300SE1993

I couldn't find it. I saw where you said TN, but never could find the buyer's order. Please PM me details if you don't mind.

Rockland

it was in the Active Ambient Lighting thread March 26.

mjr24

This is fantasy...you aren't getting anywhere near this off right now. You apparently got $14k off a heavily optioned car (as options are all gravy to a dealer anyways). Don't expect to get $14k off a $110k build.

300SE1993

My thoughts exactly. That's why I offered him a finder's fee if this was real and he could provide me information on how to get the same deal. Percentage-wise this would translate to about $10K off a low option car.

crabman

He posted it up at the time; looked legit to me. The way I recall it he's bought many cars from the same dealer group and this is how he gets that kind of pricing. Your best pricing (whatever it may be) probably isn't here yet; 23s are being held at the VPC and there are diminishing supplies on the lots. Hanging on until the 23s start moving will probably net a better discount. I ordered in May, at that time the dealers were going MSRP with haggling, not all but enough anyone should have been able to get that deal. Nearly all cars had overs on them as they sat on the lots at that time. I know that's not much help now but I determined pricing just the way I described above, by contacting many dealers about specific cars and asking for their best price on that car. There were a few that were offered below MSRP but they all had bad credits on them; things like no massage in the front seats.

The only way to really know the pricing is to do your homework; you're not going to get it here. Regardless of whether Rockland is telling the truth or not, very few of us will be that good a customer. People tend to lie on the internet about what they paid, meanwhile no one wants to admit that they didn't get just as good a deal. Those people end up saying nothing about how much more they paid than the good deals they read about everyone else getting on the forums. Of course not all people, some will be honest, but again, you have no way of resolving the truth other than doing the homework. Not trying to be a pedant here, there just is no other way to get a real number.

300SE1993

That's all true. I was hoping we'd have more of a community here helping each other, but it seems as if that's hard to find with new cars. The most helpful forums are most usually for the older cars.

crabman

True, that. It's odd but even the Porsche forums can be more helpful in some respects, the owners seem to have more of an investment, feel the love, so to speak. It's not that this place is bad, there are a lot of knowledgeable posters. You just have a different group of people when your're talking about someone who leases a new car every so many years talking to others who do the same versus a group of guys who roll under their cars and bust knuckles. It's a different level of involvement.

Rockland

I was offered 10% off any car that I ordered and built to my specifications. If I wanted to order a build of a $110,000 S Class I would have paid $99,000, and received $11,000 off, not $14,500. But I elected to build mine with a higher spec.

Rockland

Respectfully, I don’t need nor want need your finder’s fee. I refer my personal friends and acquaintances to my dealer. Hope this is understandable.

Wolfman

I think the forum is very helpful. There are just more variables that make some get better deals than others and in a low inventory environment they don't translate across regions, dealerships, cars or customers.
10% was a great discount at that time and something I can get easily from the dealer now. But that doesn't mean anyone I recommend to the same dealer would get that nor would other dealers feel obligated to match that. Any out of town sales are also less desirable as the service revenue falls off.

The conversation degrades once members are accused of inflating their discounts. Who wants to be ridiculed for helping?

300SE1993

Well, it was definitely worth a try.

Nonformulaic

Well stated!

SW20S

I would not use this price as a data point, as others have said this is some unique situation he has and thats not a result any normal buyer is going to get anywhere close to.

The point of presenting a price and a scenario is so others can use it to negotiate their own deals, if the community doesn't know the backstory then a price is of no benefit to them. Presenting that price without giving that caveat is not beneficial to the community at all, IMO. The goal of doing so is not to help.

It would be the same as if my brother owned a Mercedes dealer, and I was able to get a wholesale price and me posting that "This is what I paid, you just aren't as good a negotiator as me" (which this poster has said repeatedly to those who bring up this point) without revealing the special circumstances. If that poster paid that price, he has a very deep connection to the leadership of that dealership/chain and thats why he was able to get that deal, thats not something anybody else who doesn't have that relationship is going to be able to achieve. If he posted his price AND gave that caveat, I would agree with you...but thats not what he does. He refuses to disclose his relationship with the dealer chain that gives him this pricing.

I don't care how good a negotiator you are, you can't negotiate against this heavy a sellers market if the only thing you have to take away from the other side is your purchase of one car. Its called leverage. There's some family or fleet arrangement there or something he doesn't like to admit, he has an amount of leverage a normal buyer doesn't have. NO DEALER is just going to give you 10% off when they can sell the car to the next guy tomorrow for MSRP or higher...unless there is some special circumstance...theres a family relationship, or the buyer buys fleet cars and buys a *lot* of cars...etc.

