vipermann1

First, hello everyone. I am new to this board, just joined today.
but have been reading this forum for over a year.
Looking forward to having discussions with all of you.

Well, I test drove both an MB E350 and E550 CAB. Liked them both.
I think the E350 is quiter and better with fuel economy.
Seems like its fairly fast even with the V6.

Dealership has already told me about a 6-8 week timeframe to order car with the options I want.

So decided on the E350. Now, I just want to find out what should be the market price. (I live in Los angeles, Ca)

So, here are the options I am looking at:

2011 E350 CAB ..................$56850
Paint ... $750
Package 2 ..........$6450
Wood Package.....NC
Premium Leather .... $1370
Appearance Package ... $1990
Wood Trip Package ...$760
Rear Side Airbags .... $420
MBRACE ... $750
Destination ..... $875

Total ..... $70,185

What should I pay for this vehicle, based on your buying experiences??

Thanks,
UZY

vipermann1

Also, if I may ask:

Is there a particular MB Dealership (or sales person) anyone here can recommend in the Los Angeles/Orange County area?

Much appreciated!!!


Thanks,
Uzy

1908

My experience is LA has been that dealers are asking for MSRP.
You specs sound pretty standard and I am told that there are more 350s available than 550s. Are you sure you would have to order? There may be some on the ground. I would call around and see who has what. I have spoken with a a few dealers and can provide some opinions, privately. PM me if you are interested.

mcdohl

You are never going to get the same or a bigger discount on a special order car because the dealer knows you want that car thus will not need to discount it to move it.

Dealers are more motived to move cars they have in inventory as they are paying interest on their inventory. They also want to sell what they have in stock as fast as possible too so they can get higher allocation of hot cars like E-Class Cabs and SLR.

So if you are trying to get a deal on a car, try to find one that fits your needs and negotiate with dealer. Be prepared to walk out of the dealer if the price is not what you want to hear. With that being said, I doubt you will be able to get more than $1k discount currently in So Cal on E-Class Cab considering summer is just starting and as the weather gets nicer demand for these cars will increase. If you goto Cars.com you will see they are 81 Cabs listed in all of So Cal and 7 are 550 and 74 are 350. So considering you want a 350 as long as you are willing to be some what flexible on options and colors you might be able to squeeze $1.5k out of some dealer on an 350 right around now which is the end of the month.

You are also going to be hard pressed to find a 350 equipped like you want as I have a felling very few 350 get shipped with that many options considering a E550 p1 car is $69,675 and I have a felling most buyers would prefer lightly loaded E550 over fully loaded E350. That is why most of the E350 on Cars.com are between 62-67k. A search of Cars.com shows 7 E350 listed with MSRP between 68-70k. The difference between the car you want and ones listed tends to be they are either missing Mbrace, rear side airbags or wood steering wheel or a combination of the 3.

threeMBs

I can help with wood steering wheel.

s600ed

Dont mean to go off topic/hijack this but how much should the hardtops go for?

mcdohl

By Hardtops do you mean E-Class Coupes? Easiest way to buy a Coupe at invoice is via Costco car buying program.

s600ed

My mistake, yes, I mean the coupe. Anyone getting theirs under invoice?

bkahn

Try zag.com.

I am a member of USAA and they contract with this company to negotiate deals. Most deals they negotiate are for below invoice.

I was looking to purchase a e550 cab. Since it was a new model, a negotiated deal was not available directly through USAA, so I contacted zag.com to see if they could help. They negotiated a deal from a So Cal dealer for me to get the car for 1K below invoice.

However, the deal was not in writing, so when I showed up at the dealer, it was quite a hassle with lots of haggling and confusion. However, the end of the story was good: I paid $500 over invoice for a launch edition e550 cab, a savings of over 5K...

This might be a tough deal to match, but I would check out zag.com... The yhave a deal where you can use them, even if you are not a USAA member.

BTW, get the 550. It is soooo much nicer...

Cheers.

BK

BogeyGolfer

The USAA Mercedes deal (USAA Member Vehicle Incentive Program/EAB) expired 30 June although as per their website it appears some models are still eligible until 31 July. Their website doesn't include 2011 cabrios. The actual USAA form only lists $1,000 for the 2011 E cabrios. The only other 2011 models that were included were the E-Class Wagons ($2,000) and the SL-Class ($3,000).

2010 model year incentives ranged from $1,000 to $5,000.

