FLSL55

You ALL are talking about discounts.

No one has mentioned...(unless I missed it) the fact that dealers sometimes charge $495 dealer fee's.

So if you got 2k off you REALLY managed $1500.

What were YOUR dealer fee's?

mco

There are no dealer fees in N. California. That sounds like a bogus way to lower a discount. Some dealers like Honda dealers charge an advertising fee which you can usually get them to drop. I would subtract that from any discount.

abhansali

I have ordered from a dealer in No. Cal with no dealer fees. I have also talked to every dealer in Texas, no discounts, but no dealer fees..

innerloop

According to autospies.com, there are now hidden dealer rebates on several MB cars, including most types of "E"s, around $2000. If its true, it would seem to confirm that they've got some inventory buildup on some Es and Ss, mainly. Interesting.

mco

The hidden rebates on the e classes are for 2002 and not 2003 models.

innerloop

Oops - missed that small detail.. damn! Hard to believe they still have 2002s kicking around at all..

Benzoid

Duh, would you buy an 02 instead of the 03? Maybe with a $15k discount I would have considered. It is such a different car they could have renamed / rebadged it. I'll bet you could get $10k off an 02, easily.

benggolf

No additional dealers fee charged in Canada. Most dealers pretty much stick to MSRP + CDN$1,500 for Freight/PDI + CDN$135 documentation service.

Perhaps in another 6 months when the novelty of the new W211 has subsided, dealers may consider giving discounts.

Gethen

Nobody mentioned "dealer holdback" - MB theoretically pays 3% of MSRP to the US dealer, regardless of model, over 90 day period.

jposhea3

In November a nyc dealer was sending out emails to unload their 2002 E classes, including E430 Sports for about $40k (ie 2-4k under invoice). I figure you could probably talk them lower :-)

pat a.

Has any one ever actually seen a dealer invoice sheet for a 2003 e320 or e 500?

The deal I cut with my dealer is that he would sell me the car at an amount we agreed to over whatever the invoice amount was on my car - this resulted from a furious bidding war that he got into with another dealer over my purchase.

I signed based on that agreement, but now I am wondering if he will not try to get me with some hidden "fee" (such as advertising or other type) that is charged to a dealer by MBUSA on the invoice for their cars. The deal sounded pretty good at the time but now I wonder if I'll be in for a surprise when I go to take delivery.

I t sounded like people on the forum had good information that no additional fees were being charged to the dealers, but I am wondering if anyone has factually verified this.

amg55

Rule number one is this:
3% of the E500 MSRP base price of $51,011 is already being paid back to the dealership by MB.
So selling "at invoice" equals a $1530 profit for the dealer.

Second, they get kickbacks for any financing deals they arrange.

Third, they have better profit margins on the option packages than on the base vehicle. Selling you several options can be more profitable than selling you the car itself at base price(!)

They're hardly running the business in the red selling vehicles at invoice. Selling them at MSRP they're making an absolute killing.

abhansali

pat a,

Check out http://www.qesonline.com/personal/03ECLASS. Also, amg55, I think the $51,011 is in E500 invoice price, not MSRP. Also I think the holdback is 5%, not 3%.

amg55

There's a summary list of holdbacks by manufacturer at edmunds.com.
That's the list I have always looked at.
It says 3% for MB.
That's the highest in the industry.
No one is listed at 4% or above.

jposhea3

autospies.com had them at 5% in October sometime, dig thru the site and you can probably find it - search holdback and autospies

DHS

Dealer Hold back is 3 %..Actual markup from invoice is another 5-7 so the total potential profit for a dealer is 8-10 % ..remember, they only get the holdback is they get a good customer satisfaction survey ( entire dealership, service, sales etc )