I'm about to special order a ML350. I'm in SoCal and lucky enough to be within 20 mins of 5 dealerships (Newport, Laguna Niguel, Buena Park, Anaheim, Long Beach).

I've been to one dealer already, and am going to schedule to go to another next week.

After my first visit, basically, they wanted a $2k refundable deposit, which of course is no problem but the final price would only be available upon delivery because if it takes 2 months to get the car, the price could change. Great story on the part of the salesman, but I'm obviously not going to wait 2 months to find out he wants something ridiculous and walk away.

So this leaves me with two questions:

1) Am I supposed to just print out the Edmunds.com invoice prices for the car + add-on's and negoatiate a price above the dealer's invoice (whatever that might be in 2-3 months?) prior to delivery?
2) Should I go leave a $2k deposit at all 5 dealers (not a problem either since its refundable) and let them fight it out when all 5 cars show up? Is that even allowed or do I need to get 5 orders put in under 5 different names?
3) My dealer wants to do some of the add-on's like the iPod integration at the dealership for 25% above the MBUSA site. I feel that he could put in the codes for all the items and get them factory installed but could earn more if he doesn't do it.
4) Dealer #1 wanted $4500 for the extended warranty. I can buy this from any MB dealer, so is it best to buy it within the first 30 days of ownership (or whatever it is before the cost goes up) and buy it from another dealer?

This is my first Mercedes, so any advice would be appreciated. Its a ML350 fully loaded (comes out to $70k out the door, the 350's MSRP is $43k).

Thanks in advance for any help.

Why not ask some of MBWolrd's MB sponsors what they can do for you?

Yeah, I'm going to be visiting Vadmin @ MBLN next week.

Just wanted advice from the dozens of people here, many from SoCal that have 3+ MBs under their belt.

Dealers give discounts to move stock already on hand because they've borrowed money to pay for it and are paying interest.

Plus (who knows) the dealer may get a discount from MBUSA for ordering multiple cars at once.

Not so much incentive to "discount" special orders.

I did special order on my CLK too. What i did is that, i went to 2 different dealership, and ordered 2 exact same cars (one under my name, another one under my gf's name). Those two cars will arrive about the same time to your local dealerships. Then I went to dealership number 1, and told them that I found a exact car at dealership number 2. If you want to get my business then you have to give me a better price. Bascially, the concept here is let those 2 dealerships to compete (when sellers compete, buyers win, ya !!!). Even I did put down the deposit for it, but that doesn't nessary means that i have to purchase it. Finally, I got $2000 off from the MSRP. Good luck on finding a good deal. I live at So Cal too, I am sure you will be able to find a good deal around here. Remember special order doesn't mean you have to higher price.