Just wanted to give folks interested in this interesting vehicle the heads up on this. It sounds/looks like a nice one.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=384951559

For what it's worth, I acquired my 1992 600 SEL via e-bay. A little scary, but with the right seller and right car, it's do-able. I'm four months post-purchase and I'm still a happy guy!

From all the posts I've read here from 500E owners and enthusiasts (isn't that redundant!), the model really sounds like a special automobile.

Brian

[This message has been edited by dfndr (edited 07-19-2000).]

Whoops.... I just posted that in Hot-Rods section.. came here and saw your post. heh.

Teach me not to read things fully eh?

Bri

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Brian Drought
1991 300CE
2000 A170-CDI
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~drought/
ICQ: 2180069

Has anyone else bought a used car sight-unseen (ebay or otherwise??)

Sounds REALLY scary to me...

I bought my '85 190E 2.3 sight unseen last Christmas.

Pics, a great price, and developing a good rapport with the seller first helped calm my unease.

The car has been a joy.

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John J. Meadows
'83 300D 3.0L 260k mi.
'85 190E 2.3L 99k mi.

B: I wasn't sure whether to post here or on the thread you chose; upon further review of the topic subheadings, yours was probably the more appropriate one.

M: I concur with what John said. The pictures and descriptions were very detailed; I ran the VIN on carfax to verify what the seller was telling me regarding its ownership history; I exchanged several e-mails with him with specific questions; and, finally, spoke with him on the phone a couple of times before bidding. Bottom line was that he said, Look, if you come here and inspect the thing and really don't want to go through with it, I'm not going to force you to." He had a two-week old 2000 S500 sitting in his garage, so that gave me additional confidence. I knew a little something about cars in general, enough to spot anything obvious. I also reviewed the service and repair records he had. He'd had an extended warranty, and he'd gotten his money's worth from that.

I flew up to see the car on a Saturday evening and needed to be back for a hearing on Monday morning. The seller and his wife picked me up at the airport in the car; we went to dinner together, and then I drove the car around their city for about an hour. Of course, I wanted to inspect the car inside and out in broad daylight, so the seller picked me up the next morning and that gave me an opportunity to go through the car visually. I wanted to get the car up on a rack which proved more difficult than I anticipated; we ended up going to Pep Boys and got them to let us put the car up to get underneath it.

The funny (now) part is that after I was convinced in my own mind that I was going to go through with the deal, I said, "You know, I've gone through everything and I've seen the front windows go up and down but let me just try the rear ones." Sure enough, the dreaded regulator issue developed and the right rear window wouldn't close more than about a third of the way. It just kind of froze there, not being able to go up or down more than a fraction of an inch. After about an hour and a half of trying to figure out what to do, and me faced with having to go to the airport and return without the car (there was/is a horrible harmonic drumming vibration that sets up over about 45 mph with the window open like that) the owner's wife realized that they could call the 1-800 number for the Mercedes rapid response technician. Within the hour, the window was back in the closed position (although disabled). After the techician left, the windshield wipers started going crazy, turning on at high wipe speed and the only way to "turn" them off was to pull the fuse. By then, I began having serious doubts about whether to go through with the deal, worried that I was buying into an electrical money pit. (To top off the maladies, after my first stop for fuel, the "Check engine" light came on--and at that point, I almost turned around and handed over the keys.) But I thought that any car that age (1992) was not going to be perfect, and that if I was going to buy one, this one had been well cared for, garage kept, and everything fixed when needed. By then, I really trusted the owner when he said he hadn't had any of these problems and that he knew it was a good car, finally offering that I drive it home and that if I didn't like it in 30 days, I could drive it back and he'd refund my money. He paid for the window repair and other than on that 700-mile trip bringing the car home, the windshield wiper problem has not reappeared. Stevebfl's Continental Imports fixed the rear window and turned off the "check engine" light, and it has yet to reappear. (I know the bulb's not burned out because it displays when cranking!)

