Ordering and negotiating
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2021
Posts: 282
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From: California
2021 GLE450
Ordering and negotiating
Those of you who ordered your CLE53, how is the price negotiation process? Do you nego the price before ordering or order first then nego? What's the required deposit and what happens if you walk away from the deal?
I've never ordered a car before so I'm curious and want to be prepared. TIA.
I've never ordered a car before so I'm curious and want to be prepared. TIA.
Senior Member
Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 367
Likes: 81
From: Mississauga Canada
2025 CLE 53 Cabriolet
I'm a long time customer with same dealer , so negotiating is just a formality . We use the latest msrp list price , add a nominal discount ( around 5%) , estimate a trade-in value on old car ,put down a small deposit ( $1K ) and that's it . When new car arrives ,the trade-in is re-appraised (usually unchanged ) and any extras such as extended warranty etc are added . This procedure has worked for me several times with no problems . Of course dealing with the same person who you trust over many years makes the process easy and stress free .
Out Of Control!!
Joined: Nov 2018
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From: San Francisco Bay Area
2019 C63CS
Generally you agree upfront on the price if the pricing is already available or otherwise on the discount, then you place the order. Getting a discount on orders can be more difficult vs buying off the lot. Deposit depends on the dealership and your area. $1000 is fairly common. What happens if you walk away from the deal also depends on where you live. In consumer friendly states like here in California, the deposit must be refunded by law. That's not the case in all states, so worst case you kiss your deposit goodbye. Be clear upfront on whether the deposit is refundable or not and know the laws in your state, or the state you are ordering from if you order from an out of state dealership. Oh, I just saw that you are in California, so there you go.
Having said that, the final price will depend on when you take delivery of the car as incentives and such change from month to month. Same goes for leases, loan conditions and interest rates. You can't negotiate those upfront as they will also have changed by the time you take delivery. Any additional stuff like extended warranty and other crap they gonna try to sell you will all happen at the time you take delivery. So the answer to your question is the negotiation takes place before you order, and then some more when you take delivery. The latter won't be any different than buying a car off their lot. They gonna try to upsell you on crap either way, or sneak in a fee or two and screw you on the financing
.
Having said that, the final price will depend on when you take delivery of the car as incentives and such change from month to month. Same goes for leases, loan conditions and interest rates. You can't negotiate those upfront as they will also have changed by the time you take delivery. Any additional stuff like extended warranty and other crap they gonna try to sell you will all happen at the time you take delivery. So the answer to your question is the negotiation takes place before you order, and then some more when you take delivery. The latter won't be any different than buying a car off their lot. They gonna try to upsell you on crap either way, or sneak in a fee or two and screw you on the financing
.
MBWorld God!
Joined: Dec 2019
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I'm a long time customer with same dealer , so negotiating is just a formality . We use the latest msrp list price , add a nominal discount ( around 5%) , estimate a trade-in value on old car ,put down a small deposit ( $1K ) and that's it . When new car arrives ,the trade-in is re-appraised (usually unchanged ) and any extras such as extended warranty etc are added . This procedure has worked for me several times with no problems . Of course dealing with the same person who you trust over many years makes the process easy and stress free .
Out Of Control!!
Joined: Nov 2018
Posts: 11,402
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From: San Francisco Bay Area
2019 C63CS
I don't think it's as consistent anymore as it used to be since the pandemic. Although, the supply chain has stabilized, delays are still happening. Also depends on where you live. West Coast takes longer than East Coast and if you don't live near either coast, then there's the land transport that has to be factored in, and if the car sustains damage during transport, then it spends much more time at the VPC. So there isn't really a single number. I've done European Delivery with my last two orders, but from drop off at the port in Germany to being reunited with the car again took 10 weeks here at the West Coast. So that's excluding pre-order time and production. I think East Coast is around 6 weeks for the shipping alone.
MBWorld God!
Joined: Dec 2019
Posts: 32,222
Likes: 6,281
I don't think it's as consistent anymore as it used to be since the pandemic. Although, the supply chain has stabilized, delays are still happening. Also depends on where you live. West Coast takes longer than East Coast and if you don't live near either coast, then there's the land transport that has to be factored in, and if the car sustains damage during transport, then it spends much more time at the VPC. So there isn't really a single number. I've done European Delivery with my last two orders, but from drop off at the port in Germany to being reunited with the car again took 10 weeks here at the West Coast. So that's excluding pre-order time and production. I think East Coast is around 6 weeks for the shipping alone.
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Joined: Jul 2020
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From: Southeast US
2025 CLE AMG 53
I have ordered several Corvettes and BMWs and my CLE AMG 53 was by far the least fun process. From the build date moving around, to the system showing it was in production for several weeks, and finally saying the factory pushed the build out another month. I was excited when the dealer said it was built and will be here soon. I had to ask for a copy of the build sheet to discover myself it was not optioned as ordered. I was able to find a similar car on a dealer lot a couple hours away and got my deposit back on the order. The funny thing is the one I found had $3,000 more in options and ended up costing $4,000 less than the one I had on order. I had to work very hard to get anything off on the ordered car, but the dealer for the one I bought was very aggressive on their pricing knowing I was coming from outside their market and offered me a great deal with no haggling needed..
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MBWorld God!
Joined: Dec 2019
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Senior Member
Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 367
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From: Mississauga Canada
2025 CLE 53 Cabriolet
Out Of Control!!
Joined: Nov 2018
Posts: 11,402
Likes: 5,324
From: San Francisco Bay Area
2019 C63CS
I have ordered several Corvettes and BMWs and my CLE AMG 53 was by far the least fun process. From the build date moving around, to the system showing it was in production for several weeks, and finally saying the factory pushed the build out another month. I was excited when the dealer said it was built and will be here soon. I had to ask for a copy of the build sheet to discover myself it was not optioned as ordered. I was able to find a similar car on a dealer lot a couple hours away and got my deposit back on the order. The funny thing is the one I found had $3,000 more in options and ended up costing $4,000 less than the one I had on order. I had to work very hard to get anything off on the ordered car, but the dealer for the one I bought was very aggressive on their pricing knowing I was coming from outside their market and offered me a great deal with no haggling needed..
MBWorld God!
Joined: Dec 2019
Posts: 32,222
Likes: 6,281
This is pretty much happening across the board, not just Mercedes. Largely unheard off before the pandemic. Production delays could always happen, but they were fairly rare. Since the pandemic not only are there regular delays, but as in your case, instead of delaying the production, they are dropping options and build the car anyway. The ordering dealership will buy it anyway and if the original customer refuses delivery, they sell it somebody else. It's still a sale. So, important point to consider for OP. These days, you may not receive what you ordered.
I guess what is worse is some also had options listed on the window sticker yet not actually there.
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2021
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From: California
2021 GLE450
The reason why I'm thinking of ordering instead of buying one off of a dealer lot is because there are virtually none available with the AMG perf seats. Guess not too many people are willing to pay for the upgrade.
Out Of Control!!
Joined: Nov 2018
Posts: 11,402
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From: San Francisco Bay Area
2019 C63CS
Yes, dealerships pretty much don't stock the performance seats. It's not that people don't wanna pay for them, but most people think they are uncomfortable. To be fair, most people are out of shape and overweight, so it's not surprising. The ones you find with performance seats are typically those that were custom ordered, but then the customer backed out at the end, so occasionally you can find them. I've always custom ordered my cars so they have exactly the options I want. The performance seats were a must for me as well in my '19 C63S Coupe. Dealerships only order what they think they can sell and as said the performance seats don't sell.
Last edited by superswiss; Feb 18, 2025 at 02:20 PM.
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