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I previously owned a 2001 CLK55 AMG about 3 years ago. It only had 40k miles on it and about 4 months of wonderful ownership until my younger son totaled it. At that time, it was valued at about $13,500.
I'm back in the market again and have one that I'm going to look at this week. This one is also a 2001 silver with black interior and appears mint, with one owner and 76k miles on it.
It has been on sale for over 5 months on consignment. It started at $12,999 and is now at $10,999. Link of listing below.
In looking at financing, they show a value of about $8k which would be the max loan amount. Anything over I'd have to cover out of pocket/down payment.
That's a lot of car for the money, assuming all services have been completed and are up to date.
No maintenance history. Gerber Motorsports inspection found only one issue. One of the engine mounts is cracked, but with no history, I could end up driving it a month and then having to replace the valve cover gaskets, or the ball joints, etc.
That could be true for other cars, but it is a big unknown with this one.
I think your price is high (sorry). I sold the same car a year newer (2002) with 75K miles for $8,000 in September, and that was after having it for sale for six weeks.
I think your price is high (sorry). I sold the same car a year newer (2002) with 75K miles for $8,000 in September, and that was after having it for sale for six weeks.
I'm buying, not selling. I appreciate your input and assume you are referring to the price the seller is asking.
Last edited by BradleyBeck; Feb 24, 2017 at 04:49 PM.
I don't have a set budget. For a CLK55, it is more about condition, maintenance history. I'm not looking for a garage queen either as it will be a daily driver.
And, I'm not in a rush as I don't need a car until May when my younger son gets home from school for the summer. He will be taking my current car back to school in the fall.
One of the members here reached out about his car. When he bought the car, he had the local shop bring the car up to current maintenance as well as new tires and the W209 AMG wheels. It is also about 30k miles less than this car. It is out of state, but I enjoy road trips. With the documented maintenance, it is a better option depending on final price.
I'm going to look at and test drive the local one on the 4th.
So I have time and I'm willing to wait for the right car, price.
Last edited by BradleyBeck; Feb 24, 2017 at 08:35 PM.
I bought a 2002 CLK55 AMG convertible up here in Canada for $9200 (100,000 miles) and safety certified. Bought new floor mats and fussed with a few electoral gremlins DYI but overall my car is nice and clean.
The ask price sounds a little high for your car but depends how clean and well-maintained it is. Suggest asking to take it to a MB dealer for the once-over, then offer them $9K. Don't go for the 430, I almost did but bought the AMG 55 for rep and am grinning every time I stab the throttle. No regrets on the CLK55 AMG.
Bradley that is indeed a beautiful car listed there on Craiglist. They mention where it was serviced at, so maybe visit this car and note the vin then head off to that dealership and ask for the vehicle history. Hopefully it should tell you a lot. That car looks practically brand new bare the mileage. None the less as you mentioned, you are in no hurry. But as someone else mentioned above, take it into MB and have a better look at the car and fluids. A cracked engine mount is hopefully the only thing problematic with this car. Good luck
Bradley that is indeed a beautiful car listed there on Craig-list. They mention where it was serviced at, so maybe visit this car and note the vin then head off to that dealership and ask for the vehicle history. Hopefully it should tell you a lot. That car looks practically brand new bare the mileage. None the less as you mentioned, you are in no hurry. But as someone else mentioned above, take it into MB and have a better look at the car and fluids. A cracked engine mount is hopefully the only thing problematic with this car. Good luck
Thank you Khan
The car drove like new and it was clear it had been taken care of. There were three issues.
1) the typical pixel issue, the far right section was completely blank
2) the front bumper was missing the trim insert piece
3) there were several scuff marks on the body throughout the car
None of the above are deal breakers, rather asking a premium price to a "discerning" buyer (which is what he is waiting for) seemed very out of place.
it all depends on the level of work that was done to the car.
If I was to sell mine, it would be around the 13K.
But I have a LOT of work done to it. Maintenance and upgrades. So find one that shows a good amount of maintenance and you will be fine. Remember the maintenance is still expansive.
the price seems relatively fair if its in great shape other than what you mention:
-sunroof works flawlessly
- interior upholstery is in good shape
-wheels are in great shape
- front bumper cover is not cracked
- tires are not super old
- brake rotors wont need replacing soon
- no oil leaks
- NO RUST! dont forget to look at the actual rockers panels just behind where the side skirts are, and at the rear wheel wells
- etc
motor mounts are not that bad to replace, and if your just daily driving it you probably can go awhile and never replace it. but if the mount has lots of play then the trans mount is probably gonna go soon. but i had both those replaced on mine, had a buddy do it for a fair price and parts werent bad either.
that pixel issue is an annoyance and a real pain in the *** if you intend on manually selecting gears often. not an issue at all if you just leave it in D most of the time, few hundred bucks for a new IP used online when i checked about a year ago (i looked at one with that problem). many cars are missing that bumper insert piece as well. that piece itself is actually pretty cheap, more cost to get it painted than buying it probably.
scuff marks and scratches on the body... was the car recently detailed? mine has a fair amount of scratches and scuffs, i got the deep scuffs repaired and a good buffing/waxing really improved some of the scratches but many are still there. my CLK55 is not as good of body as the C43, but its still pretty good.
