EndsWithBenz

First time poster here--

I am excited about the prospect of purchasing a CPO 2014 E-Class in the next week or so. I have been negotiating with a dealer, who has asserted the position that MB dealerships do not mark up CPO E-Class cars by any more than $1,000.

Is there any truth to this proposition? Can anyone shed light on how much wiggle room there might be on the price for one of these?

To add some detail, I am told the dealership acquired this car from the corporate wholesale market auction. It is low-mileage and has a number of attractive options. I really like the car, but the price I am receiving is only about $18k below the original MSRP. It seems like 2 years of depreciation on a ~65k MSRP E-Class would be greater than that. Additionally, if the prices paid thread on this forum is any indications 2014 E-Classes were going to 10-15% below MSRP, meaning that the 2 year depreciation, as represented by the price I am being offered, is only about $6k, which seems bogus to me.

Any advice on negotiating this deal would be much appreciated, as I would be thrilled to join the MB family.

ediddyone

I would highly doubt that the statement you were provided with was truthful, but this dealership could have a policy to that effect.

Regarding the price, I just purchased a new 2014 wagon off a dealer lot and was able to negotiate 23% off sticker, which was only $1300 shy of estimated depreciation over 2 years, I'm sure others have been able to do better of late as well. If you haven't used the site CarGuru's, I've found it helpful to get an idea of what market costs are for different vehicles and whether or not a particular used vehicle is priced well vs. the market. I wouldn't use it for pricing a car, but rather as a sanity check.

Also, if it were me I would not purchase a MB CPO, if used was my path I would try to find a like car that is still under warranty, and the purchase a 7yr/100k warranty through MB to protect the car for a longer period of time (CPO only adds 1 year). You can get excellent pricing on the MB warranty if you negotiate, stupid deals.

Anyway, good luck, we love our new vehicle and can't wait to enjoy if for many years to come.

thefisch

practices do vary by dealer. A new local MB dealer near me is owned by Autonation and the salesman claimed they use no haggle pricing and don't budge. They drop the price a certain amount if doesn't sell in 30 days, then again and again until it does sell. If a car is not moving on one lot, they sometimes move them to another 'sister' dealership so it is a new car on the lot, not a stale one. You have to play the waiting game with these ones and hope the car doesn't sell.

When I was CPO shopping at some other dealers, I would see two prices for the same car - one on the sticker or windshield on the lot and another lower price on the internet. I found they would quickly drop the windshield price to the internet price and I might be able to squeeze another $1k off that. Granted I did not play hardball and walk away or bring up a car at another dealer. I only do if I am ready to commit and I wasn't.

I think the internet has changed how much they negotiate also. Since many shop online before coming in, they want to keep the prices low or people don't come by. They can also see what their competition is asking for. Most are happy with $1k off the advertised price.

Mud

This is exactly what I did - saved the $8K negotiated cost difference between indy dealer and MB CPO markup on the same car (same year/features/just different color).
I did research the VIN and contact MB for any prior issues/service history and extended warranty eligibility prior to purchase. Car now has the MB 7/100K warranty in place, all is good.

Mbracer26

In SoCal, you can get up to 21% off a brand new car, Checkout new prices as well, it might not be worth buying used when new is so heavily discounted.

cetialpha5

OP doesn't mention how many miles were on the car. If it still has under 50k on it, the CPO doesn't kick in until the original warranty expires. Then you can always buy an extra 2 years of CPO from any MB dealer in the US. There's a couple threads where dealers discount their extended warranties. If you extend the factory warranty, you're limited to 7/100k, but CPO can go 3 years unlimited miles. CPO is probably better if you're going over 100k in a short period time, I think there was someone that mentioned that they drive 50k a year.

As for the statement that they're not marked up more than 1k, marked up from what? The auction? They could go for any price at the auction. Just go on MB's website and see all the CPO cars in the area, you'll see a wide variation in pricing. You can also sign up for MB's epc-net and get the datacard for the vin of the car. The account is free for people in the US. Most times they don't list all the options or list the ones that are standard.

