Any unrealistic seller stories to share?
 

Like many of you, when I see an old MB diesel for sale, I like to go and take a look, especially if it's close by. Sometimes I'm just window shopping, other times I'm actually looking to buy one. What continues to amaze me is how unrealistic people are about the value of their cars.

So I go to look at this 1980 300SD. The fact that it was a low miles (107k) W116 from the South piqued my interest. I wouldn't mind owing one of those at some point.

Where to begin? They had taken it to the dealer to get an inventory of what needed to be done. Needs $3500 worth of work...which of course could be done for less (to the owner's credit, he wants the buyer to have an authoritative list of what needs to be done). But the list goes on....needs new alternator, new vacuum valve, driver's window inoperable, various rust spots (though not terrible), etc.... The transmission certainly performed terribly...though I'm sure it is vacuum related. Interior decent but not great. You get the idea.

And they want $8,000. $8,000!!

One hardly knows how to respond....I just wished them well, expressing the hope that they wind up keeping it (because they clearly love the car).

I've not yet figured out a way to persuade people that they live in a fantasy world...perhaps no point in even trying. I guess it's just a matter of reality settling in over many, many months....

I've written elsewhere on this forum about my experiences over the last decade looking at cars that are essentially either inoperable wrecks, or basket cases literally on their last legs that people inexplicable seem to think are just fine thank you and worth a fortune. I really don't know what's wrong with people except to think that they are probably not the kinds of Benz nuts that hang out on this forum and sort of live in isolation from from the rest of the community. So they get and island view of their situation and can't relate it to reality.

Or they are simply idiots.

- Peter.

I do not know who flamed this kind of behavior, the seller who listed the car or the tire kicker who went to see it? You test drove the car, asked all kind of questions and gave them a flicker of hope that someone is going to bite. If there is NO caller, NO tire kicker then they know what to do. Any one with slightest intelligence would smell a bad deal from a distance and just ignore idiot sellers. Why bother?

I divided those awkward or bizarre sales encounters into three basic groups. Easily ID'd when the opening conversation starts with:

(INHERITTED). This was may (Father, Uncle, etc) car and he told me how rare these 300D's were. -Hopeless sentimental attachment.
(MONEY BUT NO BRAINS) I have put $12,000 dollars in this car in the last 2 years (but the A/C and windows still don't work)
(NUTS) The asking price is 4 times the current market value of the car. Keeps throwing the MB status at you but really knows nothing about MB or the Car. Don't know how these people evolve but I assume they buy a beater and have told their friends so many times how valuable these cars are that they start to believe it themselves.

Would also add people who don't want to sell the car, period. Not just sentimental but overall simply not wanting to get rid of it.


Sent from an abacus

Yes, you are correct. Mostly a person who's significant other is pleading for disposal and they put a brass ring (price) about 4 feet from where you can grab it.

No, I tend to not even look at the cars unless they're reasonably priced to begin with. Anything over $3000 on the 80's Mercedes and I usually just ignore them.

My current 1982 300SD I got for $600. It had 320k miles and some terrible rust spots on the body (doors have 2" holes, rear fenders rusted out, front fenders rusted out), but the frame seems to not have much (if any) rust. The engine ran fine and the transmission was smooth.

I've probably put $1500 into the car (A/C, window regulators, front sway bar, vacuum pump, radiator, tires, brakes, brake caliper, etc.) but it runs very smooth and was exactly what I was looking for.

At some point I'd like to pick up a 300SD with a blown motor and good body, but if not I'll just keep driving my rust bucket.

I have seen lots of crazy people though. Before I bought my '82 I went and looked at about 10 different diesel Mercedes. I recall one being at an auction/repo type place. It was a 1984 300SD IIRC. 250k miles, broken windows, okay exterior (bad clear coat), okay interior (cracked seats, 2 non-operating windows). I think they were asking $5000. I find you can find good deals if you look long enough, but that long enough might be a year or two...

