eurmail

Hi all, my name is Blair Lapwing, and I'm new to this forum. I wonder if you can help me with a couple of questions: is the 10% dealer's commission a fact, and does anyone know where I can see dealer invoice prices for model year 2018?

I'm buying an E400 wagon through the ED program, planning for an early June 2018 delivery. Using the mbusa.com build tool, I've determined the options I want, and I know the total retail price of the configured car. The next step is to decide on a negotiating strategy.

I've read about the dealer commission of 10%, and that buyers are negotiating for some portion of that commission, in addition to the 7% ED discount. However, I've always made my new car offers based on dealer invoice, plus or minus some dollars. That includes a BMW I bought through their ED program in 2008.

My first question is whether the 10% dealer's commission is the real deal. It sounds too generous.

My second question is whether anyone can point me to a price list for 2018 dealer invoice.

Thanks a lot,
Blair

ted_jane

I don't have an answer to your second question.

For the first question, according to the european delivery dealer workbook the dealer receives a flat 10% commission on MSRP, including options. I have no way to determine if this document is accurate, but so far no one has disputed the commission structure stated. You can access the workbook at this link:

http://mercedes-benz-dealer.custhelp...kbook+2014.pdf

eurmail

Thanks ted_jane. Using the build tool at edmunds.com, I found a roughly 7% difference between invoice and retail price. That was for a 2017 E wagon, and for the sake of my research I'll figure the same percentage will apply while I wait for edmunds to post 2018 prices. Invoice pricing is, however, a moot point if I'll be negotiating for a piece of the dealer's commission.

I'll try emailing the contact listed in the workbook. It's a 3-year old doc, but it's a starting point. I want to find out:

- Any changes for 2018 in the EuroDel program
- A preferred list of dealers, nationwide, who are especially competent with the EDP process
- Confirmation that I can have the car delivered to my local dealer, even if I buy out of state

ted_jane

You can search this forum for a list of recommended ED dealers. Herbert in El Segundo CA is a common recommendation (google EDP dealers for his web page). Standard 7% + 3% additional off

According to the dealer guide the ED selling dealer will negotiate local delivery with the local dealer. Note, some people have indicated in posts that their local dealer refused to work with remote ED dealers. This appears to be especially true in Hawaii where the dealer has a captive customer base.

Forty9

Let me second Ted Jane's recommendation of Herbert Haemmer, of Mercedes-Benz of Escondido, CA, if you are thinking of doing European delivery. As I understand it, he handles more European delivery vehicles than any other US salesman, and when one deals with him it is clear why. He has a better understanding of the program than anyone else I have encountered, he is very familiar with Germany, he is diligent and attentive to customers' requests, and he is a gentleman. We arranged a European delivery through him this summer after negotiating a good price on the car, and the whole thing went without a hitch.

seascape

Herbert Haemmer gets great reviews, and I had a nice conversation with him earlier this year, but I decided to go with my local dealer. Although others have mentioned that he gives a flat 3% on top of the 7% EDP discount, he offered me the equivalent of 3% off, in the form of a cash discount and a dealer loyalty discount, but I would have to pick up the car at his dealership and drive it to my residence in San Francisco. The inconvenience and 1-way airfare wasn't worth it. My local salesperson handles very few EDP cars, but I had no problem thanks to the info on this forum. It's still worth talking to Herbert, as I understand he's also very good at recommending hotels and places to visit.

It seems that most EDP customers get no additional discount over the the standard 7%. The next most common discount seems to be an additional 3%. Some lucky forum member recently posted that they received 5% off. So 3% would be a good starting point.

ted_jane

I received an additional 5% off the EDP price, and get this, last week, out of the blue, I received a $559.75 check in the mail from the dealership. The comment said "Overage on payment for deal". I sent the SA an email asking what it was for, he replied, "lucky you, cash the check". So I did, but I have no idea what the overage is about.

eurmail

Thank you Forty9, seascape, and ted_jane for your very helpful recent comments. I've read most of the threads in the "European Delivery of Your New Car" forum, and I think I have a good handle on how the program works, thanks to all of the people participating in the discussions.

This morning I called the MBUSA European Delivery Department (800-243-3876) and asked Teresa several questions. Her answers, with one exception, pretty well confirmed the things I learned in the forum. The exception is the idea of buying from any dealer nationwide and specifying my local dealership for the final delivery location. Teresa said MB delivers the car only to the buying dealer, who must then arrange transportation to another shop, and only if the other shop agrees to the transaction.

