Mercedes-Benz R-Class Lease Questions

paunch · April 2006

Another thing . . . I might as well share with everyone some of the data that I gathered researching the R350. You mentioned that it is hard to find R350's that are not loaded. In SoCal, I found several that had pretty much what I was looking for (premium, 18-inch wheels, trim, MSRP of $56,825). You have to be flexible with colors but there are deals to be had if you can find what you want on the lot. I called around and without even working very hard, I was able to get $9-10K off MSRP. Certainly, shopping at the end of the month and before the April incentive expires helps a great deal. With that kind of discount, you can get a 27 month lease with $1100 cap reduction and 12K miles for about $430/month. That is a pretty swingin deal if you ask me.

Anyway, I hope this helps others that are in the market for a simliar vehicle.

Regards

zaheer · April 2006

It's great if you can find the car with the options you want at a low MSRP. I was unable to find Alpine Rain with just the Premium Package in the Bay Area during March.

I would still suggest going with a 0 Cap Reduction so you have more flexibility during the lease. Any Cap Reduction is non-recoverable.

When you are actually ready to negotiate, I suggest doing it over the phone at home armed with the Lease Formula on your computer. Since the dealer should tell you what the terms are (MF, Length, Residual), the only thing to negotiate is the selling price. Once you agree on a price, have him fax a printout from his computer for confirmation (I had 2 dealers do this).

My wife was not too impressed with this crossover vehicle initially also. She thought it looked more like a station-wagon. However, once she drove it and looked at all the comfort features, she really preferred it to an SUV. BTW the R-350 gets 22 mpg on the highway (your mileage may vary). In the city, I'm averaging between 18 - 20 mpg.

neazie4 · April 2006

I live in Northern New Jersey. Can you tell me where your dealer is located.

neazie4 · April 2006

Zaheer, I am going for my 3rd MB lease. Leased the ML twice. I know they are offering to give repeat customers 2 months free lease. How do I negotiate this along with the $9,000 discount. Would really like to keep my lease under 550, with 15k miles, 27 months, etc. Thanks for the info.

zaheer · April 2006

Hi Neazie4,
My dealer is located in Northern California (MB of Oakland). I plugged in the numbers in the "Ad Car" from mbusa.com and modified the miles (15k vs 10K) and the discount ($9k vs $6,668.32) the cap reduction (0 vs $1,100) and came up with the following:

MSRP - $54,175
Sales Price - $45,175
Cap Reduction - 0
Miles per year - 15k
Residual - 70% - $37,922.50
Money Factor - .00285
Term - 27 months
Monthly Depreciation - 268.61
Monthly Rental Charge - $236.83
Total Monthly Payment with 8.75% Tax - $549.66
Total Drive-off - DMV + $795 (Lease Inception) (assuming 2 months free)

I don't know what the sales tax rate is in the county you are in in NJ (I used 8.75%), so your final payment may vary slightly.

Call MB Financial and confirm that the 2 months free offer does not affect any of the discounts offered by dealers (it shouldn't). Ask them if it will be handled through the Lease Agreement or as a separate transaction. I would negotiate the above terms first with the dealer without mentioning the 2 months free offer thru MB Financial. When you are ready to sign the Lease Agreement, get MB Financial involved. Good luck!

Zaheer

mishmash1 · April 2006

Neazie4,

I believe this site asked us not to post dealer names. It won't be a problem to find them. They are the largest and only MB dealer on an island close to NJ.

mash

kyfdx · April 2006

You may include the dealership name, city and state in your post. Please do not post names of salespeople, telephone numbers, email addresses, or other contact information.

sheilaguarino · April 2006

I'm dealing with Prestige in Paramus...the salesperson was rushed ??? and at the end of his day so I only walked away with preliminary info as follows: On the 2006 R. With the exact specs on edmunds I got a TMV of 52,071. How or can I use this info to work a better deal with this dealership?

Sale price $55362
leased for 695/mo
27 mo lease
12k

Any thoughts

I have a leased 2004 ml with nav and 3rd row that i have to make 7 more payments of 625 to MB Financial(4375 total)

Do I wait to finish out this lease ( I can't determine the Money Factor even with all my documentation- with which I could use help)? Or take advantage of the R's current situation??

