Hello all,

I'm new to the forum. Hope I'm asking this in the right place.

I've owned various sports cars, trucks, etc, but never a Mercedes. Looking to scratch that itch and find a comfortable daily commuter car for suburban and city traffic, but don't want to go totally boring. Used, but not beaten.

I'm thinking e350, 400, or 450. I'd love an AMG but not sure it makes any sense and I don't want to be afraid to put miles on the thing.

I came across this 2018 e400 at a dealer. 63k miles, two owners, recently bought back from the latest owner by the dealership. Carfax shows no issues, oil changes every 10k, and 60k apparently done. Car is spotless inside and out. Mechanically I have no reason to suspect issues, but of course that's hard to tell on a dealer lot.

Price seems reasonable. I don't really know the market for these, but this seems like a great deal... which makes me suspicious 🤔

Any red flags? Thoughts about its suitability to meet my needs (<10k miles per year commuting, mechanically inclined but no time so probably dealer or indy serviced)?

Thanks!

 

According to KBB.com, the trade in value for a 2028 E400 4matic, standard equipment is $25,100. Trade in value equates to wholesale. Anything above trade in/wholesale is dealer profit - which is normal.

If you know the actual options you can go to KBB.com and see the value.

With 63,000 miles, make sure the spark plugs were changed at 50,000 miles. Changing spark plugs is between $500 and $1,000.

You can also check cars.com


Good Luck!

 

Two things to note.

First that aftermarket front grille. Things like that are red flags to me. One of the previous owners attempted to make it look like an AMG which means there is a higher chance the car was driven hard and potentially tuned. Sure they could’ve just preferred the look, but it’s still something to take into consideration. I would never buy a car that had been tuned without my knowledge, you don’t know what kind of potential damage could’ve been done. I am not against tunes, I’ve tuned cars before, but by doing so I have also greatly reduced the maintenance intervals to compensate.

Second, the car was bought back by the dealer. This is also a red flag. This could mean that my assumption was right and the second owner pushed the dealer to buy it back as it was sold with false representation and was in potentially worse condition than it was lead on by the dealer.

I wish you luck on your search. I do think you can find a better deal, even if it means spending a little bit more for some peace of mind.

 

All good points. I also saw in carfax that the console has been replaced, that is another red flag.

 

I have an AMG grille on mine and it’s for the looks. Has nothing to do with driving a car “hard”. Just bcos one owns an AMG car doesn’t necessarily mean it is driven hard. A car is meant to be driven, not cuddled. But no matter how you drive your car, taking care of it is the major point. Has the car received the care and maintenance it needs thru its 60K+ miles of ownership? To me that is the most important thing I will be more concerned with in such a car.

Cars are bought back by a dealer for a myriad of reasons. Having a detailed service record and any work performed will help determine the true reason for the buyback.

Yes, good luck with the purchase. At this time of year, tons of cars at reasonable prices available. Take your time to find your perfect one.

 

The service items at 60-100k miles will start to add up. A trans flush just the parts no labor is like $300. $600-900 with labor. Sparks plugs as mentioned is good to do at this milage. But if its had oil changes every 10k you should be looking at a well maintained car. I personally would do the trans flush, coolant flush and maybe a rear end fluid flush, Spark plugs should be soon as well. Now brakes are really expensive too. I believe brake parts alone are around $600. If you add all this up your looking at $2-3k. This is all stuff youll need to do as the next owner going forward at this millage range.

 

Opps!

