ibil

Hi, I am hopefully about to buy a 2009 CLK 550 Cabriolet and looking for your collective advice to help with a puzzle.





When I check this car on a VIN-check web site, it shows that the car delivery date was July 2008. Then when I pull a Carfax report, it shows that the car was first registered, with 66 miles, in March 2010. That is a 1.5 year gap between manufacture and registration. Why could that be? Is that a problem? Any thoughts?


Also, any particular issues to look into when buying this car? It is single-owner, dealer maintained, and has about 40,000 miles.


Thanks a lot!


P.S. I checked the engine serial number, and it is past the balance shaft/ camshaft adjustment solenoid range

squid23

It isn't unusual for some cars to stay on the lot for a long time. The dealer ordered options and/or colors that were unpopular.

It would be interesting to see how many miles there were on when it was registered. It would have been used extensively for demoing (test driving). That might be bad since some dealers encourage buyers of fun cars to rev them up a lot on a test drive.

In any case, the buyer gets punished for it because the then-next buyer will still see this as a 2008 or 2009.

ibil

Thank you. The DMV/ Carfax records show that the car was registered with 66 miles on the odometer.

Is it a problem that the new car sat on dealer's lot for over 1.5 years? After all, everyone says that cars are built to be driven and don't do as well when they just sit.....

squid23

I don't think sitting is a problem for a new car (the way that sitting is for an old car with winter's salt all over the suspension).

66 miles only gives you about 10 test drives. I suppose that isn't too bad.

It all depends on the price. Do you get a 2008 price or a 2010 price?

gaazmon

U see this sometimes with cars that the model is outgoing. Let's not forget that the name change from CLK to E probably killed the sales #s on the CLK (no AMG variant offered as well). By the time the 09s rolled out, the people that were gonna pay up probably didn't want to opt for a outgoing model. I've seen this with a few CLKs for sale. Ull probably see this with 2014 G37s that have been sitting on the lot since being replaced by the Q50.

ibil

Thank you, All! This is very helpful advice.


I am thinking of buying this car tomorrow, but I just learned something new that has me concerned. Maintenance was done at a dealer (records are available), except the most recent one, which is overdue.


It says that service B is late by 147 days!! About 41,000 miles on the odometer now. The last service/ oil change was at ~29,000 miles. How much of a problem is this? Should I walk away from this car?


Also, how much would this service B cost? It looks like a 39,000 service (is transmission fluid supposed to be changed?)


Many thanks for your advice!

Eojj

I'm pretty sure you could negotiate to get B service done with the purchase. I think it consists of a oil/filter change with a thorough inspection of the car. You should get a PPI or a Mechanic to check the car out for you anyways. And the oil change are done in 10k intervals (per our Guru's here. Don't think you should worry about that). Just make sure you get someone else to look the car over

Airmousam

Needs the tranny service, along with oil and filter change. Front brakes, if theyve not been replaced, are probably due too.

ibil

Thank you, All!