Be careful. It appears that you need to do most of the front end over, if he has never done anything. You need to do all the rubber seals on the glass and probably on the trunk. If you want it to look good, you are going to need to do the seats over as well.

You might also be looking at a transmission with 265K on the clock.

Figure that you must spend at least $3K on it in the first year. If it needs a trans, you need to spend $5K in the first year.

You sure you don't want to wait for a better vehicle? If you give him $2K and you need to put $5K in it, then you would be way better off finding one with 150K on the clock and paying $5K right up front, don't you think?

My own SD had 150K on the clock and it was $4K. It does not need any front end work just yet. It is getting close to lower ball joints, that's about it. There are a lot of miles between 150K and 250K.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again:

There is nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes-Benz.