DMW

Hello all,

I've just reduced the price of my 01 to $42,900 (the ad is in the classifieds section). I believ this to be fair. I am wanting to move the car quickly now, and think this should work. Opinions?

Thanks,

DMW

nubomb

The price sounds pretty fair, especially with the extended warrenty. How many years remaining on it.

Not a big fan of the two tone color interior but I could deal with it.

If I could move my 430, I would jump on it.

DMW

nubomb,

The warranty runs until at least October of 2005. That would be a year from the original warranty end date. I'm not sure if it starts that day, or at the time of the first warranty item, which is why I say at least.

Thanks,

DMW

sajecw

That is a very fair price for the car. But you are not going to sell it here. Most people already have an MB here and I would say most would offer you around $35k.

Ebay sucks as well.

You need to use local papers and word of mouth.

5439cc

I just went through this a couple of days ago - 36500 is top dollar and that only if the CLK55 is in perfect condition and all options. Good luck

sajecw

See what I mean.

Benzo

What is your mileage? The reason I ask is that I looked for a clean CLK55 (W208) for over 6 months til I found the one I bought with less than 3,000 miles. I would be glad to tell you where I found vehicles priced and where they were moving as I did track them. Give me the specs on your vehicle and I would be glad to check all of myt paperwork and find something similar to yours.

Improviz

Here are the wholesale and retail values from this week's Black Book (NO relation to Kelly Blue Book) with 25,000 miles (guessed; don't know what he actually has):

***********wholesale retail
Extra Clean N/A $45,975
Clean $40,400 $44,825
Average $37,425 $40,375
Rough $29,140 $34,750

These values are compiled weekly from auto auctions by the Hearst corporation. Normally, in a down market like this, dealers will offer Black Book average and go down from there on trade-ins, which is what 5439 was going to do with his. Retail is higher.

Your asking price is about midway between BB average and clean; I would think that you should be able to get this price out of it without too much trouble assuming your car has substantial tread remaining, isn't all dinged/scratched/stone chipped, doesn't have substantial interior/carpet wear, runs well, no leaks, etc.

Fwiw, other sources such as Edmunds give even higher retail. Normally I average the Black Book, Kelly Blue Book *individual retail* (NOT dealer), and Edmunds pivate-party retail prices to get an idea.

Hope this helps!

DMW

Improviz,

Thanks for the info. The car has 34K miles, but is in excellent condition. Never any paint or body work, no door dings, interior (mainly drivers seat) shows very little wear, good tires. It's a very clean, straight car, that's also Starmarked. I guess I'll see what happens with this price.

Thanks Again.

DMW

Improviz

Condition Trade-In Value Retail Value
Extra Clean N/A $45,975
Clean $39,900 $44,325
Average $37,200 $40,150
Rough $29,140 $34,750

The warranty would also be worth something, too, so I really don't think you should have any trouble getting that price.

You might also try autotrader.com and cars.com....autotrader.com has a "run 'till sold" option which as I recall is arould $50...the only thing is, you have to renew it periodically (but they send you a reminder, so make sure they have a "good" email address). I sold my last car through an ad on there...

Anyway, good luck!

Hussain

Trade in value isnt really that bad. At least not if you know how to negotiate a little bit.

DMW

Hussain,

What do you think I could get for it on trade in? By the way, nice garage.

DMW

5439cc

Again my friends, I went through all this for about a week, and the highest I could get for my Wifes CLK55 ///AMG which is completely loaded and in showroom condition - the best number I could get was 35K if that I am not here to bring anyone down, just to give you my findings regarding this low prices for the CLK55. Please update me once you get a good number, best of luck...:p

ndabunka

FYI - I'm not on here much since I sold mine in December. But I may be able to help. At that time, values were simply not what I expected them to be. End of year, etc. Most dealers (carmax, Acura, & even Benz) were trying to steal my 28K pristine 2001 CLK55 for $36,000 to $37,500. I did find a number of buyers online (autotrader &/or this site as well as a number of others including eBay). I dropped down to an ask of $42,900 in the end and still got over $40K for the car from an individual. In my opinion, he got a GREAT deal. One drawback to the 2001's right now is that many are coming off mfg warranty. Mine was fortunate that it is still in warranty through October but I've seen other 2001's that will be out of warranty in July. So, if yours has warranty left on it, you need to EMPHASIS that to any potential buyer. That in itself is worth $5K on these type of cars. Good luck and feel free to PM me if you want to discuss more offline. I don't read this forum often now that my baby is gone, but I will look it up every two or three weeks simply to see what's up.

bzliteyear

ck www.gkautos.com and see if they're getting any more inquiries even tho they sold their clk55's already. if they do, perhaps they could pass the leads on to you. i'm not affiliated w/ them, but i have bot 3 cars from them and feel like they're good people.

Improviz

What a dealer is going to offer you is NOT what the car is worth RETAIL.

Dang, dude, what are you trying to do, send our values through the floor? Get a grip! I know that a *dealer* wouldn't give you more than $36K, but as I keep repeating, what they offered you WAS Black Book *wholesale*. But *retail* is what the car is sold for.

