Hi Folks,
I am trying to lease a 2025 GLE450e. Seems like I missed the Demo chance been trying for a couple weeks. I did have a reputable Broker quote me $699 for 24M/12K with $5,000 due at signing. But seems to be sold out at the moment and I was targeting in the low 600’s with $4000 total due. (I know ) down is better…wife gets over the DP quick and prefers to see a lower monthly.
I found a local new one been trying to see if they will bite.
MSRP $84,130
Quoting me $1130 per month with $4,000 due. I do not qualify for loyalty.
I just sent the GM this letter and wanted to get your take on my chances.
To: MB of Fort Myers Team - C/O Jason Williamson & Sean Mullen
I hope this message finds you well. I’m reaching out to formally express my interest in leasing the 2025 Mercedes-Benz GLE 450e 4MATIC SUV listed under Stk#676429 at your dealership. Based on my research and lease calculations, I’d like to present the following offer for your review and consideration.
Proposed Lease Terms:
MSRP: $84,130
Sale Price: $74,034 (approx. 12% discount before incentives)
Lease Term: 24 months
Annual Mileage: 12,000 miles
Money Factor (MF): 0.0029
Residual Value: 62%
Drive-Off (Due at Signing): $4,058 (includes taxes, fees, and first payment)
This offer is based on current Mercedes-Benz programs and assumes qualification for all eligible incentives. I am ready to take delivery immediately and move forward as soon as the paperwork is ready.
Please let me know if we can move ahead with these terms or if a written buyer’s order can be sent for review.
Thank you for your time—I look forward to hearing from you soon.
This is a very aggressive ask. It doesn’t hurt to ask but expect to get a lot of rejections or ghosting. I would send to all the dealerships around you. You just need 1 to say yes.
Looks like an aggressive offer. Generally I’ve had three outcomes emailing offers:
Almost immediate yes
Counter
Nothing
With #3 it’s less likely that it’s been overlooked than it was interpreted as a lowball offer and not worthy of a response (at that moment, at that dealer).
I’m not saying it’s the latter, but a quick phone call would clear that up.
Move on to a new dealer. When you get a quote first, you have already fouled in the interaction. When your offer is $500+/mo cheaper than theirs, it’s never going to happen. They got your offer and put it straight into the trashcan.
Also, I have never seen an MB dealer that doesn’t mark the acq fee up to $1095. It’s so ubiquitous that I would personally just factor in the mark up.
There’s no need to list the disposition fee in your offer.
If you are going to itemize an offer, you need to include your zip code and tax rate. I also wouldn’t list a pre-tax monthly with a post-tax das. You’re making things unnecessarily ambiguous.
The longer the e-mail and more details provided, the less likely they read and/or respond. That’s been my experience. All you have to say is that you are interested in Stock XYZ and you are prepared to move forward if they can get you to the low $600s with $4k total DAS, 24/12k. This reflects a 12% dealer contribution + $13,500 in rebates that you qualify for, and base money factor. End by saying if they can get you to your target, you’ll be there within the hour to sign. Clear, concise and crisp.
Most FL dealers are not willing to play ball but try Tampa. They have been known to be aggressive lately.
12% plus the dealer cash/fleet is gonna be tough. Best I’ve found so far is 11% before the dealer and customer incentives. Acquisition fee is $1095 AFAIK, not $795. If a dealer is quoting you that high, chances are that they think they know what they have. I was looking at a 90k unit and they offered me around $1,500 in real dealer discount. Came to $1242 with $1,000 DAS. I found a very similarly priced car elsewhere and was able to get that down to $997 a month with $1000 DAS on the first pencil. That dealer had higher fees and didn’t qualify for a specific state rebate either. I let the first dealer know and I got crickets back. Oh well, it happens.
Thanks I’m in the same boat for Florida South Florida is definitely no go. I got a verbal commitment from a dealer who would not give a quote. Do you have anybody who dealt with with Mercedes-Benz of Tampa Bay?
You say low $600s and think that means $601. They hear low $600s and think $660. Suddenly you have thousands of dollars in delta because you were ambiguos.
I agree but going to penny level specificity is also off putting. 12% off, incentive amt, base MF gives them the details they need to know what low $600s means. If they come back with $660, the reply is, I want to be in the low 600s, not mid 600s.
@Jvinit I don’t have anyone at Tampa to recommend.
Even if they come back at $630, you’re still talking a $1000 out of your pocket due to lack of specificity and you’re eroding your value as a quick and easy sale since you’ve turned it into a back and forth.
That all gets resolved by simply stating what your price is.
What any good hackr is implicitly offering to the dealer is a substitution of profit maximization (per unit) for an easy transaction that leads to volume and better CSI.
Haggling over what “low 600s” means is virtually guaranteed to destroy the smoothness of the transaction and the chance of getting 100 on the CSI.
Yup. This is your only value to the dealer, so everything should be geared towards maximizing this. The more you beat around the bush, the more you kill the value of your transaction.
If it helps at all, I was offered the following deal in norcal 2 weeks ago (I passed): MSRP $83,040 24/7500 $3500 drive off $660 per monthx23 which includes 9.37% tax
I was just working a deal with MB of Tampa and their first quote included $0 of dealer discounts, only the $11.5k rebate. Autonation MB in Sarasota was offering $8k in discounts + incentives. Good luck!
Was that on a demo or a new car? I had a similar experience with South Orlando. I think it really depends on who you’re dealing with. One rep offered me $1,450/month on a loaner with $5k down — I just hung up.
Just keep in mind one of the main teachings of LeaseHackr is to never ask for a quote. It’s very hard to get a dealer back into an LH type price once they’ve started shooting for the moon.
Mostly this is due to almost every dealer utilizing a marketing / sales technique known as anchoring. The Google AI actually has a pretty good overview of the technique if you’d like to read about it.
