Drive the Deal Alternatives
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gIzzE
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Coast2coastcars.co.uk is the one I use.
CarWow
I have just (today) signed a deal to buy a Mercedes E350 Estate Night Edition £10000 off list, this is the outgoing model but a fantastic deal none the less.
They had the new model E Class in the show room, really awesome looking but priced at £48000 for the SE, not sure what options included though.
I have just (today) signed a deal to buy a Mercedes E350 Estate Night Edition £10000 off list, this is the outgoing model but a fantastic deal none the less.
They had the new model E Class in the show room, really awesome looking but priced at £48000 for the SE, not sure what options included though.
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I used CarWow recently to buy a VW Tiguan for my missus.
Different MO to DtD - they connect you with dealers, 6 in my case, who bid for the order. It was a revleation in terms of responsiveness from most of them - ask a question through the site and some of them answer in 5 mins, in one dealer's case it didn't matter if it was the weekend or evening, he'd still answer.
DtD's price was cheaper but they wouldn't connect me with "their" dealer unless I agreed to wait for the factory lead-time. I wanted a car quickly and the CarWow dealers were all up for helping. I did think the prices got lower the further away the dealer was. In the end I went for one nearby who, with a bit of extra pushing, were there or thereabouts. They got the car in the spec I wanted in 8 days too.
Different MO to DtD - they connect you with dealers, 6 in my case, who bid for the order. It was a revleation in terms of responsiveness from most of them - ask a question through the site and some of them answer in 5 mins, in one dealer's case it didn't matter if it was the weekend or evening, he'd still answer.
DtD's price was cheaper but they wouldn't connect me with "their" dealer unless I agreed to wait for the factory lead-time. I wanted a car quickly and the CarWow dealers were all up for helping. I did think the prices got lower the further away the dealer was. In the end I went for one nearby who, with a bit of extra pushing, were there or thereabouts. They got the car in the spec I wanted in 8 days too.
Luton Town
Active Member
JBD at MB Norwich everytime mate.
JBD
MB Enthusiast
Thanks guys, some useful alternatives.
I'm just fed up that being a Mercedes customer for 15 years, my local Drayton dealerships just won't even try and put together decent deals, especially when i'm looking at parting company with car specs worth nearly 50k list.
I'm just fed up that being a Mercedes customer for 15 years, my local Drayton dealerships just won't even try and put together decent deals, especially when i'm looking at parting company with car specs worth nearly 50k list.
I do sort of understand the stance Mercedes takes with regards pricing because if they regularly do deals the deals become the norm and the brand is devalued.
I recently retired as purchasing manager for group of shops and we had to keep dropping prices on some premium products to compete with other outlets, in the end the brand owner had to step in but of course it's a risky thing as price fixing is illegal in some ways.
Having said all of that I do understand you wanting the best use of your money and I in fact have just signed off on a really good discount on a new car.
Spin_bowler
MB Enthusiast
Some might argue that that ship sailed at least 20 years ago
With Mercs regularly working out cheaper to finance than a comparable Ford or Vauxhall this is the least of their worries.
I suspect some dealers don't do deals because they don't need to or they can't be bothered. Wherever you get the finance from if you trace it back it generally seems to end up with MB Finance as they offer such good rates.
JBD
MB Enthusiast
MB's aim to be the top seller of the big three is really damaging. They need to drop out of places like DTD, as it's really damaging the brand. It's getting worse rapidly too
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gIzzE
MB Enthusiast
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I would agree with that, Land Rover don't discount and they sell as many as they can make, Porsche don't and they are the same, you pay top dollar but you also get top dollar back at the end. You know if you buy early and pay close to list it doesn't matter, your £40k car won't be being sold for £30k in 3 years when you trade it in, so you get £25k back, the problem at the moment is exactly that.
You buy a Merc at list and in 3 years you will get shafted when you want to move it on, so you have to hunt for the best price.
However, if they do drop out they will lose far too many sales I reckon. Unless the other marques stop the discounting too.
The C43 estate is going to cost what? The C450 AMG is €22,000 more than the C200 AMG Line in Germany. The C200 AMG line is £33800 here, so I guess the C43 will be about £48,000?
What are the alternatives to that?
Audi S4 which is coming in at €58k, and is said to be £46k over here.
BMW 340i which is coming in at £42k.
The BMW can be had for £32k, so you have either got to get a superb discount on the C43 or really, really want the Merc.
I would rather see all discounting gone and for list prices to be reduced slightly.
