Is this a good price?

No too sure how to put link in

 

how do you post a link? thanks

 

copy and paste

 

http://www.cars.com/go/search/detail.jsp?paId=341611050

 

Honestly that dealer is smoking some good stuff, the same car brand new via the USAA buying program is $60232, via the Costco program is $62712. My friend recently bought a car very close to that one for $62500 even after taking into the dealer the printout from both USAA and Costco program to a non participating dealer as the participating dealers in my area are both 50 miles plus for either program. The dealers are not stupid, if they wont come close to or match either buying program, people will drive an hour to save $2k+ as basically every $7k or so is $100 a month on a lease payment.


Most dealers have plenty of E sedans they are not hot at all and most dealer are discounting that car heavily today already. And sticker is $66475 on that car. So the dealer is discounting the car less than $3k and Invoice on that car is $62370.

So the dealer is looking for a sucker to pay over invoice for used car. I am not claiming he wouldn't fine one. More than likely the dealer should be selling that car at below invoice and definitely cheaper than both USAA and Costco programs as that car is used and you can get a new car via either buying program for less than his used car. I fully understand getting access to USAA buying program is not easy as it is now close to new members unless you are retired or active military but joining costco is as easy as going into costco and paying for the membership.

 

thanks for the advice

 

Actually the E sedans are good sellers and are in demand. Having recently shopped for and purchased a new E350 4M luxury I can tell you first hand this is correct. There are more sports than luxurys in dealer inventory. Not finding one in the US that met my specs I found that I had to order one which I did and subsequently was delivered. My spec was not unusual either it was palladium silver, Light beige leather interior and P2 with 4 Matic. They are being discounted and there is no waiting list per se. MB's production has been at a high level for this new E and that eliminates the wait list. They feel the competition is BMW and Lexus and thus the discounts. My dealer usually has 25 to 30 new E's in stock and when I was last out there they had only 9.

 

I never said they were not good sellers at all. I said they are not hot ie no longer demand a premium at all or even sticker which is why they are both on Costco and USAA car buying service are being heavily discounted now. If you goto Cars.com and look at their smart buying price that is $63151. That price might vary by area but no way in some parts of the country is that going to be $2-3k more and the smart selling price is $800 more than what that dealer wants for a used car.

Also I did a search on Cars.com for your car and and I found 2 built like yours listed out of 91 palladium silver. As getting P2 package on 350 is always harder to find as most dealers normally order P1 on 350 and P2 on 550. Their are 695 E Sedans listed on Cars.com with in 25 miles radius of my Zip Code. And not all dealers list cars on cars.com either.

I always order the same car, ever 3 years from my local dealer for over 20 years, I have a standing order, It is whatever 4 passenger convertible is out in black/black with black ash wood, P2, Sports appearance package, wood steering wheel, and black top. I have leased 2 E Cabs and 4 CLK Cabs, and I have a new E Cab on order. Last time I leased a car 3 years ago, the dealer made a mistake and somehow sold my car as normal salesman I deal with was on vacation when my car came in, and so was the general manager and acting manager claimed to have called me to confirm I was taking the car as another customer wanted my car and they got a disconnected number which was a straight up lie, as both the general manager and my salesman confirmed the number in the system was correct.

You would figure a 550 CLK Cab with Black/Black with a Black top and P2, Sport Appearance package would not be hard to get right? Wrong, the dealer checked his computer to see if he could find anything close to what I always order, and no one had any in stock, that was 3 years ago when MB was already whoring out the CLK's because they were not selling well anymore. All he could find with P2 packages in stock at dealers were Black/Black with either burl wood, and P2 but no sport appearance package or wood steering wheel or black ash with P1, or other colors exactly how I wanted it. So the dealer ended up having to place an order for my car with MB which took 2 months. So the fact dealers do not have the car exactly how you want it does not mean it is hot car anymore. It just means either no dealers order the car the way you wanted it, or they ordered very few that way and the few they did order they either sold or were pre-sold.


