How to deal with the Mercedes dealership. W211 2007 E280 CDI

[Rory]

If you're p/xing then it's the cost to change which is the critical thing.

 

[hawk20]

If you're p/xing then it's the cost to change which is the critical thing.

Agreed and a big component of that, of course, is the part ex price for your car. Get that right and then haggle a good discount.

 

[scumbag]

Jesus.....................................

How can this discussion end up in an argument.

a, He needs to know his settlement fiqure so he knows how much he need to pay off to settle the loan. (He already knows the GFV)
B, he needs to know the cars worth.
c, He needs to know how much a P/x deal will be.

It makes not a jot of difference in which order you find these out, however, to negotiate the best deal, the order laid out above is the best way to go about it. The first 2 can be found out from home.

Now the interesting part.....

You can get glasses guide online for a cost. So the easy way to ask a dealer to show his version for free, is to say you can get his fiqures online for £3. At that point he will either say, go home and do that (and to be honest, if he does, don't ever go back) or he will just show you what he has.

Hence forth, you have gone in armed, you have also gone in honest. And it is not unreasonable for the dealer to expect you to be looking to get the best deal. They want you to a buy a car, they should want you to be happy too.

Your part ex price can be influenced by the car type you are buying, and if they happen to have a bit of a deal available for that particular model.

So you do need to know how much you owe, how much your car is worth and also, how much it is worth as a part ex price. The last two will be variable.


Warning, PCP deals have you pay the interest on the FULL amount you have borrowed, but you only pay back part of the ammount you borrow over the term of the deal. The GFV is offset to the end of the deal! This reduces the monthly payment. Someone has already said this but I thought it was worth repeating.

 

[hawk20]

I agree Scumbag. That is pretty much what I've been saying. Need part ex value, market value from Glass's to help you haggle, and if you want to change early you need the settlement figure.

Worth noting that some dealers won't show you Glass's and some now have a very limited amount of data downloaded to their computers.

But anyone happy with limited info and desperate to save £3 on a deal of thousands can get Glasses part ex price (only) by going to the Vauxhall website and under Finance they will find 'value my car' and get a free Glass's valuation.

When I looked the OP's car was about £12,500 in average condition and £13,250 in excellent condition -that's a pretty good percentage of the original list price excluding extras bearing in mind the car is almost 4 years old with 62k miles on the clock and there has been a new model. Not many makes would equal that.

 

[hawk20]

Warning, PCP deals have you pay the interest on the FULL amount you have borrowed, but you only pay back part of the ammount you borrow over the term of the deal. The GFV is offset to the end of the deal! This reduces the monthly payment. Someone has already said this but I thought it was worth repeating.

Agreed again. But just worth adding that this is not 'a health warning' in any sense because this is the fair and proper way to do it. All finance deals involve paying interest on the FULL amount borrowed. No free lunches. And the GFV is "offset to the end of the deal" because you can keep the car till the end of the deal. When you give the car back, that is when interest on the value of the car ends -as is fair.

 

[gIzzE]

Here is Glasses Guide for free....

Vauxhall - Glass's Consumer Values

Be aware that it doesn't tell you about adjustments for certain options though, and more and more adjustments these days tend to be '-£1000 for no nav' or '-£1000 for no 19" wheels'. but it will give you a good idea for most cars.

 

[hawk20]

Here is Glasses Guide for free....

Vauxhall - Glass's Consumer Values

Be aware that it doesn't tell you about adjustments for certain options though, and more and more adjustments these days tend to be '-£1000 for no nav' or '-£1000 for no 19" wheels'. but it will give you a good idea for most cars.

see my posting number 64.

 

[cumblechook]

Scumbag and Hawk!!!


Thanks guys...

My settlement is £16340. I aint happy. It is that much because I have 5 months to go on the contract. The dealers have told me this, but I will confirm with Merc Finance in the morning.

I have been dumb enough not to assume that Merc Finace would tell me this info in the first place. Anyways.....

I don't think there is owt in it.


Fiddlesticks!!!

Looks like I am forking out for a deposit!!!

 

[hawk20]

Cumblechook, you should not be too annoyed or surprised.

You have another 5 months to run on the deal that you agreed. Think about half a years interest on the value of the car plus the 5 payments you have yet to make and the settlement figure may not seem so unreasonable.

You can be safe in the knowledge that you can run the car for another 5 months and then will get a guaranteed value for it, which at over 13k for a 4 year old car with 62 k on the clock is a lot better than most makes will be getting. And that sum will pay off the balance of the finance that you will then owe. You can then walk away, or part ex against another car.

I remain convinced that if you ask them for a part ex figure at or near the end of the contract they will make sure you have some surplus towards the deposit on your next car. At the very least they will take yours in at the GFV, you will owe nothing and they will give you a discount on the next car. Given the economic situation you should get a healthy discount.

When you take out a PCP contract (or Agility as MB call it), IMO you should always plan on the assumption that the car will be worth no more than the GFV at the end of the contract because MB give excellent GFV values and that keeps your payments lower for the duration of the contract. If you happen to find the car is worth more than the GFV at the end of the contract that is a nice bonus but always plan on the assumption you may not have a surplus.

 

[Rory]

When you take out a PCP contract (or Agility as MB call it), IMO you should always plan on the assumption that the car will be worth no more than the GFV at the end of the contract because MB give excellent GFV values and that keeps your payments lower for the duration of the contract.

If that's pretty well always going to be the case then it would be worth taking a serious look at personal contract hire. There'e generally little to no up front payment and the overall cost is usually lower. Downside is that getting out of the contract early is expensive and there's no option to buy the car.

Cumblechook - even though the end of your contract is 5mths away, bear in mind a lot of factory order cars (of all makes) are on that sort of leadtime (longer for some, especially any VAG group cars) so it's not too early to start looking for your next car. 5mths from now take you right into the car manufacturers summer shutdown period too.

 

[gIzzE]

I tend to buy at 6-12 months old as I can generally get the same monthly payments as new but without a chunky deposit, and you usually get your small deposit back at the end that way too, plus even after 12 months you are normally at break even point regarding negative equity.

 

[hawk20]

Cumblechook, it would be nice if you kept us posted on how you proceed from here.

 

[hawk20]

Cumblechook, any chance you could tell us how you decided to proceed?