Hey guys, I need a little input as to what you think might be a reasonable price for selling a 1993 190E 2.6 (the last year they made them) with 90K miles and all service records inlcuding recent 90k service. This 190E is pretty much stock compared to the other one I had, but it does have an amp, equalizer, and component speaker, tweeters, woofers replacing the factory speakers. It has a 6-Disc CD-changer (MB spec model Alpine) that works with the MB Head Unit. The car is in great shape inside (9.8/10) and outside (9/10) with brand new tires in the rear and a little less then half life on the front (about 15K miles used Pirelli P6000 Sport Veloce in 205/55/V15, traded to a friend for Dunlop SP Sport 5000 w/ 20k miles and got paid $75 for both.) The new tire are Michelin Pilot XGT H4 in 205/60/15.
It has all the options available including Automatic Transmission, Airbags, ABS, Power options, etc. except the "winter" options (heated seats, ASR, and Headlight wipers) because the car was not going to be used in snow much, and the ASR kills all the fun of driving!
Its Smoke Silver (Metallic Grey) exterior, and Grey/Black leather interior. Never been in an accident, painted, flooded, etc. Still has full spare which was used for 20 miles. Original Owners.
Now sorry for the long detailing, but I thought it would be important. Original price in April 93 was $34K+, so I did an evaluation of the car, and it basically comes to $17,250 fair-market retail, and $13,750 fair market wholesale. Retial sale is at $18,950 and dealer trade in at $12,950.
I talked to my local dealership (a guy I have known for years, nought 3 cars from him) and he said that if I did sell my car the DE/Philly area is a good choice because there wasn't that many sold/bought/traded according to the MB dealership. However, when I asked how much I would get for a trade in, he toldy me frankly that its not in my best intrest to do that (I knew that) because since there wasn't that many 190E 2.6 in the area, MB considered that an indication that the 190E 2.6 would be harder and longer to sell then other models. This would require more advertisement money spent, which meant less trade in price. On the other side, it represents to MB a possibility to sell a car that is in low supply, creating a higher retail value.
In english: "Its MBs way of making money, and its easier to due when you buy low and sell high." So his quotes came to about $12.5k and his sell price whould be about a little under $20k. He also told me that with MB's new no-hastle pricing, the dealers have also followed the trend on used car pricing. MB has their own appraisal value booklets that they follow.
On the plus side, he told me that these models (the w201, as well as the w124 and w140) were the best built quality wise, and the inline-6 were highly praised. Reliability was better then average, and I have all my service records, so I should be able to get a good price. He said ask for a little more then 15 and hlaf and sell for a little more then 14 and a half.
This leaves even more confused, becuase I don't see 190E selling at this price, but then again I don't see that many late model 190E. Another thing I don't see is the 2.6 being sold. So what is a fair price to ask?
Sorry for the long post, but I am torn up between the epic of selling my 190E and tuning it with the money I have, or buying a newer 190E preforming better for about the same. Sell 190 = maybe $15k + 14k in bank = a little less then $30k and buy a used MB or modify current 190E to performance of a larger/newer 190E and let go my chance of buying a new C-class. In a couple of months, the car will be 2 generations old, and I really do love the way the new C-class look. HELP!!!!!!
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Chirag (Charlie) Patel
99 Mercedes-Benx ML 430 V8 w/custom TV, Video, UHF, speaker system
93 190E 2.6 w/ an amp, equalizer, and CD-changer, integrated w. stock stereo for integrated cellular phone speaker system
2001 C-Class - Maybe