many on here love to claim "way too much!" if you consider buying one for anything more than $6000, hahaha. all the claims of "my buddy sold his for xxx 3 years ago" or "i only paid xxx for mine and it had less miles" etc
the key thing to remember here is that every year there are less and less of these that are still in good shape, so its not like if this one is in good shape and had decent maintenance and interior is nice that there will be 5-6 other better ones for a lower price... there MIGHT be, but maybe not.
but also there is not much demand for these at the moment either. when i looked at one priced for $14k with a bunch of issues i offered the guy $13k if he paid for about $2k in repairs on the car... he wouldn't budge and i watched that car online drop in asking price $2500 over the next 8 months.... dude was an idiot, and just thought some dummy would come in and overpay. im glad he didnt sell it to me though because i found a nicer one with less issues for cheaper a couple months later.
the car is only worth "less" than the asking price in my opinion if you know you can find a better one for cheaper. $13k is overpriced, $10,500 is getting close. and if your not willing to fly across the country then its less and less likely to find good ones with these cars as time goes on. or if your willing to spend hours of your own time fixing the random stupid issues that can come up on these cars.
if the guy would take $9k or $9500 and its in pretty good shape other than what you mention then i think its not a bad deal at all.
thing is though, if you keep in in good shape an dont drive it into the ground you can probably turn around and sell it for $6-7k in a few years, these are near bottoming out now in value if they havent already.
also, i bought mine in cash, i paid what i agreed to pay plus tax and that was it... not another $500-$1000 in interest on a loan on top of asking price.
hope you end up getting one, i really like mine, didnt think id like it as much as my C43 when i bought it, but it really grew on me.
the price seems relatively fair if its in great shape other than what you mention:
-sunroof works flawlessly
- interior upholstery is in good shape
-wheels are in great shape
- front bumper cover is not cracked
- tires are not super old
- brake rotors wont need replacing soon
- no oil leaks
- NO RUST! dont forget to look at the actual rockers panels just behind where the side skirts are, and at the rear wheel wells
- etc
motor mounts are not that bad to replace, and if your just daily driving it you probably can go awhile and never replace it. but if the mount has lots of play then the trans mount is probably gonna go soon. but i had both those replaced on mine, had a buddy do it for a fair price and parts werent bad either.
that pixel issue is an annoyance and a real pain in the *** if you intend on manually selecting gears often. not an issue at all if you just leave it in D most of the time, few hundred bucks for a new IP used online when i checked about a year ago (i looked at one with that problem). many cars are missing that bumper insert piece as well. that piece itself is actually pretty cheap, more cost to get it painted than buying it probably.
scuff marks and scratches on the body... was the car recently detailed? mine has a fair amount of scratches and scuffs, i got the deep scuffs repaired and a good buffing/waxing really improved some of the scratches but many are still there. my CLK55 is not as good of body as the C43, but its still pretty good.
many on here love to claim "way too much!" if you consider buying one for anything more than $6000, hahaha. all the claims of "my buddy sold his for xxx 3 years ago" or "i only paid xxx for mine and it had less miles" etc
the key thing to remember here is that every year there are less and less of these that are still in good shape, so its not like if this one is in good shape and had decent maintenance and interior is nice that there will be 5-6 other better ones for a lower price... there MIGHT be, but maybe not.
but also there is not much demand for these at the moment either. when i looked at one priced for $14k with a bunch of issues i offered the guy $13k if he paid for about $2k in repairs on the car... he wouldn't budge and i watched that car online drop in asking price $2500 over the next 8 months.... dude was an idiot, and just thought some dummy would come in and overpay. im glad he didnt sell it to me though because i found a nicer one with less issues for cheaper a couple months later.
the car is only worth "less" than the asking price in my opinion if you know you can find a better one for cheaper. $13k is overpriced, $10,500 is getting close. and if your not willing to fly across the country then its less and less likely to find good ones with these cars as time goes on. or if your willing to spend hours of your own time fixing the random stupid issues that can come up on these cars.
if the guy would take $9k or $9500 and its in pretty good shape other than what you mention then i think its not a bad deal at all.
thing is though, if you keep in in good shape an dont drive it into the ground you can probably turn around and sell it for $6-7k in a few years, these are near bottoming out now in value if they havent already.
also, i bought mine in cash, i paid what i agreed to pay plus tax and that was it... not another $500-$1000 in interest on a loan on top of asking price.
hope you end up getting one, i really like mine, didnt think id like it as much as my C43 when i bought it, but it really grew on me.
Excellent response, I greatly appreciate it. I wasn't able to look at the car in too much detail as the person had his son with him. Note he is selling it on consignment, which obviously adds cost to the overall transaction.
While I haven't seen it or driven it in person yet, a member here who is in Oregon has a 2002 MY with 43k miles on it. I'm comparing what he has shared about his with this one. Yes, if this one was $9k-$9.5k then I believe it would be a good deal. It was clear when I looked at it a week ago, that there wasn't any negotiation. It has been for sale for over 3 months and the ad expired again. He reposted yesterday.
Btw: I actually have a new trim bumper piece that I bought from the local dealer back in 2013.
Thank you again for sharing. I just felt he's asking a premium price for a car that wasn't presented as such. And yes, all of those items are relatively easy to fix, meaning it has great "bones".
I sent a forum message to the other member, but haven't heard from him. I plan to call him later this week, if no response.
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W208 values
