Some people say buying one of our cars on eBay can be a nightmare -- others say they found the perfect car for them...

Please share your story. I'm in the middle of my own and will post when there is more to tell.

Bought my 560SEL a few yrs ago from an established high-end used car dealer on eBay. Car had records up to date. Seller said that if I did NOT like it, he'd pay for our plane tickets home.

We flew down to Dallas, bought the car. A few minutes after leaving, noticed it wasn't blowing hot. Took it back to him, called his mechanic (on New Year's Eve night) and told me that it would be fixed in the AM. Put us up in a nice motel and we left New Year's Day with heat! Turned out to be the infamous monovalve, luckily he had one on hand since everything was closed.

Car has been great, only routine maintenance performed.

I bid on a 190D 2.5 listed by a fellow from one fo the southern states. And until the last few seconds of the auction I was winning at far below my maximum automatic bid but above the reserve. At that time the seller cancelled the auction. The seller then emailed me saying he would not sell the car for less than $xxxxxx...even though he had a much lower reserve price on the auction. I thought about buying the car anyway since he still wanted less than my maximum autorized bid.

But...would you buy a car from a guy who has openly demonstrated he is willing to use deception to sell a car. It just was not worth the risk to me so I reported him to Ebay for "breaking the rules". He told Ebay he had ended the auction becasue he had found a local buyer. There were no consequences as a result...even though his emails clearly contradicted his story.

I would be very careful of any private seller.... if they have a prior history of selling cars on ebay. If the car has a new paint job I would pass. A bit of putty and paint can make a dog look like a queen...for a few months.

Dealers and private parties with no previous car sales might be a different story.

Dana

__________________
Dana Linscott
Vegoil converted truck...vegoil converted 1987 190DT, 300 series next.

http://vegoilconversions.netfirms.com/

I found my wagon on eBay. It was a local seller and when I contacted him and asked if I could take a look at the car, he told me to come on down for a test drive.

After I sized her up and felt good about the condition, I asked if he would sell her right there on the spot. He agreed, and just happened to have the pink slip right there to sign over! (And I just happened to have a wad of cash to hand over!)

I always felt that I paid too much ($2700), but when I got home and checked my wagon's eBay listing, the bid was up to $3200!

14 months later, no regrets.

Interesting topic.

I have sold three vehicles on the internet, two BMW's (2002 and 528e) and sold a 1966 Ford Econoline Camper Van on eBay. I bought the 528e as a result of an ebay auction. All of my deals were satisfactory both for the buyer and seller so far as I know. I thought I got fair prices and paid fair prices. I do think you have to look at a sellers feedback to be sure you are dealing with a reputable person (I'd like to think of myself as a reputable person).

I follow another BMW newsgroup and numerous persons have purchased cars on eBay with good result. CARFAX, although not perfect, can be very useful especially with mileage fraud and flood cars.

Recently, there have been three MB 300TD's that sold for well over $5k on eBay. These cars are somewhat rare and if I tried to sell mine locally in San Diego, I might not have a good opportunity to get the amount of interest that eBay affords.

I have sold a lot of stuff on the Bay and if you look at counters on the items, you will see that hundreds of people see your item. If you sell at a garage sale or on a street corner (in the case of a car), how many people see your item? Not nearly as many for sure.

Of course, I am an eBay addict so maybe my perception is one-sided. I do find that many items people used to think of as "rare" come to be pretty "common" when looked at on ebay. I almost never buy anything without comparison shopping on the Bay.

Just my .02 worth.

__________________
Mike Holbrook
1983 MB 300TD-T (aka -- Daisy)
Spring Valley, CA

Any pics??

WD

Ooh, somehow I knew you were gonna ask that! I'm really terrible (lazy?) about things like that

I saved the original pics from the eBay auction -- if I find them sometime soon, I'll post a few. But the condition of the paint was one of the weakest aspects of my baby, so I really haven't bothered taking any new shots. How do they say, she's a nice 40 footer? Or maybe she's a Monet: looks beautiful from a distance, but up close...

