What are members paying for their Mercedes
 

In order to help me....please post what model MBZ and what you paid for it and did you think that it was a good deal.

tkamiya,
I long for a good deal, my '88 190E cost me $11K with 42K miles on it in 1994 and it was pristine then. Got full service records, and
new spare snow tires for it. Then some dealers were selling them
for $18,000 and private parties were selling them for around
$13,000. Average cost of repairs so far is $300 year and that covers all parts and oil changes. It has 243K on it now and starting problem, I fear it will have to go in shop for diagonosis and work. I have tried all fixes that members suggested so far that i can do but no start yet.

1994 E320 wagon bought in 1998 with 66,000 miles = $28,500
1999 E300 Turbodiesel bought in 2001 with 36,000 miles = $42,000.

'72 220D bought in 1996 for $1700, too much considering the condition.

88 300TE bought in 2000 for $4500, good deal, although I'm still not done with reconditioning.

87 300D bought in 2001 for $5000, probably needs a head, so good price, but not a steal

'72 280 SE 4.5 bought in 2002 for $50, not running. Pretty good price, but not a steal since the block was freeze cracked. Glued together with JB Weld and holding....

Peter

95 C220 with 58K bought in mid 2002, $9,300
Car had just received 60K service at MB dealer 200 miles prior to purchase, including new MB battery, brake fluid flush ($1,100)

90.5K miles now. Love the car.

I bought my 1994 C280 three and a half years ago. I paid $15,300 USD and the car had 54,000 miles at the time. It came with two sets of tires, and every option but ASR. It now has about 80,000 miles. In terms of physical condition, I would rate the car at the time of purchase as an 8+.

It already had the head gasket and wiring harness done by the orginal owner. Since then I have done the routine maintenance, which is largely a bunch of oil changes, plus the 60,000 mile major service, two brake fluid flushes and two coolant flushes. I have replaced the lower control arm bushings, lower ball joints and OVP because I have had to, and have upgraded to Brembo cross-drilled rotors, Porterfield R4S pads and Goodridge s/s brakelines because I've never liked the brakes on this car.

I'm sure I could have worked a better price, but at the same time I got more than my trade-in was worth, so I don't feel like I was ripped off. The car has been expensive to maintain, but it still puts a smile on my face every time I get behind the wheel and look at that three-pointed star on the hood. I guess it is the ages-old question of price vs. value.

Jonathan

-1995 E320 Wagon, $24k, purchased with 55k miles on 12-2001, from dealer with StarMark warranty, now has 99k <--For Sale <--

-1991 300E, $12k, had 129k miles on 7-2001, now has 220k miles (Great car!)

-1987 190E, $1k, "the rescued car" one step from being dismantled on 7-2002 with 207k miles, now has 220k AND a new heater core etc etc etc etc etc etc.

Haasman

1973 280SEL 4.5, bought in 1997 for $1,300.

1986 560SEL, bought 12/2001 for $2,500. Brought it home in pieces on a trailer, saved it from the crusher. Took 4 months workign weekends and night to make it road worthy. By the end of this month I will have posted 25K miles on it.

112'000 mile 1992 300CE for $9'800 2/14/02. New trans. at 128K miles for $2600. Yeah it was still a pretty good deal, KBB was 13'800 when I bought it.

My 1987 190E 2.3 I paid $11,000 and sold it for $9000.

My 1987 190E 2.6 I paid $15,500 for and sold it for $15,000.

My 1987 190E 2.3-16V I paid $24,000 for and sold it for $19,000.

My 1988 190E 2.3 I paid $10,000 for and sold it for $8000.

My 1995 C36 AMG I paid $31,000 for and traded it for the 1998 E300.

I sold the 1998 E300 for $46,500.

I bought the 1998 C230 new (only new MB) for just shy of $50,000 including taxes.

1986 420SEL, 96k miles - purchased in 1999 for $10200. Nice car but I paid about $2-3k too much


1997 E420, 67k miles, all records - Purchased two weeks ago for $14500. I felt like I stole this car from the dealer. Did the brakes on Friday and the tires come next week. The car will be near perfect then.