I'm lost, but determined to figure this out if you can help.

neazie4 · April 2006

That is too high. You can def. negotiate a better price. I am assuming that was with the premium package.

sheilaguarino · April 2006

It didn't even have the premium package! This is what is included: rear console, 18" wheels, panoramic sun roof rear air bags, parktronic,comfort package, heating Package
power tailgate open/close.

How should I procede? Thank you so very much for any help you can offer.

sheilaguarino · April 2006

I just got off the phone with mb financial and in order to get 2 months of payments paid by mb financial, your existing lease would have to expire no later than 12.31.06-I am bummed because my lease matures 1/7/07.. :mad

: ..of course!

sheilaguarino · April 2006

The loyalty lease acceleration incentive is only good if you are currently in a c or m and rolling into another as well.

rclassfan · April 2006

I just did the standard R-class standard 27 month lease. Unfortunately I just noticed that they put the end date on 07/01/2008 instead of 07/28/20008, giving me usage of only 2 days for the first month, yet indicating I am paying the entire amount each month and the next payment being due in two days. Is this normal?

Did the dealership rip me off, or will I get an adjustment on the first invoice?

The lease says the scheduled term is 27 months so in a sense is internally inconsistent.

zaheer · May 2006

Hi rclassfan,

I would call the Dealer immediately and talk with the Finance Manager. Tell him that there is a typographical error in the Lease Contract and have him correct it. If you don't get a satisfactory answer, call Mercedes-Benz Financial. In the 20+ years that I have been leasing from Mercedes-Benz, I have never seen or heard of a Lease Contract that asks for a payment in 2 days. Your lease must end on 7/28/2008 and your first payment should be due on 5/28/06. Let us know how MB resolves this.

Zaheer

rclassfan · May 2006

Hi Zaheer

Many thanks for the reply. We went back into the dealership today and they amended the lease such that the first payment is now due in 30 days. However they still refused to change the end date of the lease saying that the "end date" on the standard MB Financial Form is the date the last payment is due and not the end date of the lease, and they always date payments to the first of the month.

We had a different finance manager and while the original this morning on the phone said it was no problem and he normally writes over this and initials it but "forgot" to in our case, and it is a "glitch" in their system that they cant avoid, the finance manager tonight was incredibly rude and said "well I can't change this at all as MB Financial wont accept it if we do... you can walk away from the lease if you want to and Im leaving now" and he promptly walked out of the office. I went to the GM's office who said he agreed the wording was confusing but he'd never heard of anyone raising it before. In the end he agreed to write a letter stating that while the last payment was due on the 7/1/2008 the car does not have to be returned until 7/30/2008.

It still seems odd it's not on MB Finance lease agreement but again they point blank refused to change it.

Once we pick up the car (they didnt get round to do the RMV paperwork today and offered dealer plates but we decided to pick it up tomorrow despite paying for the car on Saturday) we'll follow up with MB Financial directly.

scotj · May 2006

Is the AMG sport package cool and worth the extra money?

Unfortunately, I have not seen one with it but considering it as I am trying to negotiate.

Could you post the dealer info per the rules where you got yours "You may include the dealership name, city and state in your post"

zaheer · May 2006

Hi rclassfan,

I have my Lease Agreement from March 2006 from MB Financial in front of me. On the top left side, it states the date of the lease, the scheduled term, and the scheduled date the lease ends. The "lease end" date is not the beginning of a month or less than the full term of the lease. This form is for California; perhaps the form for your state may be different. However, I would get this resolved with MB Financial now so that you don't run into problems at the end of your lease.

Zaheer

zaheer · May 2006

Hi Shingja,

I plugged in your figures in the Lease Formula and here are the numbers:

MSRP $58675
Gross Cap Cost $47024 ($10,856 below MSRP)
Adjusted Cap Cost $47,819 (+$795 Lease Inception)
Cap Cost Reduction - $569.25 (from drive-off)
Money Factor - 0.00285
Residual - 70% ($41,072.50) 12000 miles per year
Payment $480.51 + Tax

I am making some assumptions here regarding Money Factor, Lease Inception charge and Residual. Your Residual, I believe should have been 72% based on 12K miles. If it is 72% ($42,246), the payment is $440.39 + tax. Check your Lease Agreement for the Residual Value (Section 6d). This will help to pin it down further. There is at least another $500 in the drive-off; I am not sure where that went.

It looks like a good deal. It would be nice for you to understand how they came up with the numbers.

