CaptainMal

I see lots of people on here that have ordered their GLC. I never knew this was so common. I've never actually placed an order for exactly the car I want. I bought my GLC off the lot, which I don't regret at all. I was just wondering, what is everybody's preference? Would you rather buy off the lot or place an order? Is there any advantage to ordering if you see what you're looking for on the lot?

Also, where do you order from? Do you just go to the dealer and say these are the options I want?

hyperion667

Welcome. I don't have your model, but I have always configured my cars from MB. Yes! It is as simple as telling the salesman that you want to order. Sometimes you could look on the lot and try and find what you like, but many folks want to have it exactly like they want it
Good luck and enjoy the ride!

chillysyrup

Place an order with the dealer. German cars especially are meant to be ordered (at least in Europe) so you individualize what you want and your car comes a while later, exactly as you like it. In North America cars tend to be stocked by the dealer and ordering is rarer. This makes the dealer guess what customers will want or what the dealer can sell. This is problematic in that because there are so many options a desirable feature is bound to be left out of any particular car you are looking at. For example you can find a colour and engine size you want, but the good stereo system is missing. To avoid all this it is best just to order.

superswiss

As others have said. By ordering you get exactly what you want. If you do find exactly what you are looking for on the lot, then there isn't much of an advantage, other than the car on the lot might have been sitting around for a long time and may have been test driven by random customers. Some don't like their new cars having been used for potential test drives. Also, depending on the model, dealerships may never order certain options for their inventory. For example on AMGs, the Performance Seats are hard to find on cars on the lot. Dealerships order configurations that are very likely to sell quickly as it costs them money to keep a car in inventory. So you often don't find cars with less common colors, or advanced features such as the driving assistance packages etc. on the lot. Additionally, before they ended the program last year, when ordering a car you could also take delivery of it in Germany at the factory (not possible for the cars that are built in Alabama). This is called European Delivery, and you get to experience the car on its home turf combined with a European vacation with your own car. I did that with my C63S in 2019 and spent two months in Europe before it finally got shipped to the USA. Unfortunately, due to COVID and other reasons, the program is no more and that's a shame. I personally never bought any of my cars off the lot. Always ordered exactly what I wanted and did European Delivery with my two most recent cars. We bought my wife's VW off the lot, because VW doesn't really do custom orders, but we ended up having to compromise on interior color and equipment, but as long as the car was sunflower yellow my wife didn't care .

As somebody else said, in Europe pretty much everybody orders their cars and many pick them up at the factory. Dealerships don't really have an inventory. This is more of an American thing as Americans want instant gratification.

CaptainMal

Thanks for the answers. I know dealers are mostly an American thing. Hopefully next time I'll be able to order exactly what I want. The European Delivery certainly sounds fun, too. Too bad it's no longer around.

hyperion667

I'll never forget the time I went to Honda to get my wife a new Pilot......I asked how the ordering process goes and the bloke looked at me like I had an extra eyeball lol.

CaptainMal

Well, this is my first Mercedes. I'm pretty sure the VW dealer from my last car would look at my funny, too. I did have a couple of Infiniti's in the mid 2000s, but I don't think they took orders either.

RRMB396

If I'm going to be spending Mercedes $ I want exactly what I want and to not spend $ on things I don't.

I would build it out on the MB website and call / email different dealers to negotiate before meeting with a dealer. Keep in mind delays make the process unpredictable.

hyperion667

There are plenty of other cars that are similarly priced to Mercedes Benz right?

RRMB396

I mean buying a luxury brand such as Mercedes as opposed to a Toyota, for example (though there's a range of vehicles and prices in all brands).

Hanger

Looking to buy my first Mercedes and I'm def leaning toward ordering one as it's nearly impossible to find an AMG-line without Night package as I'm a sucker for chrome lol

I've owned multiple Subaru and usually when ordering from the factory it's usually 2k off MSRP. But was told by the MB sales that the price for ordering vs in stock inventory, price will be the same.

Is that normally the case or is it due to the car shortages, supply/demand?

wkc987

I think it really depends on the dealer and how ypu negotiate with them.

For example one dealer told me they can offer 2000 off if i buy from lot and no discount on custom order. After negotiate for a bit over the phone, they only able to offer 1000 off for custom order.

While the other dealer said they can offer 4000 off right at the beginning no matter it is from the lot or custom build. And the actually discount is a bit higher than 4000 after I visited them in person.

So as other mentioned, dont feel bad when you call them for pricing and shop around before making the decision.

hyperion667

I'd also add to not feel bad IN ANY regard for a dealer as they're just in it for the money.....not you, not to be friends, not to take good care of you.....it's acting: a show designed to get your money Just play the game accordingly and get as much money off the sale price as you can. Don't be afraid to walk out, haggle....it's part of it.
There are about 4 dealers within a 70 mile radius of me that I pitted against each other, and they knew that was one of my tactics to get the best price.