1994 E320 - 100K miles, bought in June 2003. Exterior is immaculate. Original hand painted pin-stripe is crisp and sharp. Interior would be perfect if not for slight wear at the driver's seat cushion. The car was bought new and serviced at the dealer I work for, until it was traded in on a new 211. I got a kick when I looked through the service file. I've worked on the car several times over the years. I paid $5,500 for the car and replaced the engine wiring harness($350), L/R window regulator($110), antenna mast, and headlamp wipers the first week I owned it. I'll be putting on a new set of Michelins and doing the 105K service after the holidays.

Paid $5300 around 2 months ago for my '91 300E with 192k (mostly highway, ex rep's car, dealer serviced it's whole life). Have spent around $1500 on it since (new front brakes/rotors/calipers, acc. belt, tensioner, rear shocks, bushings, having a radio installed.

In hindsight I think i paid too much for it for the condition, had i known more about these cars before i bought one i could have got a better deal. The car, for it's age, is generally in very good condition. The body and interior are testament to Mercedes quality. The parts that are failing and i have less confidence in are rubber, plastic etc.
I had a car with similar mileage before, with no major problems, so I thought buying another car that had been looked after with similar miles would be ok with just regular issues to attend to - oil & filter changes etc- wrong! These cars are like a pretty girl- high maintainance, though they look good. They're over engineered, but some problems are 'quirky' and bloody annoying.
I can't really afford to spend more money on her, but I've always wanted a Merc so I'm putting up for now. I think i've just had bad luck with the car being at the point where some parts are wearing out.
I wholely intend to keep her going from now on without draining my bank account, and getting my $$$'s worth out of it before the engine blows up! (hopefully, with regular looking after, this won't happen:-)

94 E320 58K miles. Bought 3/2003 for $10500 at MB dealership. Dealership replaced engine gasket, EGR valve, Aux Fans. One owner, like new condition.

Just paid about $15.7K for my 1998 C280 with 73,000 miles on it from CarMax. Ha ha ha! When I first saw the car, I got the VIN and researched it; found the one previous owner and talked with him about the car. He referred me to the service manager at the local Mercedes dealership who did all the work on the car. I called and talked with him! Both were very helpful. The car was in mint condition and it is my first Mercedes. It is a wonder to drive. I am hooked forever on Mercedes. (plus, it helped to find this forum! These guys are simply wonderful, so helpful!).

Wow, I did not know that prices varied so much across the US
I am hoping to find a killer deal like some of you have found, but alas they are few and far between. Some of the prices that members paid give me a general idea of what I should look for as
far as price. Of cource, the general idea is to buy the best car for the least money. I appreciate all your replys.

Wishing all of you and yours a Merry Christmas!

Deals are to be had everywhere. If you find an acceptable carr being sold by a private owner. Offer them 60-70% of what they are asking. They may balk at your offer but if you politely contact them every week or two, they will probably rationalize accepting the lower price. Let's face it, it can be a pain to sell a car. After a certain amount of time it's not worth few extra bucks to keep holding on to it.

1992 500E w/62k miles bought 1 year ago for 21k. Smokin' deal if you ask me.

1984 300sd with 199K miles bought 2/2001 for $1750 off ebay (love that car)
1986 560sel with 118k miles bought 11/2003 for $3750 off ebay
neither car was perfect but I love them both anyways

David

Apparently.... I'm still paying for it... One part at a time..:rolleyes:

$5500 with 140K

Probably $1200 worth of parts so far, still needs more. Sure is pretty, but I'm still hesitant to go too far from home...

For my 1988 190e, 2.3L 8 valve car, I paid (if I recall correctly) US$6,500 for it in 1996 in Miami, Florida with 62,000 miles on it. I purchased it from the second owner of the car who had to sell it because he was moving to Colorado and needed a 4-wheel drive vehicle. The only problem that the car had when I purchased it was that one of the windows did not roll down and the owner did not know why and he was selling as is. Of course I used this premise to talk him down quite a bit on the vehicle. The fix was a $10 window switch from the junkyard. By the way, the car was never in any accident and all service records from the dealership.

