I work for a Mercedes Dealer in Finance
-Mercedes Finance Guy
PS... I just took delivery of my first Mercedes Benz! =) I am very happy!
Have to say, Thank you MF for taking the time to educate a lot of us or answer any questions.
And kudos to you sir for admitting when your wrong rather than going MIA
ahah
I finally picked up a 2017 E300 4Matic -- $380 per month. I was able to transfer my (81 year old) mom's C450 AMG lease, which was way too sporty for her, and secure a 2017 E300 4Matic instead. It's a fairly basic W213 with P1, heated steering wheel, Burmester, rear spoiler, and designo Black Flowing Lines wood--$62,075, including 2 year pre-paid maintenance it came to $62,925. I put $643 in CCR and $4500 in refundable security deposits for 36 months and 7500 miles per year.
Monthly rent comes to $379.96 after CT taxes of 7.75% ($352.63 base monthly rent). It was a previous courtesy loaner car at my long-time local MB dealer, where they discounted it by 20.5% for me.
Below is the Monroney and Section 5 of the Rental agreement.
I'll get pics of the actual car once window tinting, Himalaya star center caps and other add ons are completed.




I finally picked up a 2017 E300 4Matic -- $380 per month. I was able to transfer my (81 year old) mom's C450 AMG lease, which was way too sporty for her, and secure a 2017 E300 4Matic instead. It's a fairly basic W213 with P1, heated steering wheel, Burmester, rear spoiler, and designo Black Flowing Lines wood--$62,075, including 2 year pre-paid maintenance it came to $62,925. I put $643 in CCR and $4500 in refundable security deposits for 36 months and 7500 miles per year.
Monthly rent comes to $379.96 after CT taxes of 7.75% ($352.63 base monthly rent). It was a previous courtesy loaner car at my long-time local MB dealer, where they discounted it by 20.5% for me.
Below is the Monroney and Section 5 of the Rental agreement.
I'll get pics of the actual car once window tinting, Himalaya star center caps and other add ons are completed.
Congrats on the car, how many miles does it have?
I expect the answer is "you have a nice car enjoy it and do something 2 1/2 years from now"... which is fine. But just curious if you have any insight. Thanks in advance...
Last edited by jsclarke; Jun 24, 2017 at 04:54 PM.
I expect the answer is "you have a nice car enjoy it and do something 2 1/2 years from now"... which is fine. But just curious if you have any insight. Thanks in advance...
Also, do you have any info on when the E400 will start arriving at dealers? My E400 has been sitting at port since May, waiting to be released for sale.
Thanks!
The Best of Mercedes & AMG
I expect the answer is "you have a nice car enjoy it and do something 2 1/2 years from now"... which is fine. But just curious if you have any insight. Thanks in advance...
I expect the answer is "you have a nice car enjoy it and do something 2 1/2 years from now"... which is fine. But just curious if you have any insight. Thanks in advance...

