Dear Dudley 07726:

Have you ever negotiated a price on a custom built car? I have on both Mercedes and BMW. Each purchase the discount was equal to or better than buying from inventory. The exception being at the end of the model year, just before the new models come out. Of course then you cannot order the current year!

If you think about it logically, building a car for the dealer is a "no brainer": the car comes in, no floor charges and is sold. It is "clean" deal for the dealer so he can work out a better deal for you. Plus you get the exact car you want - not one loaded with extras that have little to no value.

Dear allfortheunion:

If you go to my thread "Ordered 2019 E450: Money Factor, residual and lease payments" you will see that I placed the order end of September for delivery in December.

Taxes: We all know that taxes vary state by state, and each state calculates taxes on leases differently.

That is why in my post I set forth numbers before taxes: Taxes are collected by the dealer and in now way effect their profit margins or the sale price.

Dear ua549:

You seem to be really hung up on finance charges for reasons that elude me.

How many times must I post that the sale price was the same whether I bought the car outright or leased: I never considered financing the car: either I buy outright or leased. So "finance charges" never came into play.

Normally when negotiating a lease, it's the same as a purchase. You negotiate the purchase price of the car first. So regardless of whether you lease or buy, the price of the car is already fixed. Once that's set, you can negotiate money factor and any rebates/discounts that are exclusive to the lease.

Dear Cetialpha5:

I agree 100%: you negotiate the price regardless of whether you purchase or lease.

Leasing: assuming excellent credit, the money factor from MB is fixed as well as the residual. The money factor can change depending on the length of the lease. Of course the residual changes depending on the length (number of months) and the mileage.

JTK - I too live in an area with most - likely more - dealers per square mile than you. No one - and I mean no one - would offer up that kind of deal to me. I was looking originally at ordering a C43 or E53 and got multiple quotes on both. You are asking the dealer to go below their cost, and it is highly unlikely (99%) to happen unless the factory is throwing in some "trunk money" - which could have been possible on a lease return but almost impossible on a new purchase.

Further the OP asks what is a reasonable (emphasis added) discount on a custom build. While your discount was certainly heroic and something to boast about - there is no possible way that it could be considered reasonable, especially not knowing where OP lives. More rural areas it would be much more common to receive zero to 3% off MSRP. Los Angles went as high as 4%.

I still stand by my advice that his time would be better spent looking for a car on the lot via the internet then trying to haggle on a special order if his primary concern is price.

.

Dear Frank:



Have you tried using Costco? I did and their discount was about 10% - which any member of Costco would get.

Both the C43 or E53 are specialty cars. My experience was with a basic E450.

Others such as RBRYLAW have posted even getting discounts greater than I obtained when they ordered their cars - not taking from inventory.

It seems that because you were unable to obtain the discount I did, that somehow the discount I obtained was not possible, and therefore if not possible, your way, buying from inventory, must be right.

This is a classic case of circular reasoning!

Many years ago a dealer told me my price was below his cost. I said I did not want him to lose money and got up to leave. Guess what happened?

For every customer who pays 3% to 5% off of MSRP, that leaves money available for the dealer to sell to me at 10% off of MSRP!

The most reasonable discount on a loaded pre-ordered car, not financed and without a trade, would be about 7%. This is their cost and they still are keeping both holdback and incentives, if any. Dealers usually do not like to order loaded cars because if customer walks, not too many will take $82K E450 (most are dealer ordered for much less) since E53 with the same equipment (actually more since it has AMG "staff") is only additional $6K or so.

Exactly my point: both the C43 and E53 are specialty cars that the dealer does not want in inventory!

On a "normal" E450 as I ordered, MSRP of about $70,000, you can expect a discount of between 7% and 10% - Costco was 10%.

Remember that there are incentives, rebates and hold backs which when added in can bring the total discount to over 10%

At my dealer the E450 in stock inventory is usually 8 - 10 vehicles with Monroney stickers from 72k to 83k. So the options add 12k to 23k.

8-10 E450 sedans/wagons (do not count cpe/cab), "usually in stock inventory" at Lokey? I do not think so. Even Tampa, a much larger dealer, does not have anything close to 10 (currently) and most are well under $75K.

You need to move closer to a bigger dealership. This one has 10 E450's sedans in stock and about another 13 E450 wagons. They have about 727 vehicles in inventory.

https://www.mbwestwood.com/new-inven...nchor-model-59

Do not see the point of quoting my response. I was addressing a specific FL dealership based on a specific poster's statement and not making a generalized statement. It goes without saying that the larger the dealership, the bigger the inventory.