If you really want the car, re contact them with what you will pay. An !$8,000! 80 300SD better be in perfect working order.

The sellers in this case ought to 86 with all the associated necessary repairs estimates. That's not helping them get their asking $s. Let the shoppers do the analysis and haggling from the $8K price.

Unless I know the car to be exceptional, by association or excellent pictures and writeup, I pass right by a car that is significantly over the average price I'd pay. No reason to even enter into conversation with the owner. It is, however, worth bookmarking the add in case the owner ever decides to once again reside on planet earth.

We could also talk about the other side of the coin, the buyer that lowballs the seller with a ridiculous number.....:)

Jim

I guess it depends on the sale? I had no intention of closing a deal on my used CDI when I offered less than 20% off at a MB dealer 2-years ago, but I drove it away for basically just that. :D

300td wagon
 

i went to look at one a few weeks ago. seller described it in very good condition or possibly even in more glowing terms and asking upwards of $3k. car was rusty, with broken or missing trim on almost every panel including both headlight doors were cracked and missing pieces; someone had also modified the roof (i.e. drilled holes in the car!!) to accommodate a volvo roof rack.

although it started up ok, it was loud (motor loud, not exhaust loud) ......dirty, bad tires....the works....it was sad to think that a person could look at that car and then write the words that were written in the ad

Perhaps strangest was when I was outside tweaking my 1985 300D and an elderly lady walking by said she could tell I knew about M-B cars. She had an European accent (German?). Her husband had died and she had a 1990's gas M-B in the garage and wondered what it was worth. I told her I knew little of those cars and sure couldn't comment on a car I had never seen. I am sure she hoped for confirmation of a rare treasure. I didn't inform her that many 1990's Euro cars are so expensive to repair that many have negative value.

Realistic and really wanting to sell => ebay auction w/ no reserve. Most people start on craigslist at high price, since free to troll for suckers. I first saw my 65 Dart on the local cl @ $2800, but didn't bother to go look. Later ran across it on ebay @ $700 w/ 1 hr left so jumped in and got at $1000, right at the reserve. When they brought it, it had $4800 written on the window (initial sucker price) and was rougher than described, but still a fair price for for an original V-8.

My favorite is the one that is immortalized with a sticky at the top of the cars for sale page...

Or the guy on eBay who sells 124s and 126s for the high teens...

Best CL ad I ever saw was for a 80s 4runner. It had been found in a ditch out in the vegas desert after having been in a driveby. Two bodies had sit in the car for a few weeks. He was selling it because even though he stripped it and pressure washed it, he could not get rid of the smell....

Thank you for pointing that one out. I hadn't seen it before. One of the most worthwhile long reads I've seen in these pages.

A so-called "friend" of mine once asked a favor for me to buy him a set of new 4 Bosch glow plugs for his OM616, for LESS than what the cheapest sources cost. And he lives overseas.

Talk about "unfriend"-ing this guy lol

Unrealistic buyers story:
 

Was selling my 1965 Chevy wagon in about 1980. Put two FS signs in the side rear windows; $100.00. Car ran fine, even had good factory AC. No bites for two weeks, so I Upped the price to $400.00 by changing the 1 to a 4. Instant interest and sold in just a couple days for full asking. Buyer was POed because he recalled it had been $100.00. He was miserable to deal with, but handed over the cash in full. By that time I'd of just as soon kept it. FWIW, I paid $100.00 for it several years before putting it up FS. Great little car with 14" chrome reverse wheels and a luggage rack. Straight 6 with 3 on the tree.

Myth busters did that to a 80s Corvette, but they used a pig carcass. One of the few times I had to turn it off...

