I’m in WA and I want to obtain a 2025 EQE. I’d like to order one to my specifications as soon as they start taking orders. Until now I have always bought my vehicles, but I think for this one leasing makes more sense, so I am going to try something new.
Any tips on how to negotiate a lease on a custom build? When I purchase a custom build, I just email dealers telling them what I want and asking for a price. Since we’re always discussing an identical vehicle, it’s really just a numbers game for the most part. I pick the best deal and hand over a check when the vehicle arrives.
If I attempt the same strategy with the lease it seems that what I need to request are
Lease terms (i.e. duration, mileage/yr)
Sale price including discounts
Money factor
Residual value
Anything else that I’d need to ask for. I’m specifically interested in things that would vary from dealer to dealer.
It might be too early to figure out a lease on a 2025 if they are not yet taking orders. There are probably no decent lease programs on them, so you are at the mercy of MB right now.
Once the data is known, you need to find those numbers yourself and plug them into the calculator to develop YOUR target deal based on your research. People here will help evaluate your deal, but you have to do the legwork. If you simply ask the dealer for a quote you will end up paying way more than you should.
Thanks. Can you expand upon this? Let’s assume there are no specific lease deals available when I want to order. This is a distinct possibility given that I kind of need to do it ASAP since my current ride is dying. What should I ask for besides a quote.
On an tangentially related note, if I decided to buy, which I probably won’t. I have heard people getting a lease so they can take advantage of the $7500 EV credit and then buying out the lease the next day. This is better than just directly purchasing because you don’t get the $7500 that way. Is there any thing that prevents one from doing this? And if this is the plan, I assume the money factor and residual value are essentially irrelevant.
You should search on the site and spend the time reading the forums. I’m pulling at least 3 threads here that have been discussed at length in the past 60 days: lease to buy, a strategy of making offers, but most importantly the need to read through Leasing 101 if you are new to the process. Even if you lease to capture the tax credit, you still need to understand how it works, taxes in your state.
And I think if you spent time in the EQ* threads here, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone recommending an immediate buyout on the MB EVs.
I tried to order this vehicle (specs below) in May. Apparently, at that point, they had just stopped taking custom orders. I sent it to 10+ dealers. Most of them did a search to find something similar and a few of them specifically told me “there is not an EQE out there close to this”. I would have accepted one that had additional stuff, but the only ones I could find were at least 20-30K more expensive.
2024 EQE 500 4MATIC Sedan
Twilight Blue metallic
20-inch twin 5-spoke w/Energy Blue accents
All-season tires
Neva Grey/Biscaya Blue leather
Natural Grain Anthracite Linden wood
Winter Package
Ventilated front seats
Multicontour front seats with massage
Pinnacle Trim
Energizing Air Control Plus w/HEPA Filtration
ENERGIZING Comfort PLUS
Animated logo projectors
Dashcam
Yeah, I hear what you’re saying. This is not the smartest financial move. I get that. So really the question is how can I minimize the badness. Any suggestions on that?
I read a lot of leasing 101 prior to posting. Are the other two threads entitled “lease to buy” and “a strategy for making offers”. I tried the search function, but I couldn’t find those. Can you link those two for me?
Who builds an EQE and posts on this site? Dealer will not discount a 2025 nor discount it as much as on lot unit. You’re better off waiting till you find very similar spec and take the dealer to the cleaners.
Take this for what it’s worth… all anecdotal info and I’m not one of those into digging for hard data to back this up
In any case, my buddies that work for the legacy manufacturers (e.g. VW, BMW, etc.) at the corporate level are pretty much saying the same things in that the EQ-series of vehicles were disasters for MB. Those vehicles were not moving at all until corporate stepped in and heavily incentivized the vehicles on the front and back ends.
Dealers were forced to take some of these vehicles that ended up as long-term paperweights. As such, the appetite amongst dealers for custom EQ orders are slim. Even if they eventually do take an order, expect it to require heavy downpayments, guarantees or markups so they don’t end up with something they can’t sell (at the corporate level, they hear tons of dealer complaints on these).
Yes, other makes do provide incentives for their EV sales too, but not as much as MB’s. Maybe those guys were blowing smoke at me, but I sensed that they weren’t desperate to move EV’s like MB wanted to move the EQ’s.
Good luck, and hope you find what you’re looking for.
OK, y’all have convinced me to take another look at this route. So what’s the plan now. Here’s what I’ve got
Go to MB website and find a vehicle that is close enough for me
Find out what the the current incentives are for the vehicle
Contact dealer and start negotiating.
So, can someone give me some guidance on step 2. What’s the best way I can find out what the current incentives are for the 2023 or 2024 EQEs. When I use google, all I see is the $7500 leasing incentive. However, when looking through other threads on leasehackr I see thinks like “fleet” and “affinity”. Where do I find out about those kind of discounts for this vehicle. Also where do I find what the going rates and residual values are?
I assume the above is covered somewhere in the site, but I couldn’t find it. Apologies for my failed efforts.