Zaheer

qkslvr · May 2006

Shingia,

Looks like you got a sweet deal. Did you go through any particular website, or did you just email several dealers with your requirements? I'm looking for a similar deal in Texas.

fq1 · May 2006

for the MVP program/DC employee program.

Thanks.

qkslvr · May 2006

I tried that page, but they didn't have any dealers to use. I just negotiated my deal by emailing a couple of local dealers back and forth.
2006 r350 Barola Red and Macademia
panorama roof pkg
comfort pkg
entertainment pkg
rear side airbags
3zone climate control
upgraded wheels
heated seats (no need in TX)
power liftgate
msrp 57905
selling price 50700
total driveout $2340
27 month lease 12K miles @ $599 money factor .00280
In effect, they credited $3500 off driveout for sales tax (texas charges full sales tax upfront), so total discounts work out to $10700 off MSRP. Picking it up Monday!

jayhawk90 · May 2006

I've certainly learned a lot about the R class lease form this board, but I've had problems finding cars in my area. Every dealership in a 400 mile radius is out of loaded 350's. This has restricted me from bargaining a better offer than the current May lease deal since the dealer has to find an out of state car. My offer is:

2006 R350
MSRP $62370
Initial cap cost - $60,701
Rebate - $5,000
Cap Cost Reduction - $1,100
Money Factor - 0.00285
Residual - 73% ($45,530.10) 10,000 miles per year
27 Months
Payment $624.90 +

$2,858 walk off ($624 first month + $300 tax + $795 Acq. Fee + $1,100 cap cost)

It's exactly the lease offer and is not the best deal compared to the one's on this board, but out of 4 dealerships we called, none had a car with more than a few options.

Should I pull the trigger?

arman1 · May 2006

I just signed a lease for R350 Black/Black with Premium Pkg. and Heated Seats. Wanted to get forum's opinion on the deal I got:

$54,685 MSRP
$51,079 Edmunds.com Invoice
+ 500 Dealer added to invoice for advertising fees.
DO I need to pay this? Is it part of invoice?
--------
$51,579 Dealer's invoice price
-$ 5,000 MB Incentive
-$ 1,750 Discount of Dealer's invoice
---------
$44,829 Gross Cap. Cost
+$ 795 Acquisition Fees

I went for one payment lease that brought down the money factor to .00175. 27monthe, 27000 miles, .72 residual

My questions:
1. Are $500.00 advertising fees negotiable? Is it really part of the dealer's invoice?
2. There is $150 fees I will have to pay if I decide to purchase at the end of the lease (line 9 of the lease agreement). Is it standard. Can I have them take it off?
3. Is $795 lease acquisition fee negotiable?
4. Is $595 lease turn in fee negotiable?
5. Is $45 doc fee and $25 DMV fees standard.
6. I read somewhere that a .00150 money factor was available for one pay lease. Is that true? My dealer offered me 0.00175.

I would appreciate your feedback if you have knowledge about the R350 recent lease.

mike2555 · May 2006

Can anybody tell me what the money factor and residual values are for a 36 month lease with 10K and 12K miles. Thanks

jwilliams2 · May 2006

Having just gone through this, maybe I can help.
1. The adv. fee is in fact part of the invoice.
2. The dealer certainly can not change the lease agreement.
3. The $795 Acquisition is charged by MB on all leases.
4. $595 is waived only if you lease another MB at the end.
5. DMV charges are set by your state, and should be easy to verify.
6. Standard money factor on the R Class is .00285, didn't do a single pay, yours sounds good.
There is $5000 dealer cash on this car plus the 7% markup. Looks like he is already bleeding on this deal.

caa1 · May 2006

Hello - looking for feedback on this deal. Was offered the following on an R350:
MSRP - $56305 w/Prem Package, Htd Front Seats and Parktronic
Neg Price - $45,305

If I plug this into a lease calculator I am using the correct assumptions below based on the promo?

Money factor - .00285
Cap cost red - $1100
Acquisition fee - $795
my state sales tax - 5%
Residual for 1000 miles per month - 72%
Term 27 months
Based on this I get a monthly of $429.42 - seems too good to be true. Is this correct??
thx

fq1 · May 2006

located in since you are getting such awesome deals. Please send me your dealers' names as I am also in the market for one of these vehicles.