Currently, the car has 151,000 miles on it and is still running. Over the years I have done the following work to maintain or repair it:

Repaired AC vacuum system - 8 months ago
New Klima Relay - 8 months ago
New rotors - 3 years ago
New shocks - 2 years ago
New Upper Front Shock Mounts - 2 years ago
New Ball Joints - 2 weeks ago
New tie rods - 1 month ago
New Control Arm Bushings - 2 weeks ago
New cat. converter - 4 years ago
New Flex Discs - 1 year ago
New Motor and Tranny Mounts - 2 months ago
New timing chain and rails - 2 months ago
New belt tensioner - 2 months ago
Rebuilt Alternator - 9 months ago
New water pump - 2 years ago

This is what I can remember off the top of my head. other than this, I have always done the oil at 3,000 KM or 3 months and the tranny fluid changed about once a year. And of course new tires, brake pads and serpintine belt when needed.

Currently, this past weekend I started, to fix the radio antenna, motor was blown and had it repaired - need to reinstall. And the sunroof. The tilt angle brackets are not working smoothly and am currently working on it (another post - "almost fixed sunroof" dated 20-Dec-2003.)

Things left to be done soon:
Rear Subframe mounts - I suspect in the near future given the milage
New O2 Sensor - since I have my doubts if the current one is functioning properly
New dash cover - mine is cracked in three places due to the extreme sun in Miami and now in Guatemala.
New Seat springs - for my comfort w/in the next year.
Euro Lights - to be done when I find a local 190e that has been dismantled.
Need to check to the vaccum lock system since it stopped operating this past friday - could be a fuse need to check it out though did not have time over the weekend.
New rear passanger window regulator. Mine is not functioning correctly - motor is ok just the hardware parts - also waiting for a local dismantled 190 to get this.

In end, I believe that this has been my best purchase of any used vehicle that I have ever owned! If I were to add up the cost of the repairs and maintanance and divide it by the years that I have owned the car, I would certainly come out at less than $50 a month! (excluding of course the purchase of the car but even to factor that in I would be in the neighborhood of $120 a month or aproximately $0.11 a mile).

Side note: I did pay, in the end after playing with some numbers and corporations, $2,500 for the import duties in 2,000 in bringing the car with me to Guatemala.

Iggy

1991 560sel $7600 from ebay 10/2002. Been pretty good replaced most of the fuel and ignition on it and rear diff so spent an additional $2500 in parts and labour. Very happy with her.
m

1988TE - purchased with 110,000 miles for $8000 over a year and a half ago. Mechanically and exterior was mint, the interior showed a few signs of having had multiple children inside. Interior is now nearly perfect and exterior remains great - better than before, in fact, with Euro exterior lighting. Mechanically, showing a little leak at the timing chain cover, but otherwise, hums like a top.

For some reason, it is more expensive to insure than a newer 525i I owned for a couple of years, but the annual registration runs about $90.

Others previously owned -

1986 300E with 122,000. $6000. Took an additional $2000 to make it perfect. Sold to a friend for $6000 who is taking even better care than I did. Awesom car.

Owned a very good 240D as well. Bought for $2000, sold it in need of an injection pump. New owner replaced the injection pump and 5 months later it threw interior engine parts out onto the Bay Bridge.

1984 300SD with 199K mi $4200 about 5 years ago (now has 310K mi). Has been very reliable with few maintanance issues. Oh and the AC and cruse never worked under my ownership and I never bothered fixing them. Just waiting to get the 500,000km badge.

1992 400E with 135K mi $4800 bought 11/03. I figure this will have higher maint costs, but the grin factor is higher. Everything works on this one.

Paul

Bought my 92 500 SEL, with 67,000 miles, one year ago this coming January, for $17,500. I felt like I got a good deal for a car this age that was in pristine condition. Since then I've put about $1,500 into it for service and some annoying electrical problems, but the awesome ride and refinement of this car more than make up for the money spent.

my car
 

Bought 1987 300E, <80k miles ) in excellent condition in/out except for few small dings, for $5000 last February. Very well equipped (auto, leather, pwr. seats, telescoping wheel, sunroof, the std. abs and dr. air bag, central locking, alarm, pwr. windows/mirror, etc.). Nothing wrong with it except one of the rear windows won't go down. Only problem I've had is the a/c went out and needs $500 fix, and the front ball joints and rear control arm bushings are worn and could use replacing. I think this was a pretty good price.

