jaewonkim

My salesman showed me a netstar invoice for a SLK, which lists "IRG participation $500". He said it's a sort of advertising fee imposed by the factory. I don't believe what he said, but he insists the dealer doesn't get the money. It's strange the factory invoice has even code 905 for that fee.
Has anybody seen this kind of thing?

BostonSLK350

I am no expert. But i have heard of Factories charging a marketing fee to the dealers. Im just not sure weather it is added to the invoice for each car, however it seems like a logical place for the charge to show up.

Maverick

You can essentially create an "invoice" on the MB website by doing a build your own. The total there corresponds to the total that should show up on the invoice from your dealer. There are no other charges from MB, unless your dealer is sticking something on there that they should not be. I ordered mine during the time that there were absolutely no discounts, and the "invoice" price exactly matched up with the sum of the base price and all the options that I selected on the website.

amdeutsch

@ Maverick

Geez, when do people learn. Its all out there. Your "invoice" price is not what jaewonkim is talking about. You are talking about MSRP. What jaewonkim is talking about is 93% of your invoice not including shipping.

@ jaewonkim

Stealers are offered an ad program from MB. This has several different levels. Stealer chooses the level which then is attached to the invoice. This is supposed to help them offset some of their own ad budget by allowing them to pass it on to the consumer.

Robotechnology

The advertising fee is to pay for co-op advertising. It goes towards the MBUSA television and newspaper ads. It does not go towards any individual dealer's ads. The participation fee in the Northeast is $400 per car. Virtually all manufacturers do the same as well (just different dollar amounts).

wil_sutton

different dollar amounts and different ways to slip it into the invoice...

Usually you don't actually see it listed unless you get a look at the dealer's true invoice which includes their holdback, which is a whole, long, different discussion...

docrings

RBM of Atlanta did not add any "ad" prices to our car... no ups, no extras...

There are other dealers you can go to on the web to order cars... you don't "have" to pay it, unless you absolutely have to have the car on their lot, right now... then they know they have you AND your wallet!

wil_sutton

actually, Doc, you are going to pay it. You paid it, I paid it, we all pay it. It's just well disguised on the window sticker, and most of us never see a real dealer invoice.

I wouldn't pay more than what's on the window sticker. That's the bottom line. If you get anything below sticker, you're doing better than anyone can do around this part of the US, so I wouldn't worry about it.

docrings

I paid the exact price as on the M-B "build-it-yourself" website... no extra fees at all...

amdeutsch

@docrings

Just because they didn't show you the invoice with it on it does not invalidate the previous statements. You probably paid more than you had to if you base it on the MBUSA website which lists only MSRP. But in the end all that matters is that you are happy and content with your purchase.

wil_sutton

Yeah, I paid exactly what was on the window sticker as well. Someone offered the dealer $5k over invoice for it before I could pick it up (mine was ordered for me the day the ordering options became available and before we even knew exact pricing), which they offered to pass on to me and put me at the back of the line, but my dealer doesn't up pricing on in-demand cars. And, of course I took the car, not the money... I'd already been on the wait list for almost a year...

jaewonkim

Somebody told me that there is such fee in MB's factory invoices. The problem is all the online auto webs don't mention about it, unlike the transportation fee. So, when your dealer says invoice price, it may not be
the invoice price in your mind. Always stick to real numbers.