Ughalug

I'm sure this has been discussed on the forum in the past, but this newbie could not find an applicable post using the search engine. So here's the deal. I am so ready to replace my 8 year old minivan with an E350 sedan. That being said, I have 0 experience negotating with car dealers-- and frankly I'm a bit intimidated by them. I spoke to a couple of friends who purchased their E350s in the last couple of years from the same dealer, same sales person, and they got substantially different deals. One got about $3000 off MSRP (purchased last year) and the other got about $15k off (purchased in 2009 with factory incentive of around 7k for the 2009 model). I spoke to the sales guy, and he offered to match the $3000 off MSRP deal. It seems like many of you on the forum got some great deals. So a couple of questions: (1) How can I get the sales guy to move closer to the 15k off deal (taking into consideration there is no 7k factory incentive) and (2) Is there a particular time of year/month where factory incentives are more common? By the way, the friend who got the $15k off deal just faxed the deal she found on slickdeals to the dealer, and they accepted the offer.

DNAPoPo

I usually use american express car buying program to start off with as a base...

http://amexnetwork.zag.com/configura...frontPricing=Y

But usually during switch of model years you can get the best deals...

JY888

Shopping multiple dealers is the way to go, I bought my 2010 E63 last june (just before the end of the model year) the MSRP was $102,425, I got it for $89,000. I also got $33,000 trade in on my 2008 Jeep SRT8 with 26,000 miles on that I paid $38,000 for in 2008. The best way I found is to check around on the forums and find out what others are getting their cars for. Make sure you list the specific options that your are looking for because that can change the price of the vehicle by a lot. Edmunds.com is also a great place to research pricing & incentives, but I've found that you can usually get a better deal than Edmunds pricing. It does give you a starting point though.

I bought my car my emailing multiple dealers, then calling to get a deal worked out. I think for Mercedes, June-August is the best time to buy if your looking for last years model. Occasionally, Mercedes Benz will offer their dealers special incentives for selling a certain number of cars in a month, so some dealers will give you a better deal than others, especially at the end of the month.

Shop around and don't be afraid to travel a little for a great deal! Good luck!

Tjdehya

That $15k off deal was only for the outgoing W211 that was being replaced by the W212. The W212 is a much better car and MBUSA wanted the W211s off the dealer’s lot so that they could bring in the W212. You won’t get $15k off right now and maybe not until they bring in the new E-class in 2016 or so.

The best way to negotiate is to get dealers to compete against each other. Even get neighboring state's dealers to get in the game. There is an "Official Price Thread" on this forum that you can get an idea of what is a good deal. Don’t expect to get the lowest deal that you see in that thread but use it as a target and get as close to or beat it if you can.
Good luck.

petee1997

Don't expect the same deal now as 2009. That was runout year for the W211 and MB had huge incentives on the E class plus we were in the worst recession since the 30's. We are are now on a new, priced reduced model, and times are much better.
I'm sure you will find someone who will do better than $3,000.00 but but $15,000.00 on a E350 is a stretch. If you keep this car for eight years like your van, a few thousand more or less amortized over eight years will not make much difference.

ngerstman

You can use an internet site such as autobytel or cars.com to submit your request for offers on exactly what you want to a wide range of dealerships. Then take the best offer to your local dealer and see if he will come close to matching. I did that recently for a purchase of an Acura MDX with good results. The internet makes you all powerful!! Regards. Ned.

Ughalug

Thanks so much for the information. I was ready to read comments like, "For God's sake, you're buying a Mercedes-- don't be so frickin' cheap!" This forum is awesome.

Tjdehya

Ha ha. No I think everyone here (even the very rich guys) appreciate a good deal when purchasing their Benz. And BTW if you were cheap you wouldn’t even be thinking about buying a Benz.

hyperion667

that's right..........even the rich guys..............

El Cid

Being cheap is what enables us to purchase M-B's.
the edmunds.com website has a section on negotiating and/or discussion from a salesman.
Also, the Consumer Reports issues such as New Car Buying Guide 2011 has a section on negotiating.
I used vehix.com when I was pricing my car, but I think the pricing service has been taken over by Car & Driver or Road & Track or somebody else.
Consumer Reports website has a service to which you can subscribe and get prices for up to a year I think. I subscribed to it and it gives a bottom line price of what it really costs the dealership.
Lots of sources out there for prices. I found Edmunds TMV to be much higher than I ever paid for a car, so look at a lot of them.
Bottom line: research to find out best price, contact as many dealers as possible and be ready to get up and walk out if not happy.
Good luck!

