I hope I am not violating rules here. I have used your experts and leased a couple of cars… My Wifes Maserati is up in a month. she hated the car (i wont name the reasons) she wants to go back to a luxury smaller SUV / Crossover. Mercedes preferably. or an EClass. My question is she hates the standard black mbtex interior and would like a custom order. Has anyone ever ordered a custom order and leased it? do I still have the same negotiating power?
thoughts
no you don’t, the best negotiation power is on existing inventory that they want to move badly, a custom order won’t give you much bargaining power. You can still get a discount but it’s likely not gonna be a hackr deal.
Lease an Audi or Volvo for the real leather.
thats why I want the custom order. I purchased and ordered my CLS63AMG last year white on white leather… i can do the same on an Eclass thats what she wants… thats why I asked.
Find an E-class in inventory with almond mbtex or leather.
Thats what my option is right now… or give her my CLS63 and buy another one… (not really an option but nice to dream)
from the sound of it OP’s wife is particular about detail, prob won’t find one that matches exactly what she’s looking for. I’m assuming here of course, if she’s open otherwise, I’d def go with this approach.
i have done custom order thrice at diff MB dealers and was still able to get employee pricing discounts… each sales/finance guy has 2 to use… and if u ask and push for it u get it as u shop around diff mb dealers
@max_g , you have no idea! I have not been able to get more that 65% match on inventory based on her build online. Even the Eclass she built was 79k and almost fully loaded. sheez. I am trying to get her to look at a volvo S60 loaded or else we talk about ordering from MB based on @reddycr
@reddycr are you a MB employee? or are you saying push for them to give you / use the discount for Employee and have them do it either way?
You can hire a broker in your area to try and shop a couple Mercedes Benz stores and see who will offer the best discount off a factory order.
Does MBZ have offer protection?
i am not an mb employee… but every time i am in the mkt for a lease… i ask them to give me emp pricing (typically 12.25 to 13% off msrp) and best part is you get to tack on any cash incentive from MB as well as fleet …right now i was looking at 2019 E 450 and found one dealer who agreed to give me emp pricing …
You also need to agree on what the MF will be relative to buy rate.
If the car is odd enough, a dealer will not be too interested.
Side story- I had a boss that would tell people that want an oddball car that could only be built that way through Overseas Delivery. A total lie, but clever in that the dealership wouldn’t get stuck with it unless they bought it for cost minus the customer’s non-refundable deposit. Unethical, but I respected the evil genius of it.
MF is .00168 (4.3% equivalent)
buy rate is 1.9% 4-7 years but I wont finance a car over 4 years.
they did go 8%
and offer to pick up all taxes on the lease excet for 1.5% (900 bucks)
IMO, Volvo’s new interiors are better than Audis, which tend to go with cheap plastic once you get below eye/touch level.
The real question is… why bother going below eye/touch level?
I would hope to keep cars affordable, manufacturers would make the correct design decisions. Going with function and cheap plastic in areas not affected by sight or senses is, to me, appropriate. I wouldn’t care of Volvo did it.
Volvo hired their interior designer away from Bentley.
@cjackermann - today’s lease terms don’t apply to an ordered car unless the manufacturer has an offer protection option.
I thought Tesla poached Volvo’s head of interior design
Anders was #2. Great guy, Swedish. We leased him 2 cars at once at a previous dealership I worked at.