[Shivjeet]

My father and I have been loyal customers/fans of Mercedes Benz and over the years have purchased the E 280, S 500, ML 350 and GL 63 AMG from MB India. The company has always been at our service till the time we kept buying vehicles from them, until now!

About 3 months ago we decided to trade in the GL 63 AMG for a GLS 400, as we didn't feel the requirement for a high performance SUV anymore. Since then neither MB India nor their dealer is providing any support for disposal of the AMG, whereas, ethically they should buy the car under the Mercedes Benz Certified program and adjust the value in our new purchase for a smooth trade-in, and not wait to find buyers first. The dealer principal has even stopped responding to the phone calls regarding this matter.

The car had cost us Rs. 1.95 cr on road and the Dealer/MBIL are offering absurd quotes of only about Rs. 65 lakhs (that too if and when they find a buyer) for this vehicle which is only 3 years old, done 19,000 km with valid extended warranty and is in immaculate condition. Whereas, on the Mercedes Benz certified website, MBIL has a Carneole Red Metallic ML 63 AMG listed for sale and the asking price is Rs. 95 lakhs. This ML 63 AMG is owned by MBIL and has been their test drive vehicle, with about 30,000 kms on clock. Now we all know how badly test drive vehicles are treated, don't we?

MBIL's hypocrisy disgusts me and I would suggest everyone to stay away from AMG vehicles, because these vehicles will make a huge hole in your pocket at the time of re-sale due to the lack of support from MBIL and its dealers. They themselves do not want to take any burden of re-sale by buying these cars back as a trade in, and only tell you stories about how good these vehicles are at the time of sale to get rid of their stock and meet targets.


Attaching some screenshots for reference:

[JediKnight]

Originally Posted by Shivjeet

..ethically they should buy back the car under the Mercedes Benz Certified program and adjust the value in our new purchase. The dealer principal has even stopped responding to the phone calls regarding this matter...

Sorry to hear about your potential loss but i don't think the dealer has any obligation legal/moral or otherwise to buy back your vehicle unless you had a buy back agreement with them. We all know luxury vehicles depreciate very fast. I would recommend using the open market to dispose your vehicle.

[GTO]

Sorry to hear, but frankly, the higher you go...the harder you fall. This is the rule with expensive cars.

If you want the best price, sell it yourself. Admittedly, it's a lot more work, but with used cars, no pain = no gain (whether buying or selling).

Also, just to clarify:

Originally Posted by Shivjeet

Since then neither MB India nor their dealer is providing any support for disposal of the AMG, whereas, ethically they should buy back the car under the Mercedes Benz Certified program

Not really. Unless your car had an explicit 'buyback agreement', they are under no obligation to buy your vehicle back from you.

The car had cost us Rs. 1.95 cr on road and the Dealer/MBIL are offering absurd quotes of only about Rs. 65 lakhs...Whereas, on the Mercedes Benz certified website, MBIL has a Carneole Red Metallic ML 63 AMG listed for sale and the asking price is Rs. 95 lakhs.

1. Their asking for 95 lakhs doesn't mean they'll get it.

2. Their car is company registered. Is yours too? Company registration is worth a bit more.

3. The company's purchase price will always be low as they have to refurbish it and hold onto the inventory until someone comes along to buy it. Plus, the GL63 AMG isn't exactly a hot selling item.

MBIL's hypocrisy disgusts me and I would suggest everyone to stay away from AMG vehicles, because these vehicles will make a huge hole in your pocket at the time of re-sale

Any 2 crore vehicle will sink in the used market. The more expensive the car, the bigger the depreciation loss.

My advice: Keep your SUV. No point selling it so early and taking a massive depreciation hit.

[dhruvritzed]

Mercedes is not entirely wrong on their part, even their own ML won't sell anywhere around the mentioned price, the bespoke cars are usually not covered on their buyback scheme and refinance options, plus why do you want to come down a notch and go for a much less powerful and less equipped version of the same car when you have it's much bigger and better brother.I would suggest you to keep the car for the years to come as selling at a below par price when the car has taken the major part of depreciation hit is not advisable anyway.
Enjoy that motor for 5-6 years more if it doesn't have any issues and take it as probably one of the last classics that you can own in this generation of hybrids.

[Shivjeet]

Originally Posted by JediKnight

Sorry to hear about your potential loss but i don't think the dealer has any obligation legal/moral or otherwise to buy back your vehicle unless you had a buy back agreement with them. We all know luxury vehicles depreciate very fast. I would recommend using the open market to dispose your vehicle.

Originally Posted by GTO

Also, just to clarify:

Not really. Unless your car had an explicit 'buyback agreement', they are under no obligation to buy your vehicle back from you.

My advice: Keep your SUV. No point selling it so early and taking a massive depreciation hit.

