When I have a few spare minutes at the office, I tend to check out the MB auctions on ebay (I know I'm not the only one). Say what you will about buying on ebay, it's useful for getting a general sense of where the market is, especially by watching the buy it now prices, the prices auctions actually close at, and the ones that don't meet reserve.

In the last few weeks, I've noticed that some of the cars I tend to watch, notably late 126's and late 124's, have dropped in price quite a bit. There are decent looking '95 E320s with buy it now under $9k, and E320 cabs with low miles under $20k. As in any market, some people still haven't got the word, and you see two seemingly identical cars priced at $20k and $35k respectively.

0% financing deals, $7-11k off MSRP pricing, and the economy in general have pushed down used car prices significantly since 9/11, but the fall seems to have accelerated lately. Anybody else noticing this, or am I extrapolating from a few outlier auctions?

yes MB cars on Ebay seem to be lower in price, but I keep checking the www.AJC.com newspaper and some of these people are asking more than High retail book price..

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2000 Ford 7.3 Powerstroke 4x4
2006 Mazda Tribute
1983 Black 300 D (donated to charity)
1993 Teal 300 D (160K) Sold
"I love the smell of burnt diesel fuel in the morning, it smells like ....VICTORY"

Semper Fidelis
USMC 1973-1976

Paul, you're right of course, but my point was to compare constants, i.e. the perception of 126's and 124's hasn't changed in the last month or two, whereas I think prices have.

I agree about the 126s in particular; I'm looking at a perfect '90 300 that I might get for $6-7k with under 120k miles. Given the value left in the car, I'm pretty tempted. I'm just wondering if the general deflationary trend means the same car will be $1000 less in 3 months.

I'm also curious about the ultimate price of the 140s. In the case of the 600s, I would guess we'll see the same fate as old BMW 750s, where they're almost given away because the price of fixing any engine problem is more than the price of the car - drive it 'till it breaks, then scrap it. Kind of a shame, really.

there has been a marked drop and the later model 124's are pretty good values right now...

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joE
1993 300e-2.8 - gone now <sigh>
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