What's the best way to determine an asking price for selling my car? I paid about $3,500 for it 4 years ago, but have paid my mechanic over $14K in repairs since then, plus another approximately $4K in parts that I have purchased, and work that I've done myself. (see PDF attachment)

NADA values the car up to $13,400 on the high end and $9,850 for "average retail".

I got the car cheap because there was a bunch of deferred maintenance, that I've since caught up. The car has 201K miles on it (I've put 40K on it) and has a drivetrain that is in excellent shape plus an near flawless interior. The paint is acceptable (no peeling or wearing through), it needs new tires (per my previous post) and there are a couple of other minor items...rear defroster and passenger side mirror don't work, needs new trunk seal, transmission oil cooler hoses are cracked, rear flex line disc and drive axle boots are cracked, front suspension upper control arms need to be replaced and power steering pump, gear box & return hoses have slight leak.

I have all of the service records for the 4 years that I've owned the car (and will include them), plus a few spare parts.

How do I determine a value? I look on Craigslist and there is a wide range of prices for early 80s SDs. Of course most of them are in very poor shape with a lot more miles.

I do plan on listing it in the forum and ideally would like to find someone who appreciates these cars and the TLC that I've put into it. BTW, I'm only selling it because I just bought an 86 SDL and just can't afford to have two of them (plus the other two cars that we already have).

Attached Files

300SD Maintenance & Repair Log Sheet1.pdf (44.6 KB, 92 views)

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1986 300SDL - 116K
2014 Prius Plug-in (company car)
2014 Q5 TDI (wife's car)

An item for sale is worth what someone is willing to pay for it. In the case of your car that covers a wide range. Craigslist and Fleabay are good places to look to get a rough idea.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

I'll answer that Q using my '99 E300TD as an example. I have in the past few months found two separate buyers of my car for full NADA high dealer retail. Both times I decided to keep the car a little longer and perhaps sell it for even more than high-dealer retail. It took several months of advertising it on craigslist to find these two cash buyers. All the while, low-life bottom-feeders looking to pay $5K OR less were always ready to take it off my hands. One guy I finally had to block his email address as spam to stop his retarded enquiries. The fact of the matter is that the older these cars get, the less there is book value on them. I find the Mercedes-Benz diesel cars to be a very coveted item to the right buyer. Finding one that will pay top dollar, AND has the cash to pay top dollar takes time. It depends on the condition of your car, as well as how much time you want to spend getting top dollar for your used MB diesel, is the answer. Only you can decide what that is.

This (below) was a 1983 300SD with 305K miles on it that I sold for $4,950.00, 14 years ago. It was in top condition, with an aging but almost perfect interior, as well as a very respectable exterior. The engine compartment was a thing of beauty, as contrasted with some of the pics of stuff I've seen around here with way fewer miles on them, but's the way I roll - super clean. Everything, including the sunroof, AC, radio, antenna, lights, windows, worked. I probably left $1K on the table, but got my 'firm' price. Were I to have this car today, in the same condition/miles, I wouldn't budge on the same price. That's how valuable I believe these cars are, that have been garaged and out of the sun since day one in Texas. Cars in Dallas, Texas that are garage kept do not rust.

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I am sorry but for a 6 figure price tag, I could find such a nicer more fuel efficient ride.

I think with the rising price of diesel few people are willing to buy a diesel when they can get that same MPG from a gas car. At the end it is your car and you can ask what ever you want for it but as I see it, you paid what its worth when you bought it. Sorry that you put so much money into repairs in it, but that's what we have to expect to keep a vintage car on the road. The sad thing you must consider, is that you have to have one hell of an agreement to sell your car for 12k when a buyer can buy the exact same care for 3500$....

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