Hello, I have always purchased cars outright and am looking at leasing a ML350 with the following specs;

Sign & Drive no money down
MSRP $52,695
Cap Cost $50,319
Money Factor .00073
Residual of $22,605
48 month term
Tax 6.5%
Payment to be $599 + tax so pmt total of $638 a month

This sounds like a good deal to me, but w/o having a history of leasing to work with I want to validate this sounds like a fair deal.

Thanks in advance.

That sounds good, numbers make sense, good luck!

Thanks, you and I are going to be in the same boat, C63 for the guys, ML350 for the ladies. But she also has a S2000 with 13500 miles on the clock so she will have a better fleet then me.

the cap cost seems high. you should be able to negotiate more than $2400 off the MSRP.

Exactly, I recognized your name from the C63 boards, what color are you going to get, I went with whats easier to keep clean for both cars, irridium silver, even when dirty they look relatively clean.

C63 is Black/Black and the wife wants Black/Black on the ML, I wanted her to get White or Silver but she likes the Black the best.

How are you liking the ML so far? I know you love the C63 so no need to ask on that one

Thanks for the reply. Does the residual impact the Cap cost at all? I did the math on the deal on it looks to me like the Cap Cost is close to invoice ($49,XXX). If we buy it out at the end of the lease I would not offer them anything over $20,000 for the buyout so I think we would be under invoice on the deal?

You should not pay a higher cap cost to get a lower residual. I paid below invoice (cash deal) for my 09 ML320BT back in Jan. Dealers often get additional "trunk money" on lease deals.

too much money, lease on this car should be 550 a month including tax on 36 month lease.

48 months ? Car is way to boring to keep for so long plus the payments are high. Should be in mid-high 500. Just mine 2 cents

Hey Ape, so far so good, its a nice SUV, lots of features and enough space for now, I really do like the way it looks, BTW, the 09 black looks the best, but since I am the "carwasher" and an **** car owner, I decided on the irridium...my wife likes it to, my father has a 2008 ML and its obsidian black, when its clean it looks hot. C63, loving every minute of it! Going to track the car soon, cant wait for that.

I made a deal on Saturday in Calgary for a new ML-320. It wasn't the full load I was looking for (no leather/keyless go/harmon kardon) but I think I did well. The sticker was 65,425 (Premium; iPod; Sandine; running boards). They offered $1,500 off for taking one off their lot. I said no, I wanted it for 63,000 (I had the wholesale values from carcostcanada). The salesman gave me the usual "Oh, I'll have to check with the salesmanager".

TIP: If they say this, tell them, "No, I'll go talk to the manager." No need for middle man.

The sales manager came back with 63,400. I said no and that it was only $400. He countered with "Come on man, I've got a wife and kids too." This started to make me just want to say get lost and ditch them. He also said he sees the wholesale prices all of the time but they're not "real". I didn't, but should have said "I'm calling your bluff. You've seen my cards, show me your paperwork." and watch him squirm. Anyway, he eventually realized I was going to get a better price or walk to the Lexus dealer (two doors down from the Merc dealer). He came back with 63,200. I was happier and took the offer, though I still thought I may have paid too much. Since then, I've redone my math and turns out their original price was 10% over wholesale; their original offer took it down to 7% and my final price is approx. 4.6% over wholesale.

One other note, I did a walk around of the vehicle WITHOUT the salesman and noticed a chip in the paint on the passenger door. I'm going to tear a strip off them if it's still there when I pick it up on Thursday - afterall, what am I'm I paying the PDI for if they can't even notice the chip.

Residual is based on the MSRP AND the market price for options.

If the MSRP is 52K, and you have an option package that saved $1500 (for example) the real MSRP is 53,500.. If the residual value is 60% you figure it out at this point..

Residual value would be $32,100, now you go back and figure out what they would sell the car far.. dealer discounts, cash back etc..

For example, say there's a $5000 cash back deal, AND a 1500 dealer incentive. Subtract that from the MSRP gives you $45,500 sale price minus the 32,100 residual you'd finance 13,400 for the length of the lease.

60% reisudal you're probably looking at a 36 month lease (or even a 30) or about a $400 payment.

I used to lease a LOT.. I'd lease a new car for myself every other year, and one for the wife every other year. German, and Japanese cars are GREAT to lease, American made, not an option EVER! On a Dodge you can take the numbers above and reverse them.. you;d have a 13,400 residual value (not going to do the Math) and would have to finance the 32,100 over 36 months..

42.8% residual after 48 months isn't bad, I've seen better, but have never leased from Mercedes. I would have figured 50%.

You can find Nissan and Toyata for >60% on a 3 year, and 50% or better on a 4.

Thanks all for your replys. Wife picked the SUV up last Saturday and is loving it. We did the deal as outlined above, but had the dealer through in the custom rear cargo matt which is around $350 I believe. Overall nice ride, quicker then I would have expected with the 3.5 but after driving the C63 it is tough to call anything else fast.

Hopefully the ML350 is better on tires then the C63, I have 4200 miles on that and need new tires already

lease has always seemed like a major rip off too me

Well, with cars depreciating so fast and hard, it is not so bad an idea, as Warren Buffet states, "never buy a depreciating asset", of course unless you intend to keep it for ten years. You sink all that money in a car in this economic climate and its worth peanuts.

A few years ago, Hertz published a paper on the total cost of vehicle ownership. It was interesting. The cheapest way to own a car is to buy it one year old, drive it for five years, then sell it. The logic is that the biggest depreciation hit occurs in year 1, so you avoid that. Also, most problems occur in year 1 -- and get fixed under warranty -- and then in years seven and after, when they tend to be expensive. Insurance is also less if you buy used. The most expensive way is to buy new, finance the purchase, and trade after three years, which is what many of us do! Leasing really has just two benefits: you get more car for the monthly payment, and you are guaranteed a residual rate, so you can buy the vehicle if it is worth more than its residual and walk away if it is worth less. One purchase option that seems to have disappeared off the radar is saving up your money and paying cash. If you looked at how much more you pay over the years by constantly financing or leasing and then trading every few years, you'd find you could probably have paid off your mortgage!

A year ago 04/08 I leased ML350 for my wife.
MRSP a bit over 53K.
33 months, 0$ down, with the tax (6%) I'm paying exactly $600.
So, your deal seems to be rather high.
Mark.