wongl
MB Enthusiast
Thinking about buying a new SLC205d but cannot decided if I should by a new one or an approved used one with delivery mileage. Are there any good deals out there this time of year or should I wait a bit?
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gr1nch
Active Member
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- Louth, Lincolnshire
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- 2017 W222 S350d AMG Line Premium Plus : Iridium Silver and Black Nappa
The dealer I went into see said that new was actually cheaper than nearly new, because MB were heavily discounting new models currently. A quick check with Autotrader proved him correct, at least for the models I was interested in. Have you checked out the M-B website for offers yet? That gives a good idea for an upper bound on new, before further discounting via CarWow, Drive the Deal, etc...
^what he said. To be honest, decide on what you want, agree a budget and shop about. If you wait, then a newer model might be on the horizon or a mid life refresh or a better car from another manufacturer of you get laid off or you die.
So just do it!
So just do it!
stumpy1
MB Enthusiast
Echo the above and wait until the end of a dealer sales quarter / year. They will sometimes sell a car at a loss to get their volume bonus from Merc, or throw in a ton of extras (service plan, GAP, etc).
OR, buy a dealers demonstrator of the model you want, usually 4/6 months old 3ooomiles ish, on clock, lots of the bits and bobs like pan roof, leather, 19s etc, all the warranty you're going to need, and thousands cheaper than new. What's not to like? When I was young and stupid I bought brand new, now older and a bit hopefully, less stupid, DEMO'S. 
Go for it.
Go for it.Depending on the model you are after buying new can be cheaper with a decent discount. Tend to agree that Demonstrators may not have had a good early life as driven hard and fast by lots of different people -including dealership personnel- and probably never run-in properly which could lead to probs down the road.
OR, buy a dealers demonstrator of the model you want, usually 4/6 months old 3ooomiles ish, on clock, lots of the bits and bobs like pan roof, leather, 19s etc, all the warranty you're going to need, and thousands cheaper than new. What's not to like? When I was young and stupid I bought brand new, now older and a bit hopefully, less stupid, DEMO'S.
Yeah mate I wouldn't buy a demo. I used to manage a Ford dealership (previous life) and all our demos were 'tested' every evening. It was like whacky races to our local pub 3 miles from the dealership through the back streets of Glasgows south side.
We collectively laughed at those that bought our demos. As at 6 weeks they were tired, no one ran them in gently. Some were on their 2nd or third (every cosworth) set of tyres. At least we had ensured for the next owner that we had ironed out the gremlins!!
OP
OP
wongl
MB Enthusiast
Thanks - the best quote I got from Carwow was 24% for SLC nothing like 28%. What or who is DTD?
JBD
MB Enthusiast
Go for a new one, unless you can find a pre registered one cheaper. There's a fair amount of chassis support on SLC, so the new car deals are strong. We pre registered a few, which work out cheap too.
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Yeah mate I wouldn't buy a demo. I used to manage a Ford dealership (previous life) and all our demos were 'tested' every evening. It was like whacky races to our local pub 3 miles from the dealership through the back streets of Glasgows south side.
Three years ago I bought an e coupe with 5000 MLS from an MB dealership here in the south, 1 previous owner 6 months old, had loads of gearbox trouble, took it back after three months and exchanged for newer demo for what I'd paid, Never had any trouble with the demo, traded it in for current e 350 9g CDI coupe, which is excellent. The point of all this is, the first e coupe was owned by a man who lived in Glasgow, and the moral is never buy a car previously owned by a lunatic Glaswegian or any demo from Scotland for that matter.Here in the more gentle South life is slightly less frantic. No offence old mate, and a happy new year to you and yours.
No offence old mate, and a happy new year to you and yours.
No offence?? I take pride in the fact that is Glaswegians cause any man fear and make ladies knicker elastic twang with our raucous ways and dulcet tones. Just don't ask to race one, if he loses, he will take you out. And I don't mean to with candles.
Yeah as I say I would rather have an ex manufacturer management car than a demo. Often because they are more loaded with toys and all issues are fixed. I'm on my third and they have been great. [emoji1303]
Ex manufacturer management? I've actually bought those, that's what I would call a demo, I didn't realise there was any difference, well blow me down, every day back in the classroom.
that 's why I say they're a good buy.
that 's why I say they're a good buy.
Ex manufacturer management? I've actually bought those, that's what I would call a demo, I didn't realise there was any difference, well blow me down, every day back in the classroom.
