2016 Mercedes E-class (W213)

[Mkl22]

I took min loan to qualify for the service credit of $5k and they took in my EOL car at PARF value, so it was a real discount.

 

OT is a farce if C&C can press down your trade in price (not in my case as it is at scrap value and you can't go any lower) and/ or they can adjust listed or final selling price via additional discount for different buyers buying the exact same model. Don't think this is the pricing strategy of a premium car seller like C&C. Price is relatively fixed and they usually give discount via service credit or freebies, so if OT is small, OT might not be real.

The list price of A200 then was approx 146k so approx 25k off.

I think I posted in the merc thread. So if you got this amount without service credits and grooming added, then you got a good deal! And since this was for their low end A class, it should be better for the C or E.

[Merlion888]

Overtrade and trade in price is a farce! Just up the list selling price and I also can give a higher overtrade and trade in price. Ultimately it's the final price you pay. I was offered approx 121k for a A200 during one of their promo periods. This is the price I had to come out in "cash". The supposed lower prices is always after the deduction of service credits and grooming and whatever.

 

Overtrade when used in the wrong context is a farce. I agree.

 

The situation Voodoo and I are describing is based on a car that is near the end of it's COE and has a more certain scrap value.

 

I think the bad reputation for Overtrade came about when the curbs on car loans were lifted from 2003. This was because Singaporeans were complaining the high costs of owning a car. I remember a Honda Civic 1.6 litre was going for $144k in the late 1990s. It became an election issue (as usual). Between 1995 to 2003, the restriction was 70% loan of the purchase price and a maximum loan tenure of 7 years. 

 

So many car dealers in the late 1990s started to use overtrade to curb loan restrictions. This is when Overtrade is a Farce. It works like this (you can find this scenario on internet also) - suppose a 1st time car buyer decided on the dream car that cost $100k. So the car buyer must fork out $30k cash and take a loan of $70k. But suppose the car buyer only has $20k cash but he/she die die want the dream car. So how?

 

The dealer will then offer... 'look bro/sis.. I see that you really love this car... I make a deal for you... I can GIVE you overtrade in the form of $15k CASH but I need to list the car price as $115k. Although you need to pay $34.5k cash now ($115k x 30%), you will get $15k cash. So with the $15k cash from overtrade plus your $20k cash... you can pay the downpayment and still get back $500 to mod your car!'

 

This dealer may or may not tell the buyer that loan amount has gone up from $70k to $80.5k.. which is paid by the buyer in the form of interest. Even if the dealer told the buyer... but the buyer may have placed an intrinsic value on the car that he/she was willing to pay the higher interests for the car. So long as the buyer did not over-stretch his/her monthly expenses... then it is down to personal choice.

 

I remember vaguely after 2003, we were allowed to have 70% car loans stretched to 10 years. This made the overtrade problem worse... because it lessened the monthly payment in the above scenario but increase the interest paid. But this was very attractive to many 1st time car owners who did not have a car to scrap and pay for the dream car.

 

When is overtrade a real discount?

 

We come back to 2017. Same scenario as above. Dream car is $100k. Downpayment is $30k. Loan is $70k. The key here is you already agree that the price of the car is $100k. You search everywhere... you determine $100k is the maximum amount you want to pay for your dream car and you will not want to consider another brand that cost $80k.

 

The dealer (as stated in other older overtrade threads) already worked out what is the minimum margin he wants to earn from selling the car with an overtrade.

 

Suppose now, I have an 8 year old car. I checked on LTA website.. the rebate value is $12k. Other 2nd hand dealers may offer $14k to $16k depending on the car conditions. These guys will not offer a high price if you are not buying from them.

 

So the dealer of the $100k dream car will offer...  'bro/sis, look I see that you really like this car. LTA will offer you $12k. Your car is old... maybe I can get another few k more for you.... I can offer you $5k overtrade. So your car + overtrade is $17k. Your downpayment is $13k. 

I will try to talk to my 'boss/2nd dealer etc etc' and if you can give me a decision today since COE is going up, I will try my best to get more discount.... maybe another $0.5k or $1k. You give me a decision today ok?'

 

In this case, the price of the car did not change. It remained at $100k. The loan amount did not change, it remained at $70k. 

What changed? LTA rebate is $12k. Downpayment could have been $18k. Dealer used your car as overtrade mechanism gives $6k as OT. So downpayment is now $12k. The other complication here is existing car loan. But I will not complicate the scenario.

 

In this case, dealer would have earned lesser from selling you a new car but he also would have a lobang to earn from buying old car at $18k instead of the LTA rebate price of $12k. He could re-sell old car at $25k or $26k. So this dealer earn in 3 ways - sale of new car, commission from car loan and resale of old car. 