DINOSMB

Typically you can expect to to get a 3% discount off MSRP for a car in this class.

varsity

Where did you get this information?

In my case, hard numbers:
- New 2010 E350 Coupe, 17 miles on odo
- $57,595 sticker
- 6% off sticker
- $54,196 sale price
- Plus $600 dealer fee and $42 tag fee

My suggestion for buying cars is to decide how much you want off sticker - 6% is fair for MB, BMW, and Porsche, I'd say - and then call your local dealers and ask them for exactly what you want. When you find a salesman who verbally agrees, get them to put it in writing via e-mail or fax. This isn't difficult.

bmovegas

What's the $600 dealer fee?

varsity

Basically it's profit for the dealer.

In my case, they call it an "administrative services fee." It's a pre-printed figure on the purchase order form.

microbe

My dealer in North Carolina offerred me list price of $62025, that's full MSRP and taking my 2006 CLK 350 with 107000 miles on it as a trade for $20K. Trade in value from KBB is near $15K and NADA is near.

The price of 62025 are with P1 package, wood trim package, chrome door insert and rear spoiler.

From the extra that I get from trade is approximately 5K thus the car discount and the bottom line is that 62025 - 5K = $57025.

I am sure they are playing with figures and I have researched EBAY or similar site selling price of my old car which is +/- 18K.

Could fellow chatters guide me through this negotiation.

Automobilist

We bought our new 2010 E550 Coupe, with Premium II package and a few other options last month. List (sticker) price was just over $65k. I paid $54k, no additional garbage fees, simply tax & license. 17% off of "retail"...

microbe

That's way too cheap n congratulations. Anyway, I am contented with what I got for the transaction as considered my old clk 350 with 107000, top need replacement of those tiny struts and lastly a 3.9% rate

tishC300

Hi -

I currently own a 2008 C300 4Matic and was looking to trade it in and get the 2011 E-Coupe. This is the deal I am getting.

Sticker Price: $57,300 (it has P1 Package, The Adaptive Suspension and Look Package, Wood Trim)

Price: $51,000. Do you think this is a good deal. The Edmunds.com says that the Invoice is around $52,850.

Kindly Advise! Thanks.

microbe

Just ask them the of your trade is from KBB or NADA?

They have different set value for trades and at time is the same.

I preferred NADA.

Get the higher value between both and you will see the differences of price.

Be cautious when getting a coupe as its re-sale are much lower than convertible.

Anyway, the price you are getting is very attractive and if its without trade then it's definitely a good buy.

If trade then be careful as it might take your car in to the extent it's under the trade value.

Forget to mention that I took delivery of my 2011 E350 Convertible last week and have clocked 1200 miles.

This new car is not as powerful as my old CLK becos it's heavier but with the paddle it's fine, consumption a little higher by 2 to 5 miles per gallon, bluetooth works fine but unable to load my phone book, it's sedan like compared to my old ones which is much lower, interior room is much more and one thing missing is that it did not close the window when top is up from open which my old ones did.

The "HOLD" on brakes that keep the brake light on and car stopped on slope is very good standard option.

The seat belts are different from old clk which when they pulls back, we have to manually pull it back to secure in it but the e350 has a button to make it comes back again.

This car is a little higher so sharp turn we could feels the different between the old clk which much more steadier.

I got the Mars Red, mocha/lite color leather, P!, wood Trim. Rear spoiler and Chrome door handle insert.

tishC300

Thanks buddy!

I've agreed on a deal. They have to do a dealer trade. Hoping all goes well.

2011 E350 Coupe - Diamond White, Tan/Almond Interior, Wood Trim, Spoiler, P1 Package, Agility Control Package (Includes 18 Inch Wheels)
Sticker: $57,300
Got it for $50,500
Trade-in: $24,500 (2008 C300 4Matic - 28,500 Miles, P1 Package)

I think it's an attractive price. I'm still a bit hesitant on the Color. What do you think?

microbe

Considered very good buy and you don't have to worry much about resale value because you got it real cheap.

Somehow I got the convertible which is 7K higher than yours and it goes back to the price different between a coupe and convertibles.

We both got good deals.

Chopstick217

Sorry don't want to hijack the thread, but I recently got a E350 coupe with an MSRP of $55,700 for 51,000. Did I get a good deal? Btw, I am also new to this forum as I used to drive BMWs

microbe

Discount hovering arond +/-10% should be good.