aNo

I am looking closely at an '08 E350 CPO with 65,319 miles on it. It has the AMG sport package and PO2 with a pano roof. It has been sitting on their lot for a little over 90 days and they're asking $23,990 for it. I sent them an email offering the asking price including a 24 month extended warranty mercedes offers. What do you all think about the price? Did I lowball it too much by asking for the extended warranty?

aNo

Awesome! Thanks for the replies!

kurtismayfield

Don't cop an attitude if you realy want an opinion. What did you expect? You have not provided complete information from which a conclusion can be offered!

Other options?
Good Carfax?
Maintenance History?

Did you drive it? Did you have an independent inspection done prior to your offer? What needs to be done ? Tires, Brakes
Verified issues Areas:
Heating - Failed Digital Heater Control Valve May Cause Poor Heat Output
Suspension - Low Vehicle Ride Height Due to Leaking Rear Air Springs
Drive Train - Transmission May Leak Fluid and Damage Control Module

aNo

I have not provided complete information? I said it was "an '08 E350 CPO with 65,319 miles on it. It has the AMG sport package and PO2 with a pano roof"...that is fairly straight forward. There is not many other options beyond PO2 and the panoramic roof.

It drove great for the miles on it but then again, like I have already mentioned, it is a CPO after all.

bkhk

Did you get it?

Kurtis was right, you showed an attitude and didn't give very much information compared to others who ask similar questions.

If you have come here to display attitude at other posters, then go away.

You should have offered $20k, the car is overpriced, sales are slow for used Mercedes.

aNo

I did not get it. Thankfully, I am not in much of a hurry to purchase something.

The vehicle has been sitting on the lot for about 95 days now. It was originally listed at $28,900 and they have brought it down to $23,990 so it was/is overpriced and they knew/know it.

When I was emailing them, I asked them to work with me a little and they dropped it down to $23,500. There's no telling what they gave the previous owner on the trade-in but KBB has it at $19,700. The dealership is not in a good position with this E350, that's for sure. When I went to test drive it, the salesman was saying that if it's not sold soon, it would be going to auction ...I can't see this fetching more than $19,000 at auction.

kurtismayfield

What I was getting at is the CPO is only as good as the provider. It may simply mean some unscrupulous dealer looked it over real quick and slapped another $4500 onto the price and hung it with CPO added from the inside mirror.. Sure, they will replace things under the CPO but guess who gets to find the problems and repeatably return to the dealership every other week!

aNo

I didn't exactly poke around underneath the vehicle but under the hood, it looked clean, no leaks, etc. During the drive, I checked most of the accessories and the one thing I did find that wasn't working was that the transmission wasn't switching out of the Comfort setting; the engine pulled strong and the transmission felt seamless. There were no stray creaks or rattles from the structure itself nor from the suspension. The vehicle was locally owned and purchased from the same dealership. That tells me that the previous owner was probably happy with the vehicle and traded it in at the same dealership that they purchased it from for another Mercedes...return customers is always a good sign. Do you all have any suggestions as to anything in particular I should be looking for?

I got an email this morning telling me they dropped it to $22,990. This after he told me they can't do anything lower that $23,500

kurtismayfield

Sounds like you have them right where you want them...dropping prices and courting your wallet! Probably the first serious nibble they've had in 90+ days was you!

If it is truely CPO the C/S switch should have been tested and repaired.

Have you looked for comparables on Auto Trader or ebay? Might get some more off the price by presenting them with a few lower priced models that you can comment on as interesting!

That plus your knowledge of its trade-in value gives you good info to bargain with them. If you are financing let them know. By using one of 'their' banks they will get a kickback.

My father uses an interesting negotiating tactic. He does not like to quibble back and forth on prices and he lets the salesman know it up front, along with everything else like financing, trade-in value etc.. Then he simply states he is interested in purchasing the car if they are interested in selling it. He then asks them to give him their 'absolute' best price. The salesman always asks, "well, what do you think it's worth?" At this point he kindly reminds them that he does not quibble, barter or bid on cars he either buys them or doesn't buy them.

Now he has set them up for the kill so to speak. He tells them again to give him their absolute lowest rockk bottom price. He adds that they get one shot at it! He tells them if he thinks it is a fair price he will buy the vehicle, otherwise he will leave without purchasing. He also reminds them that the time to go to the sales manager is not after he has turned down the offer and is on his way out the door.

He reinforces the one price offer and comments that if he ends up walking away it is only because he did not think the price was right for him, no harm no foul. And since this was the rock bottom price there would be no reason to return to the lot for this car, But, if they throw a lower offer at him as he is leaving, he will continue to walk and not return again because they were dishonest on the first offer, which was to be their absolute LOWEST price.

It works very well for him and he uses it anytime a price can be haggled. He gets very good prices.

Good Luck

aNo

I'm not too sure what happened with the switch; perhaps it messed up at some point during these past three months that it has been sitting there.

I have looked at others and they are offering the lowest price that I have found. In general, the entire market is overpriced.

I really like that method. I may have to try it with them. Thanks for sharing that! I'm still considering my options though; I really like the Taurus SHO...they're in the same price range, much quicker, surprisingly, have a bit more features and are two to three years newer. Like I said, I'm not in much of a hurry for anything.

bkhk

That is the same method as the one I use except,:

I generally don't accept their offer as being the best they can do. I play the walk away and say something like (all by email) "shame, if you had been $2000 lower I would have done the deal".

They generally come back within 10 minutes and its done.

aNo

Yes, I would like to have some avenue open for actually purchasing the vehicle as opposed to walking away for good.