Paid 13,000 from a private party for a 1995 E420 with 39,000 miles and in perfect condition in the summer of 2002. Had to change the wiring harness a couple of months later, but at least Mercedes paid for the part. Drove 400+ miles, but it was the best ride home ever. Amazing car.

Francesco

1995 E420
1996 Lincoln Mark VIII
1976 Cadillac Seville

5'500$ for 300TE 1992
 

Hi
5'500$: that's the amount I paid for a 1992 300TE wagon with 126'000 miles two weeks ago. Condition is good with one minor dent, a few scatches and a bit of rust just below the rear light outside, and clean condition inside. First I thought it was a good price, but I had to do an initial repair to fix rear brakes, flex-disc, front shock, transmission oil etc. for $1500. Now I think it probably was not a super deal, although the car is clean and well running now. Yours, Bruno

midnightlsc,
Did they also pay for labor? How many hours is required to do this job on the wiring harness?

MapleLeaf,
Glad that your happy. They obviously didn't make any money on you.

Well, I did it now.....bought this on e-bay. I needed power seats
because I cannot get into cars very easily due to me using crutches. It appears the only thing wrong with it is the power antenna.

Your comments........

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2449016329

Thanks Mapleleaf,
Could not get my favorite color Teal but I guess beggers cannot be choosers.

Have you driven the car? It looks to be in decent shape from the pictures but it's always hard to tell until you get a close up look. It may be the digital photos but it looks like it is listing towards the drivers side. In any case if it checks out it will be a good deal. Best of luck!

Keen eye,
"it looks like it is listing towards the drivers side."

So that indicates new strut on drivers side???

I bought my 1983 300D two months ago for $1,500. :cool:
Body is good with no rust, although paint is faded in places (I didn't think white paint would fade), interrior is good although carpet is faded. Needs a/c compressor, rubber weatherstripping all the way around, front windshield, rear window rubber seal. 288k and I'm driving it like I stole it, which I think I did. My first MB and I'm loving it.

Mark

I nearly bought a 1984 Mercedes 300SD with 336K miles for $2100 a few weeks ago. I still wonder if it was a mistake by me passing it up. :confused:

MapleLeaf,

I missed that person totally. With your keen eye you would make a great hunter.

86560SEL
I think the trannys need to be rebuilt with that many miles.
Who knows, if you missed a great deal. However, I'm sure you will find another deal. I would love to have a diesel but most are out of my price range, and I do not know all the intricies of them.

1989 300SE 144K miles, $5000 in a private sale. It needs front brakes (warped), tune up, other than that, it's in good shape for a 14 y/o car.

Why is it almost everyone has something I want clear across the country. I think my next car will be a 400E or E420. I really need to get into the ninetys.

BTW, If anyone is interested I found a 300E with less than 80K
for $7995 they said they would take $7500. Its a Cal car in Oregon. 91 or 92 I believe.

glmoy,
Have you checked the following sites:

www.autotrader.com

www.cars.com

You probably have but in my area (Chicago) I come up with many many listings of 300E's with 100k to 140k with $3k to $6k asking prices. Even if you are in an area where there are not as many cars, be patient, you will find the right one.

Purchased my 1989 300CE with 74K miles about one year ago from a private party that I found in an internet ad. Paid $10,300 which was probably a little high. Main reason for paying this price is based on advice given by members of this forum, (and advice greatly appreciated).

The advice said to make sure all of the regular maintainance was performed and look at the stamped maintainance book. Also to ask if the air conditioning "thing" was replaced. The PO said the air conditioning system was "fixed", but he didn't have receipts to show. (It doesn't blow very cold, so I wonder. Or at least not as cold as my 8 year old Ranger.)

