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Mercedes Price Fixing Inquiry!

Old Sep 30, 2002 | 10:55 PM
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Mercedes Price Fixing Inquiry!

Nov 2002 issue (page18) of EuroTuner reports:

"Mercedes-Benz USA LLC has recently been brought under legal scrutiny due to a lawsuit accusing the company of price fixing....The claim is that Mercedes purposefully encouraged some New York-area M-B dealers not to battle each other on pricing, but rather build the brand as a whole and sell the cars for the same dollar amount. One dealership and a handful of customers are now claiming this illegal. If Mercedes is found guilty of price fixing, expect the company's stock prices to drop dramatically..."
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Old Oct 1, 2002 | 08:13 AM
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In practice, they do compete and we used that competition to our advantage. I think it will be hard to press that suit.
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Old Oct 1, 2002 | 11:00 PM
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The MBUSA efforts at eliminating negotiating started with lowering prices by cutting dealer margins a number of years ago. I bought a '94 300SE on which the MSRP was about $72 thousand and paid about $58 thousand at year end. Margins are no where near that now.

I actually prefer the no negotiation approach and think it makes it a more dignified process. In my case I am always trying to get the newest model so negotiations are usually out of the question anyway. On the other hand, if dealers want to compete, that should be their prerogative.
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Old Oct 5, 2002 | 12:47 AM
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I'm not necessarily sure it's any more dignified than before. Even now people (including myself) generally get anywhere from $500-$1000 off most of the models in the MB lineup (I'm excluding specialty/high-demand vehicles such as most of the AMGs, etc.) My dealer in NJ already told me that they're taking $500 off the new E320's already.

I don't think we know what lack-of-dignity is until one walks into a Toyota/Honda/GM/Ford dealership. There you see some major wheelin'-and-dealin'. And remember how lucky we are that we deal with MB dealerships.
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Old Oct 10, 2002 | 11:14 PM
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Originally posted by KrispyK


I don't think we know what lack-of-dignity is until one walks into a Toyota/Honda/GM/Ford dealership. There you see some major wheelin'-and-dealin'. And remember how lucky we are that we deal with MB dealerships.

you could have a forum dedicatd to slimeball dealings with some of those guys.

I had one guy check out my car for a trade in value. Initially, he refused to give me my keys back until we had negotiatied the deal. Told him to stuff it. Got my keys and walked.
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Old Oct 15, 2002 | 02:25 PM
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Originally posted by KrispyK
I'm not necessarily sure it's any more dignified than before. Even now people (including myself) generally get anywhere from $500-$1000 off most of the models in the MB lineup (I'm excluding specialty/high-demand vehicles such as most of the AMGs, etc.) My dealer in NJ already told me that they're taking $500 off the new E320's already.

I don't think we know what lack-of-dignity is until one walks into a Toyota/Honda/GM/Ford dealership. There you see some major wheelin'-and-dealin'. And remember how lucky we are that we deal with MB dealerships.
They only thing why they are taking $500 off the new E320 is because E350 is coming out soon, so they need to get rid off E320. As soon as new E350 will come out, nobody will be willing to buy E320's. Basicly dealer is just trying to f*ck you up. How your going to feel yourself if you'll buy this E320 now and there will be a new E350 in 2 months and i can bet that most of the dealers won't say a word about new E350 until you'll buy a car.
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