I'm currently trying to buy a car from MB dealer and they are being very snide about the deal. They offered me $116,828 on a $133,125 MSRP 2015 S550. That's only 12.2% off. With a horrible money factor of .00197.

The crazy thing is that my local MB dealership can order me the same car for the same price as a 2016!!! Combination of less % off but lower MF.

I then told the dealership that the selling price was to high. They said they never sell a car and lose money. Any more off they would lose money. Who has the audacity to say this! You have never made 1 deal that lost money? Really???

Then he said it's best to part ways because they can't do any better. This was their sales manager. What the duck are they thinking? Sitting on this car longer will make the deal magically happen? What am I missing? I'm just shocked that when I told him I could order the same car as a 2016 new, he said I would take that deal.

What is this guy thinking? Can someone fill me in on his logic or a better way to negotiate?

 

Sounds like you picked the wrong dealer to buy a car. I always go back to same dealer. A long-term relationship helps in negotiations. That said, I would at least ask for the buy rate of .00051 (.00041 with auto pay). Then I would take 7% off (he will still have over $3000 on the back end on a $133K car) and then take the $5000 off from MBNA.

 

Sounds like they are not beat for your business, I would avoid buying anything there.

 

All above advice is excellent

Time to go to another dealer

I've had dealers tell me they were done negotiating and let me walk out... It just is what it is, don't take it personally

I shop nationally when I buy a car so I don't end up dealing with people like this.

I agree... Keep going to one dealer and they'll take a hit for you once in a while

 

agree, move on, it's amazing the differences you will find dealing with different dealers, night and day, their loss is someone else's gain

 

This dealer wouldn't be in the greater Chicago area would they?

 

It sucks as they have the only 2015 S550 in the whole USA I would consider buying due to its options but they just won't play ball. I also can't justify a 2015 for the same price as a 2016.

I made this post not so much to vent but just to understand what you all think will happen to the car? do you think they will get what they want at some point in time or are they just not ready to accept reality on that car.

I also agree with the not doing business with them.

To answer the above poster this dealer is not in the greater Chicago area.

 

Part of the problem is that this dealer only has 3 2015 S550's to sell so he is actually in very good shape. He does not have to discount as much as other dealers whose inventory is much greater.

This also is a pretty standard color configuration so maybe if you widen your search, you might find some others. On the negative side, being such a standard color configuration, there may not be that much left.

 

Is the dealer an AutoNation dealer or a publicly traded group of dealerships?


From a business perspective dealers can sell their vehicles at what ever the market will allow--Marketing 101. Obviously this dealer feels at the present time he can sell the 2015 for what your deal is or better so if you don't like it you have to move on. As far as what will happen to the car, they will sell the car for close to what they want especially if it is an AutoNation dealer.


As far as ordering a 2016, you maybe better off doing that.


For example, my 2014 S550 4matic was totaled in June 2015. I made a decision within a couple of days of the car being totaled to order a 2016 S550 4matic (MSRP $137k) based on the fact of the deals on 2015s and option availability compared to 2016s. I ordered and negotiated a 10% off MSRP price on a 2016 in June. I picked up the 2016 in September with a total discount just over 10% off MSRP. I have purchased many cars from this dealer so this helps but at this point I would take the dealers suggestion and order a 2016 unless you can find the 2015 you like at the discount you like.

 

Try going to another dealer. Have them contact your original dealer and transfer the car to the new dealer's inventory, then bu the car. That special order car will just sit there and add to their floor plan. The original dealer will want to get rid of it before the end of the year. 2016s are piling up a the VPCs.

 

Agree with the 2016s building up at VPCs and not wanting to hang onto the '15 more than the end of the year. I think ultimately some great deals will be had on 2016s as well due to the flood of '16s being shipped to the US and being stored at VPCs (atleast at Baltimore). Simply put, MB is shipping many more S Class cars to the US then they are selling. Wished I was in the market for another '16 but I just picked up my new '16 S in September so not yet!

 

Yes, Thats a good point. Only having 3 is not as big of a deal as per say having 10+ on your lot. What makes finding a car hard for me is I dislike the rear seat package that almost every car above $120,000 has. It makes the depth of the armrest storage so tiny! I assume this is because they have to put the separate air zone controls underneath for the 4 zone climate control.

Why do you feel if they are a part of a dealer group like Penske, AutoNation ETC they will get what they want? The car is only worth what someone is willing to pay no matter the name on the door.


Why would another dealer take this car into inventory when they don't have to take a loss on it as it's not their car. The only way I see this working is if I go to some dealership that has 10+ 2015 S550's on their lot and they would be willing to dealer trade for it. Then they take a loss on the pulled car and now they are N - 1 2015 S550 units. Would this work?

