303_AMG

Hey guys,

What do you guys think is a fair discount off of MSRP for a custom order, paying cash (buying, not a lease). They offered me $1500 + I am a United Premier member, which was 2K at the time (I know it can fluctuate), for $3,500 total. My car is due to come in any day now and I'm wondering whether I should try to get them to drop it more... It's loaded with essentially every option. Thanks!

Mr. J

When I special ordered our C450 I got 8% off with minimal haggling. You can get better than what is currently offered if you have a sedan on order. The coupes appear to be more limited in supply which may make some dealers less inclined to offer a bargain.

Lionel_Hutz

Why would the dealer give you a discount for cash? They'd rather have you finance it with them.

1Gunner

If the car you've ordered is set to arrive soon, then obviously you have a signed deal in place and don't really have a position to renegotiate anything substantial.
Maybe they'll throw in a ball cap.

303_AMG

Thank you for actually having a helpful reply!

I'm aware most dealers prefer financing; however, they're still willing to work with cash buyers to an extent, hence why I was asking what's reasonable for a cash buyer as opposed to someone financing..

Have you ever custom ordered a car? You don't sign a deal regarding the final price.. At least in the US. Reason being incentives change as well as demand etc. (for example when I ordered my car the Mercedes Winter Sales Event was going on, but it wasn't going to be happening when my car arrived, thus they can't give me that discount). You pay a small deposit to order and the rest is due when it actually arrives, no final pricing has been agreed upon.

1Gunner

I have custom ordered many vehicles...

So by your logic if the price of the vehicle goes up before it's delivered are you open to paying a higher price, or is your logic one sided and open only to further discounting?

Yes, I guess we do business differently in Canada.

303_AMG

Lol my girlfriend is canadian and believe me you'd be surprised how many things work differently there. And yes it could go up.. Example: If they're having a big sale at the moment, and that sale is ending soon, then it would be cheaper to buy one right then than it would be to order one. No dealer is going to up the price though as people would simply walk... Which is always an option, deposit is refundable here too (not sure if it is in Canada).

Edit: Also, this isn't "my logic," I don't write the rules here. Not really interested in arguing about the way different countries/dealers work, I can't speak for yours but all I can say is I've yet to sign anything regarding the final pricing, hence why I was asking to see what people who bought and paid cash got since leases, financing, and buying off the lot are all different. A mod can go ahead and lock/delete though as I don't want this to derail into some random argument about how ordering cars should work.

1Gunner

Okie dokie..

Mike450

This is no incentive for a dealer to offer you a discount because of a cash transaction.

As stated, it may work against you.

Mr. J

Yes I think it must be different. If you haven't placed a deposit you can press for a better discount any time prior to closing the deal.

Mr. J

Nope. Only the F&I guy and dealership get a kickback from financing. The salesperson makes his money on commision regardless is cash, financed purchase, or lease. Many finance programs offer no benefit to the dealership at all.

1Gunner

But the OP stated his car custom ordered car would soon be in.

If you contend car dealers in the US will accept, submit and receive custom orders on cars without securing a signed contract commitment from that person, then by all means you would be able to press for a large discount or even walk away.

It's not done that way in Canada.

303_AMG

I don't want to bump this thread back up, as only the first person gave me an actual answer, but I wanted to respond to this anyways.

That's exactly how it works in the US.. You can walk away at any time from a custom order. In the state I live in, legally they can keep $500 of your deposit, in lots of states they legally can't keep anything, but brands like Mercedes will always give you your full deposit back because they receive a large portion of their funding based on customer satisfaction surveys, and they don't want to have an angry customer. If you google Mercedes deposit refund then I'm sure you'll find plenty of people talking about this.

Again, my girlfriend is canadian and also finds lots of things weird here, particularly healthcare. When I explained to her that in most states you can get a full refund on the deposit and walk at any time, she said "what's the point of a deposit then," to which I honestly have no good answer. Again, I don't write the rules, but that's how it works here.

As far as the pricing I spoke with them yesterday and negotiated a better deal, to reiterate I had not signed anything regarding final pricing, just put down a deposit. Thanks guys

1Gunner

Cool, good stuff!

DRLC43

Dealers make money on financing so cash is not an issue. I placed a special order and got a 4.8 percent discount without haggling at all.

coladin

Actually, my dealer told me from when I ordered that there could be change in price based on incentives, but typically they would only adjust if it works better for me. And in fact it did go my way a little bit!

1Gunner

Was that lease based or purchase based?

In my lease based deal, the rates changed and my payment increased from what was quoted in November. To compensate they comped a ceramic paint treatment and interior leather treatment.

On my incoming Porsche Turbo S, the prices have increased since my order locked but my purchase price is locked and will remain the same.

coladin

Lease -based, something to do with incentives as the residual didn't change much, plus my car is early and they are eating 7 months of my payments as well!


I get it Monday, I thought that would help me avoid putting on the facking winter tires...we will know how much snow we get tomorrow