I have looked at two 500Es in the last week. Both were asking $29000 and both were in wildly different shape. Both had in common very incomplete service records. One has 80,000 m, and the other, actually an E500, has 109000m (the oner I'm interested in) Iwould be the 4th owner. Although the current owner says its been kept up, the a/c does'nt work. If I make an offer, I will have a thorough PPI done.

Almost all 500Es I see seem to be for around $29000.
Guys, what do they really end up selling for?

TIA
Tom

as these cars are all over the place in terms of price. I just bought another one, and I feel like I may have paid too much..but, if you'll look, the prices are usually commensurate with condition, history, miles, and color/equipment. And there's not a lot of them to start with. I've seen cars with lots of miles and no history in the teens, and I've seen real cars with no miles and good extras in the high 30's and low 40's. Cars with reasonable miles and no heavy damage are becoming rarer by the month. You just have to take each one on its individual merit. Look for records, check the history at your local Benz dealer if you can, use Autocheck or Carfax, and inquire, inquire , inquire. On the whole, these cars are quite durable but do have a few problem areas to watch out for (radiators, belt tensioners and chains,power steering pumps, AC evaporators). Remember, you can fix broken, but you can't fix rough. This board will be an excellent resource for you. Good luck...

that the AC not working on the car you're looking at is a good size fix. Depending on the shop and whether you use an aftermarket or OE evaporator, that's anywhere from an $800-1400 fix in our area. Probably more for you. Hope this helps, allen.

My 92' had 120,000 miles on it when I bought it...the blower didn't work...very common for them W124 blowers to fail after 100K miles but the A/C was fine, as was most everything else...asking price was $24,500 in Feb/2001...I haggled down to $18,500 and put a couple of grand back into the beast to freshen it up. I know I got an exceptional deal considering the condition of the car...I would think a 100,000 mile 500E/E500 would be reasonably priced at $22-25,000 provided good records and condition.

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Jim

1992 500E
2007 CLK63
2003 Audi RS6
2001 Audi allroad

Yeah, it's like everything else. You get what you pay for. If you are going to keep it forever (REALLY), buy the best & what will probably be one of the most expensive cars you can find. Records are a must on a car like this in my book. I bought mine in July of 2000 from a friend of mine who was the original retail owner (the car was a MBNA VPs car for the first 6 months or so). It had 52k on it & was immaculate. Bill, my friend, was anal & I had been bugging him to buy the car for years. I overpaid by about 5 grand in my opinion, $ 45,000 which sounds like a bundle now but that was two years ago & I was paying a premium for ownership knowledge & history plus the car was coddled with low miles.
Jay

just an FYI...don't worry too much about high mileage 500E/E500s. these engines are as close to bulletproof as i've ever come across and so long as regular maintenance intervals has been observed, you should have little in the way of engine problems.

of course, some of the cars will have undoubtably been driven with a heavy foot, but don't forget that a low mileage engine that's been used sporadically could actually cost you much more. to maintain because you may have to re and re most, if not all of the perishable seals.

I would put a higher value to complete service records than a small number on the OD.

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'94 W124.036 249/040 leder; 8.25x17 EvoIIs
'93 W124.036 199/040 leder; 8.25x17 EvoIIs, up in flames...LITERALLY!
'93 W124.036 481/040 leder; euro delivery; 8.25x17 EvoIIs
'88 R107.048 441/409 leder; Euro lights
'87 W201.034 199/040 leder; Euro lights; EvoII brakes; 8x16 EvoIs - soon: 500E rear brakes
'70 R113.044 050/526; factory alloys; Euro lights

I agree completely. When I purchased my 92 500E last summer with 57K original miles on it I felt I got a great deal. Since then I have seen some others for a little less ( I paid $32,000. through a dealer ) so far no problems attributable to me making a bad deal.
Alan

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92 500E Silver 66k
82 Porsche 911SC 84K
68 Cadillac ( Gone Now )
03 Suburban Z71 200K
85 300SD 217k From Original Owner ( Dad )