ebay ripoff?? - Page 4 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

limeyb · #46 02-11-2004, 06:56 PM

so what happened ????????????

#47 02-11-2004, 07:23 PM

OK, OK you guys, you're more impatient than my wife!, anyway, here's what I know so far (only had it for about 2hrs).Exterior wise its pretty darn good, just needs a good wash/wax & detailing. One little scuffed spot on rear fender but will rub out. Now the interior, I do not think he was real honest on the condition. He did admit to it having a dash crack, but "not to bad", well there's about 6 of them, but I guess whether its one or 10, it doesn't really matter, it will require a overlay. He said there was a "thumbsize" rip on the seat, well its about 4"s, with a hole on the other seat where the seat belt was hitting, & yes the cover is missing on the seat belt latch. Some of the plastic is missing & broken around the seat back hinge area. The drivers door will not shut tight, do to a latch problem. Overall the interior is quite worn. Nothing that new seat covers & carpet won't take care of. Some of the wood has lifted on the dash,(needs to be glued back down). It did seem to start very well, when it arrived, I did drive it to get fuel. The trans. does seem to shift quite harsh & fairly quick I think, alot quicker than my w-124. I did not go out on the hwy. yet, steering did seem a little loose with play in the box, I will try to adjust this. Have not tried the heater or ac, supposebly they work, just have to move the key back abit or so. Hey I hope I am not complaiing to bad, it could have been a heck of lot worse, (no car, not running at all), just a little disappointed on the interior. For the 3700, that I got into it so far, I guess I have done pretty well. What do you guy's think?? Sorry for the long post! I will keep you informed, if's there's anything major!. One last thing, I did manualy shift it down at about 40mph, & was quite impressed with the acceleration, I do like the diesel, very impressive car, especially when it is fixed up, I think it will be a keeper!!
Thanks
Scotty

Jim Dandy · #48 02-11-2004, 07:40 PM

Oh, the drama of it all!

Chris p · #49 02-12-2004, 07:51 AM

Your experince is allot like mine i bought a 79 300 cd from AZ on Ebay. The body and engine are great but I am in the process of rebuilding the tranny and reconnecting parts of the vacum system. I hope that I can get the heater and AC working at that time. But I only paid 2500 for the car and the body is great and my interior is in a little better shape than yours. I think that all of the 123 dashboards crack and I am also going to get a cover for it. I think you have a great car.

waybomb · #50 02-12-2004, 06:45 PM

I bought both my 126s on EBay.

The Dark Gray/Palomino Tex 1982 300SD I bought in Florida two Novembers ago, flew down on AirTran and drove it back. The only problem was the alternator failed about halfway home on a Friday night. Found a rebuilt one and made it home uneventful. The car had 147,000 on the clock, fairly accurate with CarFax. I've had the usual things to do - injectors, glow plugs, some swithches, and both front window motors. That southern car didn't like its first winter. The A/C stopped blowing cold just before winter. I'll be fixing that shortly. The seller told me the driver's seat springs were shot; I still need to fix that. He did not tell me the windshield was scratched, but I had it replaced and the rear window seal replace locally for $300.00. All-in-all, very happy with the purchase. I've got about $4,000 total in her, have put 35,000 on the clock and expect to put many more.

The Champaign / Burgundy Leather 1987 420SEL I bought from Florida as well from a great group of people about two months ago. I only saw pix, called them, and trusted them for some reason. I had it shipped from Florida to Wisconsin for $450.00; the folks I bought it from helped me find a hauler going back empty. I sent the money; they sent the car and the title FedEx after they got the check. I was questioning my trusting nature and gulibility until I got the car and the title. Very pleased with this car so far. I bought winter tires, a set of summer 16" tires and wheels, rebuilt the mono-valve, and changed the fluids. Had 114,000 on the clock that seems to be verified with carFax. It needs either new front bumper chrome, or maybe I'll buy that euro bumper set someone is selling on this sight. Knock on wood, that's all it needs right now. I'll tackle the timing chain once it gets warm; it is probably about time.

Now I want another 126, maybe a 560SEC or SEL. Great cars.