My dear, non-mechanically-oriented wife explained to me why the car presented so many problems at the moment I was to drive it away: "After seven years with the same couple, he was sad to be leaving and didn't want to go. He thought that if he gave you enough trouble, you wouldn't take him away."

And that is probably the best explanation I've heard for what happened that day....

Sure it's tough buying a car sight unseen. I have always gone to inspect them before closing the deal (which is how I prefer my prospective "customers" to handle buying any car from me). Matter of fact, I am driving to Toledo tomorrow morning to meet a gentleman who's driving down from Detroit to look at my '93 300E 2.8 I have for sale. I was more than happy to do this and offered for him to take the car and have it inspected by another technician. We will be meeting at the Mercedes dealer and although their service department probably won't be open tomorrow, perhaps we can persuade one of the salesmen to let us put it up on a lift so at least he can see it for himself. I always provide all records and certainly would expect the prospective buyer to run the VIN on Carfax so he feels totally confident about his purchase. As far as cars that I have bought sight unseen, a Triumph TR6 was the only one. I bought it over the phone from a fellow in Philadelphia, PA and was counting on pics alone to tell me what the car was really like. To my relief, after about 10 hours of driving out there, I saw the car and it was everything I expected--and more! Being one of those insane car types (and fortunately having a buddy who's inflicted with the same illness) I jumped in the TR6 with my buddy behind me in my 300SD (loaded to the gills with tools!) and headed back for Cleveland. With the exception of the typical lack of British car heat in cold weather, the Triumph ran like a dream all the way across the PA Turnpike. A fun trip, but I'd never do it again. I had a headache for a week from that exhaust rumble for 10 hours straight!

As far as other cars I've sold, the fellow who bought my 6.9 was not able to come and see it in person, so I tried as best I could to provide him with plenty of high resolution pictures and went to Kinkos and (for two hours) xeroxed about 4" worth of service records to send him. I told him of the corrosion repair that the car needed and recommended a good metalworker in the area to fix it. So right now, he's in the middle of (a decided) full blown restoration (and still hasn't seen the car yet!!) but will be happy when it arrives spotless to his home in Texas!

Finally, my beloved '81 240D that I sold also went to a buyer out of state. He flew into Cleveland, I picked him up at the airport, let him drive the car back to my house (a good 45 minute trip) and there he made his final inspection and decided to buy it. He jumped in and took off back home to Nashville, TN and e-mailed me when he got there reporting no problems and a great running car!

So basically, you have to be very careful about buying a car like this and if you're the seller, be totally honest and try to proide as much documentation as possible with the car so the new owner will be happy and will have spent his hard earned money well. Good luck to all!




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Rgds,
Aaron Greenberg
MB technician
Precision Motorcars, Cincinnati, Ohio
'67 250SE Cabriolet
'77 450SL
'80 300SD
'85 380SE
'86 420SEL
'89 420SEL
'93 300E 2.8
'74 Jensen Interceptor Mk.III
'81 DeLorean DMC12
'84 BMW 745i Turbo

I have sold my last two vehicles that I sold via the internet (one on ebay and one on Yahoo classified). I am fixing to put another one on Yahoo (a 1972 Cadillac Sedan de Ville with 75,xxx miles if anyone is interested - $500 - you bring the trailer). It has been sitting in a garage for the past 5 years and will need some attention prior to running again. Anyway, both of my sales have been very good experiences with the buyer and seller happy after the deal closed.
engatwork

quote:

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Originally posted by makakio:
Has anyone else bought a used car sight-unseen (ebay or otherwise??)

Sounds REALLY scary to me...

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I bought my 6.3 on an eBay auction. Although it was a generally positive transaction, I should like to say that automobiles definitely look better in pictures than they do in person.

The transporter was more of a problem than the seller was.


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'00 ITR #110
'69 MB 300 SEL 6.3 #2546

http://www.george.knighton.com