If I understood them correctly, many posters in the forum suggested negotiating with, for example, Herbert in California as the buyer, with him arranging for the car to come straight from the vehicle prep port to my local dealership in Texas. Teresa contradicts that possibility, but maybe she is mistaken.

So, has anyone bought an EDP car from out of state and had it delivered directly from vehicle prep to their hometown?

quantira2

Hello,
I've got 3.7% from my local dealer which is 10- minutes from where I live.

My local dealer first rejected any additional discount over 7% that I would normally get from the factory for ED. Then I start talking to Herbert and he offered 3% additional if I pick the car in CA dealer where he works.

Armed with this written offer of 3% additional, I went back to my local dealer and asked for 3.7% which I got.

I believe I could have gotten 4% or more if i pushed it but I was happy to go over 3.5% which was my goal.

Hope this helps ,
Happy motoring

eurmail

Thanks quantira2, and congrats on the nice deal. I'm still unclear whether I can buy out of state and specify my town for the final delivery. Teresa is the person who answered the phone the other day when I called mbusa's 800 number, and she's the one who said the car is delivered only to the ordering dealer. However, posters in this forum said it is possible. For example, zhenyaf said Herbert in CA was the dealer and that he arranged for the delivery to zhenyaf's town in NY.

After talking to Teresa, I sent a note to mbusa.com's email address, asking the same delivery question, but I haven't heard back. MB is a big bureaucracy, and this kind of research might require asking three different people the same question, and taking the best two out of three answers.

quantira2

What I have also found out that most dealers participate in MBCA club discount. My local dealership is offering $500 additional discount if i am a member of MBCA. This additional discount is on top of the 7%+3.7% deal I have negotiated.

Annual membership fee to MBCA is $55. The only caveat is that you have to be a member in good standing for at least a year before you can get the $500 discount on a new MB car. I hurried up and became a member in June as I target May 2018 for my S class Euro delivery.

My dealer said he would accept my membership of less than a year as part of our deal

So all in all 7% +3.7% +$500.... Not bad.

Remember any additional discount you can get upfront would reduce your sales tax as well since the sales tax is calculated on the final negotiated price

Getting additional 3.5% should be no brainer for someone who knows how to play the game. Remember, dealer is in it for the money so we should treat them as they treat us.

For me, going with someone because he knows few hotel names in the area is not good enough reason. My priority was to get the best deal possible so I had no problem pitting Herbert price against my local dealer. These days, if you are half intelligent, you can do all the research yourself and guide your dealer to a flawless delivery experience and you can make your own perfect Euro Trip plan.


www.mbca.org

eurmail

I started this thread to gather information about how to negotiate with dealers. I found that the dealer invoice price is about 7% less than MSRP. The EDP discount for the 2018 E400 wagon is 7%. Dealers receive a 10% commission on EDP sales, and many buyers have negotiated some part of that commission as a further discount. I've decided to negotiate for a portion of the dealer commission, so now it's time to move on to other threads in this forum, such as "Buy from one dealer, delivery at another" https://mbworld.org/forums/european-...y-another.html

unit

I am considering ED with a C43 this winter, and I am confused on how the discount works. In the C-class forums, people are getting 10-15% discounts off regular purchases. Would the 7% discount stack on top of that?

Sorry if this is a dumb question, I have done this with BMW, but the Mercedes negotiation process seems very different.

TIA!

ted_jane

MB Dealers are compensated differently for ED cars than BMW dealers. BMW has a special ED invoice for european delivery cars that is lower than the NON-ED invoice. Options for BMW ED cars are also priced at an additional discount to the dealer versus the NON-ED option pricing.

MB Dealers receive a flat 10% commission based on the MSRP price for the car, including options. Many dealer incentives do not apply to ED.

MB customers received an automatic 7% discount off MSRP including options on many ED cars, but there are exceptions. Check with a dealer to confirm the ED discount on a C43.

Some dealers will provide an additional discount over the 7% auto discount. You need to negotiate any additional discount.

See below for additional information:

https://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/enthu...ivery/vehicles

https://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/europ...sing_options-2

Disclaimer: The above information is based on the 2014 ED Work Book for Dealers at this link:

http://mercedes-benz-dealer.custhelp...kbook+2014.pdf