Jim Dandy · #51 02-12-2004, 06:52 PM

Well, I received my eBay car earlier today and here's the report:

The body has some corrosion that the seller didn't disclose even when I asked him, the insulation under the hood is GONE, there are no owner's manuals and record books as the seller claimed, there were no original headlight and trim assemblies in the trunk as the seller stated in our telephone conversations, and there was NO temporary tag to permit me to drive the damned thing without having to pay for the tag and excise immediately (the seller assured me that one would be in the car). There is one very small, negligible crack in the dash near the right speaker grill (about half an inch long).

Now for the good news:

EVERYTHING WORKS!!! The engine starts and runs smoothly even in the cold weather (about 30 F here today), the transmission locks up and shifts great (better than my 420 SEL), all of the power windows operate correctly, all of the instrumentation and lighting functions (including the odometer), and the power door locks work.

I took it down to my favorite independent shop for a quick look-see and they offered a favorable opinion as well.

I haven't made up my mind as to whether I should voice my concerns to the seller. All in all I would have to say it's a fairly solid car.

Robert W. Roe · #52 02-13-2004, 01:35 AM

scottydodah:

Sounds like you made out ok, in fact, you got a great deal!

Those coupes to me were always the most elegant of the W123's, with the nicer burlwood and the little console in the middle of the backseat. (Am I thinking of the right car?

My ex-wife and I test drove a new 1979 300CD back in 1978 or 1979

, and it was nice, nice, nice!! Of course, the salesman did have to rather urgently tell her to upshift when she was redlining it in second gear.

My luck with cars, including Mercedes, has been mixed.
I am way too honest to sell a used car fast, on Ebay or privately

I paid $6K retail for my 1984 300SD with 164 K miles back in July 1999, and it still looks pretty good.

I had been trying to get rid of the SD because it's a 3rd car that I seldom drove anymore, and we're still paying for insurance for it.
Something made me want to get it back on the road again.

I got the heat fixed since it is winter, and I am in east central Pennsylvania.

Probably will need a blower motor at some point (intermittent, or is it supposed to be that way?) but just replacing the monovalve got me toasty heat again.

The reason I mention this is because I bought my 300TE in Ft Lauderdale, Florida in November of 2002; actually flew down on Black Friday.
Flew down on Southeast Airlines for around $100, started the drive back tp PA...
As I discovered come nightfall, the heat didn't work. I noticed this as I was driving north through Georgia.
It went from a balmy 74 deg F all the way down to a bitterly windy 27 degrees, and my feet were very very cold after an 18 hour drive.

I would feel guilty having someone get frostbite driving a car I sold them. I had wanted to tell the seller that I had to get a couple of toes amputated from frostbite and see if he would knock some money off

He asked me if I had overheated it... yeah right.

He told me it had a new battery. My mechanic replaced the battery after it wouldn't start at 10 deg F. Who do I believe?

The head gasket had to be replaced, as well as a radiator, muffler, center bearing, relays, hoses, brakes, tires (ok, later that year I put winter tires on it), monovalve, etc etc.
I dropped another $4K right after buying the car to get it right.

Since then it has been pretty well shaken out, only costing me for oil changes and the occasional $300 W124 repair job.
(Ignition tumblers, oxygen sensor, and a leaky washer hose come to mind.)

So far I probably have about $13K invested in the 300TE, not counting gas...and that's since Nov 2002.

I probably don't have $10K spent on my 300SD in four and a half years.

Bought the SD 7/31/1999. One owner, 164K miles, found it at a Ford dealership.
And I didn't get screwed, too badly anyway.

I traded two cars that were beyond my energy to fix up, and got a the dealership to pay me in the form of a check cut to me to boot

Our SD has been all over the Northeast, and my wife still likes to go for rides in it.

She absolutely hates my gas wagon.

Not sure if it's because of all the things that have gone wrong with it, or because she didn't want me to buy the car in the first place.
In contrast, she was the one who found the SD in our local paper on a scorching summer day.

"1989 Mercedes 300SD, 164K, silver with blue leather [ turned out to be MB-Tex, which is not problem anyway]" it said in the classified ad.
I told her that I didn't think there was a 1989 SD, but she had me call anyway.
So, she kinda takes credit for finding the SD...