And on top of all that, the OP asked for what people were paying for leftover 22s on the lot now, his purchase was an order and it was almost a year ago, of no benefit to the OP at all.

We're all successful folks here, we've been around the block...

300SE1993

Yeah, I figured out that's not a real price. At least not for someone like me who doesn't have special connections.

SW20S

Exactly. I completely believe he paid that, its just disingenuous to pretend it was purely out of negotiation skill when clearly it wasn't.

In any event, he's had it a while, so his experience is of no benefit to you anyways and it was a dealer order. You need to hear from people who are buying off the lot right now...if you can get $4-5K off of an in stock unit, I think you have done very very well.

Wolfman

I didn't read the thread post, just the title. So for leftovers 22's, that is legitimate criticism...

Still interesting that nobody has come forward with any relevant discounts. I assume to some extend for the reasons I had posted earlier. Individual deals and offers do not translate easily. Dealers will leave money on the table for a good relationship, even now, but this will never carry to another person.

But it takes virtually no effort to email the same offer to a number of dealers via cars.com, etc. Find the cars you like, send them the deal you want and see if anyone bites. Chances are high that they will on 22's.
I will check with our dealer to see if there is any trunk money in sight...

crabman

I assume it's because they aren't getting them. Not at least in the numbers that would get one of those buyers on this board. Right now there are few of these cars on the lots in my area and they all have overs, I don't think there is much leverage there for average buyers. Not sure how this is playing out on the lots elsewhere but that's the story in the Northwest.

SW20S

I think @crabman is right, they aren't coming forward to discuss discounts because they aren't getting them, and in fact they are paying over MSRP and admitting that is no fun.

Dealers will leave money on the table for a good relationship, but how much money depends on the relationship. In order to get 10% off a car that they are selling 10% over MSRP to customers off the street (20% swing, or nearly $30k in the case of the poster we are talking about), that is a SPECIAL relationship that goes beyond "I've bought 5 cars from you in my life". You are related to the management or more likely ownership of that dealer, or you buy a lot of cars from them in a fleet capacity every year.

I emailed my dealer last night too, I'll report back what they say. Cars on the lot still have an ADM on them there though.

mercedesmax

No trunk money. A lot of dealer have little or no 22 inventory. A few stores have more than a couple. In 222 days we always had 10-12 cars in stock. Now we have zero. Overall, there is no reason for more than a courtesy discount if circumstances warrant that much.

SW20S

Reality is reality...

crabman

I just did a quick search; there were something like 20% more in the pipe and on the ground when I ordered mine, you can determine that by using TrueCar and other similar sites. At the time I had purchased the numbers had been going up so that doesn't bode well on the discount front. I'm guessing those number will keep going down until they release the 23s which are holding at the VPCs.

SW20S

Yep, I have noticed that tightening also.

Rockland

I am not related to anyone. Maybe the manager likes me and I like him. Nothing more to it than that. And I was in the car business for 2 years in the mid 90’s so I have always had a deeper understanding of the process and how to communicate with upper management when buying and ordering cars. If this fact disappoints some people that feel the need to make up reasons as to why some people get deals while they strike out, then I feel bad for you.

SW20S

Be real with people. Nobody "likes you" $30,000 worth, your business or your relationship with the dealership is worth leaving $30,000 on the table for. Its because you have some close personal relationship with someone, or you buy a lot of cars from them on an ongoing basis. The process is simple, its not rocket science. Its dollars and cents, when you are negotiating its about who has the leverage and who needs the other more. When there are way more buyers than cars, the dealer doesn't need you...unless there is another extenuating factor.

Everybody here is too smart for this. You are not the only person on this site capable of negotiating a deal like this if a deal like this were possible for an everyday consumer. They are not going to just give you 10% off when they are selling the cars for 10% over sticker because "they like you" and "you know how to talk to them".

@mercedesmax you seem to be in the business, weigh in on this. Is there any amount of "negotiating skill" that would make you sell a car to a consumer for 20% less than the average selling price at the time?

Rockland

My negotiation skill was utilized on the first car I purchased from the dealer in December 2016 (20% off). After that negotiation laid the groundwork for our relationship, my dealer knows what I would like and now just makes me an offer that he knows is fair. I no longer negotiate. I will accept whatever he offers, and always buy my cars with him. The 10% discount I received last year is the smallest discount I have yet received, but I was pleased with the deal knowing the marketplace.