MB 6-8 weeks later
My dealer or I can say dealers in NYC whom I am negotiating a 36 month lease all say that they cannot commit to the gross cap cost of which the amount of monthly payments is a function. They say payments will need to be calculated upon delivery given available programmes (example a "conquest" programme when you do not continue with BMW, Volvo, etc but switch to MB) available at that time, incentives and cost reductions. They also say that the difference would not be much. What is much, I ask. They do not know. So I am making a $2500 or $2000 prepayment withot knowing the exact monthly payments 6-8 weeks later. Am I puting myself completely in the hands and good/bad will of the dealer?

What is your experience ref ordering from Germany through a dealer if the car/configuration you want is not available and need to be ordered? I presume you ask your dealer as to what the monthly payment will be. When the vehicle arrives, are you payments higher or lower? thank you
Last edited by Tonvic; Nov 20, 2011 at 07:22 PM.
My dealer or I can say dealers in NYC whom I am negotiating a 36 month lease all say that they cannot commit to the gross cap cost of which the amount of monthly payments is a function. They say payments will need to be calculated upon delivery given available programmes (example a "conquest" programme when you do not continue with BMW, Volvo, etc but switch to MB) available at that time, incentives and cost reductions. They also say that the difference would not be much. What is much, I ask. They do not know. So I am making a $2500 or $2000 prepayment withot knowing the exact monthly payments 6-8 weeks later. Am I puting myself completely in the hands and good/bad will of the dealer?

What is your experience ref ordering from Germany through a dealer if the car/configuration you want is not available and need to be ordered? I presume you ask your dealer as to what the monthly payment will be. When the vehicle arrives, are you payments higher or lower? thank you
There is no way you can "lock in" a lease until you take possession of the car.
So your request is understandable, but you will not get any car dealer to commit something in the future that they have no control over....and it's unreasonable to expect them to do so.
2) Mercedes finance specifies a residual value for a car and this is fixed across all dealers. Then they specify a bank fee/acquistion fee/origination fee of $795 and they allow the dealers to mark that up, if they want, to $1095. Finally, they have a money factor/interest rate which varies by your credit tier, the specific car model and the length of the lease and they allow the dealer to mark that up as well.
So there are a lot of variables. Mercedes finance changes the residual value and the money factor periodically (usually monthly) to tune their leases to the financial and competitive car market. So there is no way to know what Mercedes will even do in December. The only thing the dealer can control is how much he marks up the rates...and hopefully you are dealing with a dealer who doesn't mark up the rates. If you are waiting 6-8 weeks for the car, then you can't lease until January and whatever rates are in effect in January will cover your lease.
The only way to cover yourself is to have the dealer put in a clause that allows you to cancel the order any time prior to pickup with your full deposit returned.
Without adding that clause or something like it, you are pretty much locked in to whatever Mercedes finance is offering at that time.
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2) Mercedes finance specifies a residual value for a car and this is fixed across all dealers. Then they specify a bank fee/acquistion fee/origination fee of $795 and they allow the dealers to mark that up, if they want, to $1095. Finally, they have a money factor/interest rate which varies by your credit tier, the specific car model and the length of the lease and they allow the dealer to mark that up as well.
So there are a lot of variables. Mercedes finance changes the residual value and the money factor periodically (usually monthly) to tune their leases to the financial and competitive car market. So there is no way to know what Mercedes will even do in December. The only thing the dealer can control is how much he marks up the rates...and hopefully you are dealing with a dealer who doesn't mark up the rates. If you are waiting 6-8 weeks for the car, then you can't lease until January and whatever rates are in effect in January will cover your lease.
The only way to cover yourself is to have the dealer put in a clause that allows you to cancel the order any time prior to pickup with your full deposit returned.
Without adding that clause or something like it, you are pretty much locked in to whatever Mercedes finance is offering at that time.
2. - Valuable details, thank you.
A very useful advice - has anyone succeeded in entering this provision into the pre-lease docs?
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