Why does an S class intimidate so many people?
Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Sep 2016
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From: PA
Again, I'm not a fan, only that his delivery is much less harsh than Suze. What Dave Ramsey is stating, is a direct contradiction to what has been said here. Who is right, who is wrong? I dunno DR's background, but he acts like he knows what he's talking about.
Lexus Fanatic
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From: ON/NY
What is the direct contradiction you are seeing?
Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Sep 2016
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From: PA
Well for one, DR states there is a very high interest rate being charged, that is not disclosed because by law, there is no requirement to do so....
Nowadays I feel as consumers we are being tricked all the time. How about a 3 pack of bacon? Only they are 12 oz. each and the entire package is 2.25 lbs.? Most people think, 3 packs, 3 pounds. Or, they care tremendously about the interest being charged when they are borrowing..
Nowadays I feel as consumers we are being tricked all the time. How about a 3 pack of bacon? Only they are 12 oz. each and the entire package is 2.25 lbs.? Most people think, 3 packs, 3 pounds. Or, they care tremendously about the interest being charged when they are borrowing..
Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Feb 2002
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From: New York
Lease incentives are not offered for purchases.
What type of asset is a 9year old car with 100k miles. Pretty much worthless. If anything its a liability since it will need greater maintenance and be prone to repairs due to age and use. Again when you look at the FULL picture, leasing is great.
My point is to illustrate that if done right leasing would just as efficient as buying a car in cash.
Not to mention the opportunity cost of tying up $25-50k or whatever the new car you buy costs.
Pole Position
Joined: Sep 2006
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From: Coral Springs, Fl
Except you might get sick and die during the 15yrs or at any time and then what was the point in saving for 'retirement'?
as i get older, i choose to do more things as i want to do them and not wait, and maybe it will keep me working longer but that's ok, i enjoy it and it keeps my brain active.
as i get older, i choose to do more things as i want to do them and not wait, and maybe it will keep me working longer but that's ok, i enjoy it and it keeps my brain active.
Instructor
Joined: Jan 2013
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From: TN
I have seen Dave Ramsey’s name mentioned in this thread a couple of times. While I do not know what car he drives, he could easily afford an S. I do know he has a $5 million home, and just bought 47 acres in Berry Farms (a 600 acre development south of Nashville) to build a new 200,000 sq ft headquarters. And he still will have enough land to build another 400,000 sq ft of office space for investment. I have met him on a few occasions and he’s a nice guy. He has come a long way. Back in the late 80s he filed bankruptcy as a result of real estate investments gone south. He reinvented himself in the early 90s and his business has made him very wealthy.
Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Sep 2016
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From: PA
I have seen Dave Ramsey’s name mentioned in this thread a couple of times. While I do not know what car he drives, he could easily afford an S. I do know he has a $5 million home, and just bought 47 acres in Berry Farms (a 600 acre development south of Nashville) to build a new 200,000 sq ft headquarters. And he still will have enough land to build another 400,000 sq ft of office space for investment. I have met him on a few occasions and he’s a nice guy. He has come a long way. Back in the late 80s he filed bankruptcy as a result of real estate investments gone south. He reinvented himself in the early 90s and his business has made him very wealthy.
Lexus Champion
Joined: Feb 2011
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From: Canada
Actually thats false.
Lease incentives are not offered for purchases.
What type of asset is a 9year old car with 100k miles. Pretty much worthless. If anything its a liability since it will need greater maintenance and be prone to repairs due to age and use. Again when you look at the FULL picture, leasing is great.
My point is to illustrate that if done right leasing would just as efficient as buying a car in cash.
Not to mention the opportunity cost of tying up $25-50k or whatever the new car you buy costs.
But if someone cannot afford to pay for a new car outright and has to borrow money to buy, it starts to be questionable. If you borrow to buy, you then own the asset, but you also owe money. You are behind, financially, because you have an asset, but that asset is worth only its value minus the money you owe on it.
If you were to sell the car while you still owed money on it, you may find yourself owing more than you could make on the sale; you would have lost money. If the car has depreciated more than what you have paid off on the loan, you are under water (negative), financially.
If, however, you leased that depreciating car, you pay only for what you use. If you decide to get rid of the car before the end of the lease, you have paid for your use of the car and once you find someone to take over the lease, you owe nothing more. You will not find yourself still owing money on a car you no longer have.
Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Feb 2002
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From: New York
What makes me wonder, is when people who are physically fit, pass away unexpectedly, or, people who are well off, pass away basically when the actuaries said so. No question that life is finite. Right now, I want to live longer than 78.7 years. I was even surprised that prior it was only 80.3. I always thought it would be easy to beat the actuaries.
Anyway, I still think that a prudent person should plan on living at least as long as an average person does. What if you live for today, and end up living to 78.7, or even longer? Not having resources would cause suffering. If you only lived to 65, but had a will, then your heirs and charity will be spoken for.
Anyway, I still think that a prudent person should plan on living at least as long as an average person does. What if you live for today, and end up living to 78.7, or even longer? Not having resources would cause suffering. If you only lived to 65, but had a will, then your heirs and charity will be spoken for.
But some sacrifice their living standard of the present for future that may not exist.
Nobody is saying to buy a Lambo with your last dollar.
But also no point to have a few million in your 401k and drive a 10year old beater car.
Lexus Fanatic
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 35,487
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From: ON/NY
If someone has the cash on hand to pay for a new car, you then own the asset with nothing owing. You are no further ahead but also not behind, financially. If you then sell the car, you probably make some (little) money on the sale.
But if someone cannot afford to pay for a new car outright and has to borrow money to buy, it starts to be questionable. If you borrow to buy, you then own the asset, but you also owe money. You are behind, financially, because you have an asset, but that asset is worth only its value minus the money you owe on it.
If you were to sell the car while you still owed money on it, you may find yourself owing more than you could make on the sale; you would have lost money. If the car has depreciated more than what you have paid off on the loan, you are under water (negative), financially.
If, however, you leased that depreciating car, you pay only for what you use. If you decide to get rid of the car before the end of the lease, you have paid for your use of the car and once you find someone to take over the lease, you owe nothing more. You will not find yourself still owing money on a car you no longer have.
But if someone cannot afford to pay for a new car outright and has to borrow money to buy, it starts to be questionable. If you borrow to buy, you then own the asset, but you also owe money. You are behind, financially, because you have an asset, but that asset is worth only its value minus the money you owe on it.
If you were to sell the car while you still owed money on it, you may find yourself owing more than you could make on the sale; you would have lost money. If the car has depreciated more than what you have paid off on the loan, you are under water (negative), financially.
If, however, you leased that depreciating car, you pay only for what you use. If you decide to get rid of the car before the end of the lease, you have paid for your use of the car and once you find someone to take over the lease, you owe nothing more. You will not find yourself still owing money on a car you no longer have.
Last edited by Toys4RJill; Jul 25, 2018 at 02:16 PM.
Lexus Fanatic
Joined: Nov 2011
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From: ON/NY
Nobody is saying don't work hard and don't succeed, both vary for every individual and so does leasing vs buying. I was just asking how is a lease not debt? I have always been under the impression that a lease shows up on your credit report and it shows up as loan. How easy is it to just unload a lease when lets say you lost your job? It sound simpler than it is.
Intermediate
Joined: Jul 2018
Posts: 296
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From: Texas
Some of the comments here seem to be off track from OPs post, but I think I can contribute here as I used to sell Mercedes.
Why do people buy the S class? Because they have been told that it is the best and they can afford it. I have sold dozens of S classes and there are two types of customers that buy them new. The wealthy customer that doesn’t want the attention of a Bentley or Rolls brings and the customer that wants to show the world that he has made it, that he is successful.
The S class is a status symbol for sure, so much that some of my buyers HATED the rest of the Mercedes lineup. They wouldn’t be caught dead in an E class or CLS as they were less expensive, therefore not as good. Some of my customers could stroke a check for the dealership, but they bought an S class so they didn’t look so pretentious to their friends.
New S class buyers tend to be old money, mostly business owners. I saw very few young people that had recently acquired money in the market for an S560.
The preowned market is completely different. More than half of my preowned S class buyers would buy a high mileage model for cheap. Most of the time they could barely afford it and wanted to show off to their friends. The joke at the dealership was to call your customers that want to “roll deep for cheap” if we took in a high mileage S. Others stated that they could buy new, but didn’t want to waste the money. After seeing their income when they went to finance, nost of them were lying.