Just so you know I have E-Cab coming, I am getting the first one my dealer is getting and my built date is next week. The dealer told me from all the cars coming in to the USA in the first shipment I am only person who ordered a E-550A with Black/Black with optional black top with black lining with Black Ash wood, P2, wood steering wheel, upgraded Black Nappa leather and Sports Appearance package. He said under 10 cars show up with Black Ash wood in the system on first shipment because to get black ash wood, you need to get upgraded leather and to be able to get soft top lining in black requires black nappa leather upgrade and the only way to get the whole car in black with all trim in black is by getting the black nappa leather otherwise some of the trim in the interior is gray like the plastic on the side of the front windshield and the rollover bars. He said beside my car someone else in CA ordered basically the same car in an E350. All other Cab showing up in the first shipment which do have Black Ash wood option do not have Nappa leather upgrade so they have some gray in the interior. The difference between the normal leather and required leather to get black ash is $1350 and the difference between the normal leather and Nappa leather is $2500 on top of the $250 custom order charge.

So most dealers order what they think customers want, I guess many customers either did not know or did not want to pay extra to get the black ash wood trim. That is also why you almost never see black ash wood in E Coupes either as just like on the cab it is an expensive upgrade and not included as an option like with the E Sedan in the sport version of the car. So if you want a car a certain way with certain options which most dealers do not order then it is very hard to find that car in stock.

 

Re my W212, it was not just the color, but the P2 and leather. When I ordered mine as I recall in late Oct there were none that had what I wanted. Some had P2 some were Sports which I did not want and none had P2 and the color and leather plus none were 4 Matic with anything I wanted. I never pay a premium for a car no matter how "hot" it is. As for price I never discuss the actual price on a public forum as I do not believe much of that I read here however from what I do see here I paid substancially less than any of the Cosco or organization discounts and the standard pricing I receive from my dealer is very competitive. This is most likely based upon my relationship with my dealer which dates back 12 years and 9 vehicles. As for inventory in my zip code I am wondering how you found my zip code as you have only a general area in which I live.
Good luck with your new Cab. My relationship with MB goes back to 1974.

 

I said in my zip code, not your zip code. I said I understand the smart car price varies by zip code too but I do not think it varies by $2-3k by area.

One last thing if you paid less than both the Costco and USAA pricing, not sure how or why you defended the dealer pricing on a used car for more than printed Costco/USAA price.

I do not believe some people who claim to have gotten 20% off a car either but you can not claim that the price that Costco and USAA list on their web pages are lies because if you read this board many people have used both services to buy cars and they always pay the price listed or slightly less.

 

Yes the price even to the dealers varies from region to region due to their share of the advertising cost. As for defending used car prices?? I have not even mentioned used cars I am speaking strictly of new cars. I have never been a used car purchaser and have never considered or looked at the used market other than trade in value. All I said was that the price I paid was less than the new car discounted pricing I have seen here for Cosco and whatever other organization sponsers them. And yes some of the pricing quoted on this and other boards makes no sense, particularly when one knows the dealer discount schedule and the factory incentives when they appear.

 

Did you click on the link provided by the OP, he was thinking of buying a car that was returned under the car dealer return policy which had under 500 miles. He asked if that was a good price, you stated it was not a bad price. That car is no longer new as it was sold and return. You defended the price the that dealer was trying to sell his used car which was higher than both the costco and USAA price.

 

Actually I did not defend the price but only the fact that they are good sellers and in demand. I have no idea what the price mentioned was nor do I care. I do care when someone insinuates that they are not selling well as you did. Read my first post in this thread again and try to comprehend what I said

 

LMAO you need to learn to read and comprehend yourself, I said they were not hot, I never said they were not selling at all. The fact smart buying price on cars.com is closer to invoice pretty much back up my claim they are no longer hot and plenty of them can be had at a big discount as demand is soft on them already. If their were in such demand and selling so great, dealers would not be discounting them down to close to invoice. As dealer only discount cars in order to move them, not because they sell them selfs or because they like being nice guys.

Compare Seden to Coupe, ever wonder why both Costco and USAA and Smart Buying price on the coupe has much less of a discount than all of the Sedans? I will give you 1 hint they don't discount car that sell better more than ones that don't. The amount of the discount is directly correlated to how well a model sells. Hence the Sedans are not selling as well as the Coupe which is why you can get a bigger discount on the Sedans. That does not mean no one buys Sedans that just means the dealers are forced to sell them at a bigger discount than the Coupe as the supply and demand for the Coupe is tighter than the Sedan.

I never said no one buys Sedans and saying a car is no longer hot = the car is being discounted which is 100% true of both the Sedan and Coupe with the Sedans having bigger discounts over the coupes.