[Need Advice] - Buying 2014 Used

[hunkyn]

Hello,

I have been looking at the electric cars and the B-Class has definitely intrigued me. I wanted to see if there are any downsides in buying a used 2014 B-Class. I understand that i will be losing the Tax credit but i have one that can i get for around 22k Pre tax and seems to be a good deal and it has less than 6k miles on it. This will be first Benz so not sure about the warranty but i would think it would transfer to me. Anything else i should be looking out for this car and if it is advisable or just get a new one instead.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

 

[Stretch2727]

My residual value on my 2014 MB electric lease with 30K miles in 2018 will be 22K so this seems fair but I think you could do better. Doubtful I will buy it as I have a reservation on a Tesla Model 3.

My 2012 Focus had a residual of $21.5K. I did not buy, just turned it back in. I have been watching the listing. It was for sale retail for $17K for a long time. It is now $12.7K after a year and they still not have sold it. There are similar examples like this on many other low range electric cars. Many people lease them new to avoid both the financial and obsolesence risk. The used ones have a really hard time selling as you could probably lease one new (due to the tax credit) for a lower payment than buying used. With a new lease you have no financial risk and if MB comes out with a 200 mile car in 1-2 years you just turn in your old one when the lease is up.

So although I think the deal is fair, if you are patient you maybe able to get it for lot less. With a few 200+ mile range cars on the horizon the value of the MB's is going to drop a lot.

 

[hunkyn]

My residual value on my 2014 MB electric lease with 30K miles in 2018 will be 22K so this seems fair but I think you could do better. Doubtful I will buy it as I have a reservation on a Tesla Model 3.

My 2012 Focus had a residual of $21.5K. I did not buy, just turned it back in. I have been watching the listing. It was for sale retail for $17K for a long time. It is now $12.7K after a year and they still not have sold it. There are similar examples like this on many other low range electric cars. Many people lease them new to avoid both the financial and obsolesence risk. The used ones have a really hard time selling as you could probably lease one new (due to the tax credit) for a lower payment than buying used. With a new lease you have no financial risk and if MB comes out with a 200 mile car in 1-2 years you just turn in your old one when the lease is up.

So although I think the deal is fair, if you are patient you maybe able to get it for lot less. With a few 200+ mile range cars on the horizon the value of the MB's is going to drop a lot.

Thank you for the input. Now i am thinking of leasing instead of buying a used one at this point. I did reserve the Model 3 but not sure when that will be delivered so in the mean time need a car. Also in Florida area there are not lot of MB dealers who can service these electric cars so that is also another thing i am thinking about.

 

[wtzouris]

The buyout on my 2014 B-Class in January 2018 is $20k, do you think the dealer would take $14k after 3 years/36k miles? Also, can you buy an iron-clad warranty on the B-Class to 7 years/100k miles that covers Electric motor, Computer gateway, etc. all the expensive Tesla bits? I think the traction battery is warrantied for performance to 8 years/100k miles? Because I do not trust Mercedes service department pricing if I had a DU (Drive unit) motor failure.

 

[JeffRay]

No MB dealer in FL? None of the dealers really know how to service the electric as there are so few of them but it does not appear to have been a reported problem yet. They all worked through the recall software upgrade and the one year service, albeit with some delays while they got their instructions from MB central.

 

[oilerlord]

I'm in the same boat...looking for a low mileage 2014 lease return in the low $20's. The warranty stays with the car. Leasing makes more sense but they aren't sold in where I live (Canada).

 

[GlennD]

My residual value on my 2014 MB electric lease with 30K miles in 2018 will be 22K so this seems fair but I think you could do better. Doubtful I will buy it as I have a reservation on a Tesla Model 3.

My 2012 Focus had a residual of $21.5K. I did not buy, just turned it back in. I have been watching the listing. It was for sale retail for $17K for a long time. It is now $12.7K after a year and they still not have sold it. There are similar examples like this on many other low range electric cars. Many people lease them new to avoid both the financial and obsolesence risk. The used ones have a really hard time selling as you could probably lease one new (due to the tax credit) for a lower payment than buying used. With a new lease you have no financial risk and if MB comes out with a 200 mile car in 1-2 years you just turn in your old one when the lease is up.

So although I think the deal is fair, if you are patient you maybe able to get it for lot less. With a few 200+ mile range cars on the horizon the value of the MB's is going to drop a lot.

Used electric cars just do not sell. My red Leaf was on the dealer's lot for a year until it disappeared.

I tried to lease a end of life RAV4 EV but the used car manager would not take my Leaf at any value. Leasing is the only way to go. Let the mfg take the loss. Purchasing only makes sense if you plan to keep the car a long time. Mercedes sold (leased) my car at a loss for the CARB credit.

I too put down my $1000 for a Tesla 3 but if it ever comes about it will be a lease.

 

[wtzouris]

I've never bought a car at the end of a lease. If the residual is $20k on a b-class Ed with 36k miles, would they sell it to me for 14k?

 

[JeffRay]

WTZ,

Great idea given end of production possible. Keep in touch next year as I will begin discussions in mid-2017. Mine will have less than 15K so may be more difficult.

 

[TheStig]

My understanding is the dealer has no say in the buyout options, the residual is where the leasing bank (MBFS) sets it. If you don't exercise that option the dealer can buy it from the bank and put it on their pre owned lot. Or they get hauled away.

Since there aren't many B class EV's here in the north east, I'd bet mine ends up on the truck to CA where it is of more value.

Even with a full pre owned extended warranty I wouldn't consider buying this one. MB and Tesla aren't continuing their partnership and MB is set to announce a sub brand of MB built EV's very soon.

