dLat

Hi everyone,

This is my first post, so please let me know if I've posted in the correct section. I've been searching around online and doing research through many forums on the CLK 55 AMG, and I'm finally starting to look at used car listings since I think this is the first car I want (both to daily and have fun in).

The car I'm looking at has been in an accident, it's an '03 (so I know that it most likely has the Valeo issue), it has 157000 (which is the lowest kms I've managed to find in Canada). The price is 10500 CAD, and it's been in one accident, but the owner the car has been repaired and certified but MTO to meet or exceed all safety standards.

What do you guys think of this car? I'm kind of tempted since all other clk55's have been going for around $12000, with no accidents.

desired_speeds

You're paying a lot of money for a salvage high mileage car. Just to put it into perspective, I bought a 2 owner clean title 03 CLK55 with 109k for $7800 in 2013 that required about $1800 of work.

YamiR46

Wayyyyy too much for an 03 clk55 man. A few more grand and you could find a high mileage 05-06 e55. Keep looking though im sure you will find a w209 55 for cheaper.

jkiddd33

I'm
Selling
Mine if you're interested. PM
Me.

dLat

Hi everyone,

The thing is I am in Eastern Canada and those are the lowest prices I've seen so far (with the exception of one going for 12k CAD @87000km, I think that was the next good deal because of the mileage).
Should I keep waiting for one that is around 7-9k?

@ jkiddd33
I'd have to get it shipped and imported to Canada

jkiddd33

To be honest, owning a Benz is not cheap by any means. Owning an AMG is even more costly. Purchasing a high mileage AMG without service records yet alone salvage title is a recipe for disaster.

If you're looking to spend 7-8k you need to have 10k sitting at the bare minimum. If that straps you down, don't buy a car that expensive because you won't be able to enjoy it.

Best of luck my friend.

ambit

I'm not sure a 368Hp RWD coupe as a first/only car in Canada is the best idea either..
Besides the maintenance costs..
I keep a 2nd set of rims with winter tires for mine in the Michigan winters. But I'd much rather have a truck.

MarcusF

You’re asking what I think of a 14 year old AMG with 157,000 miles that's been wrecked, cobbled back together by "some as yet unnamed hack", and comes from an area where rusted out cars are not unheard of . . . . . . . . . . BUT on the upside, has been certified as meeting the less than exacting safety requirements necessary not to kill everyone within striking distance on the drive home (all other drives are beyond the scope of the inspection) . . . . . . . . . . hmmmm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I'm kind of leaning on the "this is a bad idea" side of the fence.

Think about this – can you change a valve cover gasket? A dealer can. $1K. Can you change motor mounts? A dealer can. $1K. Spark plugs? Flex discs? Brake fluid? Coolant? The fuel filter? Belt tensioner? Alternator? Brake pads and rotor? All that is normal wear stuff. We haven’t considered anything that was wrecked and reassembled with used parts by some half-wit.

I have no clue as to your mechanical acumen. It could be that you can make some smoldering pile of crap that’s destined for the junk yard shine like a new dime in short order. The alternative? Oh, that’s going to be expensive.

bayseven

So what would a good price be? I saw the vehicle ad (I think)

Dziner82

to be honest you should probably budget about $12,000 CAD at least if you want to buy one and fix most of the stuff its going to have wrong with it.

i bought a low mileage w208 CLK55, but it had lots of small things that it needed. i had a ballpark budget of $15,000 knowing i needed to pay that much of ra good one or have extra money for repairs, i paid $10,000 for the car and then another $5000 to fix lots of small stuff, refinish the wheels, repair the front bumper, new brakes, etc etc. i can do small repairs, but not most of the stuff that was wrong with the car... so i budgeted for it ahead of time and it didnt mess up my finances. this is what you need to prepare for i think.

great cars and the market value is low for them right now but i dont recommend buying one if you cant afford at least 30% of what you buy the car for to put into repairs the first 3 months. if you cant to that you will probably end up selling it for a loss a year later :-(

if you find one that the owner had taken care of well with service records and good maintenance then it will probably cost more than what your looking for.

also, just a quick story, 6 months ago went and saw a CLK55 that was in decent shape and 78,000 miles and needed about $2500 in repairs in just major stuff that nobody should buy a car without doing. the dealer was asking $12,000, i offered $10,500, he wouldn't budge AT ALL... for the next 5 months i watched the dealer lower the price $500 at a time every 3-6 weeks on autotrader, the last i saw it listed it was for $9500. moral of the story... these cars dont usually sell, so if you can wait it out you will be better off in the end. we all get excited about buying these cars, but there is enough of them (not like my C43!) that there is going to always be 15-20 of them for sale, maybe fewer in canada, but at least take 2-3 months to wait for prices to drop or wait for something better to come along, or just save your money for awhile.

I bet in 2 months the car you are looking at will still be for sale, the owner will probably take $1000 less than what he is asking now, and you can save another $2000 to help yourself out on repairs the car will likely need.

being in canada sucks for sure, im sure you could get a better car for less here in the states.

amg_514

I bought mine at 86,000km (from Montreal QC), the car was clean and I went to 2 different garages, first guy, told me straight up go buy, second one actually wanted to buy it off of me.
What am I saying is, you get what you pay for (I paid more than 12k obviously).


If you`re serious about it, get it to a Benz certified garage (there will be some in your town that specialize in European cars) and get a full pre-inspection from A-Z.
Also we all have a gut feeling and if something is off, walk away.

dohcfiend

couple things....

1. that is waaaaayyyy too much money for a salvaged car.

2. i wouldn't recommend it as a daily with that mileage. Don't get me wrong the engine is great but the rest of the car will require SERIOUS maintenance. Like when it needs maintenance, it feels like everything breaks at once. That is the way mine is....went nearly flawless without issue for 5 years then boom maintenance everywhere!

floridawriter

Hold on a minute. Who said this was a salvaged car? Not the OP. It's had an accident. Probably half the cars on this forum were bought used with at least one accident.
The OP should have the car taken to a Mercedes Dealer for a pre purchase inspection. Then he can make an intelligent decision. Whether or not he can do his own brake job in his driveway or how much it costs to maintain an older MB are irrelevant to his question.