Buying from Mercedes cross country help
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Newbie
Joined: Mar 2020
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AMG GT-S
Buying from Mercedes cross country help
As the title states and please forgive my ignorance on the process before hand.
I’m located in, Tampa FL and would like to purchase a CPO car I found at a Mercedes dealer in CA. Should I contact the Mercedes dealer in CA about purchasing and arranging shipping or can I do this through my local Mercedes dealer? Will either do this given the distance of the sale?
If so, how many of you have done this and has it been a headache as far as process (and money) to do?
thank you for any help!
I’m located in, Tampa FL and would like to purchase a CPO car I found at a Mercedes dealer in CA. Should I contact the Mercedes dealer in CA about purchasing and arranging shipping or can I do this through my local Mercedes dealer? Will either do this given the distance of the sale?
If so, how many of you have done this and has it been a headache as far as process (and money) to do?
thank you for any help!
Member
Joined: Jul 2018
Posts: 122
Likes: 28
From: Raleigh, NC
2019 C63s
I would recommending working directly with the dealership in California. My past experiences have been quite seamless. The only bad thing is waiting for a truck to pick up your car and deliver. Depending on your preferences, you should consider an enclosed trailer vs. open.
My buddy flew out from a California a few years ago and bought a Cayman in Charlotte. Drove it to my house (Raleigh), left it for two weeks and a truck bound for CA came by and picked it up. We've both used InterCity Lines.
My buddy flew out from a California a few years ago and bought a Cayman in Charlotte. Drove it to my house (Raleigh), left it for two weeks and a truck bound for CA came by and picked it up. We've both used InterCity Lines.
Senior Member
Joined: May 2015
Posts: 342
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From: Florida
GLE400, 2017 Porsche 911S
Plycar Transportation is another good car transport company. They do a lot of high end cars and even transport for Porsche and other manufactures directly from the port. They are big enough to probably get your car to you faster.
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2019
Posts: 419
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C63s AMG
Depends, if your local Mercedes dealership and the CA Mercedes dealership are owned by the same parent company, AutoNation, they would be able to transfer it for you. I would call your local dealer sales department first to double check.
Out Of Control!!
Joined: Nov 2018
Posts: 11,468
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From: San Francisco Bay Area
2019 C63CS
I would say the only issue with dealing directly with the dealer in CA is that you don't get to see the car first unless you fly out. Just keep in mind, most sales people tell you whatever you wanna hear to make a sale. For a brand new car that's not really an issue, but CPO is often more show than anything. Just go over to the W213 section. There's a guy from the UK who has two threads going, because he bought a car from a remote dealer and when the car arrived it had mismatched tires and a bunch of rock chips in the hood, even though his sales guy said there were no rock chips and never mentioned the mismatched tires.
Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2016
Posts: 497
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From: The NH
2016 Cardinal Red AMG C63 S
I would say the only issue with dealing directly with the dealer in CA is that you don't get to see the car first unless you fly out. Just keep in mind, most sales people tell you whatever you wanna hear to make a sale. For a brand new car that's not really an issue, but CPO is often more show than anything. Just go over to the W213 section. There's a guy from the UK who has two threads going, because he bought a car from a remote dealer and when the car arrived it had mismatched tires and a bunch of rock chips in the hood, even though his sales guy said there were no rock chips and never mentioned the mismatched tires.
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Junior Member
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 63
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From: Charlotte, NC
'21 C63S Cabrio, '21 Corvette C8, '18 BMW X5
I hope it all works out well for you.
I just purchased a new one and had the local dealer do a dealer transfer. In my case the dealer that had the car didn't want to transfer the car and it took almost 2 weeks for them to agree to a transfer by giving them a couple E class cars. The dealer that had the car was old school and was stuck on 'Come to the dealership so we can talk' instead of working with people on out of state purchasing.
I just purchased a new one and had the local dealer do a dealer transfer. In my case the dealer that had the car didn't want to transfer the car and it took almost 2 weeks for them to agree to a transfer by giving them a couple E class cars. The dealer that had the car was old school and was stuck on 'Come to the dealership so we can talk' instead of working with people on out of state purchasing.
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Senior Member
Joined: Dec 2017
Posts: 308
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From: Charlotte, NC
17 C63S Coupe PTG1000
Regardless if buying private party or via a dealer, get a PPI. An unbiased, detailed opinion of a used high-end German performance car is required IMO. If they say no, I’d walk. It’s easier to do with a private party sale but I’ve seen it done via dealer.
Junior Member
Joined: Nov 2020
Posts: 73
Likes: 5
From: North Carolina
C63 S AMG Cabriolet
Took the car out today and dropped the top, in fact. It was gorgeous out.
