More than one dealers now offer E over invoice rather than less than MSRP.
1. No lux tax on E 320 now. None on any car after Jan 1.
2. Getting invoice is better than MSRP as for all options also you can ask invoice price which is lower than MSRP.

Have been offered $800 over invoice already.
This is more than $2500 less than MSRP (if options are invoice too)

IQGuy,

Can you send me your email address so I can send you a private email? My email is apurva_bhansali@softexinc.com. I want to find out the dealer name.

Apurva:

The dealer at House of imports in Buena Park in Southern California has offered this over the invoice discount. But I have not booked mine yet. If there are more than one of us trying/ready to make purchase at the same time then may be we can do invoice I think....?

Mane khabar pade to tarat post karish..........

IQGuy,

I talked to him, and he said he would not sell to anyone without a California address...he said it was just his decision, so I can't do anything. I guess he does not want to have to go through any additional trouble of shipping, etc., just wants quick sales..in and out...beware...

Send me your email...Hu Pan Gujarati Chu...

Apurva:

Sorry to hear that you will not be offered the same price as us CA natives. (The only plus financiallay in residing in CA I guess so far)

My feeling is that they will offer you the same discount if you are willing to fly down here and take delivery of your car from here.
They probably do not want to go the extra step in arranging the delivery to TX delaer to split the profits (can understand that)

If you still are interested and if we find a few other folks willing to buy at discount a special order vehicle, we can tell one dealership that we are ordering 3 or 4 new Es and they will love to offer us invoice on all of them.(they still keep the hold backs on them and how many people get order of 3 or 4 new Es at the same time...)

Just some food for thought.

IQGuy, I've got $2100 off in Fremont, so I am finalizing with that. Considering he is trying to work out the courtesy delivery, I think it is a good deal.

When anyone mentions $xxxx over invoice or off MSRP,
I wonder what happens to options also.

As options also have invoice and MSRP.
If you are getting options worth $5000 (average I guess for E)
then invoice and MSRP might show a difference of over $500.

Just a thought.

Latest offers posted on the board:
800 over invoice.

When you start discussing $$ over pure factory invoice then all the options are actually calculated at their invoice price. This is how I negotiated my "just sold" 328iA in February 2000 (I was able to get invoice plus $2100, no dealer prep, handling, advertising added crap). This is rarely happens as if course dealers profits will be highly reduced as the big chunks of the profit comes from the options/accessories you add to the car... lemme see $2600 for a Motorola V60 phone and even with voice activation is PURE ripoff IMHO.

Jeff

Im not quite so clear on why the new E is being discounted so deeply, especially from a big dealer like the House. Are dealers over stocking the W211?

I can undestand the discounts on the E320 as the talks about the E350 spreads not sure about the E500 though.

Jeff

I think it is pretty simple, not the average person spends $50K-$65K for a car, especially in the down economy. So there are a lot of these cars around, you can walk into virtually any dealership now and buy one off the lot, if you are flexible with your options/colors. And as the year comes to a close and sales quotas must be met, discounting happens.

Keep in mind that each dealerships allocation of cars for the next year typically depends a lot on how they performed the previous year. So lets say a dealership gets 100 cars this year but because of poor performance, they only get 90 cars the next year. It makes more sense to sell all 100 cars even with reduced profits this year so that they get 100 or more next year and have a chance to make maximum profits the next year. At least, this is the way Toyota does things...I learned this in high school when I worked part time for the Southeast USA Toyota distributor in South FLA (jhb probably knows the place at the corner of I-95 and Hillsboro)

The previous post explains a lot why the MB dealers unwillingly are starting to discount so rapidly on the new Es. If what abhansali states is true then more dealers will be doing this practice not only this year but in general each year at year end.

It might be a bit more obvious this year with arrival of new model MB and more people wanting to buy them as more such cars appear on the roads next year. So dealerhips would understandably make heavier discounts after Dec. 15th (on the stocked vehicles)

Slow economy seems ture in general, but do you think it will affect the MB target consumer??? (may be in IT buyers.......)

Moral of the story:

If you are a potential buyer, this is your time if you can wait 1 more month............?

Hahahah! IT "potential" buyer here. I haven't seen much about it but I heard they are getting rid of luxory tax beginning 1/1/2003? If true this will be atleast a $1000 savings! (Woohoo, maybe now I can add the keyless go entry option for being an IT guy/geek afterall!) :p

Jeff

Correct. Waiting for the delivery of the car till 1/1/03 will avoid the luxuary tax as well. Wonder if the already discounted prices will reinflate then ???

Luxury tax = 3% over $40,000. That's probably $350-$600. If you're trading or selling outright, how much will your trade fall in value by January?

Worth considering for people who desire to trade. I will not trade.

Also worth considering if you are getting a good discount right now. I think that discount will peak for now due to end of year quotas, and will soften at the beginning of the year...I think this has been talked about on this forum in other threads also.

So, if you get $2K off right now and pay ~$500 in lux tax, that is the same as getting $1500 off early next year (or maybe less), and saving lux tax..

JEFFW:

Obviously sarcasim is not always recognized....:p :p :p

That answer to you was funnier than your post

etenn, just trying to keep the forum for happy MB enthusiasts.
Buyers/owners....
Highlighting relevant facts that help others.