 

The buyer gained because (1) he/she already determined that the price of 'Da Dream Car' is $100k and is willing to go for it, (2) instead of paying $30k cash, he/she pays $12k. 

 

Of course if the buyer is more hardworking, he can bring his car into a workshop... do up the car and try to list in the market for $25k and do all the admin himself. I believe there are hardworking people who did just that.

 

I think my point here is:

 

1. Determine the budget - in terms of cash and loan amount

 

2.  Any OT given to reduce the cash payment without increasing the loan amount is a discount. 

 

Sorry for the long thread. 

 

 

By the way... I am not affliated to C&C and neither am I a car dealer. I am just an average dude sharing information to help.

 

I did a quick search on A200 for the C&C price list from 2016 to 2017. The lowest I saw was $138,888k in March 2016. The latest for 25 Aug is $144,888k. So the offer of $121k sounds like a good deal to me provided that it was 'DA Dream Car'. 

Edited September 1, 2017 by Merlion888

[Merlion888]

Can also share what's the total of trade-in plus OT? I think the total figure would be a better comparison.

 

You going for the W213? 

[Mkl22]

Overtrade when used in the wrong context is a farce. I agree.

 

The situation Voodoo and I are describing is based on a car that is near the end of it's COE and has a more certain scrap value.

 

I think the bad reputation for Overtrade came about when the curbs on car loans were lifted from 2003. This was because Singaporeans were complaining the high costs of owning a car. I remember a Honda Civic 1.6 litre was going for $144k in the late 1990s. It became an election issue (as usual). Between 1995 to 2003, the restriction was 70% loan of the purchase price and a maximum loan tenure of 7 years.

 

So many car dealers in the late 1990s started to use overtrade to curb loan restrictions. This is when Overtrade is a Farce. It works like this (you can find this scenario on internet also) - suppose a 1st time car buyer decided on the dream car that cost $100k. So the car buyer must fork out $30k cash and take a loan of $70k. But suppose the car buyer only has $20k cash but he/she die die want the dream car. So how?

 

The dealer will then offer... 'look bro/sis.. I see that you really love this car... I make a deal for you... I can GIVE you overtrade in the form of $15k CASH but I need to list the car price as $115k. Although you need to pay $34.5k cash now ($115k x 30%), you will get $15k cash. So with the $15k cash from overtrade plus your $20k cash... you can pay the downpayment and still get back $500 to mod your car!'

 

This dealer may or may not tell the buyer that loan amount has gone up from $70k to $80.5k.. which is paid by the buyer in the form of interest. Even if the dealer told the buyer... but the buyer may have placed an intrinsic value on the car that he/she was willing to pay the higher interests for the car. So long as the buyer did not over-stretch his/her monthly expenses... then it is down to personal choice.

 

I remember vaguely after 2003, we were allowed to have 70% car loans stretched to 10 years. This made the overtrade problem worse... because it lessened the monthly payment in the above scenario but increase the interest paid. But this was very attractive to many 1st time car owners who did not have a car to scrap and pay for the dream car.

 

When is overtrade a real discount?

 

We come back to 2017. Same scenario as above. Dream car is $100k. Downpayment is $30k. Loan is $70k. The key here is you already agree that the price of the car is $100k. You search everywhere... you determine $100k is the maximum amount you want to pay for your dream car and you will not want to consider another brand that cost $80k.

 

The dealer (as stated in other older overtrade threads) already worked out what is the minimum margin he wants to earn from selling the car with an overtrade.

 

Suppose now, I have an 8 year old car. I checked on LTA website.. the rebate value is $12k. Other 2nd hand dealers may offer $14k to $16k depending on the car conditions. These guys will not offer a high price if you are not buying from them.

 

So the dealer of the $100k dream car will offer... 'bro/sis, look I see that you really like this car. LTA will offer you $12k. Your car is old... maybe I can get another few k more for you.... I can offer you $5k overtrade. So your car + overtrade is $17k. Your downpayment is $13k.

I will try to talk to my 'boss/2nd dealer etc etc' and if you can give me a decision today since COE is going up, I will try my best to get more discount.... maybe another $0.5k or $1k. You give me a decision today ok?'

 

In this case, the price of the car did not change. It remained at $100k. The loan amount did not change, it remained at $70k.

What changed? LTA rebate is $12k. Downpayment could have been $18k. Dealer used your car as overtrade mechanism gives $6k as OT. So downpayment is now $12k. The other complication here is existing car loan. But I will not complicate the scenario.

 

In this case, dealer would have earned lesser from selling you a new car but he also would have a lobang to earn from buying old car at $18k instead of the LTA rebate price of $12k. He could re-sell old car at $25k or $26k. So this dealer earn in 3 ways - sale of new car, commission from car loan and resale of old car.