As much as I enjoy the car there will be better and more options when most of our leases expire.

 

[oilerlord]

My understanding is the dealer has no say in the buyout options, the residual is where the leasing bank (MBFS) sets it. If you don't exercise that option the dealer can buy it from the bank and put it on their pre owned lot. Or they get hauled away.

Since there aren't many B class EV's here in the north east, I'd bet mine ends up on the truck to CA where it is of more value.

Even with a full pre owned extended warranty I wouldn't consider buying this one. MB and Tesla aren't continuing their partnership and MB is set to announce a sub brand of MB built EV's very soon.

As much as I enjoy the car there will be better and more options when most of our leases expire.

That's what happened with mine. It was a corporate leased vehicle (to an MB employee) in Portland, but MBFS sold it at dealer auction in Georgia where it ended up at a MB dealership in Nevada - where it sat on their lot for almost five months. The dealership ended up selling it to me for less than they paid for it (I have access to dealer auction price history). Clearly, they thought they could make a a few thousand on it but really knew bubkiss about the car, and didn't understand how limited the audience is for used EV's. The car had nearly the same mileage on it from the day the dealership took delivery. I made a lowball offer at $23K which was initially rejected, but I got a call from the sales manager the next day who accepted it.

I get that I bought a compliance car, the Tesla partnership is coming to an end, and that EV's are just going to get better over the years, but for what is on the market right now, this is a premium EV for not much money.

 

[wtzouris]

Is there an iron-clad warranty for this car sold by Mercedes that covers everything to 6 years/100k miles or 7 years/125k miles? (Like the Toyota Care Platinum Warranty) Those are about $2000 and cover everything. (Even on the 2012-2014 RAV 4 EV)

 

[oilerlord]

Doubtful, but check with your dealer.

As far as the 8-year, 100K mile warranty is concerned, there are so many clauses in it that it's far from "iron-clad". Now that I've been getting to know how much range I really need, I've started limiting my charges to 80% these days to (hopefully) extend the life of the battery pack. A few Tesla owners that have done this are reporting no more than 10% degradation at 100K miles.

 

[wtzouris]

Oilerlord, The Mercedes B250e already limits your charge Actual SOC (state of charge) is as follows:

0% is really 5% Actual SOC (1.8 kWh remaining, always)

100% "normal" charge on the dashboard is really 80% Actual SOC, 28 kWh useable

100% "range" charge is really Actual 92.5% SOC, 31.5 kWh useable

There is always 2.7 kWh uncharged even above the 100% range charge, you can't charge to Actual 100% (36 kWh)

So the car normally allows usage between 5% and 80% Actual SOC

Hope that helps/ If you are starting at 80% on the dash you are at approximately 65% Actual SOC.
80% available of 75 percent points useable plus 5% at the bottom -- make sense?

In my opinion you are better off using your battery (On the dashboard display) from 100% down to 30% on a 60-mile commute than using it from 80% down to 10%..

 

[GlennD]

My understanding is the dealer has no say in the buyout options, the residual is where the leasing bank (MBFS) sets it. If you don't exercise that option the dealer can buy it from the bank and put it on their pre owned lot. Or they get hauled away.

Since there aren't many B class EV's here in the north east, I'd bet mine ends up on the truck to CA where it is of more value.

Even with a full pre owned extended warranty I wouldn't consider buying this one. MB and Tesla aren't continuing their partnership and MB is set to announce a sub brand of MB built EV's very soon.

As much as I enjoy the car there will be better and more options when most of our leases expire.

The residual is set high to make the payments attractive. My B will likely have about 14K at the 3 year point. If I could buy it from the dealer at half the amount owed I would jump on it but for over 22K when the car will be worth less than half of that no waY.

Even dealers that have sold EV's have to contact Mercedes since even in California it is a rare car. It is truly a CARB car! That said, I am happy with the remoted service. They fixed my car properly and they gave me a free loaner.

I also pre-ordered Tesla 3. If is is really available in late 2017 that will work out since my lease expires about then. I could live with a few double payments.

My B was totaled yesterday. They gave me 24K base plus tax and license. It came to 26K but the buyout was 32K. Thank goodness for gap insurance. I am still out the money I put down but that is it.

 

[oilerlord]

Wtz,

I get the 8kWh battery buffer built into our cars, and that a 100% charge is really only charging 28kWh out of 36. The concern is that there probably aren't any 100,000 mile B's on the road to determine a baseline on how much battery degradation we should expect, so I've been using experiences from Tesla owners in place of that.

Gen 1 Chevy Volts had a big battery buffer...something like 11kWh useable / 16kWh actual - using only ~60% of the battery's capacity. Many of these cars have over 150,000 miles on them, and owners report very little battery degradation. GM now says they "gave their customers more range", but did that mostly by unlocking more of the battery's capacity. They also reduced the Chevy Spark's battery from 21kWh down to 18kWh, but clearly unlocked capacity to keep the range the same. To me, that's like burning the candle at both ends. It will be interesting to read experiences from Gen 2 Volt owners that have reached 100,000 miles.

If I was leasing my car, I wouldn't care about the long term health of the battery but until more long term data comes out on our B's, I'm going to do all I can to help my battery last.

 

[solardell]

I bought a 2014 used with 9000 miles from a person in San Diego and shipped it to FL. The B250e I got had EVERY option and it was $23k. The Naples FL dealer is very good. I plan on keeping the car for a few years and keeping the battery certification up on it so it will still have warranty coverage when I sell it. Make sure the dealer changes the air dryers each 10,000 mile under warranty!

A 5 year loan at 4% on $23000 is only $423. I'm not sure what the lease rate is but that is want you need to compare it to.