Vancity

Hey Guys,

Has anyone had any luck not paying freight & PDI on their ML350 Purchase?
I'm hoping that I can negotiate off the freight & PDI cost in the Purchase, here's the breakdown... Thanks in advance Cheers!

Freight & PDI $1995.00
Documentation Fee $395.00
Federal Air Condition Levy $100.00
Advance Disposal fee 4 Tires $20.00

emesap43

It certainly hurts when you have to add all of these costs to the vehicle. Looking at the data from carcostcanada.com and carsaver.ca, the 1995 seem to be applied from the factory and contain no markup. Tax is tax . According to my sales person, The admin fee included the cost of the glass etching that I received.

I used the info from both of the sources above to negotiate an all included price. I managed a tad below $3500 off retail plus 4 months pull ahead on the end of my old B-Class lease. It is normally 3 months. There was also a 0.5% loyalty rate reduction on the lease rate. I took advantage of a "supplier" discount that I was eligible because of who I work for. This was for a vehicle on the lot, so there were more motivation to sell. Mathematically, the discount is about half way between list and invoice - not ncluding the rate reduction and the pull ahead.

I hope this helps.

YYZ-E55

Impossible from a corporate retail store in Canada unless you buy a demo.

Vancity

Thanks! I am hoping that they can at least drop the freight & PDI to half, say to 1K and a 3K additional discount for a total of 4K off the MSRP price.

Do you think paying cash would help? would I be eligible for any further discounts... I know a lot of other brands are offering cash incentives at the moment hoping to use this as an advantage when crunching the numbers later today. Thanks again for the help, much appreciated!

emesap43

I am not aware of any cash discounts at the present. At least none identified in carcostcanada. I recommend getting a subscription. Worth the money.

I am not certain how ordering works... I always got a car off the lot. Depending on your ability to walk away with little to no penalty, your leverage is tied to that to a certain extent.

YYZ-E55

Wishful thinking. Payment method is irrelevant to the deal you will receive versus a captive finance company (MBF).

Albertho

Vancity, are you saying that you can get a 3k discount? I can only get 2k off MSRP.

demolisher

not to brag, i got 5k off, 3k for fleet, and 2k off, just fyi

Vancity

Yes with the fleet discount the additional 3K really does help out... it's a pretty sweet deal, I have my fingers crossed my dealer just submitted an application for me, but it's only 4 vehicles it may not go through as they asked for at least 5 originally

Vancity

No not yet, I'm hoping too. I'm going to try to see If I can get a fleet discount first, fingers crossed.

MinnBobber

Here in US, the documentation fee is often just a fee that the dealer throws in to cover paperwork etc. It not mandatory, merely extra profit. It can be negotiated down, although the dealers hate to do so and say---we are required to charge this. No, your dealership requires your sales staff to add this on.

Not sure if "doc fee" is different in Canada or is something govt requires???

Worth checking out as it might be a cost to negotiate down

caf

This. Some states actually cap doc fees due to past abuses by dealers. I think California caps at about $50.

I always tell the dealer this: you can charge me whatever you want for filling out your paperwork, but I also then reserve the right to charge YOU whatever I want to fill out my side of the paperwork. That usually shuts them up. Certainly it's reasonable to charge the customer any BMV or title application fees, but typically doc fees are just dealer markup.

Canada may be different, I don't know.

serge01

No doc fee in quebec. never ever.You guys are geing ripped off paperwork is part of being in buisiness

YYZ-E55

Everyone wants to pay invoice (or less), but at some point a dealer needs to make some money to stay in business. The ML is new and selling well so there's some profit to be had, and rightfully so, as the same dealer is saddled with a bunch of stale models that he's having to clear out at (or below) cost.

serge01

I think the question here is not If dealer should or shouldn't make money but what is the price a customer should pay in any given market.I manage my LAN buisiness and it Just seems obvious that paperwork is part of the deal.Maybe dealer could also charge for electricity,snow remouval, and grass cutting.at aimes point there is a bottom price and Just have all the expenses in that price and dell the vehicule for that price did and done i don t think we really care about Where the profit goes

2012MLBlue

I got them to take off all the admin fees but did pay freight and pdi.

My discount was about $4500. Plus about $500 in fees removed. Got them to throw in the first service A and second service B.

YYZ-E55

Is all of your cost pricing for your LAN business posted online for the world to see? It's a whole lot easier to make money when consumers don't know your costs!

caf

Personally, I don't mind paying a reasonable markup. In fact, I don't usually shoot for the rock bottom price--I don't think it's worth quibbling over a few hundred dollars, and everyone needs to eat including the people at the dealership.

What I DON'T like is when dealerships try to convince people that B.S. stuff like doc fees are mandatory charges. That's made me walk on a deal before.

serge01

you got it.