Thanks.

bits1 · May 2006

Wanted to get all of your thoughts on the following deal - I am signing a one-time lease deal for an R 350 with standard sunroof package, rear seat airbags and power liftgate. Sticker is $52,000 and negotiated price for lease is approximately $43,500.

I will make a one-time lease payment of $10,650 which includes all taxes (New York City) and fees (other than the $595 dispo fee) for a 27 month, 7500 mile per year lease (I think residual is 74% and money factor is .00175). Works out to under $395 a month (not taking into account the lost interest on my $10,650 or the dispo fee, which could be waived if I lease another MB).

I think this is a pretty good deal as it includes the taxes and other fees.

Please advise.

Thank you

qkslvr · May 2006

bits1,

looks pretty good from here. Using your 74%residual and.00175 rate, cap cost is @ $45200 for a $395 monthly payment. So your taxes and fees work out to $1700. I don't know what your tax rate is, but in effect, you are getting it for about $5k under invoice. The difference between one time and monthly @ .00275 is Approximately. $90/ month.

alex15 · May 2006

What if the car gets stollen?

roger25 · May 2006

I have an initial offer to sell to me a fully loaded and I mean fully loaded R500. But I don't know how to use or calculate your formula. I don't know how to calculate the monthly depreciation or monthly rental rate. The information that I have so far is
MSRP $66,850.00
Sales Price $57,350
miles per year 15K
residual 59%? (I think)
MF .00285? ( I think)

Can you help me guess what the monthly lease rate would be and possible out the door costs at 8.75% sales tax. I have not established a down payment yet.
Any help you can give is appreciated. By the way I think this is a very helpful site

qkslvr · May 2006

I'm guessing this is for a 36 month lease based on the 59% residual @15k miles.? About $775-$900 is my guess depending on what you put down. $775 is the cost for $57350, then you add sales tax and any fees for registration, acqusition, etc. These can be added to the payment or paid as a down payment.

There is a free lease payment calculator at http://www.leaseguide.com/calc.htm

howieh · May 2006

Does this deal look good? What I am afraid about is that they are going to try and get their money out of my 2002 Subaru WRX Wagon with 36000 Miles on it....What is the minimum I should be getting for my trade if the car is in perfect condition?

Here is the deal below

MSRP is $59390.00 and your price is $50190.00 Exterior is Barolo Red with Macadamia leather (code #104)

Options are #220 Parktronic #293 rear side air bags #323 Heating pkg #326 Premium pkg #536 Sat.Radio

#575 2nd row center console #581 3-zone climate control.

Lease payment 27 month w/10000 miles $566.54 per month ,residual value 73% @ $43354.70

Total out of pocket $1711.59

One pay lease $13413.31 for 27 month w 10000 mile per year ( including bank fee and MV fees)

Money factor is 0.00175

bits1 · May 2006

Wouldn't this be covered by my auto insurance?

cyberbro · May 2006

Hello
I have a difficult question that if someone with a lot of lease experience can help me with, I would really appreciate.

I just leased a R350 and love it. I got a great lease from a Benz dealer. The cars sticker was $57,100.00 the out the door price with all the discounts and rebates was around $49,000.00 so the payment for 27 months is around 500.00 with tax and all.
Now the residual was at 73% or 74% but I see the purchase price at the end of the lease is about 41,000.00 so it seems to me that they figured that price from the sticker and not the negotiated price.

I may want to by this car at the end and that would mean I paying about 5k more to do so, then if you take the out the door price and figure it should be a payoff of about 36,000 at the end

Am I incorrect or is the deal shady or what?

Thanks so much.

howieh · May 2006

There is nothing shady going on--MSRP is what residual is based on...that is why the lower your negotiated price and the higher the residual, the better the lease deal.

If you were to get your 36000 dollar buy out price...then your lease would jump by another 5K over 27 months plus interest.

Hope this explains things

cyberbro · May 2006

Yes this helps Thanks.

qkslvr · May 2006

cyberbro,

Keep in mind that the remarketing department will contact you near the end of the lease. There may be an opportunity then to buy the car at a lower negotiated price, all depends on the resale value after 27 months. It's cheaper for MB to sell it to you rather than pay to have it inspected and resell it at auction or on the dealers' lot.

cyberbro · May 2006

Great thanks.

maxxie · June 2006

Does anyone know if there is any new deal for R Class? I missed out the May deals by couple of days.

cyberbro · June 2006

There is nothing as of right now.

qkslvr · June 2006

Check back on the MB website in a few days, they didn't have the May special's up until May 5th or so. The salews man called me on the 4th and told me what the specials were, he didn't have them before then.

maxxie · June 2006

Thanks gkslvr for replying.

