I'm a car salesmen, Go ahead and ask me anything

[karl262]

Have you tried talking to your salesman or his manager? Sometimes if the service department gets more pressure from the sales staff to fix a problem it will happen. Plus, in most dealerships, the sales management outrank service managers and they just want the customer to be happy.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by Realtor 1

Problem 1- I was not told that I only need an oil change at 20k so had a full oil change done at another shop at 6k. (perhaps I have been under a rock and should have known this.

While you're of course spending more money, it's never a bad thing to change your oil more frequently than their manufacturer suggests. Especially for someone like yourself, who seems to drive quite a bit. I change mine every 5k, even though mine says every 20k too.

I'm not sure if it's the case with Mercedes (it is with BMW), but I know some car manufacturers starter recommending longer intervals coincidentally around the same time that they started offering free maintenance for the first few years. Funny how that happens.....

[Travis Munroe]

I was looking at it in a different way. I figured I took out some magical 20k oil at 6k and had them replace it with the non magical 20k oil meaning I should have had it done again at 11-12k but instead mercedes told me not to worry about it.

[DownhillGoat]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

Not true, depending on the system it can take you out of an understeer situation, especially if you're able to put the power down and have it transfer to the rear wheels (Torsen centre diff will do this).

Yeah, when I said "icy road", I was insinuating no traction, therefore not being able to put the power down.

I just find that too many people think that AWD is some magical technology that removes the laws of physics.

[AMG_G]

Originally Posted by Realtor 1

I was looking at it in a different way. I figured I took out some magical 20k oil at 6k and had them replace it with the non magical 20k oil meaning I should have had it done again at 11-12k but instead mercedes told me not to worry about it.

Trust me if MB wanted to milk you for more money they could. I have a C63 and the first service as $300 and my second service was almost $700 . These cars are high performance cars and are not cheap so I highly doubt they would recommend 20k oil changes if it wasn't okay to do so. Just make sure you are using the recommended synthetic oil it's in the owner's manaul. I am going to bend over and lube up for the $4000 complete brake job when the time comes.

Which one did you get?

PS MB doesn't have maintenance included for the first 3 years like BMW.

[Travis Munroe]

I went with the basic c250. From what I was told, I have the only turbo 4 sedan in town. The sedan is typically the 6 cyl and the coupe is the turbo 4. I needed a sedan and wanted the turbo so they had to bring it in.
I can only dream of a C63!
The one and only category I can beat you in is gas mileage lol.

[TSXCman]

I am in the process of making a private sale right now. What is the normal procedure for ensuring that during a test drive the driver is liable rather than the current owner?

[puckluck2]

Originally Posted by TSXCman

I am in the process of making a private sale right now. What is the normal procedure for ensuring that during a test drive the driver is liable rather than the current owner?

Probably making him sign a document stating he'd be liable for all damages occured while he was driving...which I think wouldn't matter if he injured someone. The other driver would still sue your insurance, and then you'd probably have to sue him for damages.

I'm no expert though, but what you are suggesting doing seems almost impossible.

The only way I can think of is you suing the test driver for damages, after your insurance pays the other party out.

[browna]

Originally Posted by Table 5

While you're of course spending more money, it's never a bad thing to change your oil more frequently than their manufacturer suggests. Especially for someone like yourself, who seems to drive quite a bit. I change mine every 5k, even though mine says every 20k too.

I'm not sure if it's the case with Mercedes (it is with BMW), but I know some car manufacturers starter recommending longer intervals coincidentally around the same time that they started offering free maintenance for the first few years. Funny how that happens.....

Also, strictly for an oil change, its never a bad idea after a month or so of driving a brand new (not just to you, a new car in general) to swap out the oil.

When I worked as a peon at a Chrysler dealership in first year of university, picked up that tip. It may have been because of the atrocious quality of the mid 90's products Chrysler was pumping out, but a service advisor said that a 1 month oil change was a good idea because metal shavings left over from the original manufacturing of the engine, or that got rattled loose from break in of the engine, which was apparently common, would get flushed out sooner.