Also what is the VPC?

 

VPC= Vehicle Preparation Center. This is where cars are prepared for delivery to the dealers after being unloaded from the vessels. They also warehouse cars there before dealers pull cars into their inventory. For example in 2008 when I purchased my '08 S550 4matic, my dealer only had a couple of S class cars on the lot but were holding cars at the VPC. Instead of ordering a car, they gave me a list of cars warehoused at the VPC that fit my parameters and the car was at the dealer in 2 days since the Baltimore VPC is only a 4 hour drive from my dealer. In other words the dealer could immediately pull from the inventory at the VPC warehouse for cars intended to go to other dealers if the car was for inventory at the dealer and the intended dealer had not pulled the car into their inventory yet. My '08 was intended for a Chicago dealer but my local dealer pulled the car I wanted and the Chicago dealer would have gotten a different car for their inventory.


Autonation and other large publically traded dealers--It's not that I feel they will get what they want, they are simply more driven by stock price and shareholders. In other words, like your dealer said, they will not lose money. They will find someone in the US to buy at their price points. Car sales are regionalized. Dealers that have a national network may transfer the car to another say Autonation dealer so eventually they will sell the car at their price point within the same company but maybe not at that particular dealer. Local one or two retail dealers controlled by one owner group may not have the ability to say transfer the car from CA to FL, etc to keep it in house and make money on the car. SO IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE NAME ON THE DOOR BUT RATHER THE ABILITY TO BE NATIONAL IN SCOPE. A perfect example of this is when I bought my '14 S550 in December 2013. Most people were saying they were paying MSRP on the new S Class model. Autonation type dealers would not give any discount's off MSRP while I purchased my car with about a 5% discount off MSRP at the time. Again, at the time the new '14 S Class came out many people were paying MSRP and the Autonation dealers say in Texas or CA would not deal below MSRP because someone would pay MSRP. Autonation probably believes someone will buy the car at the price they offered you so they told you to "go take a hike". MOVE ON FROM THAT DEALER IF YOU WANT A BETTER DEAL--PERIOD. I have purchased MBs from the east coast to the west coast but would prefer to deal with my local dealer. My local dealer knows this so they have become very competitive since they know I will call up a dealer in CA or CO that I have dealt with in the past and get what I want as far as price goes--they want my business bad enough so they work with me on price. But if this is a first purchase from a particular dealer they may ultimately tell you to essentially "go take a hike" if they can find someone else to buy the car--this is the American way.

 

Thank-you for this very insightful answer. I never thought about how they could just move the car around until they sell it. I agree that someone at some point will pull the trigger even if it was not a fair price. I think I'm just going to take the dealer's advice and get exactly what I want at the same price. My local MB dealer has been AWESOME to me and I'm happy to give them my money.

Thanks everyone for encouraging me to walk away from trying to negotiate more on this car.

 

If you have a good local dealer favor them. If you become a life long MB purchaser like I have, this will become important to you. I did say favor them but don't buy blindly. This is why I have always favored my local dealer but in the past when my local dealer told me years ago on a particular S Class they could not do better on the pricing I called up a Colorado dealer and had them deliver an S class to my front door. My local dealer now knows I am serious about price and if they will not work with me, I will go somewhere else. With that said, I also don't ask for unreasonable discounts either but am also fair in my dealings with the dealer as well. But never let your guard down with dealing with dealers because you can get bitten by the sharks.

 

Good advice for sure. This is my first MB purchase and I'm very excited to join the MB family. I have been eyeing this car for years but I was a little too young and not far enough in my career yet to pull the trigger. I have just been very slow to move forward as I have never spent more than $40k on a car and wanted to make sure I wasn't getting ripped off.

 

I was just was deleting the favorite on my browser for this car and it says car not available anymore. I called them and they said they dealer traded it but could not tell me to what dealership. I would assume this means someone bought it as they wouldn't do dealer trades without a buyer lined up.

 

If it was a Penske dealer West Covina from the info I see it was dealer traded to a Autonation dealer. Not sure if that was the car you were looking at. It does not mean someone purchased it. It could mean the dealer you were dealing with traded it for a different car someone at the Penske dealer wanted.

 

This is a great point.

The OP should track the car down.

 

Do you know the autonation dealer it was traded too? Penske West Covina won't tell me. I would love to see if it was traded and not sold and if I can make a deal on it. I would just fly and drive it back if it stayed close or maybe I can do the deal while the car is in transit and have them deliver it? IDK.