Very rarely do customers shop other brands when looking at a new S class. I worked for Mercedes for 3 years. Over my time there, I had 2 customers cross shop the LS460 and 3 cross shop the 7 series. That was literally it. Everyone else came in and knew exactly what they wanted down to the color combination. Of the Lexus cross shoppers, both bought the LS460, they said “the ride was close enough and they offered me a discount.” I would politely tell them that we were at sticker because the S class sells itself and it really does. Anyone could sell that car. I did not discount the S class unless the new model year was at the dealership. All three of my BMW buyers bought the S class. My counter was, if you want something sporty, go buy a sports car, if you want a sedan that is built for comfort, here it is. That seemed to work.
Both the S class and the LS are fantastic cars. Easily the best two in the large sedan segment. The LS grabs the buyer that cares about maintence cost, longevity, and doesn’t want to waste money on cars. Most new S class buyers simply doesn’t care, they plan on replacing it in a few years. We actually had a lady that would order a new S560 black on black every 6 months and trade in her 6 month old car. We loved getting her trades in.
Forgot to mention, 80% of my customers paid cash, the other 20% leased through their business.
Why do people buy the S class? Because they have been told that it is the best and they can afford it. I have sold dozens of S classes and there are two types of customers that buy them new. The wealthy customer that doesn’t want the attention of a Bentley or Rolls brings and the customer that wants to show the world that he has made it, that he is successful.
The S class is a status symbol for sure, so much that some of my buyers HATED the rest of the Mercedes lineup. They wouldn’t be caught dead in an E class or CLS as they were less expensive, therefore not as good. Some of my customers could stroke a check for the dealership, but they bought an S class so they didn’t look so pretentious to their friends.
New S class buyers tend to be old money, mostly business owners. I saw very few young people that had recently acquired money in the market for an S560.
The preowned market is completely different. More than half of my preowned S class buyers would buy a high mileage model for cheap. Most of the time they could barely afford it and wanted to show off to their friends. The joke at the dealership was to call your customers that want to “roll deep for cheap” if we took in a high mileage S. Others stated that they could buy new, but didn’t want to waste the money. After seeing their income when they went to finance, nost of them were lying.
Very rarely do customers shop other brands when looking at a new S class. I worked for Mercedes for 3 years. Over my time there, I had 2 customers cross shop the LS460 and 3 cross shop the 7 series. That was literally it. Everyone else came in and knew exactly what they wanted down to the color combination. Of the Lexus cross shoppers, both bought the LS460, they said “the ride was close enough and they offered me a discount.” I would politely tell them that we were at sticker because the S class sells itself and it really does. Anyone could sell that car. I did not discount the S class unless the new model year was at the dealership. All three of my BMW buyers bought the S class. My counter was, if you want something sporty, go buy a sports car, if you want a sedan that is built for comfort, here it is. That seemed to work.
Both the S class and the LS are fantastic cars. Easily the best two in the large sedan segment. The LS grabs the buyer that cares about maintence cost, longevity, and doesn’t want to waste money on cars. Most new S class buyers simply doesn’t care, they plan on replacing it in a few years. We actually had a lady that would order a new S560 black on black every 6 months and trade in her 6 month old car. We loved getting her trades in.
Forgot to mention, 80% of my customers paid cash, the other 20% leased through their business.
Lexus Champion
Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 13,276
Likes: 1,889
From: WA
Nobody is saying don't work hard and don't succeed, both vary for every individual and so does leasing vs buying. I was just asking how is a lease not debt? I have always been under the impression that a lease shows up on your credit report and it shows up as loan. How easy is it to just unload a lease when lets say you lost your job? It sound simpler than it is.
Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Sep 2016
Posts: 8,578
Likes: 391
From: PA
Some of the comments here seem to be off track from OPs post, but I think I can contribute here as I used to sell Mercedes.
Why do people buy the S class? Because they have been told that it is the best and they can afford it. I have sold dozens of S classes and there are two types of customers that buy them new. The wealthy customer that doesn’t want the attention of a Bentley or Rolls brings and the customer that wants to show the world that he has made it, that he is successful.
The S class is a status symbol for sure, so much that some of my buyers HATED the rest of the Mercedes lineup. They wouldn’t be caught dead in an E class or CLS as they were less expensive, therefore not as good. Some of my customers could stroke a check for the dealership, but they bought an S class so they didn’t look so pretentious to their friends.
New S class buyers tend to be old money, mostly business owners. I saw very few young people that had recently acquired money in the market for an S560.
The preowned market is completely different. More than half of my preowned S class buyers would buy a high mileage model for cheap. Most of the time they could barely afford it and wanted to show off to their friends. The joke at the dealership was to call your customers that want to “roll deep for cheap” if we took in a high mileage S. Others stated that they could buy new, but didn’t want to waste the money. After seeing their income when they went to finance, nost of them were lying.
