Mercedes-Benz of Palm Beach

Bottom line up front: I'm a retired Army officer of 62, and my wife is a corporate marketing executive. In general, we'd both rather go to the dentist than shop for a car, but Rick K provided us with the best car buying experience of our lives this weekend My wife and I had been looking for a CPO E350, but she wanted a white car, which limited our choices pretty significantly. We decided to spend the weekend in South Florida, where there are more cars on the market than in Central Florida where we live. The first place we stopped (out of four on our detailed plan) was Mercedes-Benz of Palm Beach. It was Saturday, and we were late getting away from home due to a long service call from AT&T. We didn't get to the dealership until 4:20PM (it closed at 5). We were met by Rich K, with whom I'd coordinated two days prior, and who I had called to inform him of our delay. What we expected was not at all what we experienced. Rich met us, talked with us briefly, listening to my wife's requirements, and promptly arranging for someone to evaluate her car in trade, in the interest of time. He then took us right to the particular car that she was interested in, a Diamond White Metallic E350 Sport, that she test drove fairly extensively (and in the rain, no less). Rich answered all her questions, and we returned to the dealership. A quiet, comfortable ride is important to my wife, and she asked Rich if he had an E350 Luxury model she could drive to compare the two. It was now well after 5:00PM and the dealership was closed. Without batting an eye, Rich went inside, returning shortly with the keys to an E350 Luxury, and off we went again. My wife liked the Polar White, and had never seen the Diamond White Metallic. It was clear that she still would have preferred Polar White, but asked Rich to work up some numbers for her. In short, we received what we expected to in trade value for her car, and what we both considered to be a very good deal on the CPO E350 Sport (which had fewer than 20K miles on it, and looked showroom new). I had done extensive research on these cars, on Edmunds.com and elsewhere, and we were both pleasantly surprised at the deal. My wife had arranged her financing in advance, and the trip through the business manager's office was fairly quick (although by now it was approaching 7PM. Rich then proceeded to spend nearly an hour with us, going through the features and operation of the car and the COMAND system, patiently answering all our questions, and not sending us off until he had covered everything. A cynic might say, "Any salesman would stay late to make a sale." I will tell you only that Rich K treated us as if we were buying the most expensive AMG car in the lineup, and not a Certified Pre-Owned car of considerably less value. He was courteous to a fault, professional, informative, and efficient. He was the car sales person who is rumored to exist, but seldom encountered. Everyone at the dealership, from the guy who washed the car (and filled the tank with gas) to the business manager, but especially Rich K, made this the easiest, most helpful, and most enjoyable car buying experience of our lives. I cannot recommend him highly enough, and his dealership was first rate as well.