Paint doesn't really mean too much -- how about rust and such -- I'm just real curious what that amount gets.

Also... I'm happy people find this an interesting post... I thought it would be neat to see how other people deal with such a huge resource as eBay is. I've sold a car (Jeep Grand Wagoneer) and a boat on eBay -- both weren't in great shape -- but it served the purpose. I've also used eBay for a many other things...

Keep 'em coming...

I think buying on Ebay is like gambling, sometimes you win, other times you get burned. I've bought 3 cars on Ebay. One was an 87 420SEL which I no longer own and which I bought from a dealer with no feedback. Dealer made false promises and the car had numerous problems. At that time I wasn't much of a DIYer so maybe if it was today I'd feel better about the car. Back then I spent a fortune trying to fix everything at a repair shop.

Recently I bought 2 other cars on Ebay, pretty much at the same time, from 2 different dealers with very good feedback. My 87 300D and 83 240D. The 240D was quite expensive at $4200 but it does look almost like new. The 87 was $5200 and looks very nice too, though the paint is not as nice as the 240. Now I'm mostly a DIYer so most typical used-car problems don't bother me. Nevertheless I was surprised to find many issues, fortunately none very serious, despite the higher prices and good feedback. For example, the 87 needed AC switches, monovalve, vacuum pump, belt, differential mounts and a much needed brake fluid flush. The 240 needed a new alternator and has some occasional noise apparently coming from the RR wheel bearing. Both cars needed new tires and wheel alignment. Despite all this, they're very nice cars and I'm quite pleased with them but it took balls to buy them unseen (I had them delivered from out of state). I still prefer to buy locally, but it's usually tough to find the car you want if you only look locally.

__________________
2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

I bought a 240D on eBay and I have had good results.

Here in California rust isn't usually a problem. If you know the type and color of license plates issued over the years then you'll know if the car has been in the state all it's life. My '77 240D has no rust anywhere. If a Califonia car has plates newer than its age then be careful; it might have been brought in from out of state. Carfax is a useful service in this case.

The problem in California is that the cars don't rust and the owners of MBZ diesels tend not to part with them--we shouldn't be shocked to learn that!

All old cars have their quirks and problems, you just have to know what you're looking at and expect that some repairs are going to be necessary. I also figure that any old car I buy is going to require 500-1000 dollars in parts in the first year. If the car was perfect then why would they sell it?

At least diesels are exempt from California's draconian smog II rules and I won't have to junk it because it doesn't pass smog--this happened to my last two cars. There is something annoying about being told your 500 dollar car needs a 700 dollar converter with no garentee that it will pass if you do replace it.

M.

__________________
He's wild and free and so close to it only Gunk will clean his fingernails!

I've bought 4 from ebay (I live in Michigan)

Georgia ('84 300D) Phenom experience. Still our best car out of 8 MB's. Paid $3100. Car is away at college with daughter #1 and I never think about it. Would not trade it for a new domestic car in the $13k range cuz nothing goes wrong with it.

Houston ('83 300D) Nice car, no rust, etc. Tranny slipped more than anticipated but we lived with it. Paid $3100 again. Rear-ended by a F-150 18 months after purchase. Engine went into a converted 4 speed manual. Parts car now and delivering piece by piece

Virginia ('85 300D) Well communicated issues by Ebay seller. No motor mount and not PS belt, etc. Towed it home, threw in some used parts. Our second best car. Quiet and stately with anthr. grey color. Paid $2000.

Kentucky ('84 300D) Had more rust than the seller communicated but the car runs out better than expected. Paid $1750 and overall pretty happy with it.

Wouldn't hesitate to purchase from ebay, but I want:

1. good feedback on the seller
2. several email communications
3. at least one verbal, over the phone conversation
4. oil consumption, compression and transmission promises.