Member
Joined: Jan 2021
Posts: 232
Likes: 139
From: Arizona
2019 E63S and 2014 CLS 63S
I would say the only issue with dealing directly with the dealer in CA is that you don't get to see the car first unless you fly out. Just keep in mind, most sales people tell you whatever you wanna hear to make a sale. For a brand new car that's not really an issue, but CPO is often more show than anything. Just go over to the W213 section. There's a guy from the UK who has two threads going, because he bought a car from a remote dealer and when the car arrived it had mismatched tires and a bunch of rock chips in the hood, even though his sales guy said there were no rock chips and never mentioned the mismatched tires.
Junior Member
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 63
Likes: 16
From: Charlotte, NC
'21 C63S Cabrio, '21 Corvette C8, '18 BMW X5
I agree you would want to either look at it first hand or find your own PPI. If you have a third party PPI done do not use one referred to you by the dealer and make sure to look into the third party's reputation first. My father has purchased a few classic cars remotely with a PPI done and sometimes the person doing the report is useless.
Thread Starter
Newbie
Joined: Mar 2020
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AMG GT-S
Thanks for the reply guys, very helpful!
I have been trying to get my wife interested in a new car for a while. She hates buying new cars and really has zero preference on them. So far she has only really liked a C350E a local dealer had but, it was a 2018 and had 22k miles which was just too high of mileage for us to buy.
After searching Mercedes CPO online nationwide inventory we found, West Covina Mercedes in CA has a identical to the car she drove here. It’s a CPO 2018 C350E with just over 2k miles on it. Which I’d like to think with the luck I’ve had with my local Mercedes dealers so far maybe this could work out well. A lot of cars make their way here to FL from CA, hell my 2017 AMG GT is a CA car I purchased CPO at my local Mercedes dealer with 13k miles and it was in immaculate shape, so I imagine from one Mercedes dealership to another the odds the car being a turd can’t be that great given the low miles, history of the car and it will still be a Mercedes CPO purchase vehicle, any mechanical problem that may arise I’m confident our local dealer will do well in handling it as they should.
our main concern is the handling of the shipping of the car and finding a quality place to handle it if it all works out.
I have been trying to get my wife interested in a new car for a while. She hates buying new cars and really has zero preference on them. So far she has only really liked a C350E a local dealer had but, it was a 2018 and had 22k miles which was just too high of mileage for us to buy.
After searching Mercedes CPO online nationwide inventory we found, West Covina Mercedes in CA has a identical to the car she drove here. It’s a CPO 2018 C350E with just over 2k miles on it. Which I’d like to think with the luck I’ve had with my local Mercedes dealers so far maybe this could work out well. A lot of cars make their way here to FL from CA, hell my 2017 AMG GT is a CA car I purchased CPO at my local Mercedes dealer with 13k miles and it was in immaculate shape, so I imagine from one Mercedes dealership to another the odds the car being a turd can’t be that great given the low miles, history of the car and it will still be a Mercedes CPO purchase vehicle, any mechanical problem that may arise I’m confident our local dealer will do well in handling it as they should.
our main concern is the handling of the shipping of the car and finding a quality place to handle it if it all works out.
Senior Member
Joined: Dec 2017
Posts: 308
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From: Charlotte, NC
17 C63S Coupe PTG1000
I agree you would want to either look at it first hand or find your own PPI. If you have a third party PPI done do not use one referred to you by the dealer and make sure to look into the third party's reputation first. My father has purchased a few classic cars remotely with a PPI done and sometimes the person doing the report is useless.
Senior Member
Joined: May 2015
Posts: 342
Likes: 91
From: Florida
GLE400, 2017 Porsche 911S
Getting a PPI is always recommended. I think it's important to see if they incorporate a paint meter in their inspection just to see if any unreported bodywork was done. I'm not sure if using a paint meter is the norm for a PPI especially since the inspection is geared more towards finding mechanical issues.
Detecting unreported bodywork could save you thousands of dollars both in your negotiations and when you go to sell the vehicle. I once sold a Maserati to a dealership and the first thing they did was to use a paint meter on several areas of the car. Paint meters accuratly measure the paint thickness. Any variations in paint thickness is an indication that the car had bodywork.
Detecting unreported bodywork could save you thousands of dollars both in your negotiations and when you go to sell the vehicle. I once sold a Maserati to a dealership and the first thing they did was to use a paint meter on several areas of the car. Paint meters accuratly measure the paint thickness. Any variations in paint thickness is an indication that the car had bodywork.
