kash2014

Long story short, I've been looking for a CPO for my dad for a while.

I've got auction data, worked at an MB dealer, and know a good deal when I see one.

Anyways, today I get a price drop alert on a car that had been sitting at a dealer that was a drive away, just wanted to buy for the price listed online and not haggle for one dollar, I knew it was a low grossing deal and didn't want to squeeze anymore out of it, I know dealerships have to pay their light bills and salaries. I've been there done that, just wanted to make it as painless as possible.

They wanted to play a few games (charge me for 1 year CPO on a CPO car LOL), anyways got the price it was listed at after I called them out on their BS.


Then we get to finance, financed through MBFS (dealer makes some money on back end), everyone happy right? WRONG

To save the Finance person a lot of effort, I was like look, I used to work at an MB dealership and I know a few other finance ppl c/o the forum, and I'm not paying 3100 for 2 extra years of CPO that you quoted me, I'm going to shop around in the 30 days that MB CORPORATE has granted me without paying a 15% penalty or buy the CPO 2 years later before my warranty exprires and pay a 15% percent penalty and still come out cheaper than the 3100 quoted me (they wanted to sell tire insurance for 2500, windshield crap for 800, and paint protection an a 3 year old used car LOL GIVE ME A BREAK for 900, and dent crap for 700 on a 3 year old used merc)

anyways the person said well how much can you get it for, I said I don't know I'll have to ask, before I could say I'll get back to you and allow you to match, the person went on a spiel, about how that is illegal, you and they can go to jail, and the warranty won't be honored etc etc

Naturally the person was perturbed, and rushed us out of there, and kept on saying I'm going to shut that down, that's illegal you can't do that etc etc. I just smiled and told her I've bought an ELW on an off lease MB and have no problems with my warranty but thank you for the fyi.

I do remember that I bought the warranty out of state so I wouldn't have to pay sales tax, then the person said, well you don't know what you are talking about because there is no sales tax on warranties, I was like well then it was the prepaid maintenance, and went on to berate me for not knowing what I was talking about LMAO



I do think it is totally unprofessional for someone selling you a car to say you are committing a felony for being a smart consumer and buying a warranty from somewhere else within the corporate rules, but I'm going to let it go, buy my extended CPO warranty and enjoy the new black on black CPO

edit the more I think about it, the more pissed off I get, the person had no right to threaten me like that, but I'll let it go

thefisch

That is absurb. Calling it illegal is basically calling you a thief. Sounds like a what a moron says when they feel threatened.

Kind of wish you would have pushed them on the price a little more now. Stick it to them some more. At least you got the car you wanted at the price you wanted. You're a good sport for sitting through all that BS.

kash2014

I wanted to call and complain, but a good friend told me to ignore it and let it go, and I don't want to bring drama to the manager who we know, and considering he just moved to this location, better not bring drama to his doorstep with ppl he will continue to have to work with.

MB corporate is not dumb, there is a forum about extended warranty prices, and mercedes is making the same on each warranty either way. Kind of silly for the finance person to get worked up on a used mercedes, I mean go sell 2500 tire insurance to the guy driving the Mercedes Benz S63 or SLS, where it might actually make sense not on a 3 year old car.


https://mbworld.org/forums/extended-...scussions-191/

still can't get over the paint protection on a 3 year old car, I really feel bad for the poor suckers who buy that.

Stealerships are free to mark up prepaid maintenance and warranty as much as they want, I should be free (and I am free) to buy from whoever I want if dealers are arbitrarily marking up prices more than what is listed on the corporate website

anyways, new black on black w212 added to the family. Time to enjoy it and forget about the awful experience in the end

DC-IT

Why is the tire insurance $2,500.00? Is the vehicle fitted with AMG Rims + 19" or 20" tires?
I only paid $900.00 for mine which is not AMG rims. And it has more than paid for itself over the past 3 years. I've had 3# winter tires and one all-seasons tire replaced so far plus an O.E.M. rim with a total claim of well over $3,500.00. And I still have two more years of coverage! Just two weeks ago I had lost some air pressure on the rear passenger tire and so drop by my dealer for it to be checked. They found both rear winter tires had nails in them and instead of patching the tires my dealer said they replaced both with brand new tires! My SA said since you've got tire and rim protection why fix instead of replace?

I also have extended warranty and so far have already had over $2,000.00 work done under the extended warranty.

Our M-B vehicles are pretty expensive to maintain if you don't have warranty!
I'm glad I got both covered.

Cheers

kash2014

18 inch "AMG" rims. I don't live in an Area were I think we need tire insurance. I've done fine with my 18s with 3 years of driving and 40k.

They give you all these packages, and tell you it adds this much to your payment. I had not eaten all day, it was 3 or 4pm, and was just like thanks for your offer but we don't want any of it and that is when the rest of the story happened.