The sales called me today and I asked if the May deal was still available she said yes it will be available through June.

I was able to get a deal like this (before negotiatin with the sales): MSRP: $58,205 Invoice: $54,586 - $5,000 rebate = $49,586. 27 mo lease $546 monthly for 12k/yr. First payment $2,681.07 excluding DMV fees.

It's a black/black R350 with primium package, trim package, heated front seats, and 18" 10-spoke rims.

Most in-stock Rs around my town don't have Xenon lights except an R63. Does anyone know why?

I am very tempted, is it a good price?

mta · June 2006

Hi - If I could ask, I'd like everyone's opinion on these terms.

Black on Black R350
MSRP - $56,115
Sell Price - $49,115
$0 down - just first payment and acquisition fee
27 Months
12K per year
$602 per month.
Residual of 72% (based upon the 12K/year vs. the 10K/year offer??)

1. I think the discount of $7,000 can be improved upon (average over the past month is $8,864 on this board)

2. I have a number here on the quote they copied for me of 285, which I assume is the money factor. I think that can be improved upon as well.

Separate topic, but in addition to this, I am thinking of moving my Lexus as well and going with an E Class. If I do, I should expect a higher than average discount (~$9,200??), shouldn't I?

In fact, my sister's husband is interested in an E class as well, if we buy 3, should get a great deal, right?

May be a bit convoluted and I won't even get too much into the trade in situation (I'd make more selling myself - probably $5K more -is it bad to ask them to meet me towards the middle? but not sure I want to wait through June as the lease deal may be gone on the R Class - it's no longer on the Mercedes Website. Also, have a game plan where they can meet me in the middle and the saleswoman said they would probably sell my Denali on their lot as it is nice looking and trucks are moving in this area.)

So, in summary - I have that deal above on the board. By itself, is it good or bad or can be improved a bit?

What are your thoughts on if I buy a 2nd vehicle (or bring in a 3rd buyer)? Even greater deal, right?

Any insight into trade-in negotiations would be helpful as I've been leasing most of my life and not sure I want to sell myself.
I hope someone has some insight if this is good/bad or can be improved upon.

Thank You in advance for your comments and assistance.

rjlaero · June 2006

I wonder where all this discounting of the R class is going to take Mercedes as a brand. The lease deals on the R class are quite spectacular.

If MB pulls the string on these 5k rebates and everybody getting 10,000 off MSRP, things will look pretty bad for the R class down the road.

But if you can lease a 55k R class for not much more than a fully loaded Chrysler Pacifica, you might was well get an R class.

maxxie · June 2006

A fully loaded Pacifica is no where near the $48 ~ $49k discounted R, right? Then of course it does not matter at all.

howard2dot0 · June 2006

According to Edmunds, MB dealers in my area (77381) has a lease deal below. Is this a good deal?

$499 Monthly Payment
27 Month Term
$1100 Down Payment
NA Security Deposit
10000 Annual Mileage
Restrictions: Lease is based on the 2006 R350 equipped with optional premium package. Dealer may contribute $1,668.32 towards the $499 payment.
Comments: $2,394 ia due at signing. Dealer participation may vary. Incentives and Rebates are provided subject to the terms of our Visitor Agreement. Tax, tags and insurance are extra.

cyberbro · June 2006

No it's a Great deal and that is par for the cource on the R350

qkslvr · June 2006

Howard2dot0,

We are neighbors, that's my zip also! I just bought the r350 for my wife 4 weeks ago. The deal you are looking at is the MB standard discount for May/June with an MSRP of $53K. My car stickered at $57K, I put $2340 down at $599 month. They gave me a tax credit of $3500 also. Contact me if you want more details, but you can do better than what you saw online.

howard2dot0 · June 2006

Yeah, I am in Panther Creek Village in The Woodlands.
How did you buy a $57k car with $599 payment? You must have a stellar credit score? What can I do to get a better deal than what's online? I am dying to know. :sick:
BTW, I was in MB North dealer and they said the monthly would be $499+6.25% sales tax.

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