gkw4815

Car buying is rarely as fun as it ought to be, but my (so far unsuccessful) effort to score a decent deal on a 2016 GLC300 has been my most-frustrating car-shopping experience ever!

Looking for a 2016 GLC300, white with only Premium Package. Open to black or tan interior. Shouldn't be a rare or hard-to-find configuration by any means.

After contacting half a dozen dealers in the area, and hearing time and time again that the vehicles listed on their website were sold days ago or "converted to loaners" (then why are they still on the website?), I finally found a dealer who agreed to $4000 off MSRP of $41,865 on a car that they could get trucked over the next day. They also offered to let me put $5000 on my credit card, which with 2% cash back would effectively knock off another $100.

Got the call yesterday that the car had arrived, and made the 40-mile drive to pick it up. Immediately something is wrong - the wheels fitted to the car are definitely not the standard 18" alloys. They're still five-spoke, but with a much blander design. They don't match the wheels on any other GLC300 on the lot - or any other Mercedes, for that matter. They don't match either of the 18" wheel designs that show up on Mercedes online configurator. I ask the dealer why the car is fitted with aftermarket wheels, and he can't give me an explanation. He shrugs and says "take it or leave it".

Additionally, I notice that the rear passenger side door is about 1/8" misaligned from both the front door and the rear quarter window trim. I wouldn't accept such a glaring defect on a $13k Kia, much less a nearly $40k Mercedes. Dealer again shrugs and says "it's within tolerances, take it or leave it".

I don't blame the dealer for not being aware of these issues on a car that they had trucked over - but I was disgusted by their completely unapologetic attitude, and that a vehicle with such poor quality control would be allowed to leave the factory. I'm going to contact another dealer and see if they have any more incoming 2016s that would meet my criteria, but if not I'll probably end up looking at a new Lexus NX or RX instead even though I hate the styling.

Rant over...Has anyone else had similar experiences whilst purchasing a GLC300? Is this attitude about equipment/build quality typical? Should I try to get a better price on a leftover 2016? I've heard of some buyers on this forum getting 11-12% off, but typically on more-heavily-equipped vehicles.

RedwinGV

I haven't seen the quality issue that you experienced, but not all dealers or SA's are equal. In fact I bought mine from a dealer that is a bit further from where I live mostly on the attitude (pretty cocky and played the "limited availability card" over and over.) Frankly, many a higher end dealer can have less than the best customer attitude. Lexus has done a better job than most, but that's just my perspective.

So, it comes down to the product. I'll deal with attitudes since that will be gone after the deal. It's the product. Though the product that you were presented sounded pretty flawed, I wouldn't abandon it based upon that. I hope that you enjoy your decision, whatever it may be.

fabbrisd1

Let me try to clarify this a bit..

In the competitive "sport compact SUV market" across all manufacturers - the MB GLC has been very well received by shopping consumers - and frankly demand is as high - or higher - that production supply.

Understanding that - your specs "white" with P1 package and minimal/prefer-none other options - overall in the 13 Southern states at this moment - there are 12 in dealer inventory white/P1 under MSRP $42K.

Using this sample - those 12 under MSRP $42K also have Blind Spot (at $550) - Heated Seats ($580) and wheel locking bolts ($140).

All 12 have R31 "standard" wheels.

1. Since you do not report the wheel code on the spec-sheet/window-sticker was R31 or not - no one here will ever know what you were looking at. So you know a MB dealer cannot deliver a new MB with "aftermarket wheels" unless specifically listed by them on your sales documents.

2. "Most" MB and other luxury dealers accept up to $5,000 credit card limit on the transaction - some dealers can choose to exceed that limit for a particular transaction as a exception - that dealer policy overall "cap's" the added dealer credit card fee costs - and you can understand the business reasons for that

3. I have no comment on your "door misalignment" - which any dealer with any smarts would have had their tech's pull back in the shop and measure - if mis-aligned from the factory (I have not personally seen or heard of one) this would be taken care of under "factory delivery issue" by the dealer charged to MB before delivery.

If you feel better after your post - all well and good for you - I am just trying to help with perspective - and frankly know of what you have had to say to me really has anything to do with the title of your post "GLC build and equipment issues"

gkw4815

1. I don't know if the wheels were aftermarket - they had MB logos on them - but the did not match ANY of the wheels on the MB website online configurator. The window sticker said nothing about custom wheels. The dealer offered no explanation. Anyways, I've attached a picture.

2. I have no problem with the $5000 limit. Glad that they offer this option at all.

3. The dealer didn't even offer that their service department could fix the door. Rather, he said "it's within tolerance, adjusting it might create more problems." I looked at four other GLC300s on the lot, none of them had this issue, so it may very well be an isolated incident. In any case, it is very clearly a build quality issue, hence the title of my post.

Anyways, this post is more than an empty rant. I'm curious as to whether $4000-4100 off is a competitive price on a 2016, whether anyone else has received cars with equipment (wheels, etc) inconsistent with the Mercedes configurator/window sticker, and what level of build quality I should expect from a new Mercedes.

