We have been waiting the past few months to find a good deal on a 09 E350. I'm in no rush so I don't mind waiting a few more months but I don't want to wait too long so there is no selection anymore. When would be the right time to buy?

 

Really depends on how picky you are. If you want a certain color or certain options, then your best bet is to scope out the dealerships now to find what your looking for. Then inquire about the car, but you don't necessarily have to purchase the car at this point unless your offered a deal you just can't pass up. Just keep tabs on the car and check in with the salesman every other week, the more w212's that come in the more they want to move out the w211's. On the other hand, if your not picky as to which color/options are on a car, you can hold out much longer. There will be a lot of w211's on the lots for quite some time, I seen this same situation with the w203 C class, everyone wants the new and improved model, so they have a hard time selling the older model (to the tune of having w203's on the lot still a year after the w204 was introduced). My dealership has quite a few w211's, so it will be a few months before they get desperate to move cars, although if you want a Bluetec that's a different story. My dealership has two brand new untitled 2008 Bluetec's they can't give away lol.

 

Who is your dealership?

 

I also agree that while the deals will be good now, they will just keep getitng better as hte summer ends and then in the fall and winter, if you aren't picky.

 

I agree. If you aren't picky, then you can afford to wait a while before purchasing a W211 at an AWESOME price. I mentioned in my other post the dealership I went to had a metallic dark-green W211 that I've seen on the lot since my friend purchased his E-Class in 2007. I'm sure they'll probably offer $20+K off invoice (or more) just to get rid of that eye-sore.

On the other hand, if you're pickier about your vehicles, and/or there are certain color(s) or feature(s) you must have in your vehicle, then I would suggest getting it for a GREAT price before all of them sell out (maybe right now). In my area, when I purchased my vehicles in 2009, almost all of the E350's with Parktronic, and ALL of the E350's with P2 or Split Folding Seats were gone in my area. I would either have to settle for a car that didn't have those features, or spend more money to upgrade to a E550, or drive to another part of CA and try the dealers in that area (each dealer only trades with certain dealerships within their immediate area). Since those features weren't "critical" to me, I chose to deal without them. Had those features been "critical" to me, then I would have to chose either option #2, #3, or choose NOT to get a W211.

 

I would wait until September. If all 09 with desired options will gone up to this time, you can always get CLS550 with $20K discount.

 

In May, I got an 09 E350 black/black P2 with folding seats, trunk closer, pano and apparently it was the last E350 in the NW with those options. There was only one black/black 4matic with P2 on the entire west coast. And this was in May. So, the pool of cars with decent options is dwindling.

 

'09 is of course last year of W211s, so best time to buy will surely be when your dealer has a lot full of W212s.

 

in atlanta, the 212's are here. seems the inventory is about 25% 212 now. what is a good deal these days on the 09? $12k off is the best i've seen.

 

whats P2?

 

P2= Keyless Go, bi-xenon headlights and cornering lights w/curve illumination

 

Why would they be discounted like that? New CLS model is coming out? My lease is up in Dec 09 and the CLS looks really appealing except for the price.

 

did i read that right? for july it looks like there is a $10,000 factory to dealer incentive on the 09 e350's. plus finance specials 1.9-2.9%. i'd say the time is now to pick up a w211 for about $15-16k off msrp!

 

Looks like it's true! This is one of the best deals I've seen for the 2009 E350 EVER! It's much better than June's incentives, and May's incentives (when paying 100% cash), and seems to be a little better than May's incentives (when financing). The only thing I can see possibly rivaling this deal is purchasing in May 2009 AND financing for 66 months at 1.9% APR:

JULY 2009
$10,000 Market Support
1.9% APR for up to 36 months
2.9% APR for 66 months

JUNE 2009
$6,000 Market Support
1.9% APR for up to 36 months
2.9% APR for 66 months

MAY 2009
$6,000 Market Support
First 2 Months Payments Free (up to $1,500)
1.9% APR for up to 66 months

If I didn't purchase my 2 E350's in May 2009, I'd DEFINITELY get in on this deal (if they have the colors/configurations I'd be interested in still... last time I checked in May 2009, most of the higher-end configured vehicles were already gone, and I'd imagine the selection is even slimmer now!).


NOTE: The figures above reflect the current and past couple months of MBUSA's Market Support AND Special Financing Offers. It does NOT reflect Special Leasing Offers. IMO, as the year goes on, and as the selection of 2009 E350's get smaller, the deals for people FINANCING or PAYING CASH is only going to get better overall (maybe not in consecutive months, as happened from May to June, but in general the savings trend will go up). The leasing market may differ.

 

...June's incentives included 1% to the dealer in the interest rate, so you could theoretically get .9% for 36 months and 1.9% for 66 months.

I'm not sure if that holds true for July...

 

I'm in the market for a 2009 e350 also. Dealers have been telling me around 14k off mrsp with the new 10k incentive. Still seems high to me?

