PhillC

Hi all,

New to the forum and have been looking for either and e55 or e63 for a few months now. I've been searching the west coast and inter mountain west for a car, searching nationally to see what is available in price, miles and condition. I'm looking for a totally stock car.

I'm posting to get opinions on pricing on an unlisted garage queen I located through a friend of a co-worker. It is a one owner, garage kept, dealer maintained, no damage, weekend driver with just under 30k miles. In essence, I think it's a unicorn (and a legit one).

Looking regionally and nationally, it looks like there are rough examples for 9-13k, most 80-100k miles in OK condition seem to be asking mid to high teens, and I see a few 40-60k cars in good shape pushing 21-24k.

This owner was hoping to get about $30k, but is open to $27k. KBB seems to as usual, no help, and there are not enough low mile examples to get comps.

There do seem to be several 50K mile cars for $22-24k, so I'm thinking $25k would be a good price.

That having been said, I'm no car expert and don't understand car depreciation curves (I can tell you anything you want to know about light aircraft pricing!) and when these cars might start to hold or even increase in value.

I keep my machines for a long, long time, and will take good care of this, driving it no more than 6-8k miles per year. I won't mod it either. 80 percent highway, 10 percent city, 10 percent fast/curvy roads. In that sense I'm not overly concerned with depreciation, but I don't want to over pay. (Yes, something is worth what someone will pay for it.)

I will get it inspected by MB dealer, and don't know the full import of the low miles...maybe stuff has yet to need replacement on it?

You guys are the experts...what value a car like this?

What do you think?

I think I have a few more boxes to check and would like to get the price down a bit.

Really appreciate any input.

Phill C.

E55Greasemonkey

You can buy a rare wagon, a true unicorn, for that kind of money.

BlackHammer

What year, color, options?
Any modifications?
TK

cetialpha5

It wold probably help if you mentioned the year. But say it's a 2006 E55 and it has navigation which is the only option that nadaguide lists that adds value to the car. So Nadaguide says $24,625 retail, $19,400 average trade in and $21,400 clean trade in. Most of the time when buying private party, you aim for somewhere between average and clean trade in. Sometimes you see deals for rough trade in which is $17k on this car. So it's the average case of the seller valuing the car way too highly. The car depreciates whether it's driven or not. There's some S600 vehicles out there from the 90's that are under $10k and were over $100k when new and they have low mileage. If you're a low mileage guy, you're better off buying a car with higher mileage, depreciation will slow down if you put less miles on it. I wouldn't pay over retail because if the car gets crashed, that's all the insurance company will pay you no matter what you pay for it. Many insurance companies and registry of motor vehicles use nadaguide. Dealers like to use KBB because they're always on the high side. There are several E63's out there going for less than $25k. The newer ones tended to have more options like keyless go, bixenons and I think they had normal bluetooth and ipod, phones can be tricky with the older E55's. Of course there's the headbolt issue with the E63.

lseguy

When buying from private party I never go as high as retail. My max offer is between trade in/private seller range.

Key is to not get emotionally attached and be prepared to walk away. Chances are high the car will still be with that seller two weeks later when you check back in with him/her and he/she will be more motivated to accept your offer.

cdumitru

I paid 24.5k for an absolutely immaculate west coast car, 2005 E55 with 22k miles on the clock, it came with brand new tires and clear bra since new. This was last month, and it was also a west coast car. Good luck with the car, hopefully this helps. I don't mind paying a bit extra for a rare find, but this one also had all maintenance records since new, that helped as well.

PhillC

Whoops! It's a 2004. And i believe it is fully optioned. It's silver, with charcoal/black interior. I do prefer a light color for purposes of retaining as much sleeper capacity as possible. Completely stock, and I will not mod.

Thanks for the comments thus far, I did find a few older threads after posting that gave me some additional perspective.

Thanks for the purchase data cdmitru, I think some of your previous posts are what I saw.

I agree that the price is probably too high, that's part of why I've been slow to respond to the seller. I have also not established what the status of the airmatics is.

cetialpha5

Many people claim a car is fully loaded, but usually it just has a few options. Posting the VIN or running it through a vin checker will tell you what options it really has. I've seen many cars that claim to have HID, but don't. Distronic was also a rare option. I suppose it has all the other options like keyless go, power trunk closer, phone, parktronic, tire pressure monitoring and dynamic seats?

s.i.f.i.

That's what I paid for my car last year, but it is a unicorn's unicorn.. orig owner who used to be on this forum gave Brabus a hundred grand to turn it into a K8 and the service records were immaculate.
I hope to see the value of these cars go up, they surely deserve it. If this one here has had the needed maintenence done and is as nice as it sounds, you'd be getting one helluva lotta car for the money. Start closer to 20 and meet in the middle?

phoebeusfenix

I will be posting up my wagon for sale shortly. 2005 E55 sitting right at 86k right now. Have all service records, and a complete build sheet as well.

270win

What are you thinking you want for it?

phoebeusfenix

From what I've seen comparable models/options/mileage are sitting at the mid-high 20 range. I am thinking $26,500 currently.

270win

Let me know when you're ready, I'm selling my wife's Sequoia and we (she) wants a wagon. This could be a win for both of us.

BlackHammer

" ...Completely stock, and I will not mod."

You are on the wrong site! 😄
Whatever you do or pay for the car you can't go wrong. Ton of car for the $...

Good luck

phoebeusfenix

I'm ready anytime. What's a good email and I can get photos and everything sent?

cdumitru

This is so true, these come well loaded stock, but not all have some of the more desirable options you listed. Mine didnt come with Distronic, Power Trunk closer or keyless go. Love keyless option from our other cars, the rest, I can do without.

PhillC

Thanks for the additional comments everyone!

Yes, I realize not wanting to mod is pure sacrilege! But I've spent enough time wrenching on bikes and airplanes.

Phoebe, excellent thread hijack. Best I've ever seen. Where do you live? Gorgeous wagon. I'm actually interested in a wagon, but there are so few I figured I'd not waste my time looking for one.

phoebeusfenix

I'm in central Kansas lol.

cetialpha5

It may be sacrilege on this forum, but it's pretty common for cars not to sell once they're modded. The classified section is filled with ads from tons of people who have modded their cars and you can always see the price going lower and lower. The best ones are the ones that say they're priced to sell and 2 or 3 pages later, it still hasn't sold.

Shadow5501

So, is that pewter? (Sorry Phil!)

phoebeusfenix

I believe pewter is the name for it. I'll get an official for sale thread up shortly

tscales

I'm tempted by the wagon and I already own one!