Buying Advice

[chord]

Hello all,

just joined the forum and looking for advice please. Have been to see a 05 C320 CDI sport with 62k on it at a MB dealer and really liked it. I am a cash buyer with no trade in, so after initially saying there would be no discount on the car the dealer phoned and offered me £800 of the asking price.

Not bad I thought, but figured I should probably try and get the warranty increased to 3 years. The dealer has given a different price the two times I have asked, £1600 and then £1700 for the 3 year cover, it comes with one year cover as standard. I asked for a discount on the warranty and was told that MB set that price and they can't do anything with it. I was under the assumption that dealers tend to make a fair amoutn of a warranty and there would be room to negotiate. Am I asking for too much to get something off the 3 year cover or should I just buy the car and get it covered myself?

I would have thought dealers would be dreaming for a cash buyer with no trade-in in the current climate.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Alex M Grieve]

Hello all,

just joined the forum and looking for advice please. Have been to see a 05 C320 CDI sport with 62k on it at a MB dealer and really liked it. I am a cash buyer with no trade in, so after initially saying there would be no discount on the car the dealer phoned and offered me £800 of the asking price.

Not bad I thought, but figured I should probably try and get the warranty increased to 3 years. The dealer has given a different price the two times I have asked, £1600 and then £1700 for the 3 year cover, it comes with one year cover as standard. I asked for a discount on the warranty and was told that MB set that price and they can't do anything with it. I was under the assumption that dealers tend to make a fair amoutn of a warranty and there would be room to negotiate. Am I asking for too much to get something off the 3 year cover or should I just buy the car and get it covered myself?

I would have thought dealers would be dreaming for a cash buyer with no trade-in in the current climate.

Thanks in advance.

Excellent choice of car and not a high mileage. MB Dealership is the place to buy and their one year "Signature" warranty will be good.

There was a good thread recently on the theme of warranties:
http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=40700

These can add a lot to the purchase costs. The opinions and experience here vary through 180 degrees. Some Forum members have bought expensive warranties, had expensive problems and been glad of the warranty.

People like me buy a decent car and expect it to work properly, so don't buy a warranty, save the cash but have to pay for their own problems if and when these arise. Happily, I'm still waiting!

It is therefore personal choice. Given that £800 discount has suddenly appeared (with the one year warrany as a given), I would continue the discussion by trying to press him to discount a longer term warranty (knowing that he can't or won't), then reluctantly accept that point in return for a bit more discount on the car.

I think 62,000 might be a high miler for an MB dealer to sell (others may disagree), so I suspect the condition is excellent. How long has he had it? He may be on the cusp of moving it on to auction (dealers have a strict protocol on how long they keep a car - I bought an S Class on day 5 of the 6th and final week they would keep it) and he may well accept a cash buyer at a better discount if he has no other option than auction in the near future.

Hope this makes sense - good luck with this and please tell us how you get on - with pictures if appropriate. 8)

 

[chord]

Thanks for that. The car has jsut come in. When I went to see the car on Saturday I was told they had to get 5 sales before the end of the month, so they were keen to do a deal. The car had just come in that day and had not been prepped, which I wasn't bothered about. There was some knocking from the rear, and starting the car seemed to take a bit of timeafter turning the key, but I guess they hadn't had a chance to look over the car. Perhaps the cost of the repairs has knocked their margin?

The price seems to be stuck at £800 off and that's it. I guess I could get the tax thrown in, but I'm surprised there is no movement on the warranty. As it's got the auto box and and done 60k in 3 years I figured gettting the warranty at a good price would be prudent.

Thanks again.

 

[madf]

The recession is only just beginning and winter is a terrible time to sell cars.

Wait 2 months and you will probably save £1000.
Wait 12 months and a car of the same age as the above will probably be £2k cheaper.

The economy is going to get a lot worse and I expect s/h car prices to have a lot further to fall...

 

[television]

As above, but MB's are still selling well, my dealer can sell all that he can get, but prices should drop off next month on

 

[moosehead]

It seems it bit unusual for a dealer to be offering a 3 year car with 60K miles. Maybe it was a trade-in. I'd be inclined to check out Glasses Guide for the trade in value with mileage adjusted for 60K and then base an offer around this figure. If it has the 7G gearbox make sure it doesn't have clunky down / up changes. If it does the s/w will probably need upgrading.

 

[chord]

It seems it bit unusual for a dealer to be offering a 3 year car with 60K miles. Maybe it was a trade-in. I'd be inclined to check out Glasses Guide for the trade in value with mileage adjusted for 60K and then base an offer around this figure. If it has the 7G gearbox make sure it doesn't have clunky down / up changes. If it does the s/w will probably need upgrading.

I tried to get a Glasses guide evaluation from the following site:
http://www.vauxhall.co.uk/vx/finance/valueyourcar.do
but they only seem to do 07 onwards for the 320 CDI sport. I also tried www.webuyanycar.co.uk, I know a lot of people don't like the site and rubbish the valuations, but I find they are often close to the mark, as trade-in values are far off when you go into a showroom (it's only good for recent mainstream cars) Anyway the valuation came out at £8,055!! Which does seem low, but I guess nobody is taking any chances on trade-ins these days.

 

[Alex M Grieve]

I tried to get a Glasses guide evaluation from the following site:
http://www.vauxhall.co.uk/vx/finance/valueyourcar.do
but they only seem to do 07 onwards for the 320 CDI sport. I also tried www.webuyanycar.co.uk, Anyway the valuation came out at £8,055!!

I put your data through the valuations tool on the What Car site and got:

Dealer£12,715

Private£11,340

Part exchange£10,170

Trade£9,660

Cost new£32,875

http://www.whatcar.co.uk/valuation-summary.aspx?MA=26&MV=23581&ED=47653&UP=1738471&ML=62000

This valuation system also has its detractors, but gives you a range to consider. As Television has said, no one knows how recent the data is that these sites are working with and the price will certainly slide with time in any case and with the current financial situation for sure. :-|:-|:-|

 

[moosehead]

Try this link:

http://www.virtual-showroom.co.uk/s...acturerCode=C7&manufacturerDesc=Mercedes-Benz

 

[chord]

It seems it bit unusual for a dealer to be offering a 3 year car with 60K miles. Maybe it was a trade-in. I'd be inclined to check out Glasses Guide for the trade in value with mileage adjusted for 60K and then base an offer around this figure. If it has the 7G gearbox make sure it doesn't have clunky down / up changes. If it does the s/w will probably need upgrading.

Try this link:

http://www.virtual-showroom.co.uk/s...acturerCode=C7&manufacturerDesc=Mercedes-Benz

Still only comes back with two links below

7 Speed Automatic
Rear Wheel Drive
04/2007 - 2008
7 Speed Automatic
Rear Wheel Drive
06/2007 -

which lead to

2007 07 2007 57
2008 08 2008 57

so stil no cars before 2007, or am I missing something?

 

[moosehead]

Maybe the C320 Sport Edition?