2008 Mercedes-Benz C300: Unimpressive Buying Experience

brady, I'm guessing that since most people buying cars care about the color, Edmunds.com wanted to see of Mercedes could actually deliver the car that they wanted.
 
On a side note, does anyone else think that's funny that people care SO much about the color of a car that they will spend most of their time inside rather than outside of? It blows my mind a little.

Well I dont know, the color of a car is pretty important to a lot of people including me. Its what you see everytime you walk up to the car, everytime you wash it, its what others see as well so it does matter. Choice of color is important if you want to be a bit unique, and go for silver or white like everyone does. Same thing with wheels, you dont see them when you're driving but you want them to look good.

I care about color because my driving is expressive enough that I don't need the paint to attract any more attention from the law :-)

Since Edmunds is media, maybe they're looking for a color that they think will photograph well.

Put yourself in the editors' positions: You take home a different car each night that's not yours. If every one was in the typical silver or gray after a while getting into the cars would seem a bit sterile, like getting into just a fleet car. The right color adds personality. Also, 7driver is probably right, and some colors just photograph better.
 
As for me, I like having slightly unique cars, so no silver, white, gray, or black for me. My first car was bright green and my Cobalt is orange. (The cop attention grabbing colors encourage me to drive responsibly). I never lose my car in a parking lot, and it is just nice to drive around and have something set you apart from all the other people. To me, its an individualistic expression.

This post made me laugh because it is exactly what I have experienced. Mercedes sales people are some of the most arrogant salesmen you will ever meet in your life. At just past 30 years old they rarely believe I actually have the income to buy a new Mercedes so treat me like some kind of bum. On the positive side, every person on the service staff I have ever encountered has been wonderful.

In a sense you kinda can't blame them, because I'm sure they have a ton of people with no intention of buying cars wanting to sit in them and test drive them.

gray is a unqiue color?

Regardless of who buys it or not, the true test of a dealer's quality is the way they treat everyone, and there is no excuse for being arrogant.

sadly thats not the case with the likes of lexus,mercedes,and bmw dealers. at least around here, there all snobby.

none of this is surprising. Has anyone ever seen MB at the top of any dealer satisfaction survey? I haven't. I always figured MB dealers to be arrogant.

At 38, with dual incomes and a beige house in the suburbs, I am firmly within the demos MB would want, but stories like this totally turn me off. Buying any car is hassle enough, but dealing with arrogant salespeople would be a dealbreaker.
 
People older than me - and with more money - have reported similar experiences shopping for BMWs. If you're not looking at 7 Series (or a top-line 5), they hardly wanna talk to you.
 
Screw that.

I've encountered this attitude on BMW car lots and also Mini. They treat it like a cool competition. They cop this attitude like "are you good enough for me to sell you a car?" On other car lots I've met many helpful salespeople who are actually glad to be selling you a car and work hard to, as they say, "earn your business." I recently had to buy a Ford Focus for our long term fleet. The owner came out and shook my hand and thanked me for buying their car.

my thing is you should get stellar treatment when you are overpaying for a car like this. They dont get it obviously and it must not matter since BMW is experiencing great sales success now. Lexus and Cadillac routinely place near the top of dealer satisfaction lists. MB and BMW are another matter altogether. I guess they figure you are the one who is lucky just because you can afford to purchase one of their vehicles. They are doing you a favor by spending time with you in the showroom.

I live in Houston and due to the arrogance and $1500 over MSRP "offers" I bought my new EXL with nav Accord from San Antonio (200 miles away) from a decent dealer. Asta la vista Houston dealers.
If you don't like the dealer or the offer keep looking.

It would have been better if you guys tested an E320 Bluetec diesel, so see what its like living with a modern diesel powered car.

I was looking at used cars at a Lexus dealer and found them to be a bit snobby and proud of their cars (even the used ones), they were nice enough. They didn't want to deal much off of the listed price, but on the upside, they didn't try to bar the doors to keep me from walking away. I scheduled a test drive, got a quote, in writing, and left. There were one or two polite follow-up calls, but none of the harassment I experienced from the high volume Toyota dealer next door.

