Steven Long

The salespeople at my local dealership have real issues with selling cars - it's almost impossible to buy a car from them, even when I walk in with a bank check. Well, I stopped doing that back in the early 1990's. I currently have 6 MB's under regular & semi-regular service at the same dealership. Everyone within the service department knows me, and does whatever they can for me ... because I keep going back.

My servicing dealership will give me a loaner for any service, but I often opt for breakfast or lunch on them at a local restaurant if it's a 2-3 hours repair or service (they will drive me, if requested). They will also pick up the car at my house or work, and return it there as well. If I drive the car in, they will drop me off at home, if I do not need a loaner car.

If you are concerned about the potential for a loaner car - just ask your SA. Remember that each dealership usually has a Service Manager, Sales Manager and General Manager. Service MGR answers to the Gen MGR as to revenue of service, while the Sales MGR answers to the Gen MGR as to revenue of sales. each, should want your business (er, uh, money).

Steven Long

The state should have nothing to do with the MF rate (only sales tax) ... however, dealers make money off of the MF as well as CAP COST / sales price. It depends on how much $ the dealer wants to make. If they want to make more money (vs. just CAP COST or sale price), they make it up on MF, or on interest rate if financing through them.

trematix

MB has a standard MF rate every month which i believe is .00165...anything above that is markup by the dealer. the only reason i ask which state is because lease prices differ from state to state due to supply and demand.

richmondR

Thanks again for the advice about going to other dealers for service ... that does settle my mind quite a bit.

Unfortunately, the prices being quoted on the 4-Matics are quite a bit higher ($4-5000 or more) than the RWD versions, even cars similarly equipped. I think its a supply and demand thing, with many dealers having no 4-matic stock at all. Leann is living up to her reputation of being helpful, but the residual values are lower now than they seemed to be even 10 days ago. Combined with the higher cap costs for the 4-Matics, this seems to be equating to much higher lease payments in the range of $200 higher than posters were posting just ten days ago. For instance, today Leann quoted:

$44,275 cap cost (E350W4, Sport, P1, leather, elec. trunk closer)
36 months, 12K/ year
$5000 out of pocket
$719 + tax

Ugggh. No way.

I will stay positive and I have contacted a few more dealers that seem to have 4 matics in stock, but its a lot of work to find those.

soccerg201

I was told that the 4 matics in the new E will not be out for a little while so that may have somthing to do with the low discounts. Yes that lease payment seems high. That is what my payment is on an 09 E550 ($69000 msrp) and I purchased it. Financed over 6 years at 4% interest. By the way, I live in the upper penninsula of michigan where we got a whole lot of snow and i do a whole lot of driving and mine is a rwd. A good set of snow tires will work wonders!

DrDrilZ

to be fair, Im sure you put down more money than him.

richmondR

More bad news ... according to at least one dealer, the MF is higher for the 4 Matics than the RWDs?

I'm coming to the conclusion that there never was anything near the deals mentioned by other posters for E350 4-matics, and that those rates very likely only applied to RWD models. I've got one or two dealer inquiries still open, but I'm basically letting this go until very early next month to see if the incentive situation has gotten any sweeter. Unlikely, but if you dont have hope, what do you have??

After I talk to Leann on Monday, I will report the news back to this board.

zitsky

Does anyone know prices on 2008/09 wagons? I'd like to find an E550 wagon with 4Matic and dynamic/heated/ventilated seats. Was that still offered on the E550 or only on the E63? Was there an E63 wagon for those years?

The MBUSA website doesn't even show the wagon either in the build tool or find a vehicle tool. There seems to be no way to check inventory except to contact each dealer individually. I have two local Mercedes dealers here in Raleigh that I could play against each other.

Kar don

I think there was only an E350 wagon in the USA for 2009.

DrDrilZ

no e550 wagon

werewolf34

Here's what I've seen

10K dealer money for 2009 e350 sedans
4k in 'hidden cash'
5-6k in market adjustment (i.e. no way to get full price when the new model is 6k less)

19-20k off if you break *****

Leases
45% residual - 3 yr /12k yr

richmondR

On 4Matics?

werewolf34

No, RWD basic sedans

4matics and wagons are low volume cars. You won't see real incentive programs b/c they won't push the sales needle much

soccerg201

5 k trade in 2k down but i financed tax and fees

Steven Long

- That would not surprise me. As I had mentioned before, the MF is a matter of making more money on higher "interest" rates, or less money on lower rates.

- Incorrect! The viability of a specific model or drivetrain is different, depending on what part of the country you are located within. In the snowbelt or Northeast, more people opt for 4Matics, and dealers typically stock more 4Matics. Incentives are incentives. Are you suggesting MB would not offer incentives on what you suggest is a slower moving sales item, because it doesn't sell as many units? The whole idea of inentives is to move units - period.

soccerg201

Well whatever the reason 4 matics are not being discounted like the rwd. My local dealer had and e350 4matic on their lot and i was able to get a e550 rwd that they had to trade to get for the same price.

werewolf34

Easy Stevie...The purpose of incentives is to move cars...but when you do that you are trading less revenue / profit for volume. If you cannot goose volume, then incentives are a bad idea (price elasticity).

Do you have sales numbers on 4matics vs rwd in the e-class? I don't but I would guess 4matics make up 5-10% of unit volume sales.

cracker123

Received the E550 couple days back had 12 miles on it, from Leann. Will get pictures of E350 and E550 once the tinting is done on the E550. Leann tinted E350 for free but we have to get the E550 tinting done locally since she had to send the car over from another dealer.

Both cars are Black and cannot spot the exterior differences except the labels. E550 starts with a nice growl. Nice A/C Seats and the rear A/C controls. Also the E550 steering feels heavier and more BMW like than the E350.

Both cars look great, will get pictures here pretty soon.

richmondR

Congratulations. I saw in an earlier post that you ended up getting 21K off MSRP. I know about the $10,000 incentive, but any idea where the other discount is coming from? Did this include a fleet discount or anything like that? Thanks.

davezaristo

The best deal i can get in the SF Bay Area right now is 17.5k off w/o the fleet pricing...i wish my company was on the list for the fleet pricing...

chokaay

If you're thinking about getting a 2009 E-Class, right now is a good time:

"Mercedes-Benz 2009 E-Classes HUGE DISCOUNTS: E350 for $35.5K, E550 for $51K, E63 AMG for $67K (YMMV depending on the dealer)"

Seems like lots of people are getting in on these deals, and many dealers are running out of stock, or has already run out of stock in the last couple weeks or so. (Most of the remaining stock seems to be on the west coast, according to posters in the thread.)

weinschela

I just bought an E350 wagon 2009 for between $15,000 and $16,000 off sticker. P2. They are scarce and I could not get it any lower,m but it was enough to make me say yes, as I expect to keep the car for a long time.

chokaay

Congrats on your new purchase! Hope you enjoy the vehicle!

And yeah in my area I think the E-Wagon is pretty rare too. In fact, I haven't seen a recent E-Wagon (2007-2009) ever in my life! And I rarely seen any old E-Wagons on the road either (the last time I remember being 3-4 months ago). Must not be that popular in CA...

trematix

Just picked up my new 2009 E350 with p1 and sport package. It was the last one in the dealership and the color I wanted, artic white.

$530 Month which includes tax
only $700 out of pocket which was first month and registration.

cracker123

Just call Leann @ 7725798008. Just a plain old discount. No fleet or nothing special. 21k off msrp is on the E550 only. She told me that they are running out of these cars now. MB has 12k off on the E550. Good luck with your car.