Another one to be aware of are the flippers ,theyll usually start with a verble history but with no paper work to backup any of their story .A real winner is one out of Dallas who claims a past history of a babied 300cd whos owner one day decided to install a 5.6 gas motor from a 560sl, the story goes on for another 3 paragraghs of continious fantasy including the 30k invested.I can put a pin in this bubble since I now that another seller had it listed in the CL. Dallas some 4months ago for $3000. and the story was quite different.
http://sur.ly/o/getusedcar.net/AA000014

The out right liars that are just out to make a fast buck are the ones that irritate me the most, followed by the ones that advertise their car off and on for months with out adjusting the price to a reasonable level that the market will bear. There are a couple locally that have been advertised that way for over 2 years. There is an NA 123 wagon advertised like that in So. Oregon for at least that long for $8500. No takers so far I guess, but no adjustment on the price either!

Regards,

W.

If you really want unrealistic, have a look at the 1929 Mercedes Gazelle kit car ads. Some people with VW based cars are trying to get $7 K for a needs work example and some Pinto / Chevette cars are in the $ 15 K asking range.

I would like however to get a sub $ 2,000 Pinto car and mix it with a C class Kompressor engine and full suspension, that could be interesting. ( and dump the fake flex pipe exhaust.)

Drove to NH to see a nicely photographed diesel oldsmobile. Described running and driving, good pics, glowing description by seller about use. Call the guy in the morning and he tells me hes driving it, arrange to come up, drive a couple hours up. Show up and the car is sitting with no batteries, 4 flat tires, and sitting at 45 degrees in a ditch with a big smash in it. The guy come out and says "oh i hit it with the plow accidentally last winter".

So everything he said 2 hours earlier was a lie. Gets irritable when i point that out and tell him he wasted my time.

I wish i could say this was an unusual experience. Pointless liars are endlessy irritating. If you are going to lie, at least make it slightly believable

I nearly cry when I hear about the $500 MBZ's with solid drivetrains from back east. Here near Portland hippy-land where we don't salt the roads and cars don't fall apart, anything "vintage" or "biodiesel ready" goes for ridiculous money.

"Smells like frenchfries!" BS. If your biodiesel exhaust smells like french fries cooking, you're cooking your fries wrong. Biodiesel exhaust smells no better than dino diesel exhaust. Different, but not better.

I'd not previously seen that one prior to reading this thread. That one is quite entertaining.

I saw a 114 250C with manual transmission listed on CL for $95,000 once. I think it was a typo, but I didn't contact the seller to find out.

Edit: I just found a CL ad for a 450 SEL with no pictures asking $7,000. Also, depending on where in the add you look, the car is described as a 450 SE, a 450 SEL, and a 450 SL. Positive ID is only possible because he included the VIN. http://reno.craigslist.org/cto/4998035321.html

I just offer to sell them one of mine for that price. So far, no takers.

Here is a prime example... To the seller's credit he has lowered the asking price by $2000 ;)

Mercedes Benz E Class 7 Passenger | eBay

Oh I'm totally that guy sometimes. Only because I don't know what's it's worth. Lol. Better to go high. But I come down quick.

Unless there is interest. In which case, looking at these high priced vehicles is enabling their problem. And the only thing worse than an unrealistic seller, is a tire kicker. Lol.

But sometimes people help me out. Just be honest and say it. I've done that on the buyer end. And it doesn't always go well.

The worst for me was a toyota truck. The cab was pretty much gone with rust. Completely unrepairable. I just lost it. Had drove 60 miles. "Dude, this is a total, zero value."

I recently looked at a used Rav4 to add to the fleet. Drove an hour to the dealership, didn't even test drive it. I stuck my head in the cab and got slapped in the face with the overpowering smell of cigarette smoke and wet dog. I was pretty pissed and let them know about it. I work 60+ hours per week and have significant personal commitments beyond that, a two hour round trip is not something I do on a whim. Salesman swore up and down he had no clue it was like that and that they had a guy who could get the smell out, just come back in a couple days.

I told him that if his guy can get the smell out, then call me when it's been done and this time HE can bring the car to ME. If the smell is out I'll hand him a check right there and give him a ride back to the dealership. Unsurprisingly, I never heard back.

