Hi All -

I have a 2020 GLS 580 that is coming off lease - buy out is 30% less than market, so I thought I'd buy it and hold a few more years. I am a new MB driver and dont really know the ecosystem well.

Can y'all help me with lease-end purchase negotiating / strategies?

What is best way to get MB extended warranty / CPO?

I appreciate your help!
Bob

How many miles are on the GLS 580? I'd be happy to get you extended warranty information from our two providers Fidelity and Freedom warranty to compare, repairs from both providers are accepted at all Mercedes-Benz dealerships and licensed independents in the US/Canada. You can reach me at tgibson@highline-autos.com or (855) 924-1333 if you have any questions.

Really no end of lease negotiation. Your purchase price is the Residual Value shown in your lease. I am sure there is a website for mbusa financial services that will outline the process and provide contact info. Your dealer can handle everything, but they may charge you a fee. If you have a good relationship with your dealer, they may not charge you a fee given future service business, particularly if you purchase the ELW from them.

This could differ by state, but in Tennessee you would take the title and bill of sale you received from MB financial and go to the county clerk’s office and pay sales tax on the purchase and transfer the tag. Again, your dealer can process this, but may charge you a fee.

As to the ELW, if you are still under your original warranty, a couple of MB dealers have been mentioned on this site that will sell at a discount. One in KY was just mentioned with a positive thread in the GLE forum. With that info, your dealer may match or get close to that price (mine did when I purchased the two year extended CPO warranty with the GLS).

If you are not under the original warranty, a company like Fidelity is available. I have a Fidelity Platinum warranty on the 2015 S550 that I bought in a private transaction in 2019. Again, the MB dealer ended up being cheaper than others. A Fidelity warranty can be sold by any brand that has a relationship with Fidelity, so there is competition (I have a buddy that bought a Fidelity warranty on his Audi from the Acura dealer). I have had one claim on Fidelity and the dealer handled the processing.

Hope this helps.

When I purchased my GLS that was 18 months old I looked into extended warranties as well. With my time working at a dealership (non Mercedes) I found that the manufacturers extended warranty typically was the best so I looked at the Mercedes warranty. At the advice of many threads here I called Jeff Jackson at MB of Louisville and got a much better price than anyone locally was offering me.

Due to my experiences in the past and what I head from friends still in the auto industry, I typically avoid aftermarket warranties. However, I will say I have a couple neighbors who have purchased fidelity warranties and said they were happy with them. These particular people did not go to the dealer for repairs (I'm not sure if this matters). In full disclosure one of these neighbors dealt in insurance sold fidelity products for a living (not extended warranties) so he may have been biased. When I shopped for my GLS I didn't find Fidelity pricing to be much different than Mercedes pricing from Jeff Jackson. If Fidelity coverage is good like the Manufacturer warranty, I would expect similar pricing. It is essentially like insurance where they look at expected cost of payout, their savings from negotiated rates on labor/parts (which can cause you a problem), and pool it with others to get a rate.

A good way to help you decide between warranties would be to talk to your intended repair facility and ask them about the various warranties you are considering and if they have had good or bad experiences with them. Be cautious though. Some dealers will try to sell you their warranty and will often claim they are "Mercedes or factory". They have low or no deductible, but only when you come to their dealership. Sometimes coverage isn't very good if you go elsewhere so make sure to get a copy of the contract and see what it says including the fine print of who is actually backing it. In my experience, run from anything that says Americare although I believe they may have changed names to avoid their reputation.

I have only done this once in my life, a 2013 Toyota Highlander that we had prior to the GLS. Lesson I learned - bypass the dealership and buy it directly from Mercedes. Every Toyota dealership I tried to buy our lease from wanted to tack on fees to do so, even had two tell me the residual is what the manufacture gets, the dealer gets it's cut too. Total garbage, but they tried. Instead, I asked Toyota Financial if I could just deal with them directly, which they gladly allowed, and the purchase price wasn't a penny past the residual already agreed to (exception being tax, tag, etc...). Given the rarity of the 580 in the market today, I would WATCH OUT for any dealer BS like this when you buy the lease. I am willing to bet MB will tell you to contact the dealership you got the car from to handle the buyout.

All the leases I've done, the optional buyout is always reported in the online account for that particular time (there's extra in there for the check to clear). I've never had to go back to the dealer if I wanted to buy the leased car!

Yes, your lease contract has the details of purchase option. Mine says I can buy it at the end of the lease for the residual value plus $150 purchase option fee. However, it also says that you will need to re-resgister and re-title the car in your name within 30 days of purchase otherwise they reserve the right to cancel the registration. Doing so will obviously require one to pay for title/registration fee and tax which is fine if you want to keep the car for yourself, but what if one is planning to resell the car to a 3rd party? I was wondering if there is a way to avoid the title/registration/tax for reselling the car. Of course I prefer to return the car to the same dealer I am leasing my new car from them, but it's good to know all options in case they are not willing to offer a fair market value for the car.

You can always sell the leased car to Carmax w/nearly guaranteed equity (there are some makes that Carmax won't take in from a lease).

its very easy call MBFS tell them you want to buy out your lease they will walk u true it all you pay is around $400.00 (florida) and they will send you the new registration
very easy dont go to the dealer

MBFS won't honor the contract price to a 3rd party.

I purchase my lease out , but if you want to sale to a 3rd party u may have to buy it cash pay the sale taxes and hope u still have equity

Is this a newer development?

Been that way for the last year plus.

There's a way around this but Carmax won't qualify. I was able to get rid of my leased TLX to a BMW dealership despite the Acura embargo. The BMW dealership had an Acura site within its network and that enabled the trade-in. Failing that, the alternative would have been to go through Equityhackr (Leasehackr) but they offered just about the same amount of money as the dealer.

For lease-end purchase, review your residual value and negotiate if possible by offering a lower price based on market conditions or asking for fee waivers. For an extended warranty or CPO, it’s best to get it directly from a Mercedes-Benz dealer. If your vehicle qualifies, you can have it certified as CPO, which includes a warranty extension.