All the other stuff on these cars are easy to fix for the DIY'er

Don

__________________
DAILY DRIVERS:
'84 300DT 298k (Aubrey's)
'99.5 Jetta TDI IV 251k (Julie's)
'97 Jetta TDI 127k (Amber's)
'97 Jetta TDI 186k (Matt's)
'96 Passat TDI 237k (Don's
'84 300D 211k Mint (Arne- Undergoing Greasecar Conversion)

SOLD:
'82 240D 229k (Matt's - Converted-300DT w/ 4 speed

my employer bought a mitsubishi montero on e-bay from some kid who had never sold a car before. he got the car as a gift and never had it titled in his name. i took a month to contact him since he had moved (why he sold the car) but we were able to work it out. if we hadnt been able to find him it would have been a huge pain to get it titled and cost hundreds of dollars and lots of time.

lesson: make sure you get the title in the sellers name and that he doesnt just sign his name under the previous owner!

__________________
1991 300 D 2.5 Turbo, 220k
also in the family:
1981 240 D 185k
1991 350 SD 185k
2006 S 500
2005 SLK 350

Funny you should mention that, it's one of the many reasons I love my car. I've got the original Blue Plates, early 1 series. (I'm one of those Blue Plate/Black Plate fanatics.) Although I personally don't know the complete history of my car, it's safe to say that it's never been out of state or on a used car lot. Just lovingly passed from owner to owner via private transactions.

Regarding rust, my car has a few surface rust spots (practically dots) on the paint here and there, and a little rust patch in the weatherstrip crease on the rear hatch. I just stay on top of them, and don't let 'em progress any further. It's a SoCal local car through and through, so rust is really not a major factor.

I just bought my 190D on eBay last month. It was on the other side of the continent, so I flew out there one-way, the seller met me at the airport and took me to the DMV for temporary registration, and then I drove the car 2500 miles home. Total round trip time (incl. flight): 56 hours! The car got 40mpg consistently at 70mph.

My thinking was that if I couldn't find the car I wanted locally, then I didn't really care how far away it was...

There are a lot of cars on eBay that I wouldn't touch, but this one had a lot of good things going for it. It was pre-inspected (by Pep Boys), and the inspection results were independently posted on the pep boys website, which was also an important factor for me since I couldn't go see the car myself (even though it's just a simple basic inspection, it is independent, so it eliminates the chance that the car is obviously horrid). I did a carfax check too.

The auction ended at 6AM local time, so I got up early, watched the price, entered in my maximum bid at the last second (early bidding only raises the final price, in my opinion), and waited to see what happened. It went higher than I expected but $150 less than my maximum bid - I won!

As far as pricing goes, I think I paid about $1000 more than the USA-wide average, but at least $1000 less than what cars like this go for where I live. Plus, I got the exact color combination I wanted, and it's a 5-speed, and it's from the original owner (who picked it up w/ the european delivery program) with all of the service records since new, and it's in decent condition (everything works), which is an unlikely combination that I think is worth some extra money to me. Plus, the previous owner was meticulous with maintenance, and it's all documented.

But, the best part is the shock value of the story. Everyone thinks I am insane ("You bought this car where!?! how!?! ")

The only negative of the whole thing was that the seller somewhat overstated the condition of the car's paint job, but not enough for me to not buy it. The car only needed a couple hundred dollars in repairs to pass a super-detailed government inspection, and they were all things that would only be detected by a thorough inspection (i.e. I don't think the seller knew of them).

I asked the seller a lot of clarifying questions, but if I did this again, I would probably ask more, and be more specific. Overall, it was a good experience. There is certainly an element of risk, but that makes things interesting!

Photos (they're big!)
Back
Front
Interior 1
Interior 2

__________________

1989 250TD Wagon 5-speed, 160,000mi ::: Dark gray metallic / black cloth
1984 190D-2.2 5-speed, 287,000mi ::: Silver-blue metallic / black MB-tex ::: SOLD

Paint looks excellent.

__________________
'91 300D 2.5 Turbo 330K
'00 VW TDI Golf, 190K
'67 BMW R50/2
'73 Norton Commando Interstate