ecb5983

Just ordered a 2010 e550 p2 appearance and wood car msrp'd 65k paid 58k look forward to getting it, just a little worried about the few snow days we have here in long island. Im hoping the blizzaks are the miracle tire like everyone tells me, anyone have experience with them?

ecb5983

well my slk is gone on pretrade also added the distronic after reading pretty good reviews on it. im being told the car should be in 1st week of march, will post some pics when it comes in

EPDRB

You made a great decision on the car and you got an awesome deal! I need to contact your dealer because by my calculations, you're buying the car for approximately $3,000 below invoice!!

ecb5983

thanks, it was actually 2k under invoice, it was a deal i got through my auto insurance company car buying service. I had shopped around quite a bit and the best i was seeing out there was 2k off msrp so i was happy to get the deal, im just hoping i dont have any issues getting service on the car because the dealer is quite a distance from where i live and would rather take the car into a local dealer in the area near me, i hope i dont get treated like crap because i didnt buy the car from them

EPDRB

Thanks for the information and the tip. I'm a member of USAA, so I'll check out their car buying service and see if they can help me. The problem I'm running into is that dealers in my area (Houston, Tx) will only give very small discounts off MSRP due to supply and demand. Every E550 Coupe that hits their lot is either sold or sells in one day. Again, congrats on the great deal!

ecb5983

yeah USAA is what i have and they supposedly have a deal with MB for its members 2k under invoice, however i live on Long Island NY and there were no participating dealers on LI, so i had to goto northern Jersey to buy the car, which i dont plan on bringing the car there for service so im hoping i can get decent service at an LI dealer given that i didnt buy the car from them. So i have to wonder if over all it was worth the savings, i guess, only time will tell. Good luck with finding your car!

EPDRB

It must be a regional thing. I spoke with USAA today and they didn't know anything about the 2K under invoice deal you got. In fact, the absolute best discount they could get me anywhere in Texas was $3,000 off MSRP (inlcudes the $2,000 USAA incentive). The dealer I ordered my car from (back in early December) is a participating USAA dealer and they just laughed when I mentioned the 2K back of invoice deal for USAA members. Oh well, at least my car will arrive early next week and I'll just have to be happy with my $3K discount. Thanks again for your help.

ecb5983

that may be the case, although i thought i did read somewhere on usaa website saying the deal was with MB. I will say this that my wife bought a new lexus rx 350 last year, we used the usaa car buying service and we did not get a better deal than the local dealer out here gave us, so i guess it really has to do with what dealers are willing to participate in and what deal did they make with them. Good luck with the car, enjoy it!

Rowrbazzle

I used USAA when buying my car and the price varies by region. The closest participating dealership to me was near invoice, but there were a number of dealerships near where my dad lives in Maryland that were 2k under invoice before the rebate (so $4,000 total). The participating dealers set the price. If you go to the USAA website and log in you can search different zip codes and find better prices in different areas. I have family in Houston so I looked there, but it said Texas law forbid them from showing the price online and I'd have to submit the request or something. I do remember that Alex Rodriguez MB participated, but I never followed up to get an actual price. But it looks like you already ordered your car so I guess that's probably moot. I dunno. Good luck!

bourgoise

Just took delivery on a new 350 coupe that I purchased using a broker to negotiate my deal, which was nicely below invoice, and then after we agreed to the price I discovered this usaa program that got me an additional $2000 incentive/deduction/rebate. You're only allowed one usaa discount certificate per calendar year. Great program....my broker hadn't heard of it but since has had a bunch of his customers take advantage, on some models the certificate is good for $4000. The dealerships we were talking to, MB South Bay and Encino MB, were very much aware of the program. Only the USAA car buying department at the company was aware and able to navigate me through the steps needed to properly fill out and submit the certificate.

ecb5983

sounds like you got a good deal, its funny to see how much margin they have on these cars, lets face it they are not taking these deals at a loss, i read somewhere most dealers make $7500 on the car at invoice from MB, so even at the base deal from ussa they are making $5500. just imagine if you pay msrp which im sure alot of people do at the end of the day there making 14 to 15k on one sale and that doesnt take into account back end dollars and vip money from the manufacturer. yeah i know they have big overhead but those are still some good margins!

W1SRD

350 deal is very different from 550 deal. There are 350's all over the lots, very few 550's.

ecb5983

I just got some more info on the USAA deal, from what was explained to me is USAA members are eligible for a $2000 discount directly from MB, in addition USAA, through the car buying service, has negotiated special pricing with certain dealers across the country for its members. So in my case they negotiated "invoice" for USAA members at a particular dealer in my area, in addition USAA members are eligeable for the $2000 credit from MB directly to the deal was 2k under invoice. And yes you are only allowed one discount certificate per year and certain models have more or less of a discount.

EPDRB

ecb5983 - My E550 Coupe arrived today and I ended up getting $4,000 off MSRP. I knew I was getting the $2,000 USAA incentive, but I owe you a big "Thank You" for the other $2K. Went on the USAA site, printed out the target price for my area (Houston) and told the dealer they would have to honor it (which they did after consulting with the GM). It is incredible how awesome the USAA deals are in New Jersey. Plugged in a NJ zip code on the USAA site and my E550 Coupe target price was almost $7K off MSRP. I priced a 2010 E63 and wow........$95,975 MSRP with a target price of $84,537. That's over $11K off sticker!! In my region, the USAA discount off sticker was only around $5,000. I will probably buy my next MB in New Jersey and have it shipped to Texas. Will still save mucho bucks!! Thanks again.

ecb5983

EPDRB - im glad things worked out for you, congrats on the new car! post some pic's and your experiences when you get some time. Im told i wont see my car till end of march - 1st week in april but sure would like to hear other peoples experiences. again congrats and glad to see your were at least able to get the additional 2K.

Rowrbazzle

It really is great. I couldn't have been more satisfied with the USAA deal. You should see the discounts that show up at the end of the year. When I was looking last fall the pricing on 2009 models was insane. A CLS was like 17k off of MSRP and an S Class was 25k off. If only my budget had allowed for it. Enjoy your ride!