 

The buyer gained because (1) he/she already determined that the price of 'Da Dream Car' is $100k and is willing to go for it, (2) instead of paying $30k cash, he/she pays $12k.

 

Of course if the buyer is more hardworking, he can bring his car into a workshop... do up the car and try to list in the market for $25k and do all the admin himself. I believe there are hardworking people who did just that.

 

I think my point here is:

 

1. Determine the budget - in terms of cash and loan amount

 

2. Any OT given to reduce the cash payment without increasing the loan amount is a discount.

 

Sorry for the long thread.

 

 

By the way... I am not affliated to C&C and neither am I a car dealer. I am just an average dude sharing information to help.

 

I did a quick search on A200 for the C&C price list from 2016 to 2017. The lowest I saw was $138,888k in March 2016. The latest for 25 Aug is $144,888k. So the offer of $121k sounds like a good deal to me provided that it was 'DA Dream Car'.

The benefits of overtrade to the buyer is the downpayment and loan like you mentioned. If one pays cash, then zero benefit.

 

For the car seller, overtrade allows him to muddy up the actual selling price and profits. And bottom line is for them to reap maximum profits. And the list is kept relatively constant so as not to piss off previous buyers.

Those ADs with a fixed Price are more transparent as everyone pays the same sans the small freebies.

 

You never know if you really have a better deal as even with 2 buyers having a 10years old car to scrap can have different overtrades as the salesman will assess their want for the car and squeeze the appropriate profits for the company.

 

Thus my take on the farce of overtrade

[Rocky35]

Can anyone recommend a phone mount for W213 E-class?

It looks like aircon-vent types will not work well here, because the horizontal slats would be too loose and floppy.

 

[therock]

I use this on my audio 20:

https://www.amazon.com/Koomus-Pro-CD-Cradle-less-Smartphone/dp/B016GNYZIC/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1504251282&sr=8-4&keywords=cd+slot+phone+mount

[Soya]

C&C's overtrade onli works if u hv a scrap car. Cannot lowball. Otherwise land up kena lowball n forced to take extra loan juz for downpayment. Bo hua

[Mkl22]

Can anyone recommend a phone mount for W213 E-class?

It looks like aircon-vent types will not work well here, because the horizontal slats would be too loose and floppy.

Use a good double side tape like those for the IU and use a magnetic mount. I use a scorche mount. The 3M tape will not stain the dash

[Innocuous]

My Mercedes E250, Elegance is 3 years old at 35,000 miles

 

1 owner , accident free 

 

With such condition and today's market, how much can I ask for if I sell ? 

 

Any advice ? OR 

 

Anyone has any sites to recommend that I can input info and get an estimate quote ? 

Edited September 6, 2017 by Innocuous

[camrysfe]

My Mercedes E250, Elegance is 3 years old at 35,000 miles

 

1 owner , accident free

 

With such condition and today's market, how much can I ask for if I sell ?

 

Any advice ? OR

 

Anyone has any sites to recommend that I can input info and get an estimate quote ?

140k?

[Innocuous]

140k?

 

 

Thanks.

 

Was hoping higher, given my so "under-utilize" mileage 

[Soya]

My Mercedes E250, Elegance is 3 years old at 35,000 miles

 

1 owner , accident free

 

With such condition and today's market, how much can I ask for if I sell ?

 

Any advice ? OR

 

Anyone has any sites to recommend that I can input info and get an estimate quote ?

Try Quotz. Next best price u can probably get besides selling it yourself.

[Voodooman]

Thanks.

 

Was hoping higher, given my so "under-utilize" mileage

35k miles in 3 years is around 56k km, it is average mileage in SG (16.7k km a year).

[Innocuous]

35k miles in 3 years is around 56k km, it is average mileage in SG (16.7k km a year).

 

 

It shows 35,204 on my speedometer , is it miles or KM i am not sure 

 

But i do know for sure it is very low 

[Innocuous]

It shows 35,204 on my speedometer , is it miles or KM i am not sure 

 

But i do know for sure it is very low 

 

 

Ok is 35,200 km 

 

So average per year my usage is 17,500 km 

[camrysfe]

It shows 35,204 on my speedometer , is it miles or KM i am not sure

 

But i do know for sure it is very low

Is your car from cnc?

[Innocuous]

Is your car from cnc?

YES 

[Helloworld99]

Anybody driving a E220D? Wanted to know how is the feedback as it is about $20K to $30K cheaper than petrol E200. Thinking of getting one from PI. Any reliable PI? Servicing wise, any recommendation as we can't go back to CNC without adoption fee.