I was at the dealership yesterday and looked around while waiting for someone I was meeting for lunch. There 5 competing MB dealers in the metro area. More inventory = more sales.

I'm not a Costco member so don't have access to their discounts. Is that 10% applicable to the E450 wagon? I'd definitely join for that.

Discounts vary model to model:

For example on a lease the residual on the E450 is higher than on a E300, and much higher than on an E53. Similarly, the MF on an E450 is higher than on an E300, but lower than on an E53.

I suspect, but do not know for sure as I was not in the market, the discount on an E450 wagon and cabriolet are different than on an E300 or E450 - probably less.

Suggest you have a friend who is a Costco member price out both an E450 and E450 wagon using Costco to see what the discount from MSRP presently is.

To find your MB dealer go to Costco.com and type in "Costco Auto Plan" and follow the directions which will give you the name of a MB participating Costco dealer.

Here is a link to the Costco auto plan: https://www.costcoauto.com/enterzipc...2fdefault.aspx

I hate to jump in these threads. I really do. But I have to in this instance. JTK44 speaks the truth. I won't divulge my discount as I promised my dealer I wouldn't. Ever. I won't divulge it even if anyone PM's me. But I will say I got a better discount on both our E400 and E450 than JTK did and the E450 was special ordered for me. I did have a trade. I won't go into numbers, but my trade was in exceptional condition and they gave me an exceptional trade value. Better than Kelly Blue Book for sure. The point is, it IS possible to get a really good discount on a specially ordered car. Perhaps in my case it's because I am a VERY loyal customer who has purchased more cars from this dealer than I have fingers and toes. And we agreed long long ago that I would not have to play the negotiation game for any car (including a specially ordered car) and I get the same discount regardless.

Well your case is a bit different as you said.
Your amazing deal doesn’t apply to the regular Joe.
I can walk in to LAX, talk to the crew and garner an $8000 first class seat to Tokyo, for nothing, but that doesn’t mean others can.

What kind of tactics did you use? Stopping by each one in person? Emailing the offers from other dealers? Calls?

Also, how long were you negotiating for?

Very curious!

Thanks!!

Can be done
 

It is all a matter of timing and how hungry M-B, MBUSA, the dealership and the sales person are. I was shopping in Oct. 2009 for an E 350 but couldn't find what I wanted. So, I ordered one through the dealer at the same price he would have charged if it he had in stock.
Of course, the key for me was OCTOBER 2009. Almost every dealer in America was dealing on anything due to the Great Recession. Overall, got a heck of a discount. 13.5% considering Total cost, car, tags, taxes, fees and delivery.
Had the car in hand in five weeks from ordering.

Supposedly the last day of month; last day of quarter and last day of year one hour before closing time is best time to make a deal. Probably one hour before closing on Christmas Eve would be best time.

Make sure to check with your insurance co., credit union, bank & whatever to see if they have deals with MBUSA.
Incidentally, on the European delivery, I think you still have to include airfare, etc. unless you are already planning to go.

the month will matter as well as programs change monthly. Then you have your big events like winter and summer of course....

A car from stock may be a better deal. In Canada there is 8K CAN incentive to the dealer on the E class. Sales of Audi and MB are down 20% YTD. The situation may be different in the USA.

That could be the case but I'm hearing people saying one can get 5% to 8% off a custom build. Is it likely I can get more than that off of a stock car?

It truly depends on what dealer you go to. I went from a 2016 C450 to a custom order 2019 E53 and got 10% off the sticker price.

I did my home work and my put in the effort to go to multiple dealerships and got us the best deal. When i went back to the other dealers with my best offer they all could not match it. They could come close on the final price but could not match it or beat it Ultimately Its your money and you have to decide how much you want to keep it in your pocket. Don't be afraid to ask for something or stand your ground because believe me MB or the dealership is not going to lose money. What ever they give you they will make up on the next customer who walks in and just takes the deal.

The 2019 orders should be closed by now so you might have to settle for a 2020 or what ever they have on the lot. You will most definitely get a good deal on a 2019 if its on the lot and they are looking to move cars.

Depends. Some dealers are paying for the cars to sit on the lots and some dealers actually purchase the cars they sell. So there is some incentive to move the cars on the lot. But, if it comes down to you will not buy anything on the lot (my situation) vs. going somewhere else or not buying a car at all, they may offer same deal on an ordered car.

Factory incentives usually do not apply when ordering a car. However, when you are taking delivery, any factory incentives at that time, should be passed on to you.