And the originator of this thread is trying to sell his to an individual, not a dealer. Hence, he should ask *retail* for his car.

Shoot, if you won't believe me that Black Book *is* compiled, every week, by Hearst Media Corporation from actual auction data, have a look at this: it is a nationwide search of all CLK55 coupes listed at autotrader.com. I used Wichita, KS, right smack dab in the middle of the country, as a starting point and did an unlimited mileage from zip-code search, which gave me listings for all 2001 CLK55's autotrader has advertised for sale in the USA. Only restriction was mileage below 45,000.

Look at the bottom of the page:
Highest price: $57500
Lowest price: $26900
************Average price: $44568***********

This is *exactly* in line with what Black Book says for average retail for this car.

I mean, really, what do you think Edmunds, Black Book, Blue Book, etc. do to get these numbers? Make them up? They compile this stuff, and it's normally pretty accurate. But the prices that they give are *averages*, meaning that there will be cars selling for more, and less, in any given condition.

sajecw

The people that can not afford these cars try to bring the value down to a CLK430 range.

A 2001 CLK55 with 30K miles on it is worth $40k to 43K on the street. Period.

The trade in value is around $35k.

5439CC, maybe your car is not as perfect as others, but I know your car is worth more than $35K.

Maybe you just had some of the young dreamers on this forum making you the offers.

Ringo2001

DMW -

I think Improviz is right on. I am new here, as I have been lurking for a few months while learning about the car, issues, values, upgrades etc.

I've been in the market for almost 3 months after sell my 911 Turbo Cab. After looking for an M3 Cab - I thought a viable alternative was the CLK55. I've tracked all local and many/most CLK55s for sale in the last 2+ months.

I bought a 2001 CLK55 loaded, with Command, silver/blk coupe with 11,500 miles for $43,500 from - believe it or not - my local dealer. I was convinced and ready to travel to get the best deal for a good car. From my research, I got a good deal, but with patience I may have been able to save another $1 - $3K. In the end the convenience was worth it to me - and the fact that the car is perfect, has a full 12 months remaining factory warranty and the Starmark warranty.

Factors that come into play is that you can get a 2003 CLK500, the new style, stylish interior although soft exterior in the mid $40K range. The CLK 500s performance NUMBERS get pretty close to the 2001 - 2002 CLK55s. Note I said numbers, although I feel the AMGs feel is much more what I was looking for. In addition, there are 2002s on the market that are priced within $1k+/- of similar 2001s - and their longer remaining warrany absolutely has value (although these do not seem to carry much of an actual price premium, they do seem to move faster). Also, such little visual differentiation, yet a $10K'ish premium over the same year CLK430 limits the market to the real car people - those that care more about that feel, than unique/aggressive looks. Finally, you might note that the percentage of low mile cars is quite amazing to me. Lots of 2001-2002 with <20K.

With my experiences, I'd guess your car would trade in at $36K +/-. Of course, the dealer IS GOING to make money. They would try to sell your car for $45K+/-. If they fail to create a market, they can wholesale it to a dealer for $38K or sell it for $40k.

Just my thoughts, but I spent some time on find mine. By the way - its a terrific car - fast, solid, refined, classy yet understated looks, good toys/amenities and, dare I say, practical (I hate the fact that at 36 I care about practicality, but I have a 1 year old and 4 year old, and I like to take them along. I also like driving it most days, as opposed to my 911 Turbo Cab that saw about 2K miles per year tops.

Hussain

DMW,

Other sellers with similiar miles are asking around 40. However, their options maybe different than yours although trade-in values dont usually very much depending on options unless its a very important or exceptional option. Depends on what the buyer wants and what they are willing to pay. You should be able to get 42 quite easily especially if your trading in your car to buy another Benz. A good dealer will give you what you want for your car if he wants to make the deal bad enough. They will even "over-allow" which means they will take of the MSRP of the new vehicle your purchasing which makes it appear that they gave you more for your car. Standard markup on Mercedes vehicles is about 7% right off the top. Depending on certain variables such as availability and the time the vehicle you want has been available you should be able to negotiate quite nicely. You should get close to invoice on the car you are wanting to purchase AND the value you want on your trade-in. With the market today its like playing "Let's Make a Deal".

DMW

I would take $40K for sure (actually, even less).

Anyone know somebody that wants one?

DMW

bzliteyear

you have pix or link to pix and more descriptions? thx.

DMW

No pics, but if you've seen one, you know what it looks like. If you really want pics, I have some crappy ones from a Kodak disposable camera that were put onto a CD. If you want me to e-mail them, let me know ASAP, as I might be trading it in Thursday

2001
Brilliant Silver
Two-tone AMG interior
All options except nav
never wrecked, no paint or body work
excellent condition
34K miles
Existing warranty until 10/2004
Starmarked until at least 10/2005

Let me know.

dmwishen@hotmail.com

Thanks

AndyAMG

You should try around 40k..Try using Ebay.