So I am going to work backwards on this one. MBFS (Mercedes-Benz Financial Services) uses Trans Union reports to determine credit acceptance. However other banks will use the other bureaus. So keep them all clean!
When a lender looks at someones credit for approval. They look at a many factors but I can keep it simple.
1. ADVANCE
2. DEBT LOAD
3. HISTORY
4. YOU (Ability to pay)
Almost in that order.
1) How much are you trying to borrow relative to the collateral. The more cash down or equity that you have in your new deal will greatly determine the risk level of the loan. i.e. if you are putting down 50% on your deal then if you fail to pay, the bank will win because of the equity position you have put them in. ON the other side, if you have a trade in that you are upside down in and are trying to finance 140% of the value of the car (invoice) then the bank will consider you to be far higher of a risk. Make sense?
2) Your own Debt load. Your "score" is mostly derived from your credit that you have available. If you are using more than 50% of your credit cards you are seen as a huge risk to the lenders. If your total outgoing payments are higher than 60% of your income then you are a huge risk to the lender. They will increase the rate to compensate.
3)History is very important. This is one thing that young people struggle most with. When it comes to an auto loan/lease the bank does not want to see anyone go from a Honda Civic loan to a Mercedes GT loan. In your case going from a FIAT to a P3 heads up 3d sound W213 E300 for 74000.00 might be a hard sale for the finance manager to make to MBFS. But, that being said.... I have done it. But it was usually done due to a provable job income increase or validation of liquidity of someones accounts. Cash down etc. Anything I could do to lower the risk in the banks eyes.
4) You... yep it all boils down to you. Your job, job type, who you are, if you are nice (Believe it or not this plays a huge part. I know personally that I have worked VERY VERY HARD for nice people. I will also admit that I have spent as little time as possible for ones that are totally rude or demanding) So be NICE!!! When you fill out your app, do it carefully. Take your time WRITE NEATLY. BE HONEST! Remember the finance guy needs to paint a good picture of you to the lender. ASK TO SPEAK WITH HIM/HER PRIOR TO SUBMITTAL. Make sure you tell them about how long you have been doing what you are doing, even if it is with different companies. Be honest and thorough with anything that is bad. Trust me with MBFS a story will go a long way.
Which leads me to the last part.... MBFS... They are one of the most amazing captive lenders I have ever EVER WORKED WITH in 22 years of doing this they are the first bank that ABSOLUTELY does NOT use the credit score to determine the tier. They truly want to support the dealers and help them to get the approvals they need to sell cars. So that being said, the fact that you are trying to do the right thing will go a long way.
MBFS will want to see that you can pay for the new car. They will want to see that the payment does not exceed 12-15% of your monthly income. They will want to see that they have some equity in the deal. They will want to see that you have not been pursuing large amount of credit prior to getting your new car.
Here are my suggestions to increase your odds of approval.
Cash down
Mitigate any negative equity from your trade
LEASE LEASE LEASE (MBFS will almost always give higher tiers on leases)
Keep your nose clean... =) NO LATE PAYMENTS
keep it real.... DONT GO LOOKING TO PURCHASE AN E43 IF YOUR LAST CAR WAS A FIAT. =) If you are going to go E class then keep it around 50K or PUT UP THE CASH TO KEEP THE AMOUNT FINANCED/Total Adjusted Cap cost AROUND 50K.
Good luck!!!! I hope this helps!
If you have any other questions send me a message and I can give you my cell phone number to discuss!
MB Finance Guy!
-Mercedes Finance Guy
PS... I just took delivery of my first Mercedes Benz! =) I am very happy!
please ask at work tomorrow , why I cant build a 2018 E on your website? I mean I can build a 17 but you cant order it anymore so why?
-Mercedes Finance Guy
PS... I just took delivery of my first Mercedes Benz! =) I am very happy!
Is it better to pay acquisition fee and prepaid maintenance fee upfront at lease signing or to add them to adjusted cap cost and capitalize the expense?
if better to capitalize then why?
thank-you
I talked to another dealer and he said that since I'll get 7% off MSRP because of ED, there's no wiggle room on price after that. He made it sound like because it is ED, the discounting is standard across all of MB. Surely there must be some negotiating room, right?
One other question. What should I come prepared with to negotiate the lease? Is it worth putting money down?
I wish there were a nonpartisan checklist to go into lease negotiations with MB so we can be on as equal terms as possible...

I talked to another dealer and he said that since I'll get 7% off MSRP because of ED, there's no wiggle room on price after that. He made it sound like because it is ED, the discounting is standard across all of MB. Surely there must be some negotiating room, right?
One other question. What should I come prepared with to negotiate the lease? Is it worth putting money down?
I wish there were a nonpartisan checklist to go into lease negotiations with MB so we can be on as equal terms as possible...

What are the best rates MB Financial is currently offered on CPO C Class vehicles? I'm looking into financing the purchase of a pre-owned '15-'17 C63(S) sedan that was either used for as a demo or service loaner in the next month or so...
Thanks!
2.99% up to 72 months for 14/15/16 C-class
2 years of free service ( for an AMG is a huge savings)
2 months payments by MB up to $850
Regarding the 2 mos. pmts by MB, is that up to $850 per month for 2 months for a total cap of $1,700 or 2 months of pmts for a combined total of and cap of $850?



