Hi Pro’s
I leased a 2023 Mercedes-Benz EQS 450+ on 29th Feb for $5K down and $906 (with tax) for 36 months/36,000 miles.
The car paperwork was processed by a separate dealership(Pleasanton) than the one we picked the car from. So over the call when the person was explaining the coverages, we declined all of them. There was something like “Permaplate Coverage” and we were told that its default and we need not worry about it. I assumed that it has something to do with the CA DMV numberplate (Stupid, I know). However it says $1019.00 on the paperwork.
Now the dealership from Santa Ana (who is doing our paperwork) send us the hard copies to be signed physically (we e-signed something earlier). Now I studied about it and even spoke with the dealership but I am still a bit confused.
As per the dealer, the car comes pre-coated with the “permaplate coating” and the coverage is something that it comes along.
I was just wondering if you pros know any better…
Edit: ok now that you’ve said the price, the worst part of Perma Plate is how much it gets marked up when dealerships get it added on the cars in their inventory.
Was the $1019.00 itemized in the the lease agreement you e-signed? This could either be baked in the sales price of the car, or as a separate line item for “aftermarkets” in the itemized capitalized cost.
And separately, are you saying the physical papers you’re signing now are different than the ones you e-signed?
Don’t worry about the Permaplate. It’s just a dealer add-on but if you’ve already signed and the dealer agreed to your target deal then it really doesn’t matter.
Yeah, without reviewing the specific paper-signature-contract or the e-signed contract… it seems like the Pleasanton dealer applied some rebate/discount to offset the $1019.00.
Although someone taking a good look at the itemized adjusted capitalized cost can make sure.
No - I love the car and no question to back out of the deal but I wanted to know if I can force any hand to remove that $1019.00 on the ground that its useless. I dont understand this - it is described as a gold plating that comes with a warranty and thats what the cost of $1019 is !
The dealership says that they are giving it to us for free but its mentioned into the RV paperwork so I cannot make how how its “free”.
What Jeff is saying is that we believe the dealer gave you a rebate so you still hit your target deal economics even if there was an itemized charge for $1,019 somewhere in the documentation.
So if you asked them to take out the $1,019, then your rebate would go down as well, and the resulting payment would be the same.
Now, if you’re saying your deal economics are worse than you thought they should be due to this $1,019… that’s a different story.
It’s not useless. You can certainly argue it’s not worth $1,019. You need to look back over your paperwork, because you should have signed a document about it. It mostly likely includes a physical coating and then a warranty against wear.
What you can do is find a way to maximize its value. For example, get them to reapply the coating every 6 months and file a claim if you get any chips or scratches. Can’t say for sure until we know what it includes.
If you’re in the mood to read a bunch of BS, here you go. The dealerships never actually give people this. I had to contact Perma Plate to receive this information. That’s how brazen the dealerships know people are paying for stuff just to pad their margins and not receive actual benefit.
Mercedes Benz of Walnut Creek made me add-on Perma Plate to get our GLS.
It was the only one on their lot! I was holding a Tesla Model X sized bag! Legacy Points Deducted. Also, I didn’t know @oarfish18 existed back then. I suck.
You can browse marketplace and shared deals section of forum. Don’t worry about other peoples’ deals at this point. Doesn’t matter once you’ve signed and taken delivery.