 

How come nobody works from invoice up (with still taking in consideration of dealer's incentives.) Instead, everyone seems to work with MSRP down. Invoice is what the dealer paid for it, minus incentives. Then add what you feel the dealer should make.

Just curious.

 

That's always been true, whether it's May, June, or July. I have yet to see ANY dealership give up the 1% when negotiating (unless you agree to pay sticker, or a ridiculously inflated price than what you COULD get if you effectively negotiate). All 8 dealerships I've spoken and negotiated with said the exact same thing... that if you wanted to drop the APR by 1%, they would charge $2,000+ more for the car since all discounts come from the "same bucket of money" and the dealership can't give you "everything". Therefore, if you find ANY dealership that is willing to drop the 1% from the APR when financing, that means they are making enough upfront from you to cover that 1% "loss" throughout your financing term (which obviously is the dealerships' "preferred" way).

 

I personally worked from the invoice price DOWN for my deals. That makes it easier for me to compare prices with various dealerships (both locally and out-of-state). I then took the best offered discount from invoice price (and my knowledge of what people were "realistically" getting for my model/configuration car, and then started my negotiations from all the dealerships from there. It's a long and somewhat tiring process... but it works for me!

 

Well, realistically speaking, NO dealership WANTS to give you 100% of every single incentive/discount/rebate/etc they can throw at you (that's why there is the art of negotiation). Dealerships want to keep as much money as they can, because if they can sell the car for a higher price, they make a higher profit... period.

The buyer's "job" is to find out how low the dealership will let go of the car for, and so the game of negotiation is played. Some buyers will be content with a higher price (because they can afford it and would rather pay the higher price than waste more time negotiating a lower price since their time is more valuable to them). Others will haggle for months over the same vehicle until a dealership can meet their bottom-line price (and if the dealership can't, they won't buy the car).

And to make an even more complex and stressful process even more complicated, there are factors that both the dealership and buyer can't control, such as: the amount of factory trunk money available for certain model vehicles, the supply of a certain model/color/configuration of a certain vehicle available to the dealership, the popularity/demand of a certain model/color/configuration of a certain vehicle in a local area, the popularity/demand of MB to the populus in a local area, etc. All of these factors influence the price that different dealerships are willing to sell the car for.

If MB is extremely popular to the local population, and the dealership sees a HUGE influx of people, and has short supply of the vehicle/color/configuration in question, and no local dealerships have any available stock of the vehicle/color/configuration to sell/trade, and the vehicle/color/configuration has been discontinued by MB (like the W211 E-Classes), and the factory gives NO trunk money to work with (like with the W204 C350's), then the dealership isn't going to budge as much on the price of the vehicle in question.

However, if MB is extremely UNpopular to the local population, and the dealership sees virtually NO customers, and has a HUGE supply of the vehicle/color/configuration in question, and no local dealerships have a LARGE availability of stock of the vehicle/color/configuration to sell/trade, and the vehicle/color/configuration has NOT been discontinued by MB (like the W204 C-Class), and the factory gives every dealership a large chunk of trunk money to work with (like the W211 E350's), then the dealership is going to have a lot of flexibility to negotiate on the price of the vehicle in question.



My advice is to call around to various dealerships in your area and ask for their opening offer (although most will NOT give you their prices over the phone, so you'll have to drive to them in person). Also ask various people who just bought your model/configuration of car in your area the price they paid for it (web forums can be very helpful). And also do your research on Edmund's and other car research sites... that will give you a good idea what price you can "realistically" purchase the car you're looking at for in YOUR local area.

 

Down, up, whatever. My point is that everyone should use the invoice as their starting point and not MSRP. But everybody keeps talking MSRP less $xxxx.

MSRP is just a relative number that doesn't mean anything except that it's on the Mulroney sticker on the window (which is on there only because it's required by law.)

What only matters is what the car actually costs, what trunk money the dealer's going to get, and how much the dealer intends to make on the sale.

 

I agree. Using INVOICE price is the way to go.

 

Thanks for all the advice! I went to edmunds and mrsp is $57,495, invoice shows up as $53,532, with 10k incentive, do you think 43,500 would be the best price i should be shooting for? Or are dealers not willing to go into holdback, etc at the present moment?

 

Is it P1? I remember previous year 08 were discounted to $39,000. However the cars had P1.If you are okay with P1 then wait for couple more months. You can consider also E550. They get discounted badly and have leather as standard plus P2.

 

+1 on thinking about waiting for the E550. That is, if a V8 doesn't bother you. As Dema says, you'll get leather, climate control front and rear, and an adjustable air suspension. And most all of them should have P2. imho, the V8 is a MUCH smoother motor. V6s just don't quite cut it in my book; IL6s, yes. But not V6s.

You might be able get one for the same price as an E350. Don't worry about the mpg, it's not that bad unless you plan to use it to deliver pizzas in a city......