I've only been to one Toyota dealer and it was one of the sleaziest places I have ever been. They wanted to talk numbers and run credit before even showing us a car. Totally unprofessional.

The worst dealer experience I had was at the local VW. I had told them to call me if they find a 3/4 ton Chevy crew cab, any year. The salesman called me and told me they had exactly what I was looking for, so I head down there. They got a Dodge 1/2 ton single cab with a 6" lift kit. They tried to convince me the lift kit gave the truck just as much payload and towing capacity. On top of that, they were trying to sell it $2,000 over blue book. I had to practically yell at the guy to stop badgering me as I tried to leave.
 
On the opposite end of the spectrum, by far the best experience was with Roger Beasley Honda in San Marcos, TX. They were always courteous and showed me firsthand where they were getting their figures from. They even pricematched a Prelude I found on eBay!

Recently went car shopping with my brother in SoCal. He was looking for either a Benz GL450 or BMW X5. All the Benz dealers were obnoxious, every single one of them! It really was as if they were trying to act like they were cooler than their customers. Same deal from the BMW dealers APART from Camarillo BMW - excellent peeps, and Long Beach BMW - excellent as well.
No relationship with either dealer (apart from having bought from Long Beach), not standing to gain anything from this post etc etc yadda yadda

After spending three years in the internet sales department of a fairly large dealership, I'd say the reception you got was pretty typical. I'd estimate 90% of the serious leads said they knew what they wanted and didn't want to come into the dealership. However, in three years we sold maybe five vehicles to people who bought without a test drive. The only reliable indicator that a person was serious about buying a car was their willingness to come to the dealership.
  
Plus, with an in-demand low-inventory car, why on earth would a dealership focus on selling to an Internet customer who is price-shopping against other dealers? You make more money selling to the people coming in the door. So with limited supply, Internet customers will get poorer service. Why spend two days and several hundred dollars in transportation costs to sell a red car for $500 less, when you can just sell the silver car at sticker to the next guy who walks in the door?
  
That said, you can't be pushy or arrogant with Internet sales. Even the most wishy-washy lead is eventually going to buy, usually in the next couple of months. Something tells me the Mercedes dealerships aren't used to dealing with highly in-demand vehicles. And all the regular sales rules still apply, like "Don't promise what you can't deliver", "let the customer believe he's right" etc. Once you told them you were a corporate or fleet buyer they should have realized you didn't need the test drive and were serious. However, there aren't many customers out there planning on a year-long test drive AFTER dropping $40k.
  
The sad truth is that old-school sales managers hate the Internet because it cuts into margin and greatly increases competition between dealers. Salesmen hate dealing with Internet customers because they are demanding and confrontational from the moment they step into the dealership. So most dealerships have a very poorly-implemented strategy where internet leads are just doled out between the regular salespeople, who just want you to come in and act like a normal customer. And many that do have some sort of dedicated staff can still face a very adversarial relationship with sales managers, leading to poor price flexibility and a lack of willingness to trade vehicles.
 
All-in-all, I'd say your experience is about average for most Internet customers looking for an in-demand vehicle.

beck - maybe if those sales dudes shut thier eyes REAL tight and count to 100 the internet will go away.
 
I can't wait until a whole new crop of web savvy salespeople start taking over.

I had to order mine. I wanted P1, 18" AMG wheels, 6spdMT and black interior. One dealership wasted my time by indicating they had it. Wrong. Not one in the entire USA. I deposited $1,000.00 at a great dealership and five weeks later the car arrived. I purchased my 2008 C 300 on December 21, of 2007, for $495.00 over invoice. When the price went up in mid-2008, my price adjusted to approximately $45.00 over invoice. I have been using Edmunds information for about 8 years to negotiate when I buy cars. I have always been good at negotiating car prices, but when I walk into a dealership with an Edmunds pricing chart, I can almost see the disappointment on the salesperson's face. Thanks guys!