Looking for 2020 GLS 450 in NorCal, but want all the bells and whistles with it. Harder to get lower price due to lack of inventory especially for fully loaded models?
The MSRP of the vehicle has nothing to do with how easy or difficult it is to hack unless it includes a desirable option that the dealer only gets a limited allocation of (ex. Range Rovers with Black Packs)
For luxury brands dealers have an easier time selling loaded vehicles because the customer base has the coin and desire for such vehicles and they only get a limited inventory. For less expensive vehicle it may be the reverse as lots of people who can’t really afford a new one get seduced by low payments on the stripped aka base model Honda etc.
For GLS you should be sure to try MB of Stockton - we got a stellar deal there when we bought ours in 2016. Best vehicle I have ever owned.
It depends. With some vehicles, unicorn deals are the result of manufacturer incentives that are a fixed amount regardless of the MSRP of the car.
For instance, a $3,000 rebate represents a much higher savings on a hypothetical base $30,000 car (10% of MSRP) than a loaded $40,000 car (7.5% of MSRP).
Additionally, with some brands like Audi, higher trim levels have a lower residual value, which may impact the monthly payment disproportionately. Usually those trims are offset with lower MFs and more incentives though.
Sometimes loader loaner cars are great vehicles to hack. The market doesn’t see the value in a oddly-equipped/fully-loaded car, and dealers will have to discount them higher percentage-wise to get rid of them.
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This isn’t always the case in my experience. Sometimes a vehicle can be overly optioned which prices it out of the consumer’s threshold. For instance, I got an incredible deal on a fully loaded $95k X50i few years ago and one of the reasons, the dealer shared, was because it was inching too close to the X5M. Same can be argued for many of these $50k+ 330i loaners that others have been able to get high discounts on. Just my $0.02…
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In general you’ll have the best luck hacking the lowest MSRP vehicle in a particular trim level that has the best combination of RV% and incentives. The goal is always the smallest possible gap between the residual of the car and your discounted price. With that being said some cars (seems to be luxury brands in particular) that are misbuilt/misordered/weird builds seem to be capable of getting higher discounts which can negate the higher MSRP.
+1 to both the above posts. At the end of the day, the best deals are on cars which are tough to move. Generally, an over optioned car is gonna be a hard sell when it’s creeping into the territory of a more expensive model. On the flip side, most consumers don’t want to buy a car with no options. “Well optioned” cars tend to be the sweet spot, and also the toughest ones to get good deals on, in my experience.
Also remember that if you get a car with tons of options, on paper, it might be a better deal, but the extra money you pay for those options might not be worth it to you.
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Yes. IIRC there were some whacky crazy optioned $50k 320i’s hacked during 2019 BMWpalooza.
Lot time can be a good indicator of a vehicle that’s difficult to move. Or a dealer who just isn’t budging on pricing.
Like others said it depends on the car, the interior and exterior color combination.
But if you really want to generalize I would say fully loaded cars are easier to hack instead of low optioned cars.
What are the options you actually want?
Sort of like this…
Designo White (not a must)
Exec rear seats plus ( not a must)
Driver assist (must)
Massage seats (must)
Hud (must)
The more specific your requirements, the less likely you’re going to get a great deal due to limiting your choices.
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So concentrate on those options. There is no need to tell a dealer you’re looking for all the bells and whistles
Found a GLS 450 with all the options and dealer said they can’t sell it because there is a recall for the HUD unit and not ETA for resolution/repair.
Great!! 
