I'm in a true dilemma. A guy who retired has offered to buy my car. He has offered me 23500 for my 06 E3504matic with 44k miles. I also have two years of extended warranty. My motivations for selling it is I would like something that is smaller and less expensive to operate. I have found that for as big and and heavy the car is the level of road isolation refinement seems to be lacking. I am also concerned about the long term cost of ownership including additional depreciation, down the road cost of repairs and fuel costs. I have found it somewhat stressful to own given how expensive is to repair.

The reasons to keep it is it truly is one of the most beautiful cars on the road, it's dead silent except for the occasional rattle and when it does drive right it is nice. Everyone close to me thinks I am crazy to consider selling it. In fact when I was looking at new econboxes the salesman who was a car guy walked back to my car and looked at it and looked and me and said, "I'm not in the business of talking people out of buying a car but what are you doing?"

I wish I the car was a little smaller, more fuel efficient and had the long term maintenance cost of the W123's.

I've thought in terms of something like a Jetta. Has anybody had both? And would that make more sense?

 

VW service departments are notorious for not having necessary parts on hand requiring overnight stays. Also a VW is not as dependable as you would like to think.

Are you SURE you really don't just WANT a NEW car for the change of it, rather than need to make this change?

You have an extended warranty on the car so repairs arent really part of the discussion. You'll save money in the long run by keeping what you have.

 

You have already taken the hit on depreciation. If it loses another 60% over the next four years, that's only 10,000.00 or 2500.00 per year, or 200.00 per month. 23,000.00 including taxes won't buy you much car. Assuming you bought the MB new,44000 miles is not a lot of driving. If you buy a car with 30% fuel saving, how much money is that in a year? The only way to save money is to sell the car,buy a gov't bond, with the interest buy a bus pass every year. By the way, the new small car will depreciate more dollar wise over the next four years than the MB. This looks like a no brainer decision!!!

 

First of all thanks fella's for the sincere replies.


Great question. What I think that you are hearing is that things where I work are extremely stressful and I am reacting to that in a kind of hunker down mode. Not feeling that I can afford any extravagances and wanting to own a simpler vehicle to maintain. While there are some things that disappoint me in the car if I can convince myself that it isn't an utterly financially stupid proposition to keep the car that's what I would like to do.

My biggest disappoint is that the service departments fail to take my issues seriously. It took over a year of listening to a popping noise at every stop before they replaced the charcoal canister to make it go away. It's like I bought this car because I'm really into these cars and I expect it to drive right. The dealerships on the other hand completely impress me that they really could care less. To me it is quite apparent that they view the vehicle as simply a revenue stream device.

Add to that the service charges

I just got it out of the dealership for a four wheel alignment which they charged $350 for and all that was really accomplished was they brought the right front camber from -1deg 19' to -1 deg 01' spec is -1deg 12'. So basically I paid $350 because one of the wheels was 7' out of camber. The basic alignment charge was $170 which is pretty outrageous but its a Mercedes so what the hell. But they tacked on another $160 to replace the camber bolt(s) (they claim to have replaced both but only one side was out and at this point I don't believe anything that they say). I feel so horribly ripped off I'm sick to my stomach. While admittedly I am kind of a cheapskate I bucked up for $1000 worth of tires because I thought that I was getting something for my money and didn't feel all that bad about it. When I walk into the dealer for service I feel pretty out of place because the prevailing attitude is hey if $350 for an alignment bothers you you really shouldn't own a car like this. Which makes me think that they might be right.


Petee if I thought the depreciation rate was going to be as you project I would be in complete agreement. I expect it to be at least double that over the next two years. I really agree with your comment about how much car you can get for $23K. There really is no other car that I would prefer to own for the money that I can get for it.

I am really just trying to figure out the smart path forward.

Again I appreciate your sincere and very helpful comments. This is therapeutic. I would really prefer to keep the car but I just don't want look back and regret passing up the opportunity to sell it.

 

The camber bolts are not part of normal alignment but are needed on some cars. They are basically new parts that have to be installed of course parts + labor to install then you pay the alignment.

 

Everyone has a unique situation but here are my thoughts.
1. Most Vehicles (especially "luxury") take a huge hit in the first 24-36 months.
2. If you have paid for it on a 36 month note, you get some grace by having basically no expense other than fuel once it is paid off.
3. Even a M-B should offer another 2 years of lower cost ownership.
4. After 4- 5 years batteries, belts, brakes, fluids, etc will start kicking in.
5. After 7-10 years, transmissions, propeller shaft, wheel bearings, window regulators, wiper motors, heater blowers etc start to fail and monthly expense starts to climb again.

I don't understand the fuel dilema. I get an honest 23 miles / gallon overall but it does require premium fuel. Other than a hybrid which has huge delayed maintenance expenses, what else comes close in size and comfort?

INMHO you are getting out just when you are entering the sweet spot for ownership.
I am basing this on 1000 mile / month driving.

We don't drive our W211 very much (2003 w 46000 miles ) so I may be a poor reference but I find that parts can be obtained very reasonably from alternate sources. The labor is brutal (even from independents) so I try and service the car myself. That works OK for some things but obviously alignments, electrical problems etc require one to bite the bullet.

I have owned numerous vehicles over my lifetime and I can say that this one has become one of two that I really enjoyed. The other being a VW beetle.
Trucks and Maximas would rank third / fourth and American sedans, especially the 70's and 80's were absoulutely dead last.

Don't beat yourself up for owning something you enjoy. The world is not coming to an end and driving a Kia is not going to make an appreciable difference in your living expenses.

 

I can see what you mean my friend when you say they don't take you serious. I'm in my early 20's so you can see how they would probably treat me. For about a year I went into service a few times and complained of the transmission and asked them to check for contamination. They never listened to run a simple glycol test which probably costs like $20 or $30 (i don't remember how much the test kit was). So, finally, the transmission just gave out. So, MB corp ending up paying for a new tranny for me, along with new cooling lines and radiator. Of course the dealer looks like the nice guy by doing all this work for me without charging me a cent (well, that's what my warranty is for). The nice thing in all this is, I finally gained the service writer's trust and he always listens to me now (too bad my warranty is done now and he won't really see me unless my SBC pump fails, and hopefully that doesn't happen).

 

Thank you

 

It certainly can be frustrating. My belief is that some of the problem is that the service adviser's aren't former mechanics or even enthusiasts for that matter so they have a hard time relating to guys like us who are really into these cars and know them extremely well.

 

Clinton Horn's advice is pretty sound, imho. Plus life isn't only about counting pennies, imho. It would be pretty dismal if that's all it was.

Aside from issues of reliability, depreciation will be worse on the MB over the VW. But that still doesn't mean you have to buy a particular car because it holds its value over time. Buy it for your own needs and personal satisfaction, imho.

Tier one automobile brands with respect to depreciation are Honda and Lexus with an average annual depreciation rate of 13.4-14.1%. Tier two automobiles are Volkswagen and Toyota with an average annual depreciation rate of 16.5-16.8%. Tier three automobiles are Nissan, Mercedes, BMW, Hyundai, and Mercury with an average depreciation rate of 18.9-21.2%. Tier four automobile brands with respect to depreciation are Chevrolet, Chrysler, and Saturn with average annual depreciation rates of 25.4-27.5%. Tier five automobiles are Dodge, Ford, and Buick with an average annual depreciation rate of 31.1-32.6%. (JEL L15)

For 2009 the MB E Class is next to last: https://www.alg.com/DepreciationRatings

MBs have always been known as fast depreciation cars. And in this economy any relatively expensive car is losing value even faster. Just look at the sinking resale prices of Porsche 997s.