Sad day...CLK55

[Big Jim]

I was made an offer by MB today to buy my car from me.

It was inevitable that I was not going to get a good price, but to be honest it still feels mildly insulting. Guess I should have seen it coming.

I bought the car in Jun 05 for £42000
Nine months later I need to sell and they have offered me £31000.

Glasses and Prices put the car at about £36000 but I've not had any serious sniffs since marketing the car at £35500.

I've reduced the price again in the 'for sale' section but I don't hold out much hope.

I can hear a lot of you say 'cars aren't an investment' 'what did he expect' etc....but MB need to realise that it costs more to find new customers than it does to keep existing ones. If they'd offered me a few grand more perhaps I'd be happier.

So when I get back from the States that new CLS55 looks like it won't be coming from a MB main dealer.

Jim:roll:

 

[littlebrooklyn]

We had the same trouble. We paid £18,000 for our Mercedes in May last year. Less than 9mths later we sold it and we only got £13,500 and that was £1,000 more than a lot of dealers were prepared to offer us

 

[johnnycapone]

My 1992 200te estate cost me 500 pounds. My first ever merc. Had a few little probs with it but the smile is still on my face. Wow what a nice car to drive. The plus factor is that when it goes horribly wrong it goes to Uncle Kens scrap merchant and I will look for another one. Hopefully not in the near future.
regards
John

 

[television]

These prices sound OK to me,they would expect a £3-4k mark up, add that to the depreciation and spot on.

Malcolm

 

[Brett]

Thing is you are only offering a saving of £500 over what someone could buy it from a dealer for. Not only that you're admitting you're heading off to the States. As a buyer, I'd be spending an extra £500 at a dealer for the "safety factor" of spending £36k on a car i.e. the dealer will still be there tomorrow if there is any problem with it.

If you'd offered it at somewhere between £31k and £36k you may have got some interest. In any case, happy travels and good luck.

 

[jberks]

Yes, selling a car is always a depressing thing. I traded in my E240 and only got 7k. Sure they are flying off used forecourts for 10 (as mine did) but the dealer will never pay over trade and no one is going to buy it off me for 10. Perhaps if I'd advertised it at a bargain 7.5 but then whats the point. In the old days they may have done an odd favour for an old customer but these days they are all accountant controlled and have to show a profit on every single deal. I know that if I took my E back after 6 months I'd lose a packet too. When you buy a car, you pay the profit between what he paid and what you paid, when you sell it back, you fund the profit, plus the discount and fixes the new buyer wants. Do both in 6 months and you only have the 6 months to set it against so it seems worse. Its the same figures over 3-4 years, just gets lost in the depreciation better.

It amused me when I swapped the Audi. As a sorry for the previous cock-up, they give me a great trade in price, almost retail, yet when I got the invoice, the price had dropped to trade and the price of the new one had come down in line. This way, they could show a small profit on the deal by using the profit on the new car to fund it, and most importantly still show a profit when they flogged my old one.

Also, if the forecourt sticker price is 36k and we walked in with no trade in, we would be expecting them to sell it to us for 34,500, with a full warranty, a service, 2 new tyres, new mats, a full tank of gas and that stone chip seen to. And that assumes that we walk in pretty soon. If they have to sit on it for a couple of months, they have to stand the extra depreciation too. Then after all that they still have to show a profit to cover the leather armchairs, the cleaning of all that glass and that girl on the reception desk.

I'm pretty quick to jump on the dealers but in this case, don't be too hard on them, its business.

 

[Big Jim]

All good points and well made. My price was a starting bid, I would of haggled. I guess my mistake was pitching the price too high in the first place.

I understand completely that Mb are trying to make a profit, but why do they insist on making a killing both ways. For an extra £2k I wouldn't have quibbled and would be selecting my next motor ready for my return as we speak. Although I haven't gone off the product, I will definitely try another Marque when I get back....something I wouldn't of contemplated before. Who knows I might like the other brand more.

All the salesmen seem genuinely embarassed when they give me the price and say their hands are tied when negotiating.

Not to worry...MB will make a profit from me this time, but I won't be coming back. Next time I'm throwing money at a new car I'll share it around the other brands first - LOL. Now that new shape Jag XK looks nice and even the new Ford Mondeo 2007 looks interesting, or how about a nice £500 classic like John. (I spend that on petrol every month - )

Warm regards

Jim

 

[Big Jim]

don't be too hard on them, its business.

This must be where I'm going wrong. Business to me is all about quality, value and fair trading. To be really boring I think 'Slater' said 'quality is providing consistant conformity to customers expectations'. At least MB are consistant! LOL.

See you all when I get back from the States, thanks for the well wishes.

Jim

 

[jberks]

This must be where I'm going wrong. Business to me is all about quality, value and fair trading. To be really boring I think 'Slater' said 'quality is providing consistant conformity to customers expectations'. At least MB are consistant! LOL.

See you all when I get back from the States, thanks for the well wishes.

Jim

You and me both. I work freelance for other businesses and am constantly frustrated at their total lack of service to their customers. Where I want to go that extra yard to help, they don't and only see that as an expense. But then they are profitable enough to keep paying me and the customers keep coming back anyway so who's right?

