2012 E350?
 

I'm looking into purchasing a mercedes e350. The one i am looking at right now is a 2012 e350. The seller mention that it has been hit from the back but has been repaired, but it has a rebuilt title. Is this something i shoud stay away from? Also i've been looking at a lot of 2012 e350 online, and they all have side markers on each side of the fender. This one doesnt have any, could it be that it was replaced? Or does some 2012 e350 doesnt come with it? Just by the pictures does anything look out of the norm from a regular 2012 e350? Thanks.

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I hope it’s priced 50% below a comparable clean Carfax car. I would not touch a rebuilt title car for any reason, especially a Mercedes. Check with your insurance company before you buy. They may not insure it. I see side marker lights, so what is missing again?

I don't think there's any way to verify condition from internet pictures. It looks clean and shiny, but no idea of anything else. There's all sorts of hidden damage that can be there. Was it tapped in the back or hit hard?
In my view, there are way too many available cars out there to have to buy one with a rebuilt/salvage title. May be an initial bargain till you start finding things wrong.
Whatever car you want, get an independent inspection of it and don't depend on the seller telling you all is good.

Not to be a Debbie Downer....but usually when a car is deemed a salvage/rebuilt title, that meant the price to repair/fix the car at the time of the accident was more than 80% of the fair market value of the car. So, there could have been some extensive damage to it.

Also, another thing which I learned from previous experience that you will need to look out for:
I previously bought a vehicle which had its trunk lid repainted due to a smaller accident.
The car wasn't rebuilt or anything, it still had a clean title. Since I was getting a good deal on it and since I was able to see the before and after photos, I went ahead and bought it. Car was perfectly fine until the paint started peeling off the trunk within 2-3 years after purchase. When I took it into the paint shop, I was told whoever repaired the trunk used some really cheap paint and clear coat.

I honestly would stay away, but if you do plan to go for it, make sure that it is a really good deal.

It always seem that rebuilt isn't as cheap as they should be. Also any MB warranty would be void so if there was still an emission warranty or if it were a Pzev, it'd no longer be covered. I don't think there's really any existing extended warranty like the W211 had on the fuel tank, but if any popped up in the future, they don't have to honor it on a salvage vehicle although I think they have to honor recalls. You're getting pretty desperate if you're contemplating a salvage/rebuilt vehicle. I did drive a rebuilt vehicle for a couple years, but that was because it was rear ended, declared a total loss and I knew a body shop guy who fixed it back up for less than what I got from the insurance company. Once I got the rebuilt title, insurance was normal. Wasn't worried about resale value as the car eventually blew a head gasket and I scrapped it.

The price for the car is $13,950 but they're having a special for thanksgiving and is taking an additonal $1,000 off. If i do get this car, i'm not planning on selling it anytime soon. This will be my daily for a while, unless something major happens to it. Do you guys think this is a good deal? Also it could just be from the pictures, but does the front bumper color seems darker than the rest of the car?

You never said how many miles it has, although I wouldn’t trust anything provided by the seller. Pull a Carfax. The price is no big discount and that front bumper color is way off and not just a photo mishap. It is really a bad match.

Ok, the 80% estimate of the fix cost is really relative. The OP has not indicated at what age and what mileage the damage was done / fixed. If it was at high mileage and estimated at a MB repair shop of course the car easily gets totaled. They are in the business of doing that so they can sell more new ones.

If the fix estimate was done at an indy shop I would not touch this car.

The thing is if the car has relatively low mileage, like around 40000, and the damage was to the body in the rear then if it drives straight why not get a MB E350 for barely over $10k? If you buy a car just for yourself and don't need to worry about resale price then if the car is fine other than knowing it was fixed why not buy it?

I have a car that has everything on it but has ridiculously high mileage so its book value is way down. I don't think of the resale value anymore as it has none so it is my car until it does not run any more. For that OP's find might be just the perfect one.

The car has 61k on the mileage. Im not sure when the accident happened, I havent seen the car in person since they're closed on sunday. I have the vin # but will hold off until i see the car in person first and if i like it then i'll pay for the carfax report to get more info on this car.

My friend you seem to be set on wanting this car despite many mentions of possible serous issues. Nobody can tell anything from looking at a few pictures.
The main point here is that E350s (undamaged) are plentiful at reasonable pricing. But if you just have to have this one, as mentioned have it checked and run the VIN at a MB dealership as well.
As far as price, their "sale" is pretty much what anyone can offer on any day. Buy then I take a hard line on negotiating for vehicles, there's always another deal out there.
Good luck.

Don’t know if this is your first Benz or not but I would avoid this car at all costs and treat yourself to an undamaged well maintained car. That way you know you will be experiencing the ride as designed and not as rebuilt. It may be a good fix, or really minor damage but it is also a big unknown. I am sure that there are some good clean E350’s out there that are in your price range.

Front bumper definitely looks replaced or fixed somehow but not painted properly. If it was hit from the back and the front bumper was replaced (looks like it) then it might have had radiator, headlight, and even longitudinal member issues. You can check if the headlights have been replaced by looking at the manufacturing date on them ( if different than the manufacturing period of the car the they might have been replaced). Look at the bolts holding the fenders, they should be the same color as the fenders and shouldn't have obvious signs of scratched or chipped paint ( a sign the fenders were taken off and/or replaced).
If the repairs were done properly and there are no other structural issues you should be fine, but I wouldn't pay them anything over 10k if the car was bumped in the rear and the front (usually when someone gets rear ended they get pushed into the car in front of them and that's why you're seeing a different shade front bumper color).