Hey everyone, newb to the forums and exploring moving from Audi over to AMG after driving my beloved 2011 Stassis tuned S4 for 7 years. I have been lusting for the C63 for years but a little pricey so am intrigued with the C43 after a weekend test drive. I've never purchased a new car before so am just searching for some wisdom on everyone's experiences grinding the MSRP to a better place before buying. I would likely finance at 2.9% with a large down payment which is not all that bad. I'm in Canada so the option packages are quite different than USA. There is the following on the lot, which is everything I want except for the seats. Though it is tempting, I feel at this price level I want to get exactly the car I want.

2019 C43- 62,300
Prem Package- 5900
AMG Driver Package- 2000
Night Package- 500
Tech Package- 1900
Intelligent Drive Package- 2700
Met Paint- 890
AMG Leather Package- 1990
Oak Wood Trim- 250
19" Multi Spoke Wheels- 500
MSRP- $78,930
Discount- ($2343) (works out to 2.9%)
Dealer Charges- Floor liner, tire recycling, AC Recovery fee, and Freight and PDI ($2995)
Total Sales Price- $79,900 + GST

Proposed Order (they apparently have a production slot in April for May delivery).
C43+ Premium, Night, AMG Package, AMG Seats, Carbon Fibre, Intelligent Drive, etc.
Website Build Price: $79,339 + all the other things

Questions:
1) I've been reading that 5-7% off is what people are seeing come off MSRP on the forums for negotiating. Is that only off the base price or optioned out price?
2) Is that available on a new build or only on models currently on the lot?
3) I don't really care where I purchase it from, so was thinking of sending an email to a handful of dealerships to see who could provide the best price.
4) Has anyone inquired about European delivery for Canada?

Any other wisdom here to find my way to get this car here for summer is greatly appreciated!

 

Im in Vancouver and this is my factory order build that Im waiting on for the C43 coupe (fingers crossed by the end of this month): premium package, AMG drivers package, tech package, metallic paint, leather upholstery, interior carbon trim, exterior carbon package and bicolour rims. I got them to take one of the dealer fee's off as it is a gimmick most people overlook and pay which totals $2000 or so. Without taxes but including freight and documentation fees my build came to $82245 Canadian. I got a $4000 discount based off that number and it took some negotiating as its a new model and a factory order (which also requires a non refundable deposit).

As for emailing different dealerships, I sincerely doubt they will negotiate with you like that and offer you their best possible deal. If they are somewhat close to you, I would recommend actually going in so they will know that you're serious about the car. All that being said, be on the lookout for dealer inventories and possible cars you might like because there will be more of a discount for cars which already exist on their lots as opposed to a factory order. I went for a factory order as most dealer builds are boring as hell to me (like black exterior and interior with a few options, unlike mine which is brilliant blue exterior and red interior with a **** ton of options). Good luck!

 

Can't speak much for the Canadian market, but is this a coupe or sedan order you are looking for? Only the coupes are available for European Delivery. C-Class sedans for North America are made in the USA.

 

Thanks for the intel! I figured that the dealing would be better if it were on the lot vs. new order but good to know there is room. That is pretty much the exactly the car I want but thinking of the suede seats or AMG performance seats. You got the red leather? That will look amazing. Are you talking about "Freight and PDI?" Is that what you are referring to for dealers fees? I'm planning a move to Vancouver this year so if this all comes together our cars can hang for a meet perhaps.

Thanks for intel. I'm looking for the coupe here at this point but would be open to the right sedan configuration, just felt that they lost a lot of the aggressive styling from the older C63 large V8 body. I am still trying to get ahold of someone at Mercedes about this but would be perfect.

EDIT. I did phone Mercedes Canada and they said they still do it, and there is a form that the dealers must fill out, but all the information comes from the dealer level so have to find someone willing to actually spend the time on it. They did not mention any sort of a discount on this, am guessing it is case by case basis.

 

Yes, it's all handled by the dealer. You place a normal order with a dealer and request European Delivery. MB is part of the process. They'll send you a bunch of forms and other details once the order is in and confirmed. You can also make travel arrangements through them. They cover one night hotel and also offer entire travel packages if you don't want to plan the trip yourself or don't know where to go. 15 days of insurance is included, but you can buy extra if you want to stay longer. I assume the program works much the same as here. There should be a standard discount. Here in the USA it's up to 7% depending on the model, and the destination charge gets waved. For AMG's it's 5% flat at least for the 63, maybe the 43 gets 7%. The dealer can provide you with that information. I've ordered a C63CS for European Delivery. Picking it up at the beginning of May and will stay until end of June.

