So I guess you'd never buy a used submarine....

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Current Benzes

1989 300TE "Alice"
1990 300CE "Sam Spade"
1991 300CE "Beowulf" RIP (06.1991 - 10.10.2007)
1998 E320 "Orson"
2002 C320 Wagon "Molly Fox"

Res non semper sunt quae esse videntur

My Gallery

Not in this weather!

Doesn't make a difference with subs. The only ones you can usualy buy are Russian or Chiness, and they are junk with wiring issues new.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Your book, your world.

In the real real world a flood car is a car sold at a salvage auction after it is released from an insuance company with documentation that says the car was damaged in a flood. It's a dealer thing, salvage auctions are generally open only to dealers.

Good I6, PITA to keep up with the car. I work on a '96 LS400

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I'm not a doctor, but I'll have a look.

'85 300SD 245k
'87 300SDL 251k
'90 300SEL 326k

Six others from BMW, GM, and Ford.

Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty.[/IMG]

Heh heh,

You would not have bought the Caddilac rental car then that I turned in at the airport. I opened the drivers door and water started flowing right in. There was a torrential downpour at the airport and it got high enough to get to the doorsills.

Yep,

I have seen dealers doing the "hose and hose". You rinse out the interior of the car with a hose to get the smell and dirt out and then you hose your customer by selling them a car that you cleaned with a garden hose. Then they fill the car with a full tank of gas and leave it idling behind the dealership with the A/C and heat on full blast. Even with a carfax you could be buying a "flood car" and not knowing it. The best policy is to actually inspect the car you buy.

You actually saw this being done??? Was it an MB new car dealer, or a used car lot? Anyone who takes a garden hose to the interior of a modern MB will only be creating more problems. Something sure does smell funny here, and it's not the car!!!

In a previous life I used to be a car dealer.

Not to name names but I spent some time at a new car dealership. In addition to "lot stocking" where they buy "high end" used cars at an auction and put them on the preowned lot to make their crummy American made new cars look like someone would be willing to drive them they did all sorts of things to actual trade ins to make them saleable. I did not stick around long at the domestic lot mainly because of the sleazy business tactics and because of their high pressure sales tactics. In fact the sales manager there once asked me to buy a car just so we could make our sales numbers. He was pretty shocked when I told him that I would not want one of their cars even if it was given to me. They always wondered why I turned down the demo's and drove home in my 24 year old Mercedes every night and that was confirmation for them.

In comparison to what they did in the finance office the crapy used car that had been cleaned with a garden hose and shop vac was a cream puff. You can fix a car with mechanical problems but you really can't fix loans with huge balloon payments or financing the last three cars you bought on your current loan stretched out to 7 years. Many many unlucky people got both of them together. You can sell a bad used car but until you pay the loan off the collections people will be after you forever if you don't pay.

I wanted to sell Mercedes cars but the MB dealers here in town usually want people with lots of experience. I was not really willing to sell my soul and rip thousands of people off for the chance to sell for Mercedes. So I went back to the Technology industry where I don't have to lie and steal to make a living. It was an interesting and eye opening diversion while the tech market had gone to He** in a handbasket.

Lot stocking hmm now that makes sense. I always wondered how the GM/Ford dealers got late model E55's, S600's ect. I can't imagin someone would trade one in at a GM dealer, heck you could almost buy a few Z06's for what an S600 trade is worth. Who trades an E55 in on a Ford? Come on $90k super sedan for what? Three F150's??

Now it makes sense.

I happen to know a used car dealer, he is a nice guy, likes MB's a lot. His stock is nice and he doesn't seem to pull much BS, actualy he prides himself on getting low mileage, one owner, no BS cars. I guess he is a rare bird these days.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Exactly. If you notice they usually put all the nice cars on the front row as well. Those are the cars that get people "in the door" (how many people's dream car is a brand new Ford Taurus?) and when they find out they can't possibly afford them because of the outragous pricing (well above fair retail for even a Starmarked car) and really horrible used car financing they get "pulled" over to the new section where they have more buying power. Occasionally you will get someone dumb enough to buy one of them or they get tired of looking at them and lower the price to something reasonable to make room for some newer cars to lure people in. Trade ins at a domestic car dealership are usually either 2-5 year old domestic cars and they are usually totally ragged out.

All dealerships are different. I bought my 126 from an Arab guy that does the same thing. Mostly Mercedes BMW and Landrovers. These low end used lots all buy from the same auctions so watch out about their claims about one owner because they have no idea about that. Most low mileage one owner cars never make it to the local auctions to begin with. Auctions are generally stocked by car dealers that dump units they don't want to the auction house. It all depends on the dealerships. Most of the "one owner" cars that are anything worth writing home about get bought by the sales staff or get sold to friends and family of the sales staff. A friend of mine just bought a 40K 107 SL in pristine condition that was traded in at a Local MB dealer. It went from a salesman from the MB dealer to his friend a salesman at a VW dealership and then to its current owner who happened to know him. Even after being traded in and sold by two car dealers he still got a steal of a deal on it.

As for trade in values. The reason why these dealerships have to lot stock is because of the laughable trade in amounts they offer for cars. Nobody in their right mind is going to take 20K for their late model S600. These car dealers would rather get their cars at auction than pay a dime more to a customer than they have to.

If you want a good used car value I would try going to a local car dealer that does swift business but is willing to put other makers cars on their lot. Here you may get a good deal on a one owner reasonable milage trade in that the dealer would rather liquidate to the public for a small profit rather than sell it to the auction for one of his competitors to make a profit off of it. Most high end Mercedes, BMW and Volvo dealers only want their manafacturers car on the lot and usually only a few years old with low mileage. Some of the middle of the road dealers put other makers cars on the lot. I bought my 140 at a BMW dealership that had changed ownership to a company that owns many different dealerships in the Atlanta area. They sent some of the lower end cars to auction but kept as many of the nicer cars at their lot. They had everything from one year old Honda Accords to an S class Coupe to Volvos and Jaguars. All of them usually traded in on new BMW's. I bought my 1999 S320 for thousands under book price because they were selling a lot of new BMW's and their used cars were going slow and the lot was getting quite crowded.

My experience is mostly based on the Atlanta market. Many people in the Northeast will pay $10K for a 123 wagon so I take it that market is quite different considering the rust problems and other issues they have there. Im guessing though that the auctions and dealers operate similarly though.

i have always preferred to buy from private parties, my reasoning being that they will be less good at hiding things and lying.

but the worst lemon i ever bought was from a private party, so they can hide things too.

probably the only true lemon i have ever bought come to think of it. the 85 ford van with 6.9 diesel with cracked block.

tom w

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

I gave them 3 comparable 300E being sold, $4000-$7000 and had a MB Dealer work one up for $4200..
I feel better knowing I took the $$$$...the trans was also slipping

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1993 Lexus SC300
1987 Mercedes 300E ..totaled out..
1991 Saab 900Convertible ..gave away..