Hello everyone, was referred to these forums from Reddit!
First time noobie posting here. Someone I know has been leasing cars for a long time, and he told me that recently, he was able to get a 2018 Mercedes Benz C-300 (no options) at $429 AFTER TAX / month with $0 down.
He told me that he went to the dealer at a really good time (end of the month) where they were eager to sell cars in order to get their monthly quota or whatever it is.
I am looking to lease the same car (MSRP: $41,425) sometime in the upcoming months and have some questions that I would really appreciate if some experts could answer!
How good is this deal on a scale of 1-10?
What are the likelihoods that this kind of deal can be found again on a scale of 1-10?
Would it be wise to ask dealers for this offer or to go in myself and try to bargain?
As @cheapdad00 said - if you wait until the end of the year and look for a loaner vehicle with low miles (around 3K), combine it the fleet discount (theres a couple of ways to be eligible for it)/ put down MSDs and negotiate a good price.
If do your research on the fundamentals of a good lease you can do much better than $429 on a fully loaded C300 (This one for example)
MB rotates their loaner fleet often so are always cycling different vehicles in or out. Anything with 3000 miles or less does not suffer a residual penalty. Over 3000 miles, the residual penalty is $0.20/mile. Search a MB dealers current/prior year used inventory for eligible loaners. If it has <10k miles and has not been sold to an individual, you can typically lease it.
The other thing MB currently offers is MSDs which let you buy your interest rate down by paying a fully refundable deposit (If you are in a state which allows MSDs, most states allow with the notable exception of NY). The impact is $40-60 per month dependent upon price of vehicle, etc.
I am a noob myself but learning as I go on this site.
I call my Mercedes guy at Fletcher Jones in No. Cal and tell him about leasehackr.
He knows about it and says cuts big time into his bottomline.
Without MSD, he quotes me $1,000 down ~$350/month for a C class loaner. I told him that the deal sucks and tells me he will get me a deal in March. I definitely think you can do better than $429. Good luck.
Thanks @EVJason. I’m from SoCal as well and from what I’ve seen here, a lot of the deals, atlas from MB, are not really located in So Cal. Do you think that maybe the dealers down here aren’t as generous and easy to get around as in other places around the country?
Dependent upon the details of the vehicle you were quoted, that may not be a terrible deal. Using MSDs, gets you sub 300.
The general formula for c300 loaners is 25+% off MSRP + fleet + buy rate MF gets you a ~$250-300/mth deal, at the lower end for the minimally equipped RWD version to the higher end for P2/P3 4MATIC versions.
Could you explain what you mean by anything over 3000 miles has a .20c/mile penalty? If it has 4000 miles that means 1000 miiles at .20c per mile = $200. So the RV reduces by $200 so that is added into your monthly payments?
Yes, as @Jon confirmed it reduces the RV which would increase the monthly payment. However, the more miles the larger discount you should demand. It’s all over the place what you will find at different dealers in terms of mileage.
