ChiefRabbids

Hi all, I am trying to get a build slot for a MY2020 E63s. I went to a couple of dealerships here in the Seattle area and they are insisting on having me to pay the MSRP for the car. What are any of you guys' thoughts on this or did you guys get any incentives/discount when you bought yours? Or if you guys know of decent sales associate that is willing to work with me on the price? I basically want all options with selenite gray magno paint (I have attached my configuration sheet).

I paid MSRP for my current C43 and CLA250 before that, and I am just wondering how you guys are getting incentives/discount when you order your E63s?

Thanks!

MY2020 Configuration sheet

Dunga

I don’t think you should pay sticker on this car. It’s 3rd year in production now. Most of us have been able to get good discounts, even on a custom build. I think you’ll find 3-6% or even higher off MSRP. Contact the forum dealer, Rahul from Euro Germantown and see if they can workout a deal. If not, start emailing dealers and see who’s got the allocation. Good luck.

amgliturbo

PM me. I have some dealer info that might be very helpful.

bobblehead

dealer asking msrp is purely arrogant, IMO. shop around

19E63s

My guy... you should NEVER be paying MSRP on any car...

TugboatBill

European Delivery - 5% off

MuffinFlavored

This is slightly off topic but, I am curious how/why Mercedes + BMW give you a 5% discount for touring their facility in Germany. They still have to ship the car to America. Is it basically, we'll give you 5% off because the amount of marketing you're going to do for us by bragging about your experience is worth it?

ChiefRabbids

I know... I was stupid.. But now I learnt from my mistakes and I'm shopping around! Any of you guys have the contact info for the folks @ Euro Germantown?

tipsyhemi

I've done european delivery on BMWs, so I only speak to their system as it was explained to me. Basically the allocation doesn't come out of the dealers pool, and the compensation rate is different therefore its carries a discount as if it were never part of the dealers inventory (think financing, sales associate compensation, etc)

MTrauman

Brand loyalty is one of the big reasons for European Delivery. The most recent MB Euro Delivery I did was in November for my ‘19 S63. Once one goes through the process of Euro Delivery (especially if you get an S Class or an AMG and do the Center of Excellence delivery) you will want to do every purchase Euro Delivery. It is simply magical! They absolutely treated me like royalty. I got an individual one on one tour of the S Class assembly in Sindelfingen and a four hour one on one tour of the AMG facilities in Affalterbach—MAGICAL experience. Especially if you love cars. The manufacture MB/BMW wins and the dealer wins since they receive a 10% commission on the sale for MBs. Note that in the US for some reason Audi cancelled their Euro Delivery program at the end of 2018.

MTrauman

Absolutely crazy to pay MSRP! At a minimum you could do Euro Delivery and get 5% plus if you can negotiate you may be able to get another 3% for a total of 8% off if you do Euro Delivery (some dealers may share their 10% commission with you). I have purchased MB cars from the East coast to the West coast and one thing I have noticed—west coast dealers (in general with some exceptions I am sure of) want to sell the higher priced AMGs at MSRP. Crazy to me. Even one of the well known sales people talked about on this website that does Euro Delivery from CA told me to go pound salt a year ago if I wanted more than the 5% Euro Delivery discount on my S63. Needless to say I did not purchase from him.

E634Me

My car’s MSRP was $142 k before discounts.

Went with European delivery because that way I could fully customize my order, and because I wanted a trip to Europe with my family. I travel there frequently on business and want to share some of the places I’ve been with them.

Got the 5% EDP discount plus another couple discounts from Mercedes and the dealership that all came to about 7%, plus of course the saving of the $995 destination fee too.

This is my first Mercedes and first German car so brand loyalty had no factor in this purchase.

Wolfman

Marketing value to the manufacturer is zip. Results wouldn't be worth the effort. The company gets to sell a few more cars but the value is higher for the customer.
Value:
1. Most Americans never get to drive up to 200mph (depending on the chosen car of course) without being on the track or doing a quick run and risking anything from loosing the license, car or even vehicular homicide charge. This by itself is worth the price of admission. Forget the money
2. Going to Germany - I am biased of course but this is a pretty cool country to visit with countless places to go. Just time it for late spring to early fall
3. Factory visit/etxras - Anyone into cars will enjoy the treatment and checking out the inside workings of MB/AMG manufacturing
4. Financial. Saving up to 10% (virtually any dealer will do 10% off ED cars). There are non-ED cars that can still be arranged to be ED but with no/minor discounts

Drawbacks
1. Timing. Having to wait 60+ days for delivery of the car. Not a big issue IMO as most of the higher-end cars are not going to single or two car households.
2. Financial. If leasing a car with a subvented MF in the US (regular S-Class, etc.), the MF will be higher for ED cars. On standard MF cars (AFAIK), the rate stays the same. Also, the buyer pays for the time the car is on the boat.