EndsWithBenz

The car has

EndsWithBenz

The car has fewer than 15,000 miles on it, clean history, etc. The dealer is asking $47k, $1000 under list, for the car, which has some very high end options including distronic. I am leaning towards going with it, unless this deal sound unreasonable to folks on here.

The dealer tells me they are making very little on this, a few hundred, over what they paid at auction.

looney100

Do your research to understand what the car is worth & be prepared to walk away from a bad deal.
How much the dealer paid for the car is irrelevant. If they paid too much, it doesn't mean they can recoup it in the market. If they got it for a song, they're not passing those savings to you.
Don't trust a word the salesperson says unless its supported by documentation. Their sole responsibility is to maximize profits for the dealership, and therefore their commission cheque.

cetialpha5

You didn't really mention what all the other options would be. Standard place to look would be nadaguide.com, kbb, edmunds, etc for book value. Then you can use sites like cars.com, cargurus.com, autotrader etc and see what you get for 47k. On Carguru's they seem to start around 43k and go up to 50k depending on options.

starbrite

Can I ask what the 7 yr warranty is going for now? I know that it went up substantially in the last yr.

usr8054

I am recent 2014 e350 owner as well. Researched and spent few months shopping. Typically in my area the CPOs were priced ~$3k to $5k more than non CPO. Finally ended up getting a decently loaded with 27k miles for $35k. Am planning on buying the extended MB warranty.

EndsWithBenz

Other options: P1, Lighting, park assist, upgraded wheels (not AMG), rear spoiler, KeylessGO

I've checked KBB and NADA, and both reflect that this is in the lower end of the fair market zone.

Here, the dealer told me he would give me close to their cost on the car, but he could only move the price by about $1,000 from what was listed. That still leaves the car a little bit on the high side of my comfort zone, so I want to feel like I am getting a really amazing deal.

In terms of opportunity cost, the infotainment and safety technology are important aspects to me, and I haven't seen cars from any other manufacturer with the same level of refinement in those areas. The active lane tracking and blind spot assistance seem to be pretty unique to Mercedes Benz. And I really like how the car performs. Does this sound right? Are there any other makes I should consider?

Really appreciate everyone's advice on here. Great community.

EndsWithBenz

Was this on a CPO model or non-CPO used?

usr8054

non CPO from a bmw dealer

kash2014

Auction prices for the 4matic e350 2014

For Week Ending Jul 15
Above Average Below
Sale Price $44,261 $40,565 $36,869
Odometer 8,649 17,297 25,946
Total Sold All 71


good sample size

kash2014

e350 2014 2wd

For Week Ending Jul 15
Above Average Below
Sale Price $42,061 $38,213 $34,365
Odometer 10,435 20,869 31,304
Total Sold All 91

again good sample size

starbrite

@kash
Could you please provide auction prices for a 2012 E550? Thanks!

kash2014

05/28/15 PA Regular $29,500 51,881 Avg BLACK 8G P Yes
06/05/15 PA Regular $31,750 55,845 Avg WHITE 8G P No
06/19/15 PA Lease $28,700 63,190 Avg SILVER 8GT P Yes
06/23/15 NYMETSKY Regular $23,600 71,106 Below Blue 8G A Yes
06/25/15 PA Lease $32,000 42,683 Avg BLACK 8G P Yes
07/08/15 PALM BCH Lease $33,700 23,706 Above DIA WHT 8G A Yes

starbrite

Outstanding kash! Thank you very much, I really appreciate it.

EndsWithBenz

Are these numbers from the MB wholesale dealer auction?

kash2014

don't know haven't looked in depth, I doubt there are many 2012 coming off lease

But the 2014 are most likely all MB wholesale auctions

looney100

I didn't mention the sources because I'm in Canada, and they're quite different on each side of the border.

usr8054

Is it true that you cannot buy extended warranty unless the used car (within 4 yrs of new) is bought via a MB dealer?

cetialpha5

You can't buy the CPO warranty unless you buy the car from an MB dealer. You can buy an extended warranty from any US MB dealer as long as the original warranty hasn't expired and that's normally 4 years, 50k. I think it's also cheaper if you buy the warranty within 30 days of buying the car. Not sure about exact coverage but the CPO can go 3 years unlimited miles whereas the factory extended can only go 7 years, 100k.