 

If you want the performance seats, I would definitely ask for a weekend test drive with a model that has one as just a 30 min test drive around the block wont tell you how comfortable they are. Some people love them on this forum and swear by their comfort but Im not a huge fan (specially on long drives). I went with the regular red leather seats! No, "Freight & PDI" and "documentation fee" are the 2 fees which you are forced to pay. They also charge another fee (I forget the actual name because its not on my build sheet) but it involved paint protection and some other gimmick which totalled almost $2000 which you can get them to take off. The only reason I knew about this is because my friend works at a dealership and told me to ask them to take it off as its pretty much useless. I had it on my BMW 328i and it doesn't even cover scratches so I really don't get the point other than the dealership wanting to increase their margin for a car. If you are coming to Vancouver, there are plenty of dealerships to hit up to inquire about prices and their inventories: North Van, Downtown, Surrey, Langley, Nanaimo, Richmond.

 

Canada here too: I've been intrigued about the European delivery, I didn't realize it was an option for us - I've ordered the wagon which is only made in Germany. If you take European delivery - does that mean you have to arrange your own trans-atlantic transportation?

 

No, everything is handled for you by Mercedes. There are several drop-off locations all over Europe. The majority of them in Germany, but also France, Switzerland and even UK (London). These are logistics companies where you drop the car off, and they will take care of shipping it to Canada. Once in Canada it will go through customs, the VPC to the dealer and PDI'd like every other car, even though you've already driven it for a while in Europe. If the car sustained damage during shipping or from driving in Europe, it will be repaired at the VPC and all damage incurred by you while driving it is covered by the European insurance. Only exception is if you have an accident on the Nurburgring or other track or race event. That's not covered. It will also still get registered as a new car. Shipping, marine insurance and everything else is included in the purchase price. Really the only difference between ordering a car and taking delivery at the dealership is that you are taking first delivery in Germany and drive it around on its home turf before it gets shipped to where you live and taking delivery for a second time at your dealership.

 

Thank you for this call out, as I've been reading through the forums, I think I may pass on this option and save the $2k for other items. Did you go for night package with the carbon trim? I'm debating on the interior as well, but may only settle for the exterior mirrors and spoiler. Also, what bicolor rims? The build online is only for 2018 models.

OK I finally got some intel here right from a very keen salesman, which is a breathe of fresh air. Cole's notes:
1) It is called tourist pricing, and is $6k off of the $59,995 MSRP, straight up, and then everything else is built and charged per spec.
2) 19% deposit
3) No MB financing or leasing options available.
4) Return shipment, international insurance, shipping and marine insurance all amount to about $3800 (not included in MSRP). They do arrange all of this apparently.
5) GST additional- 5%
6) other duties and customs apply, which I'm still waiting on.

My guess is that the pricing will be nearly identical to full MSRP, possibly more, depending on the customs/duty piece. PM me if you want me to email you some data. I suppose 10% off MSRP is nice, but immediately accounting for nearly $4k in the shipping/insurance, etc., likely not any cheaper.

 

That's interesting. Looks like the program is quite a bit different in Canada. The only extra charge (and I only found out about this in the order confirmation) is $40 for Customer Ownership Training, but then there is a $100 taxi credit for any type of transportation from the airport/hotel etc. and any applicable additional European road insurance beyond the included 15 days. In my case I bought insurance for 2 months with came out to $971. Financing and leasing through MB is also available, but with leasing the car can only stay a maximum of 30 days in Europe. The 19% deposit looks like VAT, which will be refunded once the car gets to Canada. I've had to make this deposit in the past when I did ED with Audi, but looks like MBUSA no longer requires it. Only if the car isn't exported within 12 months will the customer be responsible to pay the VAT to Germany.