I agree tire insurance makes sense in certain locations, but I don't think my father will accumulate enough curb rash to justify 2500 let alone a grand. However had they been 19 or 20 inch rims I would of thought about it a lot.

thefisch

Most of their customers don't know they have a choice to shop around. I hate having to sit through that upsell BS. I get they need to make a profit but they shouldn't shame someone for trying to get value for their money. The real shame is that regular folks still pay those inflated prices because they don't know better.

MBSebas87

wow to think that a lot of people say yes to all that crap SMH. I always tell them I'm keeping the car no more than 2 yrs and that my buddy owns a wheel repair shop lol

kash2014

Lol, did kind of the same with my cayenne.
Told her I was leaving the country for my job next year and asked her with a straight face if the warranties be valid in country X as if I wanted them but couldn't because of my situation. I think I said Dubai caused it popped up in my head. . She shook her head and said she didn't know and moved on, with no ill will, should of stuck to that script this time

I think the people who would get gouged is the person who leases their cars, accept all that crap so they don't take the responsibility etc, but the prices I saw were silly, 700 for door dent ding protection... Lol seriously that's like 6 trips to the PDR guy

cetialpha5

I remember buying my used car. It was a new car dealership but wasn't MB. Car was under 20k, but all the options they had listed came to about 10k. Same crazy stuff, different types of warranties that ranged from 3-5k, tire protection, paint, fabric/interior, rustproofing etc. The best of course was the final line which said if you accepted all these options, the total would be a little over 10k. I declined it all and didn't get any hard sell.

kash2014

I guess edmunds is advocating we commit felonies lol

http://www.edmunds.com/auto-warranty...-warranty.html

hyperion667

fawking woman??


I bought an ELW from a chick that was expecting and she was SOO put off that I didn't jump and down and praise Odin she was pregnant......I hate dealing/doing business with chicks

YYZ-E55

Careful; if you have the MB Financial Tire & Wheel Insurance I believe there is an aggregate claim limit for the policy.

CEB

As far as purchasing warranties is concerned, it IS actually impossible buy warranties from an internet dealer in some states - Florida comes to mind. If the OP is in one of those states then the dealer was (semi) correct - that the warranty needs to be purchased from an in-state brick and mortar dealer.

kash2014

I'm in Texas. I've bought from out of state before, and from Dan Boone at MB Austin who has worked with forum members in the past, and if i lived in florida I would drive to any other dealership rather than deal with an unscrupulous F&I person like I encountered yesterday, who spewed venom because I did not pay attention to her silly drop of motor oil on a piece of paper, sorry i was not amazed

I thought in florida dealers couldn't discount but you could buy from any dealer outside, and I'm pretty sure that is the case as it would not make sense for MB corporate to enforce archaic state laws
regardless, it is time dealerships enter the 21st century, I did not enter the dealership that day to buy a warranty, I went to buy a vehicle

In this internet age, selling fabric protection aka "scotch guard" on an MB tex black interior car and "paint protection" on a 3 year old car to "prevent swirl marks" no longer cuts it, I ran away from sales after college, but I did learn one thing #know your customer, 8 thousand of dealer addons on a USED black on black 33 thousand e class is silly

kash2014

and not true in case any floridians read this thread a) simply because MB doesn't ask your for title information when you buy an extended warranty and the user in the thread below from florida bought an extended warranty out of state a few years ago

https://mbworld.org/forums/extended-...ss-w212-2.html

either way, toyota does not allow internet buying of extended warranties, bu MB doesn't prevent this, and no one should be accused of committing fraud for wanting to shop around and not pay 3125 dollars on 2 extra CPO years, and like i said before, I went to the dealer to purchase a vehicle, not purchase an extended warranty or pre paid maintenance, dealers need to get hip with the times

Dallas5Star

I hope you didn't have that experience at a Park Place in the DFW area. In my experience there's very little ball busting there.

kash2014

No at a dealership down in Houston


Heard great things about Park place too, but couldn't afford a car like that when I lived in Dallas

I bought my first car out of college in the Big D (crossfire) at a Chrysler dealership, I didn't even have to deal with the F&I guy, just handed him my prepaid capitol one check after I agreed to a price with the used car guys, no flak, no drama

The G Man

I have bought luxury cars new and used from varies brands, I hate to say it, Mercedes is one of the worst when it comes to the financing manger experience. Mercedes' front end sales experience is not too bad, but the finance manager's high pressure selling tactic is not very luxury brand like. I suppose some of the fault has to fall on the dealership for putting so much pressure on the finance manager to sell and I am sure they work on commission as well.

thefisch

In regards to Florida and extended warranties, I haven't tried it myself but I've read that it varies depending on the car dealer. Honda is one that folks say the out of state dealers won't sell on a VIN registered in FL. However, I have read 'internet' reports of folks buying out of state warranties for Toyota and MB. I guess it is up to the dealers to enforce this.

rediesel

Inform the salesperson it wouldn't be the first time you've been arrested, and between your big money lawyers and disappearing witnesses you never loose. . .

cetialpha5

A quick search seems to indicate that warranties are considered insurance and a license is required to sell them in Florida. Most out of state places probably don't have the license.