So I seem to have used the wrong terminology here, by saying "buy back". I was going to do a trade in with the same dealer that I bought the car from, so I used it generally. But to clarify, I meant that when you do a trade-in, the dealer takes the car from you and gives you credit (in a way he buys it) that can be used for the new car purchase from him.

What's wrong is that the dealer isn't ready to trade-in at all, unless he finds a buyer for my used car first. Keep in mind that he's the same dealer who I've bought all my mercs from, so it is wrong on so many levels according to me. This also shows that MB doesn't have confidence in their own product, but still go on to sell them.

Originally Posted by dhruvritzed

notch and go for a much less powerful and less equipped version of the same car when you have it's much bigger and better brother.I would suggest you to keep the car for the years to come as selling at a below par price when the car has taken the major part of depreciation hit is not advisable anyway.

Yes, but with great power comes a much-much harder suspension set-up and now we're looking for a comfy GLS instead, that can stay with us for a decade.

[karan561]

I am with Shivjeet on this one.

The dealership offering only Rs 65L for a GL 63 AMG is too low an offer. At the same time trying to sell a lower model (ML AMG) for 95L is pure double standards by Merc.

Any brand loyal customer would be hurt.

[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by Shivjeet

What's wrong is that the dealer isn't ready to trade-in at all, unless he finds a buyer for my used car first. Keep in mind that he's the same dealer who I've bought all my mercs from, so it is wrong on so many levels according to me. This also shows that MB doesn't have confidence in their own product, but still go on to sell them.

Put yourself in shoes of the dealer. Now are you willing to lock-in YOUR capital (Rs. 65 lakhs)?

Risks for the dealer -

1) He probably has to borrow from banks at 12 to 18% pa on the capital.
2) The car is losing money at the rate of 2% per month in the form of depreciation.

If he manages to sell for Rs. 75 Lakhs within 3 months, great! But if it remains stuck in his inventory for 6 to 12 months, he is making a capital loss on the deal. The issue for the dealer is large capital outlay and relatively slow moving car in pre-owned segment.

[greenhorn]

I would say look at it from the Relationship perspective. This is a customer who has bought several Mercs, and can be expected to buy a few more.
He's not simply asking you to take it off his hands. He's asking for it to be taken in as a trade to be adjusted against another new Merc, on which I'm sure there are margins again.
I would have either offered an unrealistically lowball offer (to discourage the customer) , or given a good offer contigent on its sale(to give him a fair chance) , but NOT BOTH, as together, then it becomes a bad deal, and something that would surely turn off an old and customer. Perhaps Mercedes' sales growth is going to their head?

[VSD]

Originally Posted by Shivjeet

What's wrong is that the dealer isn't ready to trade-in at all, unless he finds a buyer for my used car first. Keep in mind that he's the same dealer who I've bought all my mercs from, so it is wrong on so many levels according to me. This also shows that MB doesn't have confidence in their own product, but still go on to sell them.

We're in the same boat, Shivjeet. Trying to sell my AMG and they're not ready to even entertain an exchange with their own product.
Though I do understand that there is higher depreciation on these cars but still doesn't justify what they're offering you for the GL63.

Moreover, the ML they're trying to sell has been standing in their lot for over 18 months now and still hasn't managed to find a buyer. This is the car used for performance drives in and around north India. I've seen this cars clutch smoke after what few guys did to it on one of the drives held in Noida.

Originally Posted by smartcat

If he manages to sell for Rs. 75 Lakhs within 3 months, great! But if it remains stuck in his inventory for 6 to 12 months, he is making a capital loss on the deal. The issue for the dealer is large capital outlay and relatively slow moving car in pre-owned segment.

I agree with you that AMG's might be a difficult resale for them, though there are better ways to handle your buyer who's already purchased a performance car from you, which was sold to us praising how these cars are meant to to be driven everyday, be it track or be it in the city blah!! blah !!
Then you return for an exchange and they just back off saying there's no buyer out there for these cars, you have driven it for lot more miles than it should've covered. Total BS !!

[GTO]

I agree that he should bend over backward for you especially since you are a repeat customer. He could have definitely handled you better. But:

Originally Posted by Shivjeet

What's wrong is that the dealer isn't ready to trade-in at all, unless he finds a buyer for my used car first.

What you are driving is an extremely niche vehicle - a high performance SUV in a country which doesn't care much about high performance and looks down upon gas guzzlers (that's why 4-cylinder diesel SUVs form 99% of the SUV & MUV market in India). Finding a customer for your AMG won't be easy, hence he's not willing to take the risk of stocking up on your car. IIRC, Shaman in Mumbai had a used CLS AMG on sale for over a year or so (now belongs to a Team-BHP Moderator ).

On the other hand, if yours was an E-Class diesel (as an example), your trade would've been done already!

