lhoang

k here is the deal,

i would like to buy a 2001 slk, but its carfax says that someone has returned the car at about 17,000 miles as a lemon (in california) due to the bas/abs light ( i think thats what its called), anyways, the car was bought back by the dealer, fixed!, then another dealer bought it and used it as a demo , now its up for sale with 23,400 miles on it.

should i be worried? i test drove tonight and it seems to have no problems. also, my bro who owns a 02' c230 coupe told me that this bas/abs light was a manufacturer defect and it was called back, which he did and the dealer took care of it and no probs since. so maybe is this the same problems this slk had ?

if anyone know anything , let me know. thanks in advance.

Matt230K

Try to get the complete service history from the dealer. If this was the only problem that resulted in it being a lemon, then I would say it is an okay car to buy.

But I would make sure it is really fixed. The dealer may have told you that they fixed it after it was turned in, but then why couldn't they fix it when the previous owner had it?

schwarz c230

Tell the dealer it has marked as a lemon by carfax, you are really worried about buying it unless they provide 7year 100,000 mile warranty at no charge

lhoang

matt230k - i will try to get the service records. maybe even call the exact dealer.

schwarz- i am buying from a high end used car delaership, not a mercedes dealer. but good thought, maybe i can get a discount on extended warranty.


though the car was a lemon, its still under warranty for 2 more years. i will probably end up getting extended warranty. but i don't want to return the car for service evry month.

i'm thinking i should be confident driving the car off the lot with warranty right?

schwarz c230

I really think if you have a good tech in your area almost anything is fixable, the issues with the car you are looking at seem very minor, I would love be be driving that car off the lot, just not right now, the weather has not been very nice.BTW did you sell the sedan, or are you trading it in

Outland

There has never been a recall for BAS/ABS on the C - Class. I think your 'bro' is mistaken. You should really post this message on the SLK board.

lhoang

sorry, i misunderstood my bro

he told me that his bas/abs light came on and he took it in to the dealer for service.

the service man at greenway mercedes in houston said that it was a light malfunction and that once in a while it would just show up for no reason. the service man said that it doesn't mean that there was really a malfunction, but the light just comes on. also, he said that they didn't want to label this problem a recall. (maybe for becuz of bad publicity, my guess.

but in reality kinda.

KWiK

stay away from lemons! If they had enough failed attempts at fixing a problem that it qualified as a lemon, what makes you think it would be any different now.

amdeutsch

I agree with KWIK here. Once a lemon, always a lemon so to speak. Carfax showed this to be. What will happen in a few years when you want to sell it or upgrade it. Don't you think that they will not run a Carfax and find out. Then you will have to deal with a lot of possible rejections and/or unwanted questions. Just my $0.02

lhoang

well, let say i pay for a mercedes dealer inspection fo rthe car for like a hunred doallars or so before i buy it.

what kinda of offer should i make below the asking price? meaning what kinda of discount should i get becuz the the car was a lemon. this should play a big factor correct?

Jim Banville

Find out EXACTLY what was wrong with it. There is a HUGE difference between ABS and BAS. Drive it for a few days. If you don't get a fault code, and you want the car, buy it. You have two years left on the warranty in case it pops back up. Many defects that result in "lemon" cases are really due to incompetent dealers/servicers. ANYTHING can be fixed!