This is my first time posting here, and I’m amazed at all the great info. I leased once in the past and had no clue about MF’s and residuals, so this time I tried to do my best to research.
My wife is deadest on the 2019 C300 Cabriolet (RWD not AWD). The first pass from the dealer has me scratching my head though:
MSRP:…$63,175
Selling price:…$60,925 (after incentives; 3.6% off MSRP)
Residual…55% (from Edmunds forums)
Money Factor…0.00154
Reg/Lic…$130
Doc…$220
Acquisition: $795
Total Tax (TX)…$914 (after credits, usual tax rate is 6.25%, this works out to 1.5%)
Drive Off…$5000 (Including 1st month)
Payment… $809
Term…36 months
mileage…10,000 yearly
This does not hit the 1% target, but is 1.33%.
I think we can get down lower; MB’s MF is 0.00084 (from the folks at Edmunds forums), so thinking they have a significant dealer markup going on that. Plus the selling price seems like it could move down a bit?
Any help on whether they’re trying to pull one over is appreciated.
First thing to mention is convertibles never lease well as they’re rarer and have higher MSRP’s, plus the new 2019’s have only been out for a couple of months. Even in Texas though this should be a good time of year to get a convertible so at least you should have that going for you.
Your best chance of a decent deal is try to get closer to 10% discount, base MF, and keep the tax credits applied. In Texas with MB though that’s going to be a challenge. I would throw that offer out to different dealers, keep in contact and check back again between Xmas and New Year and see who’s most competitive. It’s very unlikely given Texas dealers and the stock being so new that you’ll get a good offer straight away, you might need to play hard to get and wait until end of the month.
Bear in mind price-wise you could get an M3, M4 or Alfa Romeo Quadrifoglio for the same financial outlay in Texas. I realise your wife might not love any of those cars, but just something to consider when this deal is effectively ~$1000p/m.
My thought was to counter with driveoff excluding cap cost reduction, push MF to .001 or .0009 and sell price to 59,500 which seems to be in line with TrueCar and KBB invoice pricing and average selling price. That puts the payment at closer to $800. Barring that, may just purchase instead of lease. Trust me, she’s shopping the car and not the deal. I’m lucky I got her to listen to all of the great insight on here and now we both know much better about good and bad loans.
