I don't know about contacting the previous owner...I called the previous owner of my 560, and he was one grumpy old man, let me tell you...

He told me to stop bugging him, and that he didn't care that I was having problems registering the car, and basically just hung up on me after saying he didn't want to deal with it. O_O

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Current cars:
2000 ML55 AMG, 174k miles
2003 C240 T-Modell, 202k miles
1995 S320, 207k Miles