Very rarely do customers shop other brands when looking at a new S class. I worked for Mercedes for 3 years. Over my time there, I had 2 customers cross shop the LS460 and 3 cross shop the 7 series. That was literally it. Everyone else came in and knew exactly what they wanted down to the color combination. Of the Lexus cross shoppers, both bought the LS460, they said “the ride was close enough and they offered me a discount.” I would politely tell them that we were at sticker because the S class sells itself and it really does. Anyone could sell that car. I did not discount the S class unless the new model year was at the dealership. All three of my BMW buyers bought the S class. My counter was, if you want something sporty, go buy a sports car, if you want a sedan that is built for comfort, here it is. That seemed to work.
Both the S class and the LS are fantastic cars. Easily the best two in the large sedan segment. The LS grabs the buyer that cares about maintence cost, longevity, and doesn’t want to waste money on cars. Most new S class buyers simply doesn’t care, they plan on replacing it in a few years. We actually had a lady that would order a new S560 black on black every 6 months and trade in her 6 month old car. We loved getting her trades in.
Forgot to mention, 80% of my customers paid cash, the other 20% leased through their business.
Why do people buy the S class? Because they have been told that it is the best and they can afford it. I have sold dozens of S classes and there are two types of customers that buy them new. The wealthy customer that doesn’t want the attention of a Bentley or Rolls brings and the customer that wants to show the world that he has made it, that he is successful.
The S class is a status symbol for sure, so much that some of my buyers HATED the rest of the Mercedes lineup. They wouldn’t be caught dead in an E class or CLS as they were less expensive, therefore not as good. Some of my customers could stroke a check for the dealership, but they bought an S class so they didn’t look so pretentious to their friends.
New S class buyers tend to be old money, mostly business owners. I saw very few young people that had recently acquired money in the market for an S560.
The preowned market is completely different. More than half of my preowned S class buyers would buy a high mileage model for cheap. Most of the time they could barely afford it and wanted to show off to their friends. The joke at the dealership was to call your customers that want to “roll deep for cheap” if we took in a high mileage S. Others stated that they could buy new, but didn’t want to waste the money. After seeing their income when they went to finance, nost of them were lying.
Very rarely do customers shop other brands when looking at a new S class. I worked for Mercedes for 3 years. Over my time there, I had 2 customers cross shop the LS460 and 3 cross shop the 7 series. That was literally it. Everyone else came in and knew exactly what they wanted down to the color combination. Of the Lexus cross shoppers, both bought the LS460, they said “the ride was close enough and they offered me a discount.” I would politely tell them that we were at sticker because the S class sells itself and it really does. Anyone could sell that car. I did not discount the S class unless the new model year was at the dealership. All three of my BMW buyers bought the S class. My counter was, if you want something sporty, go buy a sports car, if you want a sedan that is built for comfort, here it is. That seemed to work.
Both the S class and the LS are fantastic cars. Easily the best two in the large sedan segment. The LS grabs the buyer that cares about maintence cost, longevity, and doesn’t want to waste money on cars. Most new S class buyers simply doesn’t care, they plan on replacing it in a few years. We actually had a lady that would order a new S560 black on black every 6 months and trade in her 6 month old car. We loved getting her trades in.
Forgot to mention, 80% of my customers paid cash, the other 20% leased through their business.
You could be a new and very young billionaire (aren't there many these days), and without someone from the old money side, you can't golf at an exclusive club (say a young owner of a NBA team). You can't bypass the wait list based on your net worth. You have to know someone and be connected. My thoughts were that is real status, not the price of your car, weight of your credit card, etc. How much status do the kids on the YouTube channels have just because they drive a Lambo? Not very much as I've seen on their vlogs, and how people respond to them.
I think this S class thing is no different than the Corvette thing at my work. I talked about driving it, and every person I talked to said I don't like that car. I do like it so I am different, but there is a certain thing as these material objects being suitable or not suitable for a person or persons...do you wear a $3k suit like Manafort, then get a synthetic leather belt and rubber soled shoes at Kohl's? Of course you don't...
Dang me and my notion of a '13 S550, I do want to roll deep for cheep and I ain't afraid to show it, show it...
Last edited by Johnhav430; Jul 26, 2018 at 01:34 PM.