21gle

Anyone have a dealer they would recommend in the Texas/Louisiana/Mississippi/Alabama area? I am looking to order a 21 GLE 450.

Thanks.

stealth.pilot

Depends on whether you are optimizing for price, or optimizing for availability.

21gle

I am looking to optimize for price since I am planning on doing a custom order.

Thanks,
Jason

mikapen

Or service.

hc3mbobr

Jason, DM me. I may be able to assist.

tomb73

Would be interested in a discussion of the differences between Park Place and Avondale (in DFW area).

GregW / Oregon

If you would consider Arkansas, Terry Fabbri, who posts here as fabbrisd1 is with Mercedes of Northwest Arkansas in Bentonville and seems to be a real straight shooter.

stealth.pilot

None of the best dealers on price are in the states you mention. Baton Rouge will give out good discounts. Park Place in Dallas usually doesn't play ball. At best they might give you $1000 off.

In the South East, the most competitive dealers I found are West Palm Beach, and Autonation's Mercedes dealer near Tampa.

BACnMercedes

I tried calling the Park Pace dealer awhile back looking at a used vehicle and they wouldn’t move any bit.

tomb73

Sadly I think that getting any kind of a dealer discount on a GLE580 this quarter is going to be impossible. None in stock, limited supply in the inventory chain. No reason for a dealer to do any kind of negotiating. Given that the only two vehicles in the pipeline are April (Avondale) and June (Park Place), may just postpone my order for a month or two. Have a road trip in Feb/Mar, and then the next major trip is September, so may delay any kind of action til March.

pjw1967

I have only purchased one car from Mercedes in The Woodlands, TX. https://www.mbotw.com/ As far as I know, they are independently owned as opposed to MB Houston North and Greenway who are Autonation.
I got a good price on a 14 GL450 CPO. I take that and my wife's 14 ML350 there for service which has been a pleasant experience.

The GM is Nick Botusan nbotusan@mbotw.com He might remember me. Paul Wilson. Email him and ask that he have a salesperson call you. Let me know if they reach out to you.Nick Botusan

New Car Sales Manager

Mercedes-Benz Of The Woodlands

Direct: 936-235-2174

Cell: 832-768-1999

Fax: 936-224-5298

Yocubed

When we were looking for to order our gle 450 last year Baton Rouge wouldn't budge off MRSP even though I'm from BR and purchased from them in the past. Ended up getting the best deal from Jack Ingram Mercedes-Benz in Montgomery. Ordered in Dec 2019 and delivered March 20th 2020

hyperion667

Wow, they have dealerships in the south??

Lanzz

I have had very good experiences at Hendrick in Charlotte on Independence. Cam Porta is the sales rep I deal with - he is young and very sharp - easy to work with and the last two deals we have put together have been very competitive without a lot of back and forth. What I especially like is that they don't start at some silly place (like sticker price) and then you spend hours and days grinding on the numbers and if there is something they cannot do, they tell you up front so you don't waste time. (MB of South Charlotte does that foolishness with starting at sticker price on everything and then tons of back and forth, which is why I only ever leased 1 car from them...)

Selection is good at Hendrick as well - as they draw from their two other NC stores when needed - in the summer, when nobody had inventory, they still had a decent selection.

Been having a good service experience there as well - very fair and flexible.

BACnMercedes

Charlotte might be a little far from the “south” the OP was asking about but I’ve had problems with Hendricks (opening credit cards I didn’t ask for and a lot of small add on things) but holy crap stay away from MB South Charlotte.

cvxdrk

I have a GLE63S on order with Nick (2nd decade of Feb?). He took $2000 off sticker for me without much work on my side.

hyperion667

Wow 2k, what a kind and generous gesture

TexAg91

For what it's worth...I purchased my 2014 QX60 from Autonation Infiniti in Torrence,CA. I obtained the best deal I've ever negotiated...out of luck, as my timing was perfect.

I learned that Autonation uses quotas to incentivize their sales managers to achieve a monthly sales target. The quota target expires at close on the Saturday of the last week of the month. When I purchased my Infiniti, I happened to show up at 4 PM on the the last Saturday in Feb, and the sales manager needed to sell 1 more car to meet his quota. I know, because he leveled with me. The sales manager was willing to sell the car I wanted (which they had in inventory) at a loss because the sales quota would make up for it. He also agreed to knock another $500 off the sales price, and give me another $500 for my trade in if I did my financing with Infiniti (they'd get an additional sales fee and would match my USAA rate -- a win/win). Bottomline, I was able to negotiate ~15% off MSRP...all because of timing; and Autonation still made money.

In my opinion, your best chance at getting good deal is to try and purchase from Autonation on the last Saturday of the month, in the afternoon when the new car sales manager is trying to hit their sales quota. They will be motivated to sell you the vehicle.

cvxdrk

Yeah, I used to enjoy the sport of haggling with car dealers. It simply isn’t worth the time or energy for me anymore. There are more rewarding sports out there (like driving a sweet 63S!).

tomb73

My strategy in the past has always been to identify the vehicle I want, then go to a couple of dealers and chat with them. I make sure they know I am talking to others, then after I get whatever deal one offers, I go outside in view and call the other salesperson. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I think with the GLE580 at this point it is academic, as they don't need to offer any incentives. Might just defer my purchase for a bit to see if supply improves.

mikapen

The oldest line in the book.....
But, end of month is always a good time to negotiate.

tomb73

Sometimes you win....

mercedesmax

I doubt the supply will improve. Right now there are 25 unsold GLE 580's in dealer inventories across the US. There are 396 Mercedes dealers.
If you have the ability to buy a $100,000 car, how is saving a couple of grand more going to change your life?
All that will happen if you wait is that you will be in the same boat you are in now. This is not a car that Mercedes plans on building in volume.

tomb73

Well, mercedesmax, not actually going to buy a $100k car. As configured, more like $81K. Still, for us mortals, that's a lot of money. Pretty much any vehicle in the pipeline has a LOT more options than I care about. Given that I will likely be ordering, am not in a huge hurry, so can make it what I want. Have our 2nd road trip of the year planned for September/October, and expect there are options for getting something in that timeframe. Besides, as my wife says, "so you're only going to look at the Mercedes?". Will likely go take a look at the X5 this week, which seems to have more availability. Not sure there are any other comparable V8's out there at this point. I believe the Cayenne V8 configures out over $100K, so not in the cards. Lexus V8's are 'luxurious" but their 0-60 times are just not interesting. Am not a 'sport' driver, but want the smooth, effortless power we had when we were driving our ML550.

BACnMercedes

Have you seen the SQ7 and SQ8 @tomb73 ?