[AMG_G]

Originally Posted by Realtor 1

I went with the basic c250. From what I was told, I have the only turbo 4 sedan in town. The sedan is typically the 6 cyl and the coupe is the turbo 4. I needed a sedan and wanted the turbo so they had to bring it in.
I can only dream of a C63!
The one and only category I can beat you in is gas mileage lol.

With the amount of driving that comes with your job you don't want to be at the pumps every 300km.

[browna]

Advice for buying car with hail damage? Brand new. Dealer upfront told me paint warranty is void and also that will show up on Carfax and Carproof. It is pretty extensive, and dealer is likely throwing in a new hood. From what I have read its likely the dealer got an insurance claim already which is why they can sell it so low. I didn't ask but what do you think the title shows? Salvage or just that a claim was against it?
For all this hassle, the car is over 35% off MSRP. Again, brand new.
I realize will probably never be able to sell it or trade it given the condition, so would have to run it into the ground. So, that's the choice we'd have to make for getting the deal, but any other advice from a dealer or someone having bought a brand new car with damage? Any more room to deal you think, and given what the dealer would've already got from the insurance claim?

[undercoverbrother]

I know for a fact the dealer has made a claim. A buddy of mine says she has been doing 100's, around 600 dealer claims.

How it affects you deal of price, that I can't answer.

Did you ask the dealer these questions? I believe there is an owness for them to deal in good faith, but then again we are talking about the car industry......

[browna]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

I know for a fact the dealer has made a claim. A buddy of mine says she has been doing 100's, around 600 dealer claims.

How it affects you deal of price, that I can't answer.

Did you ask the dealer these questions? I believe there is an owness for them to deal in good faith, but then again we are tol.,RP[;'lking about the car industry......

I guess I am trying to get an idea of how much of a claim they got (I hardly believe they're losing "thousands and thousands on the deal"), % wise to deal off of even further.

For Carfax to have a record on the car (they made that clear up front) clearly there was something. I will ask the status or the actual Carproof tomorrow I guess, to see what the status is. Classifying it as a salvage (seems a bit extreme) has insurance implications, for example.

Just saying there was an insurance claim for hail damage is what I am expecting. Again, the car's record in permanantly scarred in that way, affecting resale...again though, the resale on this is always going to be junk so its going to be a matter of driving the wheels off of it.

[Reneeee]

3 questions.

1. Is there such thing as true employee pricing? Seems like a hoax to me.

2. What's the best way to save on a vehicle's list price? Dealership comparison and talk them down from there or is there any secrets to be had.

3. How much saving can be had off list price? $5,000 or is that too high. I imagine this is all dependent on the starting price of the vehicle.

[lazypucker]

How much of a difference percentage-wise is there usually between a dealer trade-in value and the private sale (Auto Trader/Kijiji) value?

[PIMking]

What is the average mark up between Invoice to MSRP on Vw's? What about Hold back to Invoice?

Say a Sportwagen TDI, Golf TDI, and Jetta TDI?

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by PIMking

What is the average mark up between Invoice to MSRP on Vw's? What about Hold back to Invoice?

Say a Sportwagen TDI, Golf TDI, and Jetta TDI?

www.edmunds.com will do it all for you, except the holdback. Audi and VW "holdback" are a bit tricky to figure out since its nothing like the traditional ones used by the Big3.

[Nage Waza]

Ducay, is there any difference between Edmunds and the Canadian market?

[calgaryrocks]

car cost canada gives you the invoice pricing for all models in Canada (edmunds is based on US data I believe). it was very handy when I was looking at buying a new car

[FCAV]

Originally Posted by Reneeee

3. How much saving can be had off list price? $5,000 or is that too high. I imagine this is all dependent on the starting price of the vehicle.

I managed to get my vehicle down to $35,600 (all taxes, GST and dealer fees in) down from the MSRP being $41,800. They'll have room to play.