StateStreet

While I'm thrilled by my newly acquired BS, I still get email alerts from autotrader when something new gets listed.

This one caught my eye yesterday.
I share it in case anyone is looking.

BS with ~400 miles. Only $72,777.

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?ct=u&car_id=294908213&dealer_id=64152171&c ar_year=2008&doors=&systime=&model=CLK63AMG&search _lang=en&start_year=2008&keywordsrep

Seemed too good of a deal.
I was expecting that the mileage listed was way off. But it is correct.
Here's the catch.
You only find out by visiting the dealer's site that this car is a salvage.
No word on what happened, but one indication is that the rear AMG badge is not from a BS.

Not very cool of the dealer to not to disclose up front.
They do say the warranty is still in place. I wonder if that's true.

mellowyellow

The Carfax is clean... I am surprised that the CA DMV did not report this as such and Carfax not picking it up it pretty sad.

My guess is this was a serious wreck car, and was repaired half-assed. The wrong AMG badge shows the lack of detail. I am sure if you are start digging, there's a lot of other telltale things about this car. It's not worth $73K even with 400 miles on it.

mchapparone

Scary that there are dealers that try to sell cars this way..

PyroLume

My dad thought he'd save a few buck and pick up a salvaged S class for about half of book value. The body work looks great but here is a list of things that don't work now:

Self leveling suspension
Wipers
A/C is intermittent
ABS
Airbags
Suspension pulls HARD left on braking

Oh yeah.. MB will not honor the warranty on a salvaged car and no dealer will service it. I just feel bad for my poor mom who had to drive this tub before she went out and leased herself a new E350. Now my dad has this squat lawn ornament (suspension is bottomed) that he cant sell because it is completely broken with a salvage title.

LZH

I'm almost positive this car was crashed by a member here...or, some kid who used to post here until he wrecked TWO black series'.
A thread discussing it is here:

https://mbworld.org/forums/clk63-bla...?highlight=mom

jrcart

$72k for a salvaged title BS? Should be priced at about half that amount. There are special forms and paperwork that must be presented to and signed by the buyer here in Illinois when purchasing a vehicle with a salvage title. If the dealer does not disclose that info its not only unethical but illegal. Furthermore no banks will finance a salvage title so they better hope they find a cash buyer.

Jim Brady

Use to be in CA over $475 damage on a new car the had to be a disclosure by the selling dealer. With a salvage title, insurance company could have bought it and wholesaled it to a salvage company.

Doesn't have to be totaled to have salvage title. Insurance companies don't want to be in the car biz, so occasionally a theft recovery comes back damaged and they get bids, and it will go to a salvage company which may be a shop that specializes in rebuilds.

Doctodd33

carfax is not always accurate

StateStreet

I was curious about that so I did some digging.

From ca.gov:

A Salvage Vehicle is a vehicle that has been wrecked or damaged to such an extent that it is considered too expensive to repair. The title, license plates, and a required fee are submitted to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and a Salvage Certificate is issued for the vehicle.
A Revived Salvage is a salvage vehicle which has been repaired and reregistered with the DMV.


So this car must of had significant damage.

Some other items on that site:
Fully insuring the car may be difficult.
If it is determined that parts have been stolen, the vehicle cannot be registered and the vehicle or parts will be seized. (Nice!)


A dealer is free to ask whatever they want for a car, but I can't imagine how anyone who would want to pay anything near that for this one.

Nstar

Rarely accurate may be a better description. I think there needs to be tighter controls on the reselling for wrecked cars. They're often death traps.

LZH

Carfax is about as reliable as a case of herpes.

Vic55

very odd vehicle history indeed- all dealer inputs and they seemed to be wholesaling the car back and forth from Fletcher to Encino to Downtown and back to Fletcher. They punched the car in 2008 probably to cash in on some trunk money--- and then from Dec of 2008 to Jan 2011 only 2 miles were put on the car.

But as mentioned, Carfax is not reliable enough. And who is this Codizzle person?