Accomplice8

I'm in the market for a certified 2004 E55. I'm trading my FX45 in with its $3,000-$5,000 in negative equity (I get a $2,000 sales tax break trading it in so I'm skipping the private party sale process). I'm looking at 2004 model E55s with 10-15K in miles, navigation and 6 CD changer. Other pluses are the keyless go (and the premium headlights if not standard). I've had one dealer come at me with $81,000 out the door, trade factored in, taxes, tag, etc. Should I expect to do much better than that?

allenjdmb

I don't know what the sales tax is in your area, but unless it's 8% or more, that sounds like a ton to me. I've been watching them at the dealer auctions in the last couple months, and they are definetly getting softer. (But that's good news for you, as you watch the prices fall). I would think that car wholesale on a good day would be approx -67.5 -69, plus fees, and the cost of getting it home etc. The Starmark process should be a little over a grand in the shop. While I don't expect someone to make $500 on you for a $70k investment, I don't think it's necssary for them to make $5k on you either. Be patent, keep looking. AMG cars are quite soft right now and there are going to be even more good buys out there once the E60 M5 hits the ground (which is still a ways out). I may be missing something in your numbers regarding the trade in. Hope this helps.

medici78

With your negative equity, that sounds about right from a dealer. Why is a certified car so important? My advice is find a highline auto dealer that doesn't carry Mercedes-Benz, get a pre-purchase inspection and pay for the extended warranty later on. There are better deals out there if you buy from someone other than a M-B dealer.

Accomplice8

Thanks for the feedback. Are non MBUSA extended warranties worth anything? The MB dealers always kiss your *** and fix their warranty issues no questions asked. I'd rather wrap that certfication / warranty cost into the low rate loan upon purchase also. There is a dealer done here in FL that seems to have the best pricing. Asking prices on certified 04s from mid $60's to mid $70's depending on options. After I throw in my negative, equity, taxes and tag transfer I'm up towards $81,500 on a heavily optioned car. Working the numbers backwards from the final quote, you can see that they're not coming off of their asking prices much (if at all). I want to get it all done for around $75,000 but I can't seem to get the movement from the dealers right now.

Beowulf

Probably your best bet. FWIW, I almost bought a non-certified '04 with low mileage (2.5K) from this independent: http://www.selectluxury.com/. Problem was, they paid too much for the car and wouldn't budge on my trade (wife's former '04 LS430). When I walked out, the saleslady kept running out to the parking lot, begging me not to leave. If they weren't negotiating, I wasn't staying, LOL. I drove straight to an MB dealer who had an '05 delivered the previous night, they gave me a sweet deal, and I drove the car home within an hour.

What's ironic is the car had a mishap while at the dealer for the 1K service - (https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/83785-upset-you-could-say-so.html) and while I now drive the replacement car in the sig, another forum member purchased my former '05 from - you guessed it: selectluxury.com. Unfortunately, he didn't contact me before the purchase (my contact info was in the owners manual & he's local), or have the car professionally inspected. Be careful.

medici78

You can buy the warranty from Mercedes-Benz.

Accomplice8

Is it just me or does everybody pretty much assume that you can negotiate $5,000(+) off the top of any dealer's asking price on a used E55 in the current market?

The math I envision when I see the $75,000 asking price is...
$70,000 sales price
+$3,000 for my negative equity
+$2,000 tax on amount over trade value and tag transfer
__________
$75,000 Out the door price


Also, should I wait the 3, 6 or however many months for the M5 to get to dealers before buying a used E55? No doubt a few E55s will be coming to market in trade on that model. I'm a little concerned that the sudden bump in supply would really put me way more upside down in a E55.

mrankovic

About 6 months ago I bought an 04 E55 with 8K on the clock. All in it was about $76K, but I didn't have any trade (therefore no -ve equity) and it doesn't have nav, nor keyless go, nor the headlight pack, but it does have the 6 CD changer in dash. So I think you might struggle to get it done for $75K, but $81.5K does seem pretty full (particularly if its got 12-15K on the clock. So if you can squeeze another $1-2K out of them, I think you are there. BTW, mine was certified, and I would recommend you might as well get that rolled in now. Also, do not underestimate the value of buying it from a dealer, specifically the one going to service it. I bought mine in Texas and then relocated to Boston, and the policy of the MB dealer here is not to give me a loan car for free when I have it serviced! However, I've been able to get on the good side of my service manager and he snuck me a loan car for free when I took mine in last time. And lucky this was, as my car was in the shop for 7 or 8 days which would have cost me about $300 for the loan car if he hadn't done it for free. This MB dealer and the one I had in Texas gave you a free loan car if you bought your car there. You need to check your local deal policy, but I suspect it is the same. And I haven't had one word from any dealer questioning whether something is warranty or not - they seem really cool about not trying to weazel out of it.

Accomplice8

There seems to be a lot of used, certified 2004 E55s on the market and yet few dealers seem to be moving much on the pricing. I've found a certified, silver 2003 with under 20,000 miles that I can pick up for $65,900 (or less). But what I really want is a black 2004 with navigation but I can't seem to get anybody to go under $76,000 on those. The figure that I'd expect to get to on those is around $70-$72K. Thoughts?

medici78

If that $65900 includes your negative equity and everything checks out fine, that's a STEAL!
If you want, you can still upgrade your electronics later on. I had Steve (MBenzNL) upgrade my 2004 non-NAV car to NAV for a reasonable price. Personally, I find the OEM Nav to be useless (inferior unit compared to other carmakers'), but I didn't know any better and had it installed anyway. The crappy thing about the 2003 is if it doesnt have NAV, it won't have the COMAND unit and that unit is a bit pricier from MBenzNL, though his prices are much, much cheaper than a dealers. I think $70-72k on a 2004 with your negative equity is wishful thinking. Good luck, though!!

Accomplice8

I'm just trying to deal to the $70-$72K point before adding back the negative equity, taxes and tag. If I could get out the door around $75K on a certified 2004, that would be great. The $65K price does not include those items either. I just found out that my lender requires that it be an 04 or newer with 10K or less miles to get the best terms. It kind of sucks because those will be on the higher end but at least it narrows my search parameters a little bit.