Hi all,
I just failed to buy a 2002 CLK55 Coupe with 104K miles that was only owned for 6 months from the current owner who did not have any service history and bought at an auction as I think it did this to flip. Anyways He has this listed for 4 months and I got him down to $9K and was all set to take it as it was about 4.5 hours from me. I found a local place that did a PPI and they found that the rear seal had leakage as well as the valve cover gaskets and it was roughly $1500 to fix. I dropped my offer to $8K and he was would not sell. Given the car had no service history I was looking at spark plugs, brake flush, trans flush as well as air and cabin filters more than likely.,
It is shocking how many people own these cars and don't stay current and think that the average buyer will never bring that into the conversation when making an offer.
By the way this car has been for sale for 4 months and is currently listed at $11,900.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1704498917021431/?referralSurface=messenger_lightspeed_banner&referralCode=messenger_banner
I just failed to buy a 2002 CLK55 Coupe with 104K miles that was only owned for 6 months from the current owner who did not have any service history and bought at an auction as I think it did this to flip. Anyways He has this listed for 4 months and I got him down to $9K and was all set to take it as it was about 4.5 hours from me. I found a local place that did a PPI and they found that the rear seal had leakage as well as the valve cover gaskets and it was roughly $1500 to fix. I dropped my offer to $8K and he was would not sell. Given the car had no service history I was looking at spark plugs, brake flush, trans flush as well as air and cabin filters more than likely.,
It is shocking how many people own these cars and don't stay current and think that the average buyer will never bring that into the conversation when making an offer.
By the way this car has been for sale for 4 months and is currently listed at $11,900.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1704498917021431/?referralSurface=messenger_lightspeed_banner&referralCode=messenger_banner
These cars are so great, I had a 2002 for 16 years and loved it to death. It really got expensive the last few years with rust issues and other mechanical issues. I have seen many sitting for sale for months as well. I just don't think many folks are looking for these as they are somewhat rare. Those 2 leaks they found are very common and while should be addressed, they can be monitored for a while - especially if the oil is just seeping out. $1500 is not a bad repair price IMO. If those are the only big items the PPI found, that is pretty good. I guarantee you will spend plenty more if you bought and kept the car - especially since the seller doesn't have the maintenance history. A beautiful 2001 black clk55 just sold on Bring a Trailer with similar miles for 13k.
Yes I figured I would probably need to put about 2-4K into this and now I am in the neighborhood of what they have sold on BAT fully maintained from a good owner. I think this guy bought it to flip thinking it was a rare car in really good shape and easy flip but these are not really in high demand like an e36 m3. He lied to me saying it needed nothing and when the shop found these two items he said he was aware of the valve cover leak not the rear seal as that is what I knew this was not the right person to buy from.
Seems like so many of these cars lack service and when trying to be rational with the owners they don't budge. Maybe the next guy wont care?
Seems like so many of these cars lack service and when trying to be rational with the owners they don't budge. Maybe the next guy wont care?
Valve cover gaskets are really easy. The rear main seal also isn't a big deal other than getting to it - you will have to drop the transmission.
Yeah, I picked mine up in 2018 for $3500.. I’m about $35k plus into it. Just did high flow cat/delete and renntech intake/tune. Car is amazing. I passed up on sooo many I should have snagged :/ even moving to Florida to enjoy the car more.. there are literally 0 for sale (coupes) anymore. Verts are a dime a dozen and wasn’t in love with mine. But yeah, too many guys with 100k miles “ok” examples asking 10k+
I paid $7200 during covid for a very clean vert example with 78k miles so basically… $7500 is my top dollar for anything 125k or less haha.
im hoping to buy more and resto mod them.
I paid $7200 during covid for a very clean vert example with 78k miles so basically… $7500 is my top dollar for anything 125k or less haha.
im hoping to buy more and resto mod them.
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