Very similar experience happened to me some years back. Made me realize that I have to assume every seller is a lying dumbass until I see it in person and might be pleasantly surprised, though I don't hold my breath.

- Peter.

Interesting to read his lengthy justification of the high price. Sounds sincere enough....but market realities are ruthless.

Last summer I went to see a $2500 '65 Dart wagon on CL for a friend. 6-cylinder & automatic. Car was described as good condition, but needing 'minor work'. When I got there I saw rust bubbles coming through the Earl Sheib maroon paint and holes in the rear floor. Not really as bad as it sounds, but my friend can't handle DIY, so I didn't bother to test drive.
A week later I spotted another maroon wagon on CL, 40 miles away from the first, described as 'excellent, $3500'. Pulled up the pictures and it was the SAME CAR!
Sad thing is those old wagons are asking premium prices now, since most manufacturers basically stopped selling wagons here in the '90s.
A beautifully preserved red '79 Volare wagon is featured in the latest issue of Hemmings Classic Car magazine.

Happy Motoring, Mark

That is crack pricing. My 95 wagon is in pretty amazing condition and I paid $2700 for it w 247k. Ok its black on black leather, mine is mb tex. It has ASD, mine does not. What mine does have is a sunvalley transmission at 180k, headgasket, rebuilt head and wiring harness. 15k and no wiring harness? No headgasket replacement?

Oh but its got MONSTER wiring so you know the misplaced priorities are on the check list.

He says he's selling the car because his wife wants him to... I wonder if it is priced too high on purpose ;).

He uses one of my pet peeve lines... "the last of the handbuilt Mercedes". I hate it when people say that.

Some sellers are just out of touch in a serious way. Some buyers as well. I had an older couple pull up at our house with a 71 114 coupe maybe ten years ago.

They had heard I had Mercedes cars. So they offered me first chance at 14K. I really did not want to burst their bubble. I had better examples in my garage that I paid about 2k for not much earlier. That particular model is not sought after although to me it drives well. Back then almost nobody wanted them

So I just said hang on to it for awhile and you may get your price. I was thinking maybe in 50 more years that was. It was not event the greatest example condition wise either.

The nicest one I got had an interesting problem. When i went to pick it up. It started well but when you pressed the gas pedal you just sat and waited for the engine revolutions to pick up and then it eventually reved up. Could be a half minute. .There was no way you could time it for say getting into an intersection.

The seller gave me stack of invoices for services he had done. I could not believe the prices that garage charged him. One bill was 1200 dollars just to do the front brakes. Plus many other invoices just as bad. No new front calipers in the front brake job bill either.

Anyways it drove the two hundred miles home. It was almost all highway. By the time I got home I was not certain of what the exact issue was. So decided to do a general tuneup. The point spacing was just too tight is what I quickly found. . I suspect he sold it just because he could no longer stand his mechanics bills.

Judging by some of the other bills only 500.00 should have well covered adjusting or changing the points. How some of these garages get away with this is really something else.

You meet the good, the bad and the ugly. Sometimes the latter two at once.

There was the time, when I was shopping for my first w116 -- even back in '97 a hard to find car in unrotted condition in these parts -- and I came upon an ad for a lovely looking dark blue 450sel: "spent winters in Florida."

Off like a rifle shot I am to go see it. "My grandma's car" announces the vendor. Who happens to be of a foreign persuasion who, were I to indulge in stereotypes, is not exactly renowned for adherence to the law.

Well, yes it's bloody gorgeous. Interior like new. Gleaming but very well done repaint. Underside to make a tear come to your eye, wintered in Florida (and inland FLA) no doubt.

Only problem? All four door sills have long rectangular patches welded in, not flush but over the main sill. Very amateur work, and the paint has been touched up over them.

Think back to the French Connection, fellas.

I walked away. The idea that one day down the road I might be crossing the border into the USA and a Customs drug dog who happened to be out for a dump in the border post yard would freak on my car, was just too much.

