Mercedes Offering Special Incentives Up to $5,000

Great news for luxury car buyers - a sales decline in Europe means thousands of luxury cars originally targeted for that region are now trying to be shifted to the U.S. Whenever we have an increase in supply, vehicle prices tend to drop.

But it gets even better. Mercedes and BMW are in a very tight sales race, with Mercedes leading BMW by only 5,221 sales so far this year (BMW won the sales crown last year).

A memo to Mercedes dealers was recently leaked, showing that Mercedes is offering special discounts of up to $5,000 on the 2012 GL-Class SUV, $750 on the C-Class, $2,250 for the E-Class, $3,000 for the GLK-Class and $3,275 for the S-Class (including the 2013 model). But there's one catch: these discounts are only being offered to "VIP customers". It's not clear what constitutes a VIP customer, but Mercedes is leaving that up to the discretion of the dealership's general manager - which means you should be able to snag these discounts if you contact enough dealers (tip: Use the RydeShopper to find the best deals).

In addtion to the cash incentives, Mercedes is also offering a five-payment lease pull-ahead promotion which lets current Mercedes owners skip five payments if they buy or lease any 2012 or 2013 Mercedes through MB Financial Services.

All in all, it's a great time to be shopping for a luxury brand vehicle right now. The manufacturers are very motivated to sell out the remaining leftover models, and try to win the sales race this year.