Anyway - best of luck in the states.

 

[Big Jim]

Cheers mate....

I'm freelance too....I wish i could run my company like MB...but then my product isn't as sexy!

I guess MB will continue to be successful all the time people go back and pay to use them. I certainly won't.

Regards

Jim

 

[television]

Cheers mate....

I'm freelance too....I wish i could run my company like MB...but then my product isn't as sexy!

I guess MB will continue to be successful all the time people go back and pay to use them. I certainly won't.

Regards

Jim

Every one knows that you lose 25% as soon as you drive out of the showroom, and that goes for any car. The car has only a certain value, its got to be valeted,resprayed for stone chips, guarenteed and drop each month till sold, improvements on the new version knock it further.

I too have been freelance all my working life (55 years) I sell things everyday
and I do not want things back,once sold. you have had your Tax break on it.
Stop moaning, its unfair in this case.

Malcolm


Think your self lucky it was not a 600, my pall paid £100k and 17k miles and 6 months got back £37k during the fuel crisis.

 

[Big Jim]

Tax break?

You're right Malcolm, I am lucky and I'll stop moaning.
If you hadn't mentioned you were a salesman, I think I would have guessed anyway from the tone of your post. It's people like you, who don't speak up, that mean MB can command these prices. It's all about common sense business practise, but then with 55 years experience in sales you probably wouldn't be worried about that.

I knew I wouldn't make money on the car - I accept that I will lose money, firstly driving out of the show room and also bringing it back early to sell back. But I was surprised to lose so much...never mind, I'll learn from my niavety, shut up moaning and consider myself lucky

Take care

Jim

 

[television]

Tea break what a good idea. Actually Jim I am an electronic eng and consultant, and I hate salesmen, having stood along side them on exhibition stands,feeling that I am just there to fix things when it all goes wrong and answer questions. I know how the whole thing works, they know that it comes in green with pink spots, or blue with black stripes. At the end of the day,they are super people that earn their company mega bucks, I am nothing but a drain on them as they have to pay me when it all goes wrong.
Yes it is a blow to lose hard cash, that is the way the motor trade works. I have had to revert to selling during hard times.

To be truthfull I did not think that the deal you was offered was too bad.
Please forgive me for sounding horrible

Malcolm. ps have a good trip

 

[Big Jim]

No worries Malcolm, I retract my assumption about you being a salesman!! Sorry for the insult

Thanks for the well wishes....I'll send you a post card!

 

[Big Jim]

I'm back!

Thought I'd up date the post.

I took John's advice and bought an old 300TD - she does the running backwards and forwards for me, while the Mitsubishi I bought does the point to point fun journeys.

I did contemplate buying another Merc, but couldn't face walkiing back into the dealership again.

Happy motoring everyone!

 

[television]

I'm back!

Thought I'd up date the post.

I took John's advice and bought an old 300TD - she does the running backwards and forwards for me, while the Mitsubishi I bought does the point to point fun journeys.

I did contemplate buying another Merc, but couldn't face walkiing back into the dealership again.

Happy motoring everyone!

Great news Jim, I missed you They are good cars, and it will grow on you

 

[Brett]

Some of it does also come down to relationships. I've spent a small fortune at my local MB dealer over the years and as a result when I traded my 03/53 CLK55 Cab back in May they initially offered me £20k but finally settled at £23.5k - that same car is still for sale at £18k. The big however is that the sales manager ended up giving me an extra £1k out of his "slush fund" in order to keep my business and quite probably get more in the future. We have another wean due in the next couple of weeks and I've already been kicking the tyres of an R-Class...

 

[Brett]

Oh...and I am a salesman....

 

[jberks]

I traded my 03/53 CLK55 Cab back in May they initially offered me £20k but finally settled at £23.5k - that same car is still for sale at £18k. The big however is that the sales manager ended up giving me an extra £1k out of his "slush fund" in order to keep my business and quite probably get more in the future.

I'm not saying you didn't get a good deal, but I would say the 'slush fund' was really the profit on your current car, possibly leaving them with a few hundred rather than thousand.
Remember, whatever we want to believe, the accountant would have your sales manager's head if he belived he was selling anything at a loss without a damn good explanation. - And keeping an existing (non fleet) customer happy wouldn't cut it I suspect.

 

[Big Jim]

Some of it does also come down to relationships. I've spent a small fortune at my local MB dealer over the years and as a result when I traded my 03/53 CLK55 Cab back in May they initially offered me £20k but finally settled at £23.5k - that same car is still for sale at £18k. The big however is that the sales manager ended up giving me an extra £1k out of his "slush fund" in order to keep my business and quite probably get more in the future. We have another wean due in the next couple of weeks and I've already been kicking the tyres of an R-Class...

Sounds like great customer service to me..........perhaps I should have gone to your dealer. MB Bristol were naff.

So far Mitsubishi have been great and there are enough motorsport specialists around to mean servicing the car is fairly competitive. Mind you the service interval is every 4,500miles!