BudC

I'd like to add a few comments.

Find a salesman who has been at the dealership for a while. They know what can be done without running to the sales manager before making any kind of offer.

If you are going to trade in your car, this can be a slippery slope so to speak. You should get an estimate from the used car manager on your trade-in before trying to make a deal.

There is a 7% mark-up on the MSRP over the Invoice. Dealers can also make another 3% on something called Hold Back and another 1% to 2% on good customer feed backs.

At the end of a model year there could be cash back to dealers from MBUSA. This is called Trunk Money in the trade.

I've bought 5 Mercedes at Invoice less any available trunk money. Ask a dealer if he'll sell at Invoice and then make sure you see the Invoice before you seal the deal.

ripper8784

Try truecar.com. That's where I got my price. It lists all the dealers near you and shows you what their lowest offer is. It also tells you what the factory invoice is on the particular model + options you want. And some dealers are willing to go below factory invoice because of the holdback. If you print out the truecar certificate at the end and bring it to the dealer, they guarantee you that price.

I got my E350 for $1750 below factory invoice from truecar. That's the best deal I could find, even while shopping around at different dealers. Only thing is not all dealers are on that site, so you may have to travel a bit far to find a dealer with a good price...

MCF

Bought a 2011 E350 in October. Local dealer beat truecar.com pricing by $3500. MSRP was $58005 and I paid $51000 + TTL.

Ughalug

I'm glad to know that there are other deal seekers out there like me.

MCF and BudC, mind if I ask how you got the dealer to go below truecar.com's/invoice price? Is it as easy as asking or did you have to use some Jedi mind tricks??

MCF

I went in to dealer on last day of month. Had USAA pricing cert printed out that gave me a price of $53k. I offered $51k, he went and talked to manager and said ok. I THEN gave him keys to my trade. Expected $6k and they came back at $8k. All in all after test drive I was at dealer for 40 minutes (20 of those looking at my trade) before I left with car. When I bought my tahoe me and the manager got into a nasty argument and I was at dealer for several hours.

BudC

I tell a dealer that I'll pay Invoice less any trunk money. I got our 2008 E350 at Invoice but that car was ordered before production started. I got a car built the second week of 2008 production.

In this case, I'm ordering a car well along in the production cycle so I should get a better deal, and I did.

El Cid

Be careful of this as the "invoice" document may be one especially prepared by the manufacturer to show what he would have normally paid, but does not consdier incentives, hold backs, etc., etc. It's made to show to customer.
Last three cars I purchased came in at under "invoice."
This is why searching multiple websites is so helpful for finding true dealer cost.

BudC

I tried to explain that above.

Ughalug

So I went to truecar.com and got a quote of $49,837 for the E350 sedan, arctic white, almond interior, premium pkg 1, rear side impact airbags and split fold rear seats (MSRP $55,135). Within SECONDS of getting the online price quote my phone started ringing off the line. The lowest quote was from a dealer that is a little far away, so I called my local dealer and asked if they are willing to match the price. They said they are, and they MAY be able to do better. I have an appointment to go in tomorrow morning and hash it out with the sales guy. Do you guys think the truecar.com price is a good price? How much farther do you think I can negotiate the price down? Thanks for all your great advice.

Tjdehya

Whatever this dealer offers you call the other dealer and ask them to beat it. Rinse and repeat. It’s that easy. Keep going until they both cry "uncle"

MCF

Add leather, P2 and AMG wheel package.

Pntblnk

Seriously? That's another $6k in options. That would be a KILLER deal.

MCF

Not gonna get those options at that price. I'm just saying I wish I had added P2 to mine. Want the headlights from P2 package.

Pntblnk

Gotcha.. The headlights were a huge improvement when I went from the E350BT to the E550. The keyless is go is another nice feature on the P2 package I didn't know I needed until I had it

BudC

Will this only work on vehicles that are already in dealer's inventory or also on vehicles you are ordering from the factory?