I wonder if grandma (assuming there was a grandma) knew what her rockers were packed with, on her return trips from The Sunshine State.

I wonder where that misnomer came from. The E500/500E was handbuilt by porsche. I'm pretty sure some of the AMG engines are at least. The W124 was the last designed by hand I think?

Local guy, 82 300D sitting in field, missing head. Paint fully baked off, most glass broken, interior shot, (weathered from missing glass) Basically a scrap car. He wanted 2k for it cause you know its a "mersedis".

lol I've said that about my w124... and it's true... my hands.... :)

I think that is the crux of the over-pricing. After paying so much initially for these luxury cars, then repeated high garage repairs as they hit the >10 year "down-hill slope", owners consider only what price would help them recoupe some of what they "invested" in the car. But, that is totally different than the true value. In many cases, getting a car back to "driveable" at garage prices would be much more than it is worth, hence negative value as a keeper and more valuable as a parts car, though PickNPull won't pay but a small fraction of its parts value. For those of us who can fix cars resourcefully, it may still have positive value.

My 1985 300D came with a thick folder of repair bills when I bought it in 2001 for $2500. The lady who owned it obviously wanted to keep it in "as new" condition, even paying $200 to replace the burnt-out LED segments in the factory radio. But, they eventually broke her. Many bills were >$1000 for things I consider routine "weeknight jobs" like brake pads or radiator flush. Best for me was a rebuilt transmission, then warranty replacement a few months later when it failed, just 2 years before I bought it. I could read her frustration in the bills, and so many trips to the dealer. The bills did state that they vacuumed the car as a compliment, and I am sure the Service Manager smiled broadly. At least she priced it to sell, but don't know if there was an "adjustment phase" before that. A bottom-feeder like me can live with missing LED segments, but I just put that sucker on the shelf and installed a new $80 radio w/ DVD.

About a year or so ago, I had the misfortune of going to check out a W114 with my sort-of-brother-in-law. It looked magnificent in pictures, but based on the seller's description, it sounded like it needed a head gasket. Other than that, the seller informed us that the car was "flawless." He was asking $4,000.

Upon arrival, things were not as they seemed. For one, the exterior was a cheap respray with cracks already forming in the paint. The seller had conveniently photographed the car from only the driver's rear, since it turned out the grille was smashed in and the front right fender was crumpled.

We immediately discovered that the air conditioner didn't work because the condenser was punctured, though the seller was convinced it was because "the head gasket needs did." As to why it needed a jump to start it not more than 5 minutes after killing the engine? 'Cause the head gasket needs did. Why it wouldn't shift out of park? 'Cause the head gasket needs did. Why did it just randomly conk out and refuse to start again? You guessed it, 'cause the head gasket needs did.

But, the best part was when he produced the folder with the car's service history. In there was a recent sheet outlining some brake work, a bit of wiring repair, and... a new head gasket.

:cool: "So... this is an estimate for all this work?"
:dizzy: "Nah, I paid that ****, I paid all that *****."
:cool: "So, the head gasket was just replaced?"
:dizzy: "Nah, it need the head gasket did."
:cool: "So this sheet is just an estimate?"
:dizzy: "Nah, I paid that *****, it's all did."
:cool: "So, where it says 'head gasket repair' on here, that's something you had done?"
:dizzy: "Yeah, I did all that *****."
:cool: "So why is the head gasket leaking?"
:dizzy: "'Cause it need the head gasket did."
:cool: "So why don't you take it back to the shop that did the head gasket and have them warranty it out, since it's failed again?"
:dizzy: "Nah, I ain't done the head gasket yet."
:cool: "THIS SHEET: IS THIS AN ESTIMATE, OR DID YOU HAVE ALL THIS WORK, INCLUDING THE HEAD GASKET THAT IS LISTED HERE DONE!?"
:dizzy: "Yeah, I paid all that *****, it all did."

As I recall, we put a couple of particular fingers in his face and left.

epic