any experience with "theft recovery" ?

[centroid1]

I'm talking to someone about a 93 300D. He said its a theft recovery. Meaning it was stolen, insurance paid the owner, then the car was found, and insurance sold it.
When he sent me the pics, I realized it had a 94-95 front, the trunk said E300 Bluetec. So I'm thinking that someone put a bunch of different parts together to make this car. But its really nice looking.

Should I run away from this ? Smells trouble ?

1993 300D
82,000 miles
$7500

[Frank Reiner]

centroid:

California dealer plate, and what appears to be a premium price. Where in CA is it located? Have you requested at least a Carfax from the dealer?
Your other thread about inspections by Peachparts users prompts these questions.

[centroid1]

Its a private party. I'm still trying to piece it together. Don't have that much info yet.

I'll get a Carfax soon.

[JimFreeh]

Theft recovery, salvage title.

A salvage title 'can' be hard to insure.
Cuts 1/4 to 1/3 off the value of the car.

Not necessarily bad if you get the discount up front, because you'll take a haircut when you want to sell it.

Lots of odd stuff on the car.
W202 wheels, aftermarket grille, bluetec is wrong, should say turbo, trunk, bumpers and taillights are 94-95 as well.
With that much replaced, it implies a fair amount of damage at some point.


jim

[cooljjay]

The salvage title on my car, cut the value in half.....

[centroid1]

I don't have good vibes about it. I'm going to pass.

Its nice looking but its got too many parts put together from other cars.

Good to know about the salvage title/ insurance/ value issues.

[jcyuhn]

Are you sure it's not a '95? Perhaps the seller has the year wrong.

[TMAllison]

Passenger side front fender has a vent/grill. Its a 95.

[tbomachines]

My 300e is a theft recovery from the early 90s but with a clean title... has held up as good or better than comparable cars over the years. YMMV. I'd go through it with a fine toothed comb and make sure it has enough vin tags to be registered, that they match (the title and each other) and get a ppi to make sure it isn't two cars welded together. With a salvage title i would not come close to full price with it. However a theft recovery can be as solid and reliable as its clean couterpart.

[Bob338]

The thieves may have made the changes to disguise the car. Not a dumb idea.

[TylerH860]

More often the thieves strip the cars. A front clip is valuable for most import cars. Its possible a later nose was the replacement. They keep them drivable enough so they can dump them somewhere in the middle of the night.

Priced 2-3k too high if the car is perfect otherwise, in my opinion. Waaaay too easy to swap instrument clusters on those cars too.

[ROLLGUY]

Originally Posted by TMAllison

Passenger side front fender has a vent/grill. Its a 95.

My bro's '91 is identical to that car, and has the vent in the fender. I believe ALL 124 Diesels had the vent.

Edit: WAAAAY too much $ for that car IMO. Many newer & as nice examples can be found for less.

[vstech]

Originally Posted by TMAllison

Passenger side front fender has a vent/grill. Its a 95.

negative...

all 124 diesel's from 90 through 95 have the vented fender...

in 86/87 they did not.

[ROLLGUY]

Originally Posted by vstech

negative...

all 124 diesel's from 90 through 95 have the vented fender...

in 86/87 they did not.

Originally Posted by ROLLGUY

I believe ALL 124 Diesels had the vent.

I guess I stand partially corrected...Rich

[compu_85]

Actually, all 2.5 diesels have the fender vent (including the 190D 2.5 T). The 603 cars do not. Looks like the 606 cars did get the fender vent though.

-J