Demonstrators are what I call dealer salesmen cars and are preregistered to that dealer. Often base/common spec. Like a Rosso and cream Ferrari as an example. Ex BMW management are registered as such and as I say loaded spec for one of the area directors. Having had an area director physically in my house for coffee and him saying 'what do we need to do to make you happy'. We discussed what his ultimate specs were and what he orders. And in fact very close to what I often look for in a car.
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Cars which are registered to Mercedes Financial Management (or similar) are part of a managed fleet, but are often described by vendors as being a "Manager's" car. The managed fleet could include Merecdes-Benz UK company car scheme and their friends & family scheme, leased cars, and rental cars (eg Enterprise).
They will be difficult to distinguish, however the best way I know of confirming whether it was a rental car or not is to get hold of a copy of the service invoice(s). It's been a few years since I've checked, so not sure whether MBUK or the rental companies do something to obscure who was invoiced these days.
Sadly some people buy these cars on the basis that they're something special as ex-management cars, which of course, very often isn't really the case. Absolutely nothing wrong with ex-hire cars though: they'll have been maintained on the button and so may be a safer bet than many privately owned cars.
However if you wouldn't want to buy a former hire car, it's worth performing a few smile checks if you're buying an "Management" car.
They will be difficult to distinguish, however the best way I know of confirming whether it was a rental car or not is to get hold of a copy of the service invoice(s). It's been a few years since I've checked, so not sure whether MBUK or the rental companies do something to obscure who was invoiced these days.
Sadly some people buy these cars on the basis that they're something special as ex-management cars, which of course, very often isn't really the case. Absolutely nothing wrong with ex-hire cars though: they'll have been maintained on the button and so may be a safer bet than many privately owned cars.
However if you wouldn't want to buy a former hire car, it's worth performing a few smile checks if you're buying an "Management" car.
OP
OP
wongl
MB Enthusiast
Thanks every one.
The approved SLC that caught my eye was listed as approved used with delivery mileage. The dealer confirmed that it has 430 miles on the clock - a bit more than delivery but not quite what I expect from a 3 months old demo.
As a fully loaded SLC it was priced very keenly at £29,800 as the list price new is over £41,000. I have asked a couple of dealers via CarWow for a new quote on the same spec to see how much new. Not sure I can get finance to get a dealer contribution and then cancel within 14 days paying off in full. Does this trick still work?
The approved SLC that caught my eye was listed as approved used with delivery mileage. The dealer confirmed that it has 430 miles on the clock - a bit more than delivery but not quite what I expect from a 3 months old demo.
As a fully loaded SLC it was priced very keenly at £29,800 as the list price new is over £41,000. I have asked a couple of dealers via CarWow for a new quote on the same spec to see how much new. Not sure I can get finance to get a dealer contribution and then cancel within 14 days paying off in full. Does this trick still work?
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My last Mercedes, an 07 C180k Estate, was sold a few months ago with 125k miles on it. It was not until I came to sell it that I noticed the first owner was Avis
It gave no trouble at all and I figure that if it survived as a rental car, then it will simply laugh at anything i can do to it
I bought my sister an genuine ex-demonstrator BMW 420 this week. Born in April, kept absolutely mint by the dealers, exact spec she wanted and 2.5k miles. List would have been £38k, we paid £24
I recon that's a good price to get somebody else to do that tedious running in for you and be £14k better off
When working for motor manufacturers I got used to a brand new car every 4 months....but then I wasn't paying!
Haven't bought a new car since my 07 S Class...that cost me over £25k in depreciation in 2 years. I much prefer somebody else to take that hit now
It gave no trouble at all and I figure that if it survived as a rental car, then it will simply laugh at anything i can do to it
I bought my sister an genuine ex-demonstrator BMW 420 this week. Born in April, kept absolutely mint by the dealers, exact spec she wanted and 2.5k miles. List would have been £38k, we paid £24
I recon that's a good price to get somebody else to do that tedious running in for you and be £14k better off
When working for motor manufacturers I got used to a brand new car every 4 months....but then I wasn't paying!
Haven't bought a new car since my 07 S Class...that cost me over £25k in depreciation in 2 years. I much prefer somebody else to take that hit now
bellers
Active Member
I've just bought my first car that's over 2 years old so I now have a different viewpoint. New model S class with very low miles and good spec( lane dep. and distronic) and for less than the price of a new A class. Even with manufacturer input new is never less expensive than any form of used as the input was also into the pre reg one which the dealer has bought to keep his volumes up for his Merc discount. You are paying for the warranty that gives you peace of mind when you buy a newer one. Compared to new I now feel like I'm living life on the edge.
