LKTB_E63

Hello Everyone - my 2015 GL450 is coming off lease in a few months the dealer is already trying to get me into a 2017/2018 GLS450, but I just don't think its work the money. Very similar to my 2014, except for a few redesigned areas.

Anyway, the buyback at the end of the lease is $55,881. I'm quite a bit over on the mileage (30,000 vs 20,000). The dealer is asking for $2,700 to CPO and "clean" the car. After reviewing the MB site, there are a bunch of CPO 2015 GL450 with less mileage ~20K (similarly optioned) between $50-$53K.

Any thoughts on whether I should pay a little extra and just purchase my car or hand it over to MBFS, pay the mileage fine and then buy a lesser used similarly equipped GL450? I was even thinking to look at the 550s for a few extra grand.

Any thoughts/insgihts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Anthony

anothercar

Interesting dilemma I'd say. You are correct in that there are many low mileage CPO MY 2015's out there for less than the $58,581 you'll pay to get yours certified. I'd find a similarly equipped one and save the $5--7k (adjusted for your mileage penalty) assuming you are hooked on continuing to drive a GL. Perhaps you can negotiate a better price on this basis.
I keep thinking I'll trade my 2015 GL 350 but I cannot find anything else out there that floats my boat in terms of performance and comfort. The GL is hard to beat in this class of SUV's. I just extended the warranty on mine to five years and 75000 miles at a cost of $1928.00. FYI, the CPO from the dealer often contains $500 to $1000 or more profit to the dealer. The ELW's also contain dealer markup. My selling dealer wanted over $3k for the exact same warranty. Shop around and you'll find vast differences. I recommend Talfel Motors in Louisville, KY and I don't live anywhere near Louisville. Mr. Jeff Jackson is the finance manager there and he sold me the extended limited warranty at what I believe to be cost or close to it. Call him and explain your situation to him and see what he can/will do. Maybe nothing but it's only a phone call.
Best of luck.

BTW, you are not required to deal with the selling dealer or return the car to the selling dealer. Any authorized MB dealer can handle it for you.

LKTB_E63

Thanks for the reply. So I did some more research with MBFS. Here are the details:

Buyback: $50,303 at end of lease (Feb 1 2018)
CPO warranty: $2,700.00
Total Buyback price from dealer should be ~$53,000 + plus a few hundred in dealer fees.
* Plus I'll owe about $2,000 in over mileage.

So after doing the math, it makes sense to just buy the car.

And I agree with your analysis, there are no other full size luxury SUVs with a real third row. The only car that I recently saw that comes close in terms of size is the VW Atlas, but its just not an MB.

Next question is on the cost of having the car CPO'd by dealer. Is $2,700 the right price?

Thanks

anothercar

[QUOTE=LKTB_E63;7243406]Thanks for the reply. So I did some more research with MBFS. Here are the details:

Buyback: $50,303 at end of lease (Feb 1 2018)
CPO warranty: $2,700.00
Total Buyback price from dealer should be ~$53,000 + plus a few hundred in dealer fees.
* Plus I'll owe about $2,000 in over mileage.

So after doing the math, it makes sense to just buy the car.

And I agree with your analysis, there are no other full size luxury SUVs with a real third row. The only car that I recently saw that comes close in terms of size is the VW Atlas, but its just not an MB.

Next question is on the cost of having the car CPO'd by dealer. Is $2,700 the right price?

Couple of comments as follows:

1) If you are purchasing the car you shouldn't have to pay the over mileage charge based on my experience with Audi (not MB).
2) My educated guess, based on purchase or lease of 11 German cars since 2006, is that the dealer has $750 ++ markup in the CPO.
3) Is the dealer going to meet all of the specs/requirements of the CPO program? Tires, Brakes, oil and filter, etc?

The CPO and Extended Limited Warranty (ELW) are negotiable items between dealers. Call around and start with Talfel in Louisville.