 

No worries hombre. Yea good call, save the money and put it towards carbon instead (makes the car look awesome)! No I didn't get the night package as I like the quad exhausts in chrome which makes it stand out more and I figured the carbon already gives it enough of a black colour. Also the bicolour rims I chose are the new 2019 ones available for C43 coupe pictured below:

 

I am waiting on the confirmation of duties, but seems to me the savings are a rounding error if any and really depends on how bad I want a European summer vacation (badly of course) with a car to rip around Germany in. The other unknown is how long that car takes to arrive chewing into the summer driving season in Canada...only so many days to get through the mountains. The other pain is the no financing option and looking at 4.9% + for 3rd party. That will add up as well.

OK good to know, I cannot see the difference online on the exhaust and do like a little color variation, not really a fan of all black but think a few accents are nice. Please post pics of that car when it comes in!

The dealer has sent me a quote for a March build/April delivery now and it looks like there is a documentation fee of $495 in there with no discount applied at all. I am going to see what they can do to get some sort of a deal on new build here. It sounds like $2-$3k may be the max they would be willing to deal off of this if any.

 

To be perfectly honest, don't do ED to save money. That's not what this is. ED is about the experience of taking delivery at the factory, see the factory, with an AMG you also get to see the AMG factory, so two tours, and of course driving the car on the German Autobahn. You also wanna think carefully about how long to stay and factor in the engine break-in time, so you can actually fully experience the car. I don't know about shipping times to Canada, but for the USA they say 8-12 weeks. It depends on what port the car will be unloaded and where you drop it off in Europe. They ship from Bremerhaven and there is a drop-off right there, so the car doesn't have to be trucked to the port first. East coast is faster than West coast. Last time I made the "mistake" to drop my car off in Switzerland, so it took 3-4 weeks to get to the port and onto a vessel alone. Overall it took 10 weeks before I had the car here on the US West Coast. This time I'm dropping it off at the port to hopefully save 3-4 weeks. My last ED was with Audi, but they use pretty much the same logistics companies.

Regarding financing, make sure you contact those third parties first. Most third parties as far as I know are unwilling to finance ED cars. The car secures the loan and if it's abroad they can't repossess it if one defaults on the payments, or the car may not even get exported. Too much risk for them. Here in the USA if one finances, then they have to pretty much finance through MB. Once the car is here, they can refinance.

 

Thanks for this perspective and I am coming to the same conclusion now that the details are rolling in and I marinate on it more. It was never really to save money, but more so find my way to Europe and experience the off the line excitement and driving around Europe in a respectable car on great highways. However I know that the break in period will limit the spirited driving and with work demands back in NA time, I will likely be scuttling from place to place only to connect to wifi and get work done. I think it would be best with 30 days and more time to plan a route out. As well, the financing piece is an irritant, as is the waiting game for a car from 6-12 weeks. I think it would be easier if I had an ability to wait that long, but I'm a tad impatient, especially in the short Canada mountain driving season and don't want to get my car right and go straight to winter tires!

Thanks for the input all, now have to sleep on the new build option for April delivery. Any reasons not to buy the car are welcome too.

 

Hi,

I was on the same boat as you...after researching for a few months and narrowing down enthusiastic dealerships in my province (ON), I decided against ED. The wife and I decided to drive a hard bargain and we sort of lucked out with our timing as well. We struck a deal and signed the papers on Dec 31, 2018. Our best guess is that we came across eager sellers who wanted to meet their annual quota and bonus targets. I believe we were able to get the max discount they could offer at thst time frame. Keep in mind, you are still eligible for any ongoing MB Canada promotions they run when you are getting delivery of the car. I.e. In our case, on top of the discount we got on he sticker price, we are hoping to benefit from their summer promotions that go live during May - June time period.

After test driving a fully loaded coupe we were sold on all the internal features except for the performance seats. We plan on taking road trips in the summer and I sincerely don't think it will hold up for 400-500 mile trips comfort-wise.

​​​​​​We opted to get it in selenite grey metallic, standard dynamico interior with red stitching, amg bicolor rims, dark ash wood open pore trim, technology package, premium package, heads up display, amg drivers package, intelligent drivers package, 3yr prepaid maintenance.
​
We are not getting climate comfort front seats. Figured we won't need the duality of that feature since we aren't getting leather seats. Rather get the standard heated seats and rely on the car's air conditioning during the summer seasons.

Your criteria and functional requirements may vary. I wanted to share our use case just so you have another case to help marinate your mind with haha.

Super excited for the car! Getting it delivered a week before our birthday week (wife and I have birthdays on consecutive days lol) So couldn't be more excited!