Mercedes

As you know, Mercedes likes to be viewed as a luxury brand and rarely offers direct rebates or explicit price discounts. However, by offering special lease deals, which is a more subtle way of providing discounts, they keep their luxury-brand image intact. These deals are based on discounted prices, low money factor (interest rate), and high lease-end residuals — all of which results in a low monthly payment.

Here are the current (February) Mercedes lease deals. All deals are based on 36 months and 10K miles per year (30K miles total).

Mercedes C300 Sport – $379 a month, $4924 due at signing

Mercedes C300 Sport  4MATIC – $399 a month, $4944 due at signing

Mercedes C350 Sport – $479 a month, $5024 due at signing

Mercedes E350 – $699 a month, $3744 due at signing

Mercedes E350 4MATIC – $729 a month, $3674 due at signing

Mercedes CLS550 – $1099 a month, $5889 due at signing

Mercedes CLK350 – $469 a month, $5014 due at signing

Mercedes GLK350 4MATIC - $489 a month, $5034 due at signing

Mercedes GL450 4MATIC – $749 a month, $6543 due at signing

Mercedes ML350 – $549 a month, $5094 due at signing

Mercedes ML350 4MATIC – $569 a month, $5114 due at signing

Mercedes R350 – $659 a month, $5453 due at signing

Mercedes S400 – $1259 a month, $7053 due at signing

Mercedes S550 – $1399 a month, $7193 due at signing

Mercedes S550 4MATIC – $1449 a month, $7243 due at signing

Even though these are good deals, if you don’t understand leasing, you should either take the time to learn, or not lease. Leasing works very well for many people, but not for everyone. We recommend LeaseGuide.com as a good source of car leasing advice and information.

Mercedes

They don’t offer direct factory-to-customer rebates but, instead, offer some very good low-APR loans and a number of very hefty hidden factory-to-dealer cash rebates, which dealers usually give back to customers as price discounts. All the current deals end 11/02/2009 and apply to most Mercedes models, but not all.

The factory-to-dealer cash incentives are all on 2009 models that need to be sold to make room for new 2010 models. However, most 2010 models have low-interest loan deals. Be aware that all the Mercedes low-interest rate deals contain a 1% reserve (dealer markup) and you might be able to negotiate some or all of that markup out of your deal. For example, you might be able to turn a 1.9% rate into a 0.9% rate.

 Here are examples of the new October Mercedes incentives. Remember, these incentives may not apply to all styles within a model class.

2009 Mercedes C-Class -  $3500 factory-to-dealer cash

2010 Mercedes C-Class – low-interest loan rate: 1.9% APR for 24/36 months and 2.9% for 60 months

2009 Mercedes E-Class – $10,000 dealer cash

2010 Mercedes E-Class – 3.9% APR loan rate for 24/36/60 months

2009 Mercedes GL-Class – $10,000 dealer cash

2010 Mercedes GL-Class – 2.9% APR loan rate for 24/36 months and 3.9% for 60 months

2010 Mercedes GLK-Class – 1.9% APR loan rate for 24/36 months and 2.9% for 60 months

2009 Mercedes M-Class – $6000 dealer cash

2010 Mercedes M-Class – 1.9% APR loan rate for 24/36 months and 2.9% for 60 months

2009 Mercedes S550 – $14,000 dealer cash

2009 Mercedes SL550 – $15,000 dealer cash

2009 Mercedes R-Class – $10,000 dealer cash

2009 Mercedes SLK-Class – 1.9% APR loan rate for 24/36 months and 2.9 loan rate for 60 months

You can get free price quotes on any of the Mercedes vehicles from Edmunds.com. The quotes will automatically include any cash-back rebates or discounts that are currently available.

Mercedes

For May 2009 Mercedes is offering what appears to be two different low-interest rate loan deals.

One is a 0.9% APR across the entire model line for 24 months, 36 months, or 66 months (a little strange!).  And this can be combined with any discount contribution that the dealer is willing to make from his factory-to-dealer cash on certain models (C350, CLK550, CLK350, E550, E350, and S550 4MATIC). The dealer cash ranges from $2000 to $6000, depending on model.

The other option seems to be a 1.9% APR which is combined with two months payments on certain models, up to a maximum of $1300 or $1500, depending on specific model.

There are also special lease deals (all available until 6/1/2009) on specific versions of the C300, ML350, ML320, CLK350, SLK300, SLK350, GLK350, R350, R320, GL450, GL320, and GLS550.

The Mercedes lease deals are based on a reduced lease price, low money factor, and high residual. Most of the leases are based on 36 months (a couple are 39 months) and 32.5K miles per year. Normal due-at-signing charges apply — down payment, first month’s payment, and a lease acquisition fee ($795). Although these are genuine good lease deals, you should not lease unless you understand how car leasing works and how to determine if you are a good leasing candidate. The following web site can help: LeaseGuide.com.

Of course, the low APR loans and lease deals being offered by Mercedes require that customers have good credit. Be sure you can live with any restrictions the deals might require.

You can get free price quotes on any of the above Mercedes vehicles from Edmunds.com. The quotes will automatically include any cash-back rebates or discounts that are currently available.

Here’s the details:

$379 a month lease payment
39 months
10K miles per year
$0 security deposit
$4524 due at lease inception, of which $3350 is down payment (cap cost reduction)

This is an outstanding deal from Mercedes, a company that doesn’t ordinarily offer such deals. But Mercedes, like all other car companies, is having a hard time moving cars right now. Extraordinary times require extraordinary measures.

To make a good lease deal requires a manufacturer price discount, a high lease-end residual factor, and a low money factor (interest rate). This deal has all of that. But it also requires the dealer to kick in with $1015 of his own discount to sweeten the deal even more. This is how they can get down to $379 a month.

Of course, you know that there are some state DMV fees, tax, tag, and registration fees that must be added, but overall, this is an outstanding lease.

Research the Mercedes C300, get specs, reviews, and more at Edmunds.com.