Jaki

I've been looking for a 03-04 CLK55 AMG for over a month now. I'm specifically looking for a black one, but I'm having trouble finding any CLk55's in my area, and I live in Miami! There are 16 Ferrari 360's for sale within 25 miles of me, yet only 3 Clk55's within 300 miles of me. I've been looking on autotrader.com everyday, but there hasn't been a new CLK55 listed in a long time. One of those 3 is a great deal, but its silver, and I really want a black one.

So I was wondering where (website like autotrader, mb dealer, etc) did you buy your W209 CLK55 from, and did you order it or did they have it on the lot. I've talked to some dealerships that sell high end cars and they told me they can order me one if I put down a deposit and I can get it within 2 weeks, but I'm hesistant on that, because I would first like to check out the car in person before I put a deposit on it. I'm trying to find one with less than 20k miles. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Chappy

Best place (for MB-specific) IMO, is to use the pre-owned search on the MBUSA site and conduct a nationwide search. Then use Autotrader or E-bay if you can't find anything you like.

www.mbusa.com

Good luck!

blackbenzz

Be cool and get the W208! lol. W209 clk55's are always on ebay but I doubt you want to go that route. I dont know if cars.com is a local website but check that out as well.

DirtyVegasMB

Decided to buy an AMG after my dad bought an E55. I never drove the CLK55 and just looked it up on ebay one night.
It was last year and it was an 04 with 7K black on black for $54K. I looked at the picture for 2 nights. I couldn't find another AMG in town that I could drive. I live in Vegas, and the car was auctioned of in IL or somewhere down there. Two days after I spotted it on Ebay I called the dealer up that had the ad and put a down payment on it. Had it checked at the local MB dealer and after they OKed it I had it shipped here. The first time I even sat inside a CLK55 was on the day that it arrived on my doorstep.
I was not disappointed. If you are really looking for one you will find it. I just got lucky and had it land on my lap. Black on Black is great, just a pain to keep clean every once in a while. Good luck and don't be afraid to get it from out of state, just have the local dealer do a thorough check on it.

PTE

I found mine in the Auto Trader. Looked for about 6months. Then it showed up in Pompano Bch , . Private owner 8889 miles . 8 months old . The guy's wife hated it. To small. She wanted a S-500 to start with.. It Was a $79,000 car & thats what they paid. He tryed for about 90 days. to sell it. The priced droped to $58,000 . I offered $50,000. He took it. Warranty & maintance until May 08. Just keep looking , It Maybe a little wait. I've had a great time with Mine , Done some mods. I starting to get the itch for a CLS or E55 Good luck ___PTE___

Stiggs

I bought mine new from Carriage House of New London back in April 2003. It has really been a great car. I was very serious about selling it a while ago in hopes to get a CLS55.I've kinda given up on that dream for now. Mine has 25K miles and is black on black with Merlot inserts. I have Xenons, CD changer and rear window sunshade. Now I feel like I can't part with my baby. If you are ever up in Connecticut and want to check my car out...PM me and we can meet in a public place. If the price is right I might just sell her.LOL I guess I'm not really that attatched to her when I think about a shiney new CLS63!LOL

SRQLAW

I live in Sarasota - got mine from dealer in LA - saw car on Ebay - had a friend go check it out - and bought it sight-unseen - but - car only had 100 miles on it...shipped to my door!

Jaki

Seems like most of you bought yours from out of town. I've been looking on autotrader, ebay, cars.com, and now through mbusa pre-owned (thanks for the tip Chappy), and its pretty much the same cars on all of those websites. I've found a couple black CLK55's that seem like a great deal, but they're all 1k miles or more away from me. I guess I might just have to fly out and check the cars out in person. Question for those of you that had a out-of-town mb dealer check out the car before you ordered it: Do they check for scratches, interior/exterior condition, or do they just check to make sure its in good mechanical condition? Even though the mb dealer that checks it out says its in great mechanical condition, I'm just a bit afraid that it might not be in as great condition exterior wise (ie. scratches, loads of swirl marks... especially on a black car, loads of rock chips, etc.).

Stiggs

Good questions. I assume all the dealership is going to care about is if it is running well. the exterior they could say has normal wear and tear. But what is normal? Take my car for example. I could tell you it runs perfect (it does), but I could leave out that I already have a few good rock chips on the front (4 to 5 small ones). I have a small ding on the driver's side rear quater panel and I have a few marks on 2 rims from curb rash. All considered normal wear and tear? I dunno? But car shines nice and runs great....

