Delivery Charge on New C Class W204 - Please explain.

[A210AMG]

Have you tried this site.

New Audi, New Vw, New Mercedes and other New Car Deals

They put you in touch with dealers with build slots left at the end of the month.

 

[C240Sport97]

Would it be advantageous to buy your UK spec car from a German dealer ?

not while the £ is so weak.

euro pre tax prices are higher than £ pre tax prices

 

[219]

Hmmm , could there be money to be made buying LHD cars via UK dealers and exporting them back to the continent ?

 

[markjay]

A Friend of mine bought a car in 1991 direct from MB in Germany.

I remember going with him initially to a Mercedes Benz office in Stuttgart to close the deal, then to Sindelfingen to collect it - no dealer was involved. The car came with white oval 'Zoll' plates, and was then exported from Germany by us.

Things may have changed since though.

 

[A210AMG]

^ I did this and my dad with a few cars.

One a BMW (I know....) I bought, via e-mails, changed the spec about 10 times then waited a few months. Drove to Bonn in Germany having never spoken to the garage...with my brother and a trailer..

There was my car the only right hand drive one in the showroom.

Saved a mint !!!

As you say how things have changed,


We even did it with some work cars (2 ford focus's) cheaper in Belgium than UK....

 

[Goldfish11]

Just been out in our beautiful SLK with wifey to a canal side pub. We shared the driving, I drove there, she drove back

Feel good about life, beautiful sunset over the canal and content about the decision.

Thanks for all the encouraging comments. Do appreciate the support, I feel as if it was something slightly mad but it was a matter of "integrity and principle" and we need to take a stand on occasions.

This is only a little thing but if we all decided we were not going to put up with sales people "being ecomomical with the truth" to get a sale things would change fast. (and I would probably not have a kitchen, mobile phone contract etc )

On Monday I have decided to contact one dealer who gave me a quote of 10% off and kept the delivery charge to that specified in the brochure and was giving me free mats and a full tank of fuel and was happy for me to collect or would deliver on a transporter free of charge, or I could use personal collection. In fact a slightly better deal than my local dealer but I wanted to be loyal. Of course, this offer will have expired over the past month but who knows.

If I cant get the deal or delivery with a new plate in September. I will just run the E Class through the winter, put my cash in an account earning 2% and look around next year. By then I will probably save a few pounds as I notice that the new C class coupe and SLK have DAB tuners as standard so I suspect the 2012 model year will get this. So thats £350 for starters.

PS Dispite my email and also telephone calls to my dealership asking for them to call them so I can give them my credit card details they have not emailed or called back this afternoon. Will have to see if I hear from them tomorrow.

 

[Rory]

Effectively you are saying that the brochure on the road charges quoted by Mercedes UK are fictitious.

Yet strangley you had no qualms about paying a different price for the car than that listed in the brochure.

I think you're being a bit daft to be honest - I couldn't care less if the dealer showed the delivery charge as £10K, as long as the overall price was what I wanted. When I got my car they itemised out StarShield at £299 on the invoice, although that had never been discussed. At first I objected to this, but the salesman pointed out that the total cost was what we agreed (and it's one of the few cars I've bought were I felt I got a really good deal). I assume it's some sort of commission / tax dodge. I don't care.

I suspect the reality here is that you've had buyer's remorse and are grabbing the chance to get out of the order.

 

[crockers]

If the dealer had explained why the delivery charge was higher would it have made any difference? I suspect that maybe you weren't getting the car you originally specced and the deal was turning sour.

As for CC details, why not go in with them. Two fold reason. One not given over phone, two you may get an explanation face to face.

 

[Adam230K]

I don't see why it matters whether he cancelled or not, those idiots at that dealership just lost a sale over £113!! I've heard of discounts far more than that.

 

[Goldfish11]

If the dealer had explained why the delivery charge was higher would it have made any difference? I suspect that maybe you weren't getting the car you originally specced and the deal was turning sour.

As for CC details, why not go in with them. Two fold reason. One not given over phone, two you may get an explanation face to face.

Yes, that's the point. I asked twice about the additional and got no response. Even if they had said our pdi Involves an extra wash and vac over the standard one used by MB I would have been happy. Or we need to charge this extra to balance the books. I just wanted a straight answer.

 

[Rory]

I don't see why it matters whether he cancelled or not, those idiots at that dealership just lost a sale over £113!! I've heard of discounts far more than that.

He got a discount on the car in the region of 10%.

 

[Goldfish11]

Yet strangley you had no qualms about paying a different price for the car than that listed in the brochure.

