United Miles for Mercedes is Back

Last summer United offered miles and ‘discounts’ on the purchase or lease of certain Mercedes models. The offer was restricted to MileagePlus elite members.

That offer is back:

You’re getting an ‘online price’ which doesn’t strike me as special or something you couldn’t replicate on your own, though for someone who doesn’t like the negotiation process this could be advantageous.

And earning 25,000 miles for a CLE, E-, or M-class Mercedes isn’t a lot for a major purchase like this (it’s perhaps the value of an additional $350 kicker).

But if you’re in the market for a new Mercedes, and can’t negotiate a lower price than the United mileage offer presents, it could be a way of extracting the last $350 out of the deal.

It’s strange, I think, that this is offered only to United Premiers. Perhaps the company (TrueCar) earning commissions has a limited budget for marketing the deal and so can only market to a subset of the United database. Focusing on United elites can be both a good way to target higher-income (although not super-rich) members while at the same time making the offer appear exclusive.

What I don’t like is though the graphics on the landing page offer miles for CLS, E, and M-class Mercedes, and the e-mail United is sending out says it is valid through March 31, the terms and conditions on the website don’t appear to have been updated since the earlier iteration:

The mileage offer is valid only on a new vehicle purchase or lease of any 2014 E-Class and any 2014 CLS-Class through January 2, 2014.

I’m confident though that they’ll stand behind what United has e-mailed out (they’re going to have a contract with MileagePlus that requires it), take screen shots if buying an M class car though.

(HT: Mark K.)


About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. In 2005, I got something like 80,000 UA miles for buying a Chrysler. I had no idea of the deal when I bought the car but when I went back to the dealer a month later for some reason I saw a sign about the miles. I went online, registered and got the deal.

  2. I got 127,000 miles when I bought my Mercedes.

    Unfortunately, they were all on the odometer.

  3. True Car: I just bought a car using them and the way to get the best price for any car is to put in a Los Angeles zip code.
    I did it with my local zip too and the price was 2000 higher. Local dealer would not negotiate at all, so the California deal must have been good. READ THE FINE PRINT THOUGH/. They took $5000 on a credit card .

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