Apologies up front, guys. I've been on forums since before there were forums. I hated these kinds of posts almost as bad as FB posts of the meals my friends were eating (almost).

Anyway, I'm hunting a 2019 C63S, my first MB. Trying to get several dealers in my area into a bidding war, and not sure how successful I am thus far. Right now I have two offers
1) 4% discount off pre-destination MSRP
2) 4.25% discount off pre-destination MSRP (but they want to leverage my USAA discount)

Given the situation -- a facelift year w/ some notable upgrades, their first allocations/builds, limited production, and a high-demand market (DFW), my first question is should I keep hunting and what would be considered a good deal?

The other question I have is that both dealers have a couple orders in (but still have time for me to take and reconfigure one, if I take their deal). Both say their deliveries are likely during the Winter Event. Of course, offer 2 won't allow me to take advantage of any event incentives; offer 1 will. I can't find any current, specific information on winter events for AMGs, and this model particularly. I'm looking to buy, not lease (by my standards the residuals suck), so what's the chance the Winter Event will offer cash off and how much?

Any comment and advice humbly appreciated. Thanks!

As a follow-up question: Can someone explain what the advantage of the USAA discount is to the dealer of offer 2? Clearly, it must provide some offset or write-off to them. I'd like to understand, because dealer 1 balked at combining his discount with USAA. I don't understand why one of them would and the other wouldn't. (I'd like to get dealer 1 to reconsider ...)

Again, TIA!

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Thanks. I should've clarified I'm looking at a coupe. Based on threads throughout this forum, seems dealers are tighter on coupes/cabs than sedans based on other threads here. So, I'm feeling a bit better about where I'm at. My going-in objective was 6% (invoice), knowing/expecting they had holdback and other trunk money to keep them whole. My original threshold was 5%, but not there, yet. 4.25% gets me within about $600 of my goal, so I probably won't walk away from the deal over that relatively small figure; it's as much about the hunt at this stage as the actual numbers.

I should have specified I'm after a coupe. My objective going in was to get as close to 6% (invoice) as possible, figuring they had holdback and other "trunk money" to keep them in the black. When I wasn't even getting to 5, that's when I got curious about others' deals. A host of other threads suggest they're a little more relaxed on the sedans than the coupes, so the fact the sedans are "only" getting 5-6% makes me a little more comfortable that I'm in the ballpark.

At this stage, I'm only talking about a difference of $700 between 5% and 4.25% discount, so it's more about the hunt at this stage than the money.

Thanks for your replies ... I'd still like to understand what dealer 2 is doing with the USAA code, cuz I'd like to poke a stick at dealer one a little more ...

It sounds like they are including the USAA fleet discount code into their 4.25% discount, which is not how it worked when I bought my GLC43, nor how it should work, IMO. For instance, I made my discount offer to local dealer and then reduced that discount further by my PenFed fleet discount (similar to USAA). So, if you asked for a $4k discount and they agreed, you then add the $1500 USAA discount (made up #, not sure what USAA discount amt is) on top of that for a total $5500 discount on the vehicle. Make sense? In essence, you are actually getting much less than a 4.25% because they are "taking/including" the USAA discount in the 4.25%. Again, it should be separate, IMO. The dealer I made my deal with had no qualms at all about doing it this way and in fact, when my car arrived, the PenFed discount was HIGHER and they discounted the vehicle another $500 based on that.

As an aside, I tried to find out from some dealer friends where the USAA discount (or any fleet discount) comes from and the consensus was that it's paid by the manufacturer and the offerer (USAA in this case), not the actual dealer. Now, there may be a % charge back or reduced trunk money to the dealer, if they use a lot of fleet discounts, but that was just a guess by them.

Good luck!

Chris, thanks a ton for the reply and checking your contacts. You're confirming my assumptions (that dealer 2 basically took my USAA discount and combined it with their dealer discount to get to fixed 4.25% discount). If the USAA discount is higher at delivery -- and I'm guessing they expect it to be at year-end -- then they benefit from that, not me. That's irking me ...

What has me more curious now is why dealer 1 would NOT allow me to combine the USAA in the deal or would not let me add the USAA incentive to the deal. If that's really factory or USAA paid, then what's it to them? I'm going to go back to them and talk to them about it.

Thanks, again!

Not a guarantee of discount but when I looked for my 2016 E63 the winter event discount was $3k. I don't recall anything higher from Mercedes-Benz.

You're welcome! Exactly and exactly. It's a separate discount, so I would be pretty clear with them that the deal isn't happening without separating out the USAA discount. They will then probably come back to you and say we can't do 4% or 4.25% PLUS the USAA discount.

They are just trying to save dealer profit and reducing your discount by any means. Nothing wrong with that, it's a negotiation, but that's what they are doing.

So, in general, depending on where you live, time of month, and vehicle involved pretty much determines your negotiating leverage. If you live in an area with a lot of MB dealer's, that's a check in your column. If not, how far are you willing to go to negotiate a better price? You are negotiating at the BEGINNING of the month, so you are less likely to have a dealer "give in" at this point, check in dealer column. Best time is later in month, or preferably, later in month AND quarter end. Finally, the vehicle, the updated 19 C63S isn't even out yet and allocations are "relatively" limited, so again, check in dealer column. Best advice is to sit tight a bit longer (end of month), figure out what YOU are comfortable with as a "deal" with all numbers included, and go back to the 2 dealers then...or even look to outside dealers, if willing to travel a bit. Hell, if you sit tight, the 2 dealers may even come back to you. You can do all of this via email and/or phone which would be my suggestion. Good luck!

One of the most important things for me was did the dealer have a allocation he would give me and what date was it.
The dealer I went with was a little higher but they had a allocation a couple of months out and would give it to me and give me a printout of it. I was able to change the order to my liking and
the car came in as promised. The other dealer did not have an allocation and would not commit to a date and just wanted my order and said they would get me a car as soon as they could.
Dealers can play with you some if they don't give you an actual allocation and can move you back if they get all the money from someone else.