We have never been able to buy a Merc from Norwich, not recently anyway, bough the E270 and S320 from there, but in the last few years just not been able to get a deal even close to what I can get picking up the phone and ordering from a broker.
I tend to finance, and it makes a huge difference when you see what the depreciation is wrapped up in a monthly chunk, it can be £300 a month from a dealer discounting vs £500 for one that is not.
This would end, you would simply use your local dealer, and somewhere like Norwich with such a huge catchment area and no other Merc dealers within 50 miles? Would do really well from that sort of set up.
It is a shame you are now at Norwich JBD, just as I have started to buy older cars! Typical, I wait years for someone to arrive there that will do deals and I am buying older metal.
But the discount culture is no good, no good for early buyers, no good for dealers who are made to spend millions on showrooms, no good for tax reasons (BIK now, increased car tax over £40k next year) and it simply turns what should be a really joyous experience into a bit of a battle and more of a chore.
But, unless everyone gets together and agrees to kill discounts over night and stick to it I don't see what choice they have.
You buy a Merc at list and in 3 years you will get shafted when you want to move it on, so you have to hunt for the best price.
However, if they do drop out they will lose far too many sales I reckon. Unless the other marques stop the discounting too.
The C43 estate is going to cost what? The C450 AMG is €22,000 more than the C200 AMG Line in Germany. The C200 AMG line is £33800 here, so I guess the C43 will be about £48,000?
What are the alternatives to that?
Audi S4 which is coming in at €58k, and is said to be £46k over here.
BMW 340i which is coming in at £42k.
The BMW can be had for £32k, so you have either got to get a superb discount on the C43 or really, really want the Merc.
I would rather see all discounting gone and for list prices to be reduced slightly.
We have never been able to buy a Merc from Norwich, not recently anyway, bough the E270 and S320 from there, but in the last few years just not been able to get a deal even close to what I can get picking up the phone and ordering from a broker.
I tend to finance, and it makes a huge difference when you see what the depreciation is wrapped up in a monthly chunk, it can be £300 a month from a dealer discounting vs £500 for one that is not.
This would end, you would simply use your local dealer, and somewhere like Norwich with such a huge catchment area and no other Merc dealers within 50 miles? Would do really well from that sort of set up.
It is a shame you are now at Norwich JBD, just as I have started to buy older cars! Typical, I wait years for someone to arrive there that will do deals and I am buying older metal.
But the discount culture is no good, no good for early buyers, no good for dealers who are made to spend millions on showrooms, no good for tax reasons (BIK now, increased car tax over £40k next year) and it simply turns what should be a really joyous experience into a bit of a battle and more of a chore.
But, unless everyone gets together and agrees to kill discounts over night and stick to it I don't see what choice they have.
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If you don't mind me asking - how do you deal with this? I.e., what do you do when a potential customer walks into the showroom equipped with a DTD quote?
Do you match the price? Offer a sweetener e.g. free servicing or paint protection? Or just stick to your guns....?
gIzzE
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Also, is it Mercedes offering it to DTD, C2C etc.?
Or is it a franchise?
I thought it was often Inchape, or Sytner offering the silly discounts.
Surely MB could threaten to pull the brand from them if they really wanted to?
In my game, clothing, I can't just whack product up online with huge discounts, they simply wouldn't supply me again.
I am not allowed to sell on Amazon, eBay or through any third party without prior consent from the brand itself. I'm surprised the manufacturers allow it, but then if these guys are ordering 100 C350e a month compared with a dealer doing that a year I guess they turn a blind eye.
But surely it is up to the owners of other groups to get together and threaten Mercedes if they want it to end.
Or is it a franchise?
I thought it was often Inchape, or Sytner offering the silly discounts.
Surely MB could threaten to pull the brand from them if they really wanted to?
In my game, clothing, I can't just whack product up online with huge discounts, they simply wouldn't supply me again.
I am not allowed to sell on Amazon, eBay or through any third party without prior consent from the brand itself. I'm surprised the manufacturers allow it, but then if these guys are ordering 100 C350e a month compared with a dealer doing that a year I guess they turn a blind eye.
But surely it is up to the owners of other groups to get together and threaten Mercedes if they want it to end.
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1. I suspect it is driven in part by dealers forced to meet their quotas and then 'dumping' the spare capacity on the market through DTD.
In the olden days the dealers used to pre-register cars in order to meet their quotas, then sell them on at a discount because they were 'pre-registered' with delivery mileage, thus achieving the same effect.
