gdavis808

Hello Forum:

I have a leased C230 and I will be purchasing my first E-Class. Undecided between the E350 and the E320 Bluetec.

My question is about the MB dealer in Hawaii giving discounts (selling under MSRP) and the European Delivery.

Basically, there is one MB dealer on Oahu that they appear to only sell at MSRP. They don't try to add some stupid $5000 Hawaii price, nor do they negotiate down from MSRP.

I have three choices:
1. Buy at MSRP
2. Buy European Delivery, get a Germany trip somewhat paid for (if comparing to purchasing at MSRP)
3. Find some west coast dealer that will sell me an E for under MSRP and ship it here. Shipping cost around $1000. Then deal with the crap from the local MB dealer about ordering some car from under them. I know people that have done with BMW and they (the dealership) are not happy about it when you take it in for service.

Anyways...does anyone else have any experience with the MB dealer on Oahu ? Is this typical for MB dealers to only sell at MSRP? I assume since there is only one MB dealer on Oahu, they can sell at any price and get it. Any advice?

Thanks for your time.

PS - I realized I haven't read the rules about this forum, so I hope this post is OK.

WEBSRFR

If you find a good enough deal, have the car shipped from CA and claim that you brought the car with you when you moved from the mainland. How can they hold it against you if your car moved with you? If they still give you a hard time, file a complaint with MBUSA for being given a hard time and treated as a second-class MB owner. With enough complaints, the dealers will get the message to treat everyone with the respect they deserve. Your car will be under warranty and they will get paid from MB for anything that might come up. If they are unwilling to deal, exercise your options to get the best deal you can. I think MB has taken out most of the gremlins from the car by now so it is unlikely (hopefully!) you'll have to go to the dealer much anyway. Get the best deal you can and good luck! Also, if you do ED from another dealer who is willing to deal, you might be able to get an ED car for a better deal that the published ED rate. It pays to do your research.

konigstiger

MBUSA cannot dictate price to any of its franchised dealerships other than to have them display MSRP. I would suggest purchasing the vehicle of choice, at invoice or better, through one of the forum sponsors https://mbworld.org/forums/adindex.php Afterward I do not see the local dealership refusing your business for maintenance and/or warranty service. Remember dealerships are carried by their service department no matter how many vehicles they move.

For ED, the norm is 7% and shipping off MSRP however, it is common to obtain 10%. Contact TPAbnz https://mbworld.org/forums/members/15877-tpabnz.html his dealer in Florida gave 11% off MSRP.

gabbypig

I went through the same analysis you are doing. I ended up buying from a dealer in So. Cal. and shipped the car to Hawaii. Saved at least $3,000 in the transaction.

No problems with shipping as the dealer delievered the car to the dock for me.

No problems with service in Hawaii. They have never said a word about it and I have always received excellent service.

Aloha.

LAZARU5

I don't live in HI, but the approach I used may work for you. I found a new E500 on eBay at a Buy-it-Now price that I could live with. I went to the local dealer, asked the salesman to look up the auction at his desk computer and said I was prepared to place the bid right there. 30 minutes later they sold me a car equipped exactly as the one on the auction for the same price + the freight I would have paid if I had the car shipped from the MB dealer auctioning the car. Plus they threw in a bunch of MB goodies.

WEBSRFR

I am just curious. How exactly did the pick up at the dock happen? When and how was the money exchanged?

pmb600

I'm jealous of you guys that live in HI! I was on Kauai in February for my Dad's wedding. We did one of those helicopter tours and then the week we got back two of them crashed I'm glad we got to do it when we were there. Anyway...sorry for being off topic, and good luck with the car search.

dds28

Mercedes Benz of Honolulu is owned by Fletcher Jones. If you can get a better deal in CA at Fletcher Jones MB in Newport Beach, I don't think they would care.

hawaiiannights

Just wanted to say Howzit to a fellow local. Would like to know as well how this turns out. Aloha~