55 ON IT

Preowned cars are almost never perfect, you have to keep that in mind. Rock chips are a given, and swirl marks can be polished away. A professional detail job could do wonders as well. I sound like a used car salesman now don't I!?!? I swear I'm not!!! Good luck on your search!

Chappy

Jaki,

1. Before you drop airfare on going to look at a car out of town, contact the seller and ask lots of questions. Ask them to take lots of pictures of the car and inquire as to the issues that concern you (scratches, swirls, etc.). Most legit sellers will happily accommodate you.

2. If you still like the car, ASK a fellow forum member to go and look at the car in person for you. I have done this twice for folks (MBCA peeps)....it's a great way to get to know forum members better and (as long as it doesn't get out of hand with too many requests) is fun to go "kick tires".

3. If it still passes muster at this point, arrange to have the car fully inspected (PPI) at your expense. Expect this to run about $200, depending on the locale.

4. If the deal still looks good, then make your arrangements to travel there yourself. You will be the final judge.

Happy hunting!

mcbaes72

There's some good advice here, probably better than I would've given. BTW, I found my wife's car on Autotrader last month and dealt w/ the owner of the dealership when negotiating. I was lucky to find a CLK55 in the same city I lived in. I know you already checked Autotrader, eBay, etc. But have you checked eLeaseReturns or the DuPont registry? Just a couple more suggestions for you to try out.

kbk

Bought mine last August at a merc dealer in manhattan. I took the advice of many members of this forum to be patient. Thanks to that I found a perfect car. This one was 05 black on black with every option available (except fone) with 7000miles and they put 4 new tires at my request. Listed as 57000 but paid 51000 after haggling like hell. So be patient and good luck.

mcbaes72

http://luxurymotors.com/

They have one CLK55 blk, but it's a cabriolet. They also have a couple of silver ones, but I know you're looking for black.

Jaki

Thanks for all your help guys! I finally ended up finding a Silver CLK55 right here in Miami, and I bought it! When I saw the silver in person, it looked much better than in pics! Here's the new thread: https://mbworld.org/forums/showthrea...74#post1751974

PTE

All Right Congrats. Now lets get modding it!!! You will Love it! ___PTE___

Learso

I got a buddy out of NYC who goes to the auctions...I've heard you can get them real cheap there.

cporteraz

I bought mine after looking about 3 months. It was purchased from a dealer
in Miami and I live in Arizona. The car only ha 11,500 miles on it. After a complete detail- the car looks and rides awesome.

Dont be afraid to buy out of state. Have a local dealer inspect the car or do like I did- my local dealer ran the car through NetStar so I had a pretty good idea of any issues found by the dealer.

steve1173

Definitely smart, Sarsaota MB is a lousy place to buy & service. Since coming under the Autonation banner they could care less about the customer only the bottom line & that goes from the top down starting with the general manager.

RDD

Thread is a year old!

Funny how several people on this thread have already sold their CLK55's after less than a year (some only a few months). And I thought I had Chronic Car Buyer Syndrome...

Stiggs

Almost a year later and I still have my CLK55. She now has almost 32K miles. Boy, where did those 7K miles go?

RDD

Man, only 7k miles? You gotta drive that thing more! Every time mine sits in the garage I think of how it is just depreciating anyways just sitting there.

Stiggs

Hey I do drive it....just not to work. I have the ML for that.

ndabunka

Seems like most of the CLKs are on the Left coast so when I was searching around here (Charlotte, NC), I too could only find a few available. Often, this meant that the owner also thought it was worth more (since there were fewer) and so they always tried to mark the price WAY beyond reasonable. I kept watching this and 2 other Benz forums (even watched the BMW forums for someone moving to an M5) and finally found one on eBay that was actually only 15 miles from me. I bid and although I had the highest bid, the reserve was not met so I contacted the buyer directly to see if he would be willing to work something out. In the end, I got a get deal (because he was trying to liquidate some things as part of a divorce) and enjoyed it from 17K miles through 28K. I continued to chat on this forum and met some great guys at one of the GA drives through the hills. After about a year, I placed it on autotrader and on here. Eventually, another forum guy contacted me. He got nearly as good of a deal as I had gotten buying it for pretty close to wholesale.

Chappy

Long time "no see"....glad to know you're still around.