If this is indeed the case, then MB UK can't really touch it... if dealers are not allowed to sell spare capacity via DTD or pre-register cars, they won't be able to meet their quotas, and the entire MB prachise model could be adversely affected.
2. Additionally... in part, selling cars through DTD is effectively selling online, and this reduces sales & marketing costs, even when taking into account DTD's commission.
3. And we should also keep in mind that the cars discounted on DTD are generally of basic trim level for the type, the options being mainly paint and transmission, but not the more unique options such as pano roof of Designo leather etc. So this is in effect the Economy section as opposed to Business class - i.e. the discount only works if the purchaser is after the cheapest option, but not for those who want more than the basics.
So the reduced price is probably a combination of all three.
But again, this is what I speculate, it would be interesting to hear from someone in the trade.
In the olden days the dealers used to pre-register cars in order to meet their quotas, then sell them on at a discount because they were 'pre-registered' with delivery mileage, thus achieving the same effect.
If this is indeed the case, then MB UK can't really touch it... if dealers are not allowed to sell spare capacity via DTD or pre-register cars, they won't be able to meet their quotas, and the entire MB prachise model could be adversely affected.
2. Additionally... in part, selling cars through DTD is effectively selling online, and this reduces sales & marketing costs, even when taking into account DTD's commission.
3. And we should also keep in mind that the cars discounted on DTD are generally of basic trim level for the type, the options being mainly paint and transmission, but not the more unique options such as pano roof of Designo leather etc. So this is in effect the Economy section as opposed to Business class - i.e. the discount only works if the purchaser is after the cheapest option, but not for those who want more than the basics.
So the reduced price is probably a combination of all three.
But again, this is what I speculate, it would be interesting to hear from someone in the trade.
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Plenty of reports of them discounting. It was tough on the latest FFRR when it first came out, but lead-times have dropped dramatically.
gIzzE
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Yeah they do, but not the discount like on new MB and BMWs etc.
£42k cars for £32k etc.
You may get the odd exception where someone gets 10% off, if a dealer really needs to shift one more Range Rover at the end of the quarter, but the normal discounts on them currently are £2k off a £40k Evoque, £3k off an £80k Range Rover, a grand off a £40k Disco Sport.
Look at a new E Class, you can already get 10% off, and it has only been out for weeks. By the time most will trade in theirs in 3 years time you will probably get closer to 20% off new, that is going to hit early buyers hard, especially if they paid list, or close to it.
We will see more £250 a month hire deals as well, buy a 6 year old E Class and it will be depreciating at close to that still.
The discounting game needs to end, bring back stronger residuals, the bigger the discounts the cheaper used cars have to become to make them a sensible purchase, which in turn means new cars then lose even more money, which means no one will buy them unless there are huge discounts offered. It is a vicious circle.
£42k cars for £32k etc.
You may get the odd exception where someone gets 10% off, if a dealer really needs to shift one more Range Rover at the end of the quarter, but the normal discounts on them currently are £2k off a £40k Evoque, £3k off an £80k Range Rover, a grand off a £40k Disco Sport.
Look at a new E Class, you can already get 10% off, and it has only been out for weeks. By the time most will trade in theirs in 3 years time you will probably get closer to 20% off new, that is going to hit early buyers hard, especially if they paid list, or close to it.
We will see more £250 a month hire deals as well, buy a 6 year old E Class and it will be depreciating at close to that still.
The discounting game needs to end, bring back stronger residuals, the bigger the discounts the cheaper used cars have to become to make them a sensible purchase, which in turn means new cars then lose even more money, which means no one will buy them unless there are huge discounts offered. It is a vicious circle.
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You would think that... but a new W205 2.0L Petrol Automatic is £30k RRP, or £26K though DTD. A late 2014 W204 is between £15 for a high-mileage low-spec one, to £20k for low-mileage high-spec, which makes no sense..
Unless for some reason buyers prefer the W204 to the new W205.... but otherwise why would anyone pay £20K for a 2 years old car of the previous model when a new one costs just £26k?
So it seems that for some reason the logic that says the low new prices push down second hand car prices does not always work.
Little Lofty
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Most big manufacturers are the same, I recently got 24% off the list price of a new Fiesta for my sister, discounts off some BMW's are similar, that's why I won't buy a BMW now. I owned a few 10/15 years ago and while I paid close to list I got back a huge chunk when I sold them. I've got a Macan GTS on order and I won't get a penny off list, but I know that I will loose very little when I sell.
