My Take: Bummer! the C-Class money factors went up this month for almost every car except the C350. This means that if you missed out on the C350 the past couple of months, you get another month to renegotiate a better deal. (Last month’s lease rates) Like last month, assuming you are trying to keep your lease payments below $500 a month, the sweet spot on the C350 would be the 48-month lease. Lets have a quick little recap here…

C350 – Black – Premium 2 Package – Panorama Sunroof – AMG 18″ 5-Twin-Spoke Wheels – 6-Disc In-Dash CD Changer – iPod Integration Kit – 48 months/12k miles.

MSRP $44,120
Invoice $41,093
Sale Price $39,120
Residual 47%
Money Factor .00084
Tax Rate 9.25% So Cal Tax (went up 1% for us, lame!)

Monthly $433 (base payment) + $40 (tax) = $473 per month (with inception fees due at signing)

Now, lets say you can’t get the dealer to drop it down to $2k under invoice and only manage about $1k instead (keep in mind that all markets are different). No biggie, your monthly payments would be $454+tax. In my case, it would be around $497, which puts me just shy of $500. Still a solid deal if you ask me. If you choose not to roll in your inception fees, expect to pay around $2000 to cover all the bank/dealer/gov’t/dmv fees + 1st month payment.

• Ready to get some quotes? Get a FREE Quote at Yahoo! Autos.
• Get RIDE with G via a RSS Reader or Email!
• Got questions? Post it on the RIDE AUTO FORUM TODAY!

2009 Mercedes C-Class

2009 Mercedes C300 Luxury
24-month | 15k miles | residual 60% | .00200 base money factor
36-month | 15k miles | residual 53% | .00165 base money factor
48-month | 15k miles | residual 45% | .00165 base money factor

2009 Mercedes C300 Luxury 4matic
24-month | 15k miles | residual 60% | .00215 base money factor
36-month | 15k miles | residual 53% | .00125 base money factor
48-month | 15k miles | residual 45% | .00125 base money factor

2009 Mercedes C300 Sport
24-month | 15k miles | residual 60% | .00200 base money factor
36-month | 15k miles | residual 53% | .00165 base money factor
48-month | 15k miles | residual 45% | .00165 base money factor

2009 Mercedes C300 Sport 4matic
24-month | 15k miles | residual 60% | .00215 base money factor
36-month | 15k miles | residual 53% | .00125 base money factor
48-month | 15k miles | residual 45% | .00125 base money factor

2009 Mercedes C350 Sport
24-month | 15k miles | residual 55% | .00089 base money factor
36-month | 15k miles | residual 50% | .00084 base money factor
48-month | 15k miles | residual 45% | .00084 base money factor

2009 Mercedes C63 AMG
24-month | 15k miles | residual 55% | .00430 base money factor
36-month | 15k miles | residual 48% | .00395 base money factor
48-month | 15k miles | residual 44% | .00395 base money factor