iridiumcls55

I purchased an 06 CLS55 with 32k miles from a SF bay area Mercedes dealership last month for $45k. It has the lighting package and premium package but no keyless go or distronic. The car was a CPO and looked mint. Interestingly enough it did NOT come with any warranty except the original 4 year warranty. Turns out neither the brakes or tires are anywhere near new either. CPO might not be all you think it is. Salesmen will tell you one thing, but ask a service rep or MBUSA about CPO standards and you might get another answer. Buyer beware.

DaCeptak0n

Guys, I'm wondering where else can someone like myself search for more CLS55s available. I have been only utilizing eBay. Spare me any sarcasm...

Where else can I look? Sources?

Improviz

Try cars.com and autotrader.com (beware of "too good to be true" scams on the latter). Autotrader allows you to set up alerts that are emailed to you once a day when cars that match your search criterion become available.

Also try carfax, which has a similar service (you'll probably want to have the service available when you're preparing to buy) that'll update you to cars coming on the market. It's nice as it catches dealers who do not advertise on cars.com or autotrader.com.

Lastly, mbusa.com has a CPO page where you can search for CPO cars in a particular area (or nationwide).

DaCeptak0n

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...4897&viewitem=

I have requested the CarFax report. I means what a stellar price for such a low mileage AMG? Something to be aware of?

What can I offer since I would be coming in From NJ requiring a flight?

DucatiNut

Car looks tidy. Check the carfax...
Just bought my 06 CLS55 with 13.9K miles and all options incl. distronic, 1 owner CPO with maintenance history for $55K. Immaculate condition.. good luck.
See here.. ( I added the wheels after, etc)
https://mbworld.org/forums/cls55-amg...new-cls55.html

46woodie

The car looks a little rough in the pictures. Look at the LH rear muffler and inside the exhaust tips. The paint looks to have flaws in it. Does it sit near the ocean? Be careful, dealers will tell you anything. I looked a several low mileage cars and they were all a mess and the dealers and owners told me they were flawless. Maybe flawless before the car chased gravel trucks for a year and drove down dirt roads chaseing the DUKE boys. I have found that pictures make the cars look better than they are. Good luck, just my 2 cents.

DaCeptak0n

I am waiting for the CarFax but I do agree with the paint issue(s) because when I saw the one at Ray Catena, the hood seemed like it was driven behind gravel trucks all its life..haha...

boxed

ha funny thing is, i looked at that car...car is mint. but out of my price range atm. next year next year...

good luck.

Kar don

Says the bumper cover was refinished... I personally think more of it was refinished. Look at the front fender, the V8 Kompressor is only missing off 1 fender. They probably had to repaint the fender which would explain the missing badge. I'd stay away from that car.

I6turbo

Re: Carfax, be aware that just because Carfax shows no problems, it does NOT mean that the car hasn't been in trouble before. I have personally known SEVERAL vehicles that had perfect Carfax reports but have been severely wrecked and repaired. One was actually partially parted out in a NJ salvage yard for a year or so, then put back together and it has a perfect Carfax report. If Carfax says there's a problem, there probably is. But just because Carfax indicates a clean bill of health, it doesn't necessarily mean much of anything.

jpohl402

LOL

Improviz

Yup, or it was a replacement using a CLS500/550 bumper. Either way, it's clearly been kissed on that front side....

Look, folks: dealers are not in the Santa Claus business. Caveat emptor is the key phrase here....if they're selling an ultra-low mileage example at a bargain basement price, there's more than likely a good reason for it.

Normally these small dealers get the cheapest cars they can dredge up from the auctions, and then use lipstick-on-the-pig marketing to sell them at a hefty profit. One place here in TX recently had a 2002 LS430 for $9995, a ridiculously low price...but a quick look at Carfax revealed why: it was a flood car with a salvage title. @*$% crooks...

In that case, carfax worked, but in many cases, it does not. In fact, I recently saw a BMW Z4 on Ebay, wrecked, being auctioned, with the seller proudly proclaiming that this wrecked car had a clean carfax (it did, I checked). Not all incidents get reported, so don't depend upon those guys to be your saviour.

Yes, it is a buyer's market, and there are good deals to be found, but the sweeter the deal, the more cynical and suspicious you should be....if you can't get the car and have it looked over by a bodyshop (preferably two), along with a few good mechanics, fuggeddaboutit. And forget the inspection service that Fleabay recommends: I used those guys once, came back and said that the car was clean. NO MENTION of paintwork (their site states that they report non-factory paint), and yet within two minutes of arriving and inspecting it, it was clear that both front fenders had been painted. And the crazy thing was that this was a CPO car!

It's better to stick with stuff in your area unless you can personally fly out and make arrangements to have it inspected at reputable establishments.

Improviz

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...r_id=256309850

$43.99K with 29,000 miles, originally titled in July 2005, so it has about seven months' worth of warrranty remaining. Three owners, three different states, looks like it was repo'd at least once. And, at that price, my guess would be that it's been hit at least once as well.

Kar don

silver with tan leather? yuck. Probably another reason the price is low.

Improviz

Yeah, that is pretty hideous!

pmb600

I'm a little late to this party but this is interesting: http://www.emercedesbenz.com/Dec08/0...mber_2008.html

While MBUSA's new car sales are down, pre-owned are up considerably over last year. No doubt people are reacting to higher leases and are perhaps being more economical and buying pre-owned. You should still be able to bargain hard on any car right now, but perhaps MB dealers pre-owned departments are not as desperate as we think...

bzliteyear

the used MB dept i bought my car from is up 300% yr/yr due to new mgmt. i think they're also figuring out that even if they break-even on used car sales, they make LOTS of money in the service dept from prepping the cars for CPO, including use of factory warranty so zero out of pocket. further, the finance dept can also make good money in the back end. if they're aggressive, they can make money selling the cars as well. i think the dealers who have cash are getting very good prices from MB credit. the MB dealer i dealt with has been bought 2006 R500's for $20k and E350's for $16k-ish. given the % off MSRP, there's decent room for them to get some sales off those low cost.
Patrick