tiggerfink

We know that the bixenons cost $780 more. Lets say he paid list for the car with bixenons. Would he get back $780 for not getting bixenons? I know he will not get back the $780 for not getting bixenons, because he is getting his car $20K below sticker.

If the bixenons are $100 more than the standard lights, I cannot believe Mercedes is charging an extra $780. That is my point.

CASL55

They way I read what he said, using your numbers, is that since sticker went down by $780, what he pays should go down by $780, but they only took off the invoice price of the option, so what he pays goes down by $680. The difference is the hundred bucks.

JLR, want to clarify?

Jim

jlr

Picked up the car yesterday without incident. As for the price reduction, since my deal was 20K off sticker , the refund should have been sticker price with bixenons less 20k less sticker price without bixenons less 20k. By my calculation , that means that my refund should have equaled the sticker price of the bixenons(about 780) rather than the refund I received of about 715 which was the invoice price for the bixenons. No big deal. What was a big deal is what the salesman intimated to me which was AFTER I figured out I was being sold a used car, the salesman was told to simply change the used to new box on the dmv forms so that I would think I was getting a new car until the title (which would arrive several weeks later) would show up and say used. The salesman obviously refused since we have dealt with each other for twenty years. All in all a pretty lousy experience and it certainly took a great deal of the joy out of delivering a new car to my wife as a Christams present.

v8plus4

Bi-xenons aren't $100.00 more than standard lights, they're $770.00 more than standard lights. The invoice price (what the manufacturer charges the dealer) for this option is $716.00. The dealer then charges the customer the sticker price of $770.00. The $54.00 difference is the dealer's profit on this particular option.

docdan

Hi jlr.....I'm not trying to bust your hump on this item, but I couldn't help but notice that your trusted salesman apparantly DID speak a little white lie to you when he said the following:




Later on, when your salesman revealed the following bombshell, it seems like he did know it was a used car. Now, certainly the above scenario could have also occurred, but once the salesman knew it was used, he should have revealed this to you immediately.


There may certainly be more to this story than I know at this point, but on the surface, it seems like your salesman was only "kind of" looking out for you.


.

jlr

Bottom line-- I will continue to deal with this salesman but I have a real reason NOT to deal with this dealership again if my salesman should move on to another dealership. To put it all in perspective, this is the first car I bought from him at the dealership he presently works at. All of my other car were purchased from him when he worked at another dealership. I never realized the dealership made such a difference--I always thought it was just the sales person that mattered when buying a new car.

CASL55

I've followed stockbrokers from brokerage firm to brokerage firm, and sometimes found that they couldn't shield me from problems at their firm. Apparently, it's the same for buying cars. There's a lesson here for me, and perhaps others. Thank you.

Jim

BigHat

In my view the car salesmen is an oxygen thief. They simply exist to run interference for the REAL decision maker -- the Sales Manager. I often wish the Sales Manager would come over and save everyone's time. Of course, there are games to be played with customers and he delegates that burden.

Quick story:

Disillusioned with the having my windshield cracked every six months on luxury cars a few years back I had a case of temporary insanity and decided to buy a Camry and overcome my car fetish. Well, that car only lasted 9 months, but buying it was a real experience. I had forgotten what it's like to deal with mainstream car salesmen.

The best experience though was what was happening in the "cube" next to mine. I could hear the whole story. The wife in this husband and wife couple started to go off because the price they agreed to on the lot was now $2K more on the initial contract. The salesman told her that he sells cars all day at the agreed upon price, but that sales manager forces them to make the max. He then explained that they'd chat for awhile, he'd revisit the sales manager. He warned them that it would take 3 or 4 trips to get to their agreed upon price but it would happen. Sure enough that's exactly what occurred. He'd come back and say "we're getting closer" then they'd talk about the car, the weather, the Redskins for 15 minutes and he'd leave again. He never tried to squeeze an additional dime from them.
That affirmed what I always largely suspected, salesman just take up space.

RadSteve

You deserve more than a medal for perservering in this episode. I hope she enjoys the car (sure she will), and she'll never miss the xenon high beams.

StephenK

Why did I think the Xenon high beams were standard on the SL?

RJC

Very, very true. Look into an independent Financial Advisor that's supported with a similar amount of resources as the large wirehouse's. PM me if you need more info.