I think you're being a bit daft to be honest - I couldn't care less if the dealer showed the delivery charge as £10K, as long as the overall price was what I wanted. When I got my car they itemised out StarShield at £299 on the invoice, although that had never been discussed. At first I objected to this, but the salesman pointed out that the total cost was what we agreed (and it's one of the few cars I've bought were I felt I got a really good deal). I assume it's some sort of commission / tax dodge. I don't care.

I suspect the reality here is that you've had buyer's remorse and are grabbing the chance to get out of the order.

Rory, you are right I wanted to pay less but I had done my research on discounts available. The issue for me is Comand is not really a major differentiator over Becker. I have Comand in both the E class and Slk and know it's strengths and weaknesses. The new version is worth about £600 over Becker on resale in 4 to 5 years it will probably increase the value by a hundred pounds. I also am sick of this, it has been consuming my time and thoughts for nearly a month, there is more to life than having to mess around like this.

In the 1990's I was responsible for doing a research and development programme with a large automotive company. One bit of research showed that the average customer enjoyed buying a new car as much as a visit to the dentist!! I can understand this now.

 

[Simon_M]

By then I will probably save a few pounds as I notice that the new C class coupe and SLK have DAB tuners as standard so I suspect the 2012 model year will get this. So thats £350 for starters.

PS Dispite my email and also telephone calls to my dealership asking for them to call them so I can give them my credit card details they have not emailed or called back this afternoon. Will have to see if I hear from them tomorrow.

You bette rhope there isn't a price rise before then!!!

I imagine they are playing it cool. They will probably offer to meet you on the deal on Monday - but I hope you refuse on moral ground.

 

[Goldfish11]

Finally got through to them today and asked if they could put the deposit back on my credit card. Said this is not possible because "Accounts" have to do this. They are not in so it will have to be done on Monday morning

Funny how they can take your money at the weekend but can't return it.

 

[Rory]

In the 1990's I was responsible for doing a research and development programme with a large automotive company. One bit of research showed that the average customer enjoyed buying a new car as much as a visit to the dentist!! I can understand this now.

Certainly buying the Golf a couple of mths ago was just horrendous, but I wanted it as cheap as possible as I was buying it for my daughter so there was the pressure (i put on myself) to get her a good deal.

However buying wifey's new Honda Jazz was easy, but they I didn't argue much with the salesman (who we've dealt with before) - I just wanted to get it done and we did the whole deal, inc test driving two models, in a couple of hours.

If cars were a fixed price then all this hassle and uncertainty would go away - but then who would be happy paying list price?

 

[C240Sport97]

I will just run the E Class through the winter, put my cash in an account earning 2%

and that's before income tax!

 

[NISFAN]

I notice you said that your E class is now no longer on private plates......were you intending to transfer these onto your new C?

If so that is probably where the £113 comes from, it costs an additional £80 to transfer the plates (paid to the DVLA) and depending on how they did the transfer, might have registered the new car with new standard reg mark, then your private plate, and had to make a new set of plates. Viola £113.

Seems a bit extreme to reject a 10% discount over a few pounds, and to get 10% on a bread and butter model like the C class is pretty good going.

Good Luck matching or beating that deal.

 

[Goldfish11]

New order placed.

Every cloud would seem to have a Palladium Silver Lineing.

Contacted previous dealers and got new quotes with Comand.

Guess what one said

"Has no one told you Comand under certain circumstances is on a subsidised rate of £500 on the C Class, we can get this for you?"

This means you get Comand Online with built in media interface and Speedlimit assist for £50 more than Audio 20 with the £450 media interface upgrade which includes a 6 CD system. So my ipod can be easily integrated. A bit of a no brainer.

Anyway, ordered vehicle looks like delivery for September still possible but will know more tomorrow. Saving 12% on the quoted on the road price and it comes in £993 less than the price the other dealer quoted me on the road and with COMAND :bannana::bannana:

Have paid £1K deposit order being placed on system in morning lets just hope this one goes through OK. I will post another 4 x:bannana: if by end of tomorrow I hear that all seems well.

PS - "on the road charges" are £645 as stated on internet site and brochure.

 

[Goldfish11]

I notice you said that your E class is now no longer on private plates......were you intending to transfer these onto your new C?

If so that is probably where the £113 comes from, it costs an additional £80 to transfer the plates (paid to the DVLA) and depending on how they did the transfer, might have registered the new car with new standard reg mark, then your private plate, and had to make a new set of plates. Viola £113.

Seems a bit extreme to reject a 10% discount over a few pounds, and to get 10% on a bread and butter model like the C class is pretty good going.

Good Luck matching or beating that deal.

Yes I have taken it off my private plate. This cost £105 and includes the £80 allocation fee and £25 retention. So it would have cost the dealer nothing to put it onto the vehicle. I have paid for this bit.

So new dealer can put on the a standard number plate or I can give them the certificate. So in theory I should not have to pay more.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Nice one.