My recommendation again = KEEP THE GL63.

[Shanksta]

Originally Posted by Shivjeet

MBIL's hypocrisy disgusts me and I would suggest everyone to stay away from AMG vehicles, because these vehicles will make a huge hole in your pocket at the time of re-sale due to the lack of support from MBIL and its dealers. They themselves do not want to take any burden of re-sale by buying these cars back as a trade in, and only tell you stories about how good these vehicles are at the time of sale to get rid of their stock and meet targets.

While I agree with the fact that a loyal and repeat customer should be attended to well and his calls should not go unanswered. It looks like the dealer was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

With you being a repeat customer he could have been honest with you regarding the resale value of a GL63 and the fact that there would be seriously less buyers for such a rare car or he could have offered you say 15-20 lacs lower than the current value of your car keeping in mind the depreciation and it being a difficult car to sell. But looks like he chose the wrong path of low balling you, indirectly ensuring you choose a different outlet to sell your car and not returning your calls, which IMHO is wrong practise.

I would suggest you give Big Boy Toyz(no affiliation with them) a call to get a quote for your car, since they specialise in buying and selling used performance vehicles.

Also regarding the 95 lakh quoted for the ML63 is all just business. They will probably end up selling it for 70-80 lakhs ensuring the customers feels good for having bargained hard to knock off 20-25lakhs.

Here is the price for a similar ML63 to buy from a dealer.

[Sahil]

Originally Posted by VSD

We're in the same boat, Shivjeet. Trying to sell my AMG and they're not ready to even entertain an exchange with their own product.
Though I do understand that there is higher depreciation on these cars but still doesn't justify what they're offering you for the GL63.
!!

Add me to your boats gentlemen. Even I’m exploring selling or exchanging my beloved RS. Also on Tbhp :http://classifieds.team-bhp.com/buy-...Audi/RS5.html/

Frankly we need to be realistic with a selling price and be patient to sell to an individual. Dealers won’t offer much and hence makes an exchange not viable. I first posted the car at a higher price and the reduced it to be realistic. I have now started getting offers closer to my expectation.

Shivjeet, the dealer principal you bought your Porsche from is also the Audi dealer and is known to me so he has listed my car via his Audi approved dealership to offer customers a 2 year warranty. This is a good gesture as Audi is helping my resale by providing the warranty unlike MB in your case. However, this is more due to a personal relation hence giving Audi full credit in resale is not justified. But he too has suggested to be patient to find a individual buyer and if it’s an urgent sale he too will sell it to a local dealer but that’s not a route I want to take. Hence the Mercedes dealers are going to low ball you if they have to invest in the car upfront.

If you think the GL has been a problem be prepared to put your Gt3 up for sale 2 years before you plan on getting rid of it.

Just be patient guys don’t sell in haste.

[dhruvritzed]

Would also say that OBV doesn't give any Indication around the actual selling price of a performance vehicle atleast, the calculator can be safely used for cars largely below 25 Lacs or so. Because of the paucity of buyers for these, the MB dealer will also have a hard time convincing prospective customers, though I just saw a cla amg also go up for sale near my place today.
Another thing to be factored in is the fact that these cars usually, again not always have been registered in unusual places(read not the metros) largely for factory or business based tax benefits, so that makes them an even harder sale.

[SmartCat]

Ideally, ultra premium customers of Mercedes / Audi/ BMW shouldn't be dealing with individuals to sell their car. That is such a hassle. Mercedes / BMW / Audi should sell such cars with a buyback scheme.

OR

For repeat customers, dealers should step up and offer "space" and sales support in their pre-owned car showrooms. Deal with prospective buyers and close the sale at a price acceptable to seller. Basically, act like a broker and perhaps charge a small % fee after the deal is done.

[n.devdath]

Originally Posted by Shivjeet

What's wrong is that the dealer isn't ready to trade-in at all, unless he finds a buyer for my used car first. Keep in mind that he's the same dealer who I've bought all my mercs from, so it is wrong on so many levels according to me.

As I see it, there are 3 aspects to this situation.

1. The dealer's unwillingness to even put the effort to find a buyer for your car, especially since you are sure that you will again buy a new car from him.

Not acceptable.

2. Your decision to sell the car off so early, at the best possible price.

Bespoke cars really dont have a depreciation graph. If you get someone who needs this very car, you will get a good price, else, it is a game of how long you wait and who you sell it to. If I were you, I wouldn't sell it so soon.

3. Your unwillingness to approach the open market/other dealers/other brands.

While your unflinching love for MB is amply seen, the reason behind you not approaching the open market is still unclear to me.

The amount of time spent in putting up a post online could have been utilised to make a few calls to BBT and others big dealers or an ad on some platform.

BTW, let me know if you want me to connect you to Jatin (BBT), he is a friend.