storm10

Yes, but it's 2011... Plus I thought 2011 S-Class is sold out already.

Don't forget, when you go to dealership you still can negotiate the bigger discount on top of your USAA discount. You just need to do a little of negotiating.

Yesterday I read this article: Art of Negotiation. Very entertaining. It has the test to asses your negotiating skills. And if you read to the end it gives the test results. I was lost for a moment....

ppilot

Consider European Delivery? 7% ($4,991 off list) and get the exact car you want. http://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/europe...50C#appearance

Ferrast

My guess is that a flight to Germany for two people would offset the savings. Do you know whether I could obtain the 7% off msrp plus the USAA incentives? That is probably too much to hope for.

Thanks.

storm10

Hey Ferrast, I just talked to my guy. He said he can sell 2012 CLS550 for $750 over invoice minus USAA incentive. He said it's unbeatable.

I don't know the rules of this forum if we can put salespersons name. But if you give your e-mail address I'll pass it along to him, so he can contact you and you can deal with him directly.

tmushy

I dont how how good of a deal this is but I ended up leasing a new cls.

Its white with pretty much every feature. Sticker was 85k.


I put 3k down and about $1100 a month after taxes for 39 months.

K-A

You're spending about $45,900 for the duration of the Lease. If you were to purchase, it would be the same as the car being worth $38,100 (not applying taxes so it'd be more like low $40's actually) after the Lease was up.

I guess only time will tell how good the current Lease rates are, lol. No doubt the "new hotness" premium is factored into your Lease price, so make sure you drive it around in the first year a lot and take advantage of that. I saw a CLS on the road today (only seen about 2-4 driving so far) and it looks very elegant on the road.

My first year of having my first W212 (2010), which also had the "new hotness" premium factored into my Lease price (I was getting royally screwed once the 2011's hit the lot), was fun to have as a fresh new body style.

Ferrast

There are two ways to view your deal to see how good it was. First, compare it to other 39 month leases of $85k autos. Second, you could compare it to purchasing the same vehicle.

I've contacted a lot of dealers and it seems to me that you must have been able to negotiate to the mid $70s (or a little lower) as a sales price and received a good money factor.

In connection with a purchase comparison, only time would tell whether you would be able to sell a 39 month old CLS for the residual value or better. I would guess that it would be difficult to do so since you would be competing with CPOs plus you would need to consider the inconvenience of selling the vehicle. This second way is probably moot since you would not have leased the auto if you were interested in purchasing it (with the low rates today).

Overall, I think that you got a very good deal. Enjoy it!!!

kamran1234

I am getting a 2012 4 matic CLS for 39 months/15K miles, build price of 85K on mbusa website.
6000 down and 1075 per month ( this includes all taxes. ) is this a good deal

Ferrast

Has anyone taken advantage of the MB CLS December lease special - $999/mo with $5.4k down, 39 mo lease, 10k mi/year for a car with Premium Package I ?

It seems comparable to the well-negotiated leases on this thread.

tmushy

not sure if I posted this already.
I got a white fully loaded cls. Sticker price was 86k for 3k down and 1150 a month. Thats after taxes and it includes the mercedes services.

blazinginder

What kind of discounts off MSRP are you guys seeing on well equipped CLS550's right now? A dealer wasn't opposed to giving me $10k off on a new $82k MSRP CLS550 4-matic...should I be able to get more? getting it for $6x,000 would psychologically make it a nicer deal...is this doable?

dwaldmann

Only if you somehow luck out. Kinda like going to Vegas and expecting to come home richer - the rules are not set that way.

As pointed out earlier in the thread by the formulation of of lease payments, they are based on the anticipated depreciated value at the end of the lease, plus interest for the difference. You may luck out if they've miscalculated the anticipated depreciation, but the people that come up with those numbers do nothing else and their job is on the line to come up with one that makes the company money, not the buyer. You can believe that the mfr is planning/expecting/hoping that the residual value is on the low side, so they can sell the car and make money off it the second time as well.

