kchristos

After long time of personal dispute and consideration, I finally took the decision to upgrade from the more classical C43 AMG to a more modern car, perhaps a C32 AMG or maybe an Sti. Even thought I love the quality and dependability of the C43’s, the low pitch sound and the low-end torque of the V8, C32's appeal to the eye as more modern Mercedes cars and if you have the extended warranty you don’t have to worry too much for any potential problems.

So here it is;

My car is a 1999 C43 Black metallic on Black interior. Current odometer reading is: 75,800 miles.
My car has Extended Warranty with Members Choice Autocare of 40 months; 36,300miles remaining with a $100.00 deductible which could be transferable to the potential buyer (asking price with and w/out explained at bottom) if desired (I strongly suggest it to anyone since I believe that it is hard to get Extended Warranty after the car becomes 7 years old and if you find one, it would be quite expensive). The one I have basically covers all major mechanical/electrical and suspension parts. A list of the coverage plan is indicated in the picture below. I believe that those cars are known to be very reliable if you maintain them properly.

So, about 6 months ago I did the following preventive maintenance service (cost ~$1000.00) included:
1): Transmission Fluid Flushed and replaced by Mercedes Benz of Miami
2): Harmonic balancer recall done by Mercedes Benz of Miami
3): 16 Denso Iridium Spark Plugs IK16’s
4): K&N air filters, Bosh Fuel Filter
5): Engine oil has been changed diligently every 5k miles using the recommended Mobil 1 Synthetic

The interior looks really good; I love the quality of these cars. The exterior has some stone chips in the front as expected by a 1999 car. There is a snap-on part in the front bumper (it’s missing in a lot of these cars because it comes out very easily; was missing when I got the car. The MB dealerships are selling those for ~$200, you might be able to find it cheaper from the internet).

As far as the asking price considered, I did a nationwide search in Autotrader (a couple of weeks ago) for 1999 and 1998 C43's (See graph below). I first did a linear regression but I noticed that cars don’t depreciate linearly; they more like depreciate at a higher rate with more miles and tend to hold their value more with fewer miles. Therefore, I then did a polynomial regression which I believe that it is more representative of the current value of these cars. The blue line indicates the asking prices vs. miles for 1999 C43's (‘y’ stands for value and ‘x’ stands for miles). For the 1999 C43 the eq. came out to be: y=(10^-6) * x^2 -0.3104*x + 34737. For my car (almost ~76000 miles) it results to: $16922.6 Therefore, the asking price is: 16922+500 (Service done 6 months ago, costed about $1000. I am adding only $500)=$17422. If buyer wants to buy the Ext Warr. mentioned above, it would be 17422+1500=$18922. In general, the car is in great share and shows well.

So basically the asking price is:

$17422.00 (Without the Ext Warr)
$18922.00 (With Ext. Warr: “~ 40 months; 36,000 miles with a $100.00 deductible”)

Well, I tried to describe the car and calculate a fair asking price to the best of my ability. The car is in West Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Please PM me if you are interested.

Thanks,
Christos