Main dealer new trick? £2.5k inflated price for a cash purchase.

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clk208

MB Enthusiast
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CLS
Had my eye on an approved used car that's been for sale for about a month at a dealer that's around 4 hours from me. Should I, shouldn't I - eventually decided I should.

Phoned up said dealer saying I would like to put a deposit down and would come up to do a test drive and if all ok I would buy the car.

I have no PX and would not be taking finance.

Next thing they say that prices for these cars (E estate) have been on the up and the price has is now £2,500 more.

I said it's still on the Mercedes approved website at the original price that it's been at for the past month. His reply "so you say, but that's not the price now".

Really wound me up that did "so you say" as if I'm making it up. It's still there at the original price and with a buy it now option (£99 deposit) on the MBUK website. Tempted to "buy it now" for a bit of sport?:devil: They may then at least have to explain their actions to MBUK that they won't sell me the car.

Anyone had similar?
 
Tempted to "buy it now" for a bit of sport?:devil:
Go for it if you want it; the dealer may just be trying it on, or they may have a prospective walk-in buyer who isn't aware it's on the website for £2500 less.

Let us know how you get on.
 
"So you say". Sounds smarmy

You get your deposit back if you don't like it anyway. You might get a different salesman at the site who isn't as smarmy as the other one if you put a deposit on online. "So you say" would get my back up right away.
 
What happens with the BIN once you pay your £99, does it force you down the MB finance route or are you free to pay the balance how you like? Dealer would have nowhere to go price-wise once you'd intiated the sale, surely? Feels like the obvious thing to do to me, assuming you were prepared to make the trip to go and look at it anyway.
 
Had my eye on an approved used car that's been for sale for about a month at a dealer that's around 4 hours from me. Should I, shouldn't I - eventually decided I should.

Phoned up said dealer saying I would like to put a deposit down and would come up to do a test drive and if all ok I would buy the car.

I have no PX and would not be taking finance.

Next thing they say that prices for these cars (E estate) have been on the up and the price has is now £2,500 more.

I said it's still on the Mercedes approved website at the original price that it's been at for the past month. His reply "so you say, but that's not the price now".

Really wound me up that did "so you say" as if I'm making it up. It's still there at the original price and with a buy it now option (£99 deposit) on the MBUK website. Tempted to "buy it now" for a bit of sport?:devil: They may then at least have to explain their actions to MBUK that they won't sell me the car.

Anyone had similar?
That's a bit off.

However everyone knows that cash is no longer king, so I just played them at their own game. I did have a p/x but seems you get more for it if you take out finance. So cash in the bank, I went for the finance option, signed on the dotted line, picked up the car and then pulled out of the agreement the very next day!

In your shoes, my tact would be to go along with the finance, but with no trade-in you barter to get their best price. Salesman's eyes light up as they calculate their bonus. Then you are within your rights to cancel the agreement within the 14 day cooling off period and just settle up...
 
Ok guys. Excellent musings all, many thanks.

Carried out the buy it now :) Got an email from MBUK Cars Ltd which confirms the reservation (in fact congratulates me on it) and says the dealer will be in touch. You arrange the payment of balance with them and can go either pay in full or finance.

Let's watch them wriggle out of this.

Great tip about taking out finance then cancelling :)
 
I should say - they can wriggle out of it quite easily as it says in the small print that the price doesn't have to be honoured.

Will update when anything happens.

Still, a bit of sport.

The financial ombudsman would not like this discrimination of not accepting a deal without finance methinks....
 
When i bought my latest Merc i paid the deposit and the day after it dropped by £1200 on the Mercedes used approved site , when i phoned to ask what was going on he replied with Sir has just got a belting deal !!! they had to honour the price on the used approve website
 
The relevant phrase is "offer to treat". Basically, a retailer is under no compulsion to sell something to you at the price displayed unless and until you and they enter into a contract, after which the price is agreed as firm - although with a new car there is often a caveat that increases outside the control of the retailer may be passed on.

I suppose the question in the instant case is whether clicking the BIN button and paying a £99 deposit forms the contract. I suspect not, because there's a clause that says (or rather to the effect that) if the vehicle proves unsatisfactory when viewed, the buyer can pull out and have the deposit refunded.

Worth the sport, though.
 
That's a getout clause for the buyer, not the seller, if that's the only caveat. If the contract also gives the seller the option not to honour the price, that would be a different matter. It sounds as though the deal will probably go through as agreed, though.

