ivanj

My authorized dealer is offering me a 2009 G550 MBUSA demo with 9k miles on it to replace my G500 2002. It was registered in NJ by MBUSA so it is a "used car." No price yet.

I am told dealers buy cars at the MBUSA ex-leased cars at the two MBUSA dealer auctions for 50% off wholesale or at lease buy out and then mark them up about 75-100% after they do the "certified" process that costs them about $2k.

I have verified this with two local owners who turned in their dealer maintained leased cars and then I saw the dealer's offering price.

What should I offer the dealer?

Satan

I don't know where you got your info from, but lease returns (even MB owned cars) are worth the same as any other vehicle running through the auction. Starmark, depending on what the car needs cost more then $2k with just the basics.

ivanj

Here is the scenario:

Two of my friends turned in their MB lease cars to the leasing MBUSA dealer.

One car had a $25k lease buyout. The dealer choose to buy/keep the car, Certify it, and resell it. The asking price was >$50k. The MB extended warranty (at the time) was an extra added after the sale price and was somewhere around $3k. This asking price corresponded to the retail used Blue Book for this model.

Even if Starmark is $4k, this leaves the dealer with a very healthy profit (if the dealer bought the car for $25k) even if they knock 10% off when they sell the car. No wonder they love to sell CPO cars.

So what should I pay for the G550 in question?

TheDogsCar

This sounds odd to me?

Demo's, and I believe Executive Cars, are Registered to the Dealer ... so not considered "used" ... I would ask for the CarFax Report to see who it was Registered to

fyi ... the Executive Car I looked at buying from MBUSA ... I was told had the advantage of the Warranty starting the day I Registered it

... and I am not sure you can CPO a 'new' car?

ivanj

All I know about the registration is what they told me. They said it had to be registered in NJ because of the mileage. I know nothing about NJ law.

I'll look into further and post whatever new information I find out.

BENZITCH

Might need to be titled in NJ since there is no title for the car if the company owns it.

Montvale is probably the location and since it is in a special business zone there might be requirements placed on them to sell a demo/factory car.

alboogiee

My old neighbor in CA was a finance manager at a Honda dealer... he was given a demo vehicle every 3-4 months. There were quite a few strings attached for him though, mileage limitations, letting others use it/test drives, etc, etc. His wife had the opportunity to get a demo vehicle as well but she returned after a couple weeks because of the hassle it was to keep it and follow what the dealer wanted her to do with it. I think if you were to run a car fax on it, it would show as a corporate fleet vehicle, the warranty card also gets punched and therefore titled as well.

ivanj

If you have access for the dealer Edmunds or NADA there is a category called new/used car. If there is a desirable car or demo you might ask them about this because you basically get a new car at a used car price.

When I bought my AMG coupe it was a special order birthday present for this lady. Anyway when it came in she wanted a car with 4 doors so they swapped it for an S500.

When I bought the car in 2006 - it was a 2005 - I got an amazing price on it and the new car warranty applied. However, they said because of the age if I wanted the 100k warranty I needed to apply for it then and not wait until 45k miles.

I got them to throw in the CPO warranty since we were $5k apart on the price.

The dealer explained to me that according to law they had to title it to the dealership because of the fact it had been in their possession so long and that was law. Because I was the first retail purchaser the standard MBUSA new car warranty applied. It was a new/used car.

I'm sure they were happy to move that car! And I got a great deal according to a friend of mine who owns a new/used car group of dealerships.

PS
I want to thank MB of Greenwich, Conn. for helping me out when I had a slight issue on a trip. Good people. They ran the bulletin history on the car and found there were some critical updates that had not been performed by the delivering dealer, whose service director has since "retired." They actually offered to put me up for the night since I was returning to northern NE. They kept their AMG specialist late so I could be on my way so I didn't take them up on the gracious offer.


I'm sure every state is different.

ivanj

My neighbor inquired about the car in question. He has bought several cars from them.

My buddy said the dealer wanted $101k for it and he said they wouldn't budge.

I saw it going down the road the other day so I guess someone bought it. The fellow had a big grin on his face!

It's amazing how small the car looks compared to other SUVs when you see one coming from the opposite direction, I guess it's because it is narrow and tall. Almost looks like that silly Scion thing.