And if you had a similar year VW Jetta you would scrap the car? How about any other random brand?

The charging system on this car isn't any different than most any other Euro cars ( many use a Bosch of Valeo alternator ) and in concept no different than any other car world wide.

There is no way a shop could predict a charging system failure ( or any other system for that matter ) without taking the entire car apart so don't blame them.

The the only bad decision being made here is to dump the car over a standard run of the mill repair.

iuecon99, how many miles are on this 1998 E320? It's likely the voltage regulator needs to be replaced ... a simple and inexpensive DIY repair. No reason to junk the car until diagnosing the problem.

You may have heard the adage "there is nothing more expensive than a cheap MB automobile". Before buying any MB automobile, it is prudent to have a MB-trained tech perform a PPI (pre-purchase inspection). That will provide you with an evaluation of the car's existing condition and what major repairs are pending. It's an expensive proposition to buy any vehicle whose owner failed to perform any preventive maintenance. MB automobiles are relatively inexpensive to maintain if one has basic DIY ability for brake pad replacement, rotor replacement, oil changes, air filter changes, transmission fluid changes, spark plug changes, etc.

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Fred Hoelzle

[QUOTE=Ferdman;3668085]iuecon99, how many miles are on this 1998 E320?

It has 178000. Passed PPI at 140K miles. So in 3.5 years, 38K miles I have put $6500 in repairs in this turkey.