What's the car?
 
Take a snapshot of the advert just incase they change the price or pull the ad. If they really make it awkward you can either take it further if you really really want that particular car or wait for another, plenty around.
 
If you take the finance option and pay it off in full the next day, does the smarmy git salesman still get his commission from the finance company?
 
If you take the finance option and pay it off in full the next day, does the smarmy git salesman still get his commission from the finance company?
I got the impression that they did. However, it's not something I would allow myself to lose sleep over.
 
Thanks all.

The car was an E220d but had the rare as rocking horse Driving Assistance Plus pack (but wasn't advertised as having such - the photos and VIN confirmed), beige leather (which looks kind of white) and a couple of other bits of interest.

So after a lot of back and forth which escalated to some UK leader they have said they can't honour the price - with or without finance. And the car has missed a service going 24k and 2 years between a service - which made it less appealing to me anyway.

Here's the explanation:
1) The price on MBUK site was out of sync with the dealer group site and Autotrader site (and had been for a month apparently) because there was an instruction to up the price a month ago but the systems have to be updated separately and this wasn't done.
2) There is virtually no stock of used cars at the moment for them to buy in, they are paying over clean CAP for anything. Mostly due to covid which has lead to people hanging on to cars for another year and less new stock in circulation. So their UK leadership are scrutinising the price of every car in stock and amending the price upwards with orders not to sell for below.

The lack of stock is certainly true. There are 58 approved used E class estates for sale nationally in autotrader that aren't black in colour (my main criteria - fancy a change from the CLS) whereas at the end of last year when I was tentatively looking this was around the 300 mark and the prices are somewhat firmer. Same is happening across many brands and across cars/vans/motorhomes.

So I'll bow out until next year, retain the CLS and resume the hunt when things are a bit more sensible hopefully as I'm not desperate to change.

Good luck to them trying to shift the car for +2.5k when it has sat for at least a month unsold.

Would have pushed harder but the missing service meant I'm no longer that keen so will leave it at that.
 
When I purchased my last MB without a trade in I wanted to pay cash but got a far better discount paying on finance. Drove the car home then rang MB finance and paid off in full over the phone. Really very simple. With dealers contribution to finance and MB putting in extra as a promotion I ended up with a new S205 at £8.5 under list. Had I wanted to pay cash no discount!

It’s a rather daft situation as many people use PCP and are drawn in by the reduction from list if they take the finance packages (by the end of which they have paid list price). But if you just want a cash purchase no discount. Dealers and MB really make most of their cash from the finance package and a smaller % from the car itself.
 
Yes I think when I do get round to a buy I will be taking finance and cancelling in the cooling off period.
 
Thanks all.

The car was an E220d but had the rare as rocking horse Driving Assistance Plus pack (but wasn't advertised as having such - the photos and VIN confirmed), beige leather (which looks kind of white) and a couple of other bits of interest.

So after a lot of back and forth which escalated to some UK leader they have said they can't honour the price - with or without finance. And the car has missed a service going 24k and 2 years between a service - which made it less appealing to me anyway.

Here's the explanation:
1) The price on MBUK site was out of sync with the dealer group site and Autotrader site (and had been for a month apparently) because there was an instruction to up the price a month ago but the systems have to be updated separately and this wasn't done.
2) There is virtually no stock of used cars at the moment for them to buy in, they are paying over clean CAP for anything. Mostly due to covid which has lead to people hanging on to cars for another year and less new stock in circulation. So their UK leadership are scrutinising the price of every car in stock and amending the price upwards with orders not to sell for below.

The lack of stock is certainly true. There are 58 approved used E class estates for sale nationally in autotrader that aren't black in colour (my main criteria - fancy a change from the CLS) whereas at the end of last year when I was tentatively looking this was around the 300 mark and the prices are somewhat firmer. Same is happening across many brands and across cars/vans/motorhomes.

So I'll bow out until next year, retain the CLS and resume the hunt when things are a bit more sensible hopefully as I'm not desperate to change.

Good luck to them trying to shift the car for +2.5k when it has sat for at least a month unsold.

Would have pushed harder but the missing service meant I'm no longer that keen so will leave it at that.
If it has a service missing it can’t be sold as approved.
 
the car has missed a service going 24k and 2 years between a service - which made it less appealing to me anyway.
Should this car qualify as a 'Approved Used' with a missing service?
 

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