MB_MA

Curious what the experience is in the US, with respect to custom order these days and ability to negotiate off the MSRP. I always thought that the in stock inventory at the dealer provided the buyer more leverage to negotiate off the MSRP, as opposed to custom ordering and basically not being able to negotiate significantly. My GLC300 was loaded with options I didn’t care for and I was able to negotiate 10% off MSRP after a bit of haggling. Wondering if that would work in a custom order situation?

eddieo45

Of the eight MBs I've owned seven were purchased used. When you buy a used car the only way you get "exactly" what you want is to to limit your wants to what is available out there in the marketplace. That's pretty much the same mindset you have when you pick something off the lot and have no regrets (it helps to be someone who's easily pleased). I found personally that with each successive Mercedes model I've owned, I discovered options I'd have liked only after buying the car. Sometimes that was a grille or a spoiler or wheels, easily purchased and installed after the fact. I did all of that on my CLK350, plus upgraded the climate control module and installed Bluetooth. I was contemplating upgrades of the fog lights and interior trim when circumstances arose that brought me to my CLK550, which had every option I could have wanted. Obviously the "modding" I was doing was a satisfying hobby unto itself, and I was able to continue to scratch that itch with maintenance and repairs, like replacing broken window switches, keyless entry door handle, even the TPMS system. These days I have less energy for such projects.

When the W205 C-Class debuted in 2014 I loved the new body style, the W204 being the only C-Class I did not like (that entire family of Benzes was horrible: the W212, W221, and the worst of the bunch GLK). The car being for my wife it was pretty easy to select one from a list the dealer had on order, and I think the "open pore ash trim" was the only option outside the premium package. Over seven years of ownership I've regretted not having the heated steering wheel, heated rear seats and hand-free trunk as much as I regret getting the navigation SD card. Knowing she'll likely drive her next car seven or more years makes me want to get it right this time.

My experience is the opposite with GLC Coupes: plenty with AMG-line, none with Night package.

RSNovi

I have ordered many cars that I have owner. More often than not I would order so I would get exactly what I wanted. Typically these were Ford vehicles. It is common to order Fords, but I feel you have more bargaining power with a car on their lot. I purchased my first GLK through dealer trade and was quite happy with it. The most recent GLC I wanted a trailer hitch which seem to be very rare so I had to order.

Elvisfan0108

I ordered my c300 cabriolet. I didn’t want black or grey. Also, I wanted the driver’s assistance pkg and HUD. Took 5 months , but I got exactly what I wanted. Yes, you don’t have the instant gratification. But it was worth the wait. Ordered it in March. Received it last week.
Decide what you want. See if anyone has that. If not, order it if you can.

High Technology

If you can find what you want, or very close to it (with maybe an extra option or two you don't mind), buy off the lot. If you can't find what you want then order it. Whatever you do, DON'T try to get the car from another dealer transferred to your dealer. Usually that means that two unrelated entities have some stake in the profit of the deal.

As noted above, the dealers are only in it for the money --> so they would much rather you buy off the lot, as that's instant revenue for the month. Dealers have two different approaches to ordering -- some don't mind, as they don't have any real costs associated with inventory (when it comes in, you pick it up), whereas cars in inventory have carrying costs to the dealer (what used to be called "floorplan"), which are the borrowing costs to purchase inventory. Others don't like it because it takes work, and there is always the chance you bail out of the deal and they get stuck with a customized car that might be hard to unload.

The downside to ordering is that you don't get the car for 8 or so weeks, which as noted above doesn't fit the American car model. Heck, I don't start seriously shopping until a week before I want to take delivery, since every dealer (from BMW to Honda to Mercedes) always wants you to drive the car home the same day.

When I got my 2020 GLC, I decided I wanted Brilliant Blue with the digital dash. Black and gray were aplenty, and maybe 1 in 10 GLCs had the digital dash. I live in the northeast, and there were 3 Brilliant Blue cars with the digital dash (Hartford, CT, somewhere in Central NJ and one in Virginia/DC -- all 2 to 4 hours away. I came REALLY CLOSE to getting an X3 instead, as there were plenty of blue ones - but I liked the GLC better.

lastrycjusz

Probably depends heavily on what you want, what you need and what you don't want.
In my case - most of the GLC-s available from the lot in Poland are with some fancy styling packages which I definitely don't want and are usualy equipped with big rims (yes, the dealer even called me after I had already placed an order to make sure that it's not a mistake that my configuration includes only 17" wheels), have no airmatic but might have the fancy audio package and so on and so on.
So in my case it would be impossible not only to find a configuration containing the options I want without too many options I do not want but even finding one with all the options I considered necessary.
And usually the "richer" configurations available off the lot were built with bigger engines whereas I wanted just the humble 220d.
So YMMV but in my case it was a no-brainer.
Of course the trade-off is the waiting time and maybe worse position for bargaining.

stath

In my case, back in 2017 the smart phone integration was not common for the GLC. So I special ordered the 2018 GLC300 with the smart phone integration, no Benz navigation, no sunroof, and none of the other weird & pricey options found in the dealer's lot GLCs.
Then I bargained a discount from the dealer, paid a deposit $2K, and then I got delivery in 2 months. I got regular updates about my car being made, and then shipping it on a barge. It was fun following online that barge from Finland to Long Beach, CA.