Thanks!

 

OP - don't mean to bust your chops but I don't think you are getting "ripped off" by having the chance to buy a new S550 for more than 12% off. Some would say a good deal on a great car.

You are preparing to buy a car that makes no financial sense. People buy it because they want it, the price of want is different for all of us, but this is not a Ford Focus leftover on a dealership lot with balloons tied to it and a clown giving out free hot dogs.

My only suggestion is that if you are trying to squeeze every dime out of the deal, you may not get everything else that you want. I hope you get the car you desire at the price you desire. But long after the deal is done, you will probably forget the exact price if you are as satisfied with the car to the level that many current owners are. Even if you paid list price, this is the only country in the world where you could acquire a brand new S550 at that price. The U.S. has the lowest prices of anywhere in the world.

Best wishes.

 

Hi guys. New here but have had my 2015 S550 since December 27th of 2014. I am an extremely active member on rennlist (have several 911's). If I can just chime in on this thread. I love the S class, I have always felt that it is the best car in the world (luxury sedan). For what was my first personal S I knew the exact options I wanted, and what that car would cost (roughly $106,000 MSRP). I am a Nevada resident, but have a home in Newport Beach, and wanted to deal in California as the dealer competition is high. The month before I bought my car I was in contact with MB South Bay on a couple potential purchases with no success (at the time I was trying to buy a used 2014). My salesman (who I had become friendly with in our month of back and forth negotiations) at MB South Bay had been trying to convince me to buy a new '15, citing that it was the end of the month and year and he could give me a screaming deal on the exact car I wanted. I was skeptical as I had never purchased a brand new car. But the day after Christmas my LS460L acted up and that was the straw that broke the camels back. I drove down to fletcher jones of Newport to see what they had (an incredible operation by the way) and was treated like trash. Never in my life did I think I would walk in to a dealer to write a check for $100k and be treated in such a way. I called my salesman/pal Morris in South Bay to confirm they still had my car at the price we discussed, they did. I drove to the dealer and picked up the car. It was a terrific transaction and picked up a car with a $108,960 MSRP for $93,850. I thought it was a good deal (keep in mind this is 2014 and I'm buying a 2015). Besides being an introductory post I guess my point to the OP is that (as was stated above) 12% off is about as good a deal as you're going to get on a brand new S. I too searched the nation and my deal was the best I found. I also agree with the above statement that on a car like this it doesn't make sense to split these financial hairs. Trying to squeeze another 2-3k out of an S class just doesn't make sense, you're already spending huge sums of money on a car just get what you want and get it over with, you'll be happy when you do! It's an epic car, and I hope you get what you're looking for!

A pic of my car the night I got it home.

 

 

You make some good points. I would have thought they would be cheaper in Germany then the USA. Makes me wonder if they are considered more exclusive cars in other parts of the world. I agree that if you enjoy the car you won't care if you spent 1-2k too much but I can't say i'm among the most elite on this board $ wise and 1-2k still sounds like a lot to me. My HHI is in the mid 200's (and my wife and I have worked hard for this) and I don't have a business like most of you all do. This just more unless comes down to the average ownership age is 61 not 26. I imagine life changes a lot in 30+ years. I think what happened is rather simple I was hoping to get a 2015 over a 2016 for about 300+ cheaper a month on a lease but it seems the difference is really only about 100 given the way dealers are playing hard ball.

Thanks for the picture. I don't know what I like more that 6 car garage with the nice Epoxy flooring or that S class Ok, it's both together. Again, as I explained before I think I would feel more differently if I could write a check cash for this car that wouldn't have to be drawn off my 401k account. I do think you all have a point though if I'm going to care so much about spending $2,000 too much then this is not the car for me as you are already spending about 70k more then you have to for a car (think 30k loaded camry). I'm also shocked to hear about you bad experience. I had a lot of that when I was looking but I assumed some age discrimination. I never would have thought that would transpire if I was older.

 

Yes, there are many factors as mentioned that will decide what the dealer will do. When we were contemplating a sedan purchase vs the coupe we are now getting we were offered 15% off MSRP back in Sept on a brand new June production '15 and it was the only car in the area that had what we wanted and without lots of other options we did not want or need...the dealership was an AutoNation store.

We are now dealing with a non A.N. dealership and are receiving a terrific deal on a 16 coupe (coupes have no factory trunk money as of the latest Nov MBUSA programs)....for reference the AN store offered a poor discount on the coupe. I see you're in AZ and I'm in FL but my dealer ships all over the US, so if you'd like their info etc pm me and I'll be happy to help out.