their "pricing strategy". I say whatever makes them happy, it makes no difference.

Another important piece of information is (as Baja1 mentioned) how long has the car been sitting on their lot. The longer it has been there, the more "flexible" they will tend to be. You can get this from the carfax report. You can also check to see if it is listed on some of the newer used car websites like cargurus.com. They have a feature that shows how long the car has been available (available to cargurus that is) and if there have been any price changes. If they just got the car within the last 30 days or so, they probably won't be that flexible on price unless you can show them some lower priced and similar cars - which I don't believe will be easy given the mileage.

Other ways to prepare include putting together a list of similar cars at similar prices with slightly different options. This way you don't advertise to them that you really want their car. You can say something like "well, I am also looking at another C300 at in X city and at 26,000 and that one has the multimedia package, but I like the color of this one a little better" or whatever.

Good luck, and let us know what you decide to do.

Savage c-300

looks like a good deal to me.

Dematrius

Test drove and went home with it after hours and hours of negotiating at the price of $25,600, with chicago tax and fees is about $28,xxx. Good deal?

ddeliber

At $25,600 yes absolutely, I'd say great job. I didn't think you would be able to get them down that much with the extremely low miles on the car. But where did the $28k come from? Man you must have some serious taxes over there or did you buy an add on like lojack or something?

Dematrius

Tax here is 9.25% + the doc fees came to about 3k.

ddeliber

OUCH!