MTrauman

But building brand loyalty for the manufacture is one of the reason THEY do Euro Delivery! I was addressing the poster’s comment about WHY MB offers Euro Delivery.

b0rderman

Sedan orders accept nothing less than 6%. Wagon orders go for at least 4%. Anything on the lot get a little more aggressive.

MuffinFlavored

It's still confusing to me why Mercedes gives *you* money so they can take their time to show you *their* factory and treat you like royalty.

How many people would opt in for a 5% discount if they could watch how their McDonald's cheeseburger got made? Like... why not? No skin off of their back?

TugboatBill

Interestingly (word?) you can get 7% for the Euro Delivery if you buy a E450. The AMGs are limited to 5%.

MTrauman

Not to sound silly but burgers are not the same as cars. I don’t eat my car. But even if they were—you should think about what brand loyalty means. This may help you out. German car companies are very proud of their brands. They get you to where the car was built with the historical perspective of MB building the first car, etc. MB wants you to pick MB again and again and again without comparing against competing brands because they have the SECRET SAUCE—building BRAND LOYALTY! Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles onions on a sesame seed bun. To this day McDonalds has built brand loyalty in my mind. Even though my stomach cannot handle the McDonalds stuff as much anymore—they clearly have won me over from a brand loyalty standpoint since I have been “shopping” for Big Macs since I was 10 years old. They built loyalty and won my heart for the last 50 years. MB wants to and has been building brand loyalty for more years than McDonalds. You will understand what I mean if you do Euro Delivery. That assumes you love cars enough to make the effort to go to Germany to see their special sauce and heritage.

MTrauman

And some years back there was no discount for Euro Delivery on AMGs.

pghc63

they don't give you money for ED delivery , they are just passing to you part/all of the tariff that they pay on importing new car
when you do European delivery , the car according to our government is used when it comes back to port so the tariffs are less or even zero but not 100 % sure on that
so it is win/win for companies to do that , it does not cost them anything other than the hassle of the program and since all these companies are turning into mass production, these kind of programs are not worth the hassle and this is why Audi cancelled the program
certainly ED might become very popular with all the talk about increasing tariff on European cars from 10 to 25 %
so we will be all booking flights to Germany to get our cars
this happens in most countries to a greater degree and this is why you sign a no export papers when you get AMG cars
as I think in china the tariffs on importing German cars is 100 % of price
so a used car imported from other countries is much cheaper because there are no tariffs on used imports

ChiefRabbids

Sounds like a good creed. Thanks for the insight!

MTrauman

Not sure where your info came from but here is what my actual numbers were from my Euro Delivery ‘19 S63 from the US Customs report (CBP Form 7501) I received that Mercedes Benz actually paid on my behalf for the tariffs.

My ‘19 S63 MSRP $185,975
less destination charge of $995
less 5% Euro Delivery discount $9249 (5% of 185975 minus 995)
less MB Taxi Voucher $100
Plus Delivery Center Training Charge $40
EQUALS TARIFF TAXABLE AMOUNT $175,671

Tariff $175671 x 2.5% = $4391.78
Merch Processing fee $508.70
Harbor Maintenance fee $219.59
Total paid by MB German on my behalf = $5,120.07 for tariff and processing fees per CBP Form 7501

FYI: I live in the Pittsburgh, PA area. The PA Dept of Revenue used the customs information stating I was importing a car valued at $175,671 and I did not pay sales tax and I owe PA sales tax even though I paid this to my local dealership before I took delivery in Germany. So I had to send PA Dept of Revenue all my purchase information to prove to them I paid PA sales tax on the vehicle. So all is good here but all the government agencies want tariff and sales tax dollars.

pghc63

this what I have been told by a local GM , which make sense to me , but I ac't claim that it is 100 % accurate

24Hours

Factory Delivery is done by most Euro producers, even if you wan to go to SC for a US-made BMW. The discount is a promotional thing and the purpose of the whole thing is to get buyers to tell other prospective buyers about how awesome it is. I did the Volvo OSD as well as the MB Factory Delivery and it is awesome. So you should to it... the only draw-back is the extra 4-6 weeks of waiting time to take delivery in the US.

Wolfman

Most sales people and GM's are completely clueless about ED. Most don't want to be involved. This is why Herbert Haemmer did so well handling a loti of customers European Deliveries...