http://www.myfloridacfo.com/Division...tyOverview.htm

kash2014

http://www.lombardfordwarrantys.com/...sp-florida.cfm

"Florida residents can purchase from any Ford dealer that is licensed to sell in Florida by the State of Florida, but coverage must purchased at the State published retail rates."

it is probably the case of non-florida dealers MB F&I guys not knowing floridas rules and selling to floridians

in any case it seems like the law was designed to protect consumers from shoddy 3rd party warranty sellers

cetialpha5

So it looks like it's illegal for someone to sell a resident of Florida an extended warranty without a license, but it's not illegal for a resident to buy one, just technically they're not supposed to be able to unless a vendor is breaking the law. I suppose what this really means is that the resident could try and buy one out of state and then if they don't use it, they could sue the vendor for selling it to them and then get their money back.

CEB

The OP seems very angry and looks to be itching for a fight here too.

Manufacturers are not allowed to sell warranties to Florida residents via the internet. No manufacturer would intentionally break that law even if the OP thinks it is archaic; it happens to be Florida law and a manufacturer risks getting into major issues with the state if they openly sell warranties via the internet in Florida.

None of this keeps a Texas dealer from saying "I thought you said you lived in Florida, I can't sell to Florida residents. I'm sorry I misunderstood, so you have a Georgia address? I can sell to Georgia."

I believe there are other states with other odd laws on warranties but Florida is the most vocal about enforcing it.

What many people forget is that the F&I guy or gal is really THE salesman. With such tight margins on new car sales, it is up to F&I to make the profit and they'll try to sell you anything because each of their products has a ridiculous profit margin. The $800 paint protection costs about $50 to apply, the $300 fabric protection costs about $10. They'll sell you blinker fluid flushes if they think you're stupid enough to buy it.

While the fabric protection seems ridiculous for MB-Tex, it actually makes sense for the carpeting. A $5 bottle of Scotchguard from Walmart will do nicely. Just make sure that you clean the carpet well before you spend the 15 minutes to apply it.

kash2014

I really don't care about florida or their laws, that isn't the point. And I wasn't itching for a fight with anyone. I know that ppl are buying CPO extended warranties between 1800 - 2000 care of this forum, I did not want to pay 3125, nor do I care to haggle, and I refuse to haggle if I can help it. That isn't itching for a fight, that is doing my best to avoid a fight, because I hate confrontation and haggling falls into confrontation for me so I do my best to avoid it.

Also it was a used car, not a razor thin margin on a new MB. Their margin was fair, I know this because I know exactly how much they got it at auction for, and we financed through MBFS and didn't go shopping around to save another half or one percent (expect to pay it off soon) so they made more money on the back end, quite a good amount of money based on the interest rate we got and what my dad got at another dealership. Dealership said they would shop around with all banks and would present us with the cheapest, they financed us through MBFS because they made the most money that way, and I let it go, wasn't looking for a fight.

I was even more flexible with the dealership in fact, i took it for the website price, 0 haggling, I could of certainly squeezed more out of it, but I don't squeeze when I've got a fair deal, I don't need my salesperson to make a 100 commission off of me, while going back and forth 10 times with sales manager to close a fair deal. In fact, i am sure it was one of the easiest sales for this salesperson, we were done in 15 minutes after we realized finding the keys was a lost cause. Yes, I am so flexible and chill and not angry, that we haven't even test driven the car or sat inside it for that matter, because they've locked themselves out and have to order keys from Germany.

I was as relaxed as could be, because going into a dealership isn't intimidating for me, I've sold cars and sold MB cars, I know the process, the MB process and know how someone should be treated. I even smiled and laughed it off when I was being attacked by the F&I person for telling them I am going to shop around (my right and what everyone should do).

And no such thing as tight margins on any new MB car sale in Texas, they are making a killing down here, this isn't southern California, we don't get those discounts around here. This was simply a case of an unprofessional F&I person that wanted to rip me off. The Addons would of taken the monthly payment up from 460 dollars to 720 dollars, that isn't making a profit for the dealer to help keep the lights on, that is stealing, pure and simple. This isn't a 120 thousand dollar S class, where 8 grand in addons is a drop in the bucket, this is a 33.5 thousand dollar used mercedes.

Bottom line, I should of been VERY ANGRY and taken action at that moment for accusing me of committing fraud because I want to shop around, and when I say I wanted to shop around I don't really mean shop around, I just want to call one of the F&I guys known to the forum, give them my VIN get a fair quote without haggling and give them my credit card number. That is how I prefer to do business.

In any case, it has been reported to the highest ups of the dealership and it has been taken care of. No google review, no yelp review from me, I'm not that type of angry person, a vent on an anonymous forum is enough for me

ps fabric protection on black carpet is silly in my opinion (again F&I person not knowing the customer, not knowing the car). My almost 7 year old merc looks brand new from the inside, the black interiors are simply amazing in my opinion, kudos to MB for making such an age proof interior