Yeah no problem man, here to help. Did you buy a warranty through them? If you did not, I would. Can you imagine how much it would cost if the engine blew down the road? You can get a five year warranty there. Did you see the paint work that I was talking about?

On another note it's simply unacceptable that there are several things wrong with that car and they're selling it as if everything checks out OK. So much for their 100 point inspection, carmax can be a joke.

By the way how much is your insurance company charging you to add the black series? Mine quoted me 2500 extra (as a weekend car)!

 

Yes, the ease of getting a warranty is one of the reasons I have purchased at Carmax. The 5-year warranty for the car was $3,100. If they are willing to take on the risk that the repair costs to them will be lower than that, I'm happy to let them. I bought the warranty with the ML350 I bought from Carmax in 2013 and they paid a $700 claim without any hitch.

Today's news was that the car also needs a new fuel filter. Just a few months ago, I had bought an older AMG from them and everything was going just fine. The BS was supposed to be an upgrade because the initial CLK55 was working well and I wanted to see what taking it to the next level would be like.

I haven't seen the car since you mentioned the paintwork, but the plan is for me to pick it up on Saturday and I'll look and ask them what they can do about it. I'm also interested in how that right front panel came to be of a different shade than the rest of the car. Carfax doesn't report any structural damage, but maybe something unreported happened. Even if it did, I don't know how I would go about proving that.

After I pick it up on Saturday, I have scheduled an appointment at an MB dealership. I want to have them go over the car as thoroughly as they can to see if there are any deal-breakers that Carmax didn't catch and ask if they think there's been any structural damage. The deal with Carmax seems to be that they will look at anything you flag for them, but won't proactively do anything beyond their initial overview. I'd rather pay the dealer a few hundred bucks to check things that might be on the cusp of failing and then take it back to Carmax, either to call the whole thing off or to get them to fix it.

Not being a mechanic, I don't know how much an inspection could find something that might be on the verge of breaking down, but that's my goal with this dealer appointment. I'm a little worried that Carmax didn't catch the things they are fixing for me now and whether that means they might have missed something even bigger.

My insurance (GEICO) went up $2200 on a multi-car policy. I told them that I would probably put less than 10K miles per year and that's the price they gave me.

 

Sounds good, I shot you a private message.

 

Agree. Assuming its an exclusionary policy, $3,100 for 5 yrs on BS, to me, seems like a pretty good deal. GL and enjoy.

 

FYI - I insure 3 vehicles and a snowmobile though Erie Insurance for $2,2250/year in Southeast PA. Only one vehicle is used as daily, others have storage insurance half of the year.

2011 Jeep GC Overland Summit (daily driver)
2008 CLK BS (6mo storage/under 5k miles/yr)
2003 911 Turbo (6mo storage/under 5k miles/yr)
2014 Arctic Cat ZR 8000 (roughly $300-$400 of my annual amt)

BTW - good luck with purchase, these cars are incredible and something to be desired.

 

Is the car going to be picked up at the same carmax dealership in Irvine that you purchased the vehicle? Which local MB dealership did you set the appointment with?

 

I tried to set up an appointment at a Fletcher Jones using their online scheduler. They called to tell me that they (and other authorized MB dealerships) don't do pre-purchase inspections. I had feared as much, since they probably don't want to get involved in anyone turning down a car on their say. It was worth a shot, but I guess dealers stick together rather that potentiallly bad-mouth each other.

 

You'd have to book the inspection under a different clause... "Pre-trade-in" inspection and they'll be more than gladly to take it in and do the work.

For real though, there is a proper name/term for this inspection that cost about $200~$250, I've had mine done in South Bay MB (because the seller did not want to travel further), otherwise I'd brought it down to MBLN; speaking of which, let me PM you a contact over @ MBLN that will most likely to be able to take the car in for a proper inspection if you're okay at paying for it... and while you're there, check out a black CLK BS for sale in their showroom as well as the ever so gorgeous CLK DTM cab & DTM P900.