BobinIL

I saw what looked like these wheels on the Official 2016 GLC Picture Thread (posts 466 and 469). It might be worth a look to put your mind at ease.

gkw4815

Thank you. I guess they are "official" MB wheels, but it's odd that they don't show up as any of the 5 wheel options when you try to build your own GLC online.

I'm going to try to find another one with the expected base 18" wheels (and no glaring quality issues).

tron786

Also that car has standard halogens. Give that a miss. There are more options available now that the car has been in the market for a while.

gkw4815

Standard halogens don't bother me. I've got the fancy lights on my GTI, and I could easily do without them (the GLC300 will be for my wife).

I actually think it was quite shrewd of Mercedes to offer so many a-la-carte options for the GLC. We don't care for pano roof, fancy stereo, xenon lights, and a lot of the other gizmos that the GLC's competitors force you to pay for. Base GLC300 with premium package offers exactly what we want and nothing we don't need. Although I seriously wish Benz would get CarPlay and Android auto working with the GLC300...these aren't coming in 2017, right? Bizarre that the GLC300 doesn't offer these when older designs in Benz's lineup (GLE, GLS) do.

Another dealer has offered to beat the first dealer's price on a different car (hopefully one with no issues). Fingers crossed...

exintern

Agree on the lights and stereo. But the pano roof is completely worth it.

fabbrisd1

1) So you agree now the wheels you saw were not aftermarket - at least we accomplished something - unfortunately at that you did not look closely at the window sticker or the spec sheet to note the wheel code - you were too quick to walk out on your deal after that 40 mi drive

2) You can order whatever GLC wheels you want - place a GLC on order with exactly you want - go do that.

3) However - you are looking for a "in-stock-sell-now" discount - on a close-to-base-model-rig - and if that is what you are committed to yourself to do have at it

4) I have outlined how tight 2016 inventory is overall on what you want - and frankly 2017's later in the Fall will be about as tight since the most popular/selling MSRP price points are about $48K-$52K MSRP.

5) If you want a "deal" - then keep hacking away at it - since over time ALL dealer GLC's at dealer's now will become CPO retail sale units

gkw4815

1) What?? Why was I too quick to walk out on the deal?? The dealer didn't offer to fix a badly misaligned door, or to swap the wheels out with another car on the lot. If he had agreed to these remedies, I would've proceeded with the deal. As for the wheels - is it an unreasonable expectation that the wheels with which the vehicle is delivered are the ones that show up as the base wheels on the website?? Or put another way - when I first contacted the dealer about a car that showed up in their inventory (with pictures showing the correct base wheels), I was told that it had just sold but that they could get an identical car trucked over. Well, the one that was trucked over was not identical.

2) Can't wait months to get the next car.

3-4) Thank you.

5) Don't most car buyers want a "deal"?

BobinIL

Unless you are committed to the GLC you could expand your search to other brands. There are a lot of good CUV's on the market right now, most with greater dealer inventories available.

We were sold on the GLC as a replacement for our Q5, but after having difficulty finding anything we liked on dealer lots (as you know they sell fast) we expanded our search and ended up getting something different than we set out looking for.

awjenni

Those wheels are absolutely MB original equipment. I have them on my GLC and they look great. They are not shown on the website or in the brochure to my knowledge. But, when i was sitting with my dealer while he entered my desired build into the NetStar system, these wheels popped up as a choice in the 18" category. I chose them. They appear on my order as: "R96 18" 5 spoke wheel"

fabbrisd1

1) If there was a door out-of-spec - that's a measurement - and as I have already told you - if out-of-spec it would be repaired under MB warranty - at any MB dealer in the US - including another dealer if closer than the 40 minutes that you drove to that dealer that day.

2) You "thought from the web site" it would be one wheel - and after you reported here it was a aftermarket wheel - others have shown you it's not.

You walked away - and that's your choice if you were not comfortable - but has nothing to do about "build quality" and nothing to do about "aftermarket wheels"

You can work to find another GLC - or find another/different something else..

Keep the beat !

PCJohnD

My dealer says those wheels are used when standard 18" is out of stock at the factory.

gkw4815

Thank you. Your dealer is better-informed than mine, apparently.

It's still strange to me, that if these wheels are or might be fitted from the factory, that they don't show up as a choice/option anywhere on the Mercedes website. I only waited a couple of days for this car (that I ended up not buying), but if I had ordered new from the factory, waited 2-3 months for the car to arrive and it finally showed up with wheels I didn't expect, I'd be pretty peeved.

Looking at another GLC300 this Friday, that a different dealer was able to get in from port. Explained to him that we won't accept a car with other than the base r31 wheels, or with any quality issues that the dealer cannot rectify before delivery. Fingers crossed.

Incidentally - this dealer is letting me put as much of the purchase price as I want on credit cards, which will effectively give us another few hundred off the price plus a pile of airline miles. So apparently there is some leeway at the dealership level as to how much of the purchase can go on a card.