I took one quick walkaround of the car and said I would take it. Didn't even need to drive. Only deviation from his asking price is that I had him purchase a headlight rim to replace the cracked one on his car.

Since ownership, (now has about 92K miles), have repalced valve guide seals, LHA block (or whatever that is called), and normal sched maintainance.

Of course, I have spent some money on optional things. Stuff like an OEM Becker instead of the Kenwood CD, Sportline bars and Bilstein shocks, and Bosch euros and corners.

Am very, very happy with the car, (except for it being an automatic). Since my first Mercedes purchased back in 1977 (a '59 190b), I've always wanted a Mercedes coupe. Really wanted a W123 coupe, but I'll settle for the W124 coupe. It's a great car!

I purchased my 1994 SL500 for $16500 about six month ago. It needed a lot of neglected work (about $4000) but still turn heads and kick a** on the highway. This car can bury your head into the headrests. Right now it probably needs new upper/lower radiator hoses and emergency brakes.

geoff,
I did check auto trader and search of them and newspapers show 185 MBZ of various makes and models for sale. I could not find any thing in my price range that didn't need 2-3K of work.

As you can see, I checked e-bay too. Cars for sale there are generally too far away and auto transport is about $800.00

I worry about rust when buying sight unseen cars from Chicago and the East Coast. I lived on Halstead St. in Chicago for a while.

Boudreaux,
Looks great.....I like the color. These cars in the Pacific NW fetch upwards to 24K. Must be too many Microsoft millionaires here.

Boudreaux,
Looks great.....I like the color. These cars in the Pacific NW fetch upwards to 24K. Must be too many Microsoft millionaires here.

An 83 300D w/185000 for $2500, best $1500 car I've ever owned:rolleyes:

An 83 300CD w/195000 for $1600, unusally good shape and runs like a top. Being used tis winter because the other one broke its axles.

And the baby, a 58 220S sedan w/66K. All original and not restored for 12K a couple of years back.

glmoy
For the wiring harness on an E420 the labor rate was $120/hr. and they charged for 4 hours time.
Different Mercedes dealerships gave me estimates of 3.5 to 5.5 hours for the same job. You got to shop around. Many places just don't want to be bothered with someone trying to get the parts free. Also it's very difficult with high mileage cars to get any help at all with free parts out of warranty. But with 39,000 miles they finally gave in and realized it should have lasted a lot longer.

How bout posting a pic of that jewel:).

I have paid between $1500 and $22k (includes prior owned MB's too) for 'em and so far the one that feels best as a "daily driver" is the '85 300D:). I save the 300SD for freeway cruising:).

Bought my 1987 300E with 110K miles for $7,000 in 2000. Traded it in for $9,000 on my 1999 C43 AMG in 2002. I paid $36,000 for C43 with 40,000 miles on it and an extended bumper to bumper Starmark Warranty to 100,000 miles or 2005.

I dropped a lot of money on the 300E trying to make it perfect. (Not a good idea). I replaced the following old worn out parts with new: HD Bilsteins; flex discs; pads rotors; AC compressor; AC expansion valve; AC suction hose; Radiator; Cruise control amplifier; 2 OVP relays; Alternator; and Water pump. I also had the sun roof mechanism rebuilt; replaced a window switch; had the speedometer repaired; and also installed my old Alpine HD with Alpine 6 CD changer and new MB Quart seperates. Car was great, felt and sounded fantastic but, when the AC condenser sprung a leak I couldn't take it and traded it in on the C43. Counting the sales tax I saved on the $9,000 trade in price, after repairs and purchase price I probably spent/lost about $7,000 to $8,000.

The C43 has been better than great to date. The extended Starmark is well worth it. I've had Benz rebuild the driver's orthopedic seat: replace the brake switch; replace the sunroof screen, fuel filter, cabin filter, etc. I had the misfortune of being rear ended 45 min. after I bought the car and was so upset I forced the offender's insurance co. to pay me $6,000 over the cost of rebuilding, by hand, my entire rear suspension with new AMG parts from Germany. Essentially the car cost me $30,000 and runs fantastically. Easily the fastest most comfortable car I have ever owned.