Bottom line is, don't feel like you can beat the house.

Ferrast

Even if you are paying for all of the depreciation via a lease for 3 years, it might make sense to lease rather than buy. It appears to me that if you compare a 36 month lease with purchasing the same vehicle and selling it after 36 months, it might be advantageous to lease rather than buy - or at least close enough that it might not warrant the hassle of selling a vehicle. This assumes that you keep within your mileage limits and keep the vehicle in excellent shape.

After 3 years of owning an MB CLS, you will not be able to compete with the CPO that the dealers offer so you won't be able to sell that car for retail. I realize that there is a rule of thumb that you should only buy appreciating assets and lease depreciating assets, but has anyone investigated this buy/lease issue for high end vehicles?

K-A

People look at Leasing like you're not "buying" anything. You are essentially buying a car for 3 years and then giving it back with no return (not to say that you're not coming out ahead VS if you bought it outright). I wonder how many people don't do the math as to how much out of pocket their Leased Luxury Car is costing them through the whole term? You want to really cringe, for those who have been Leasing for, say, a decade+, that's a lot of cash for cars to rent around to drive for 3 years at a time. Not to say that it isn't financially more beneficial than the other alternative (buy outright, then sell after 3 years), as it can, or can not be, depending.

Ferrast

K-A, other than your current MB, it seems that you get a car every 4 years. Do you lease or buy? Personally, I've done both and each time I had wished that I had done the other. I purchased an '06 E500 new and sold it 6 years later. Looking back, it might have been more financially beneficial to have had two 3 year leases.

Thanks.

dwaldmann

Leasing generally allows you to get a more expensive car than you can buy outright, because you are only buying 30-50% of it. In order to buy the same car with the same monthly payment you need to borrow the money for at least twice as long, but many people forget that they will actually have something (a car!) when they're done, rather than merely a long list of payments. Of course, if you buy, you may well have it longer than the warranty period and have additional out of pocket expenses. Regardless, whenever I see a program that is designed to get people to buy more expensive things I tend to shy away from it. I personally believe that this is one of the primary reasons (it allowed it, not caused it as some people claim) this country is in such sad shape as it is today.

K-A

Actually, the past 4 years I've bought a new car (actually 2 New, and 3 Used before it) every year (total of 5 actually). However, it really depends on whether I "Plan to keep it" (which I always do, but obviously it hasn't worked out that way). If I buy this E at the end of the Lease, I will have spent a LOT more than if I bought it outright.... BUT, I would have tied a lot of cash up in the car, which is cash that I have out working for me via investing, which is a whirlwind of "bad move/good move" in itself, but right now is being a good move (knock on wood), so it gets even more complex there.

However, I will say, the smartest "car investment" I make was when I bought my CPO 2006 E350 in '08 for under $30K, drove it for 2 years and sold it for $10K under. Basically, I payed under around $400 a month for that car, even with the CPO premium and having a tough time getting the price I wanted out of it (I didn't). My Leased E will cost me MORE than my entire 2 year old CPO E did to buy, to just Lease for 39 months, which is a hard pill to swallow. Keep in mind, the Used Car Market is much higher now than it is when I bought my 2006 E (2008, bargain prices everywhere).

In '09, when the car market was in the pits, I bought an '08 Chevy Malibu for $12,900, put over 30K miles on it, never washed it, and sold it over 2 years later for $12,700 (again, 2011 was a much better year for the Used Car Market).

However, my "emotional" side wants a brand new car for my primary car now, I guess that I've spoiled myself with it, so you gotta pay the price.

Dwaldmann: I totally agree with you in many senses.

KCTiger1983

That is a BEAUTIFUL E Class K-A....amazing...love the mods, and I don't normally go for white cars. Well done!

KCTiger1983

You all in California should have been leasing your houses huh?

K-A

Hey, thank you very much! I really appreciate that!

Yeah, it's mah baby.