 

Carfax is better than nothing, is the dealer a Mercedes dealer? If so, ask for the Vehicle Master Inquiry (VMI). If the car was serviced by Mercedes, it will detail everything that they did, my car was a CPO so some of the items listed had to be done to get the CPO. Not all dealers will print this out for you, Vehicle Master Inquiry (VMI) Dealer: xxxxxx FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY!
Here is an example of mine right before I bought the car: (some additional items were done on 7/21/2021) Purchased 2017 E400 Wagon in 08/2021, My VMI was 5 pages - page 1 & 2 details all standard and options my car has.
Hope this helps.
​​​​​​​Dealer Code RO# Repair Open Date Repair Close Date RO Mileage OP Code/Part # Description
55201 268944 07/26/2021 07/30/2021 0039168 009 PERFORM 4 WHEEL ALIGNMENT IF APPLICABLE, ADJUST MEASUREMENTS AND SETTINGS.
55201 268944 07/26/2021 07/30/2021 0039168 013 FOUND REAR BRAKE PADS AND ROTORS IN NEED OF REPLACEMENT FOR INTERNAL OR RECON VEHICLE.
55201 268944 07/26/2021 07/30/2021 0039168 017 CLIMATE CONTROL
55201 268944 07/26/2021 07/30/2021 0039168 039 PERFORM CERTIFIED PRE-OWNED INSPECTION.
55201 268944 07/26/2021 07/30/2021 0039168 070 UPON INSPECTION DENTS FOUND AND REPAIR INDICATED
55201 268944 07/26/2021 07/30/2021 0039168 070 BODY OUTER COMPONENT
55201 268944 07/26/2021 07/30/2021 0039168 072 SALES REQUEST A DETAIL TO VEHICLE
55201 268944 07/26/2021 07/30/2021 0039168 079 INTERIOR CABIN/DUST FILTER, REPLACE AS NEEDED AND OR SUGGESTED.
55201 268944 07/26/2021 07/30/2021 0039168 083 PERFORM FACTORY RECOMMENDED BRAKE SYSTEM FLUSH.
55201 268944 07/26/2021 07/30/2021 0039168 098 MISC. SHOP CHARGES
55201 268944 07/26/2021 07/30/2021 0039168 098 MISC. SHOP CHARGES
55201 268944 07/26/2021 07/30/2021 0039168 098 SUBLET REPAIRS
55201 268944 07/26/2021 07/30/2021 0039168 A0004205702 TS DISK BRAKE PAD
55201 268944 07/26/2021 07/30/2021 0039168 A0004231712 BOND BRAKE DISC
55201 268944 07/26/2021 07/30/2021 0039168 A0009890807 01 BRAKE FLUID
55201 268944 7/26/2021 07/30/2021 0039168 A0009897902 19BIFU MB 229.5 SAE 5W-40 Bulk
55201 268944 07/26/2021 07/30/2021 0039168 A0999062003 BLOWER
55201 268944 07/26/2021 07/30/2021 0039168 A1568200045 WIPER BLADE
55201 268944 07/26/2021 07/30/2021 0039168 A1668300218 DUST FILTER
55201 268944 07/26/2021 07/30/2021 0039168 A1695401617 BRAKE WEAR SENSOR
55201 268944 07/26/2021 07/30/2021 0039168 A1714000125 5337 HUB CAP
55201 268944 07/26/2021 07/30/2021 0039168 A2058350147 64 FINE PARTICLE FILTER
55201 268944 07/26/2021 07/30/2021 0039168 A2138203604 RS WIPER BLADE
55201 268944 07/26/2021 07/30/2021 0039168 A2204210171 PAN HEAD FIT BOLT
55201 268944 07/26/2021 07/30/2021 0039168 A2761800009 TS OIL FILTER ELEMENT
55201 268944 07/26/2021 07/30/2021 0039168 N007603014106 SEAL RING,VLR
example from an earlier time:
55178 356301 11/21/2019 11/23/2019 0030259 010 PERFORMED 4 WHEEL SUSPENSION AND WHEEL ALIGNMENT.USING HUNTER LASER CALIBRATION

 

I know this is an older thread, and we don't know what @Bandit Heeler chose, but there are some caveats that should be made with regards to costs.

• Sparkplugs range from $5.50 each for Bosch plugs. Add another $15-$25 for the same plug with the Mercedes star. That said, the M276 3.0 bi-turbo in the E400 is fairly easy to change spark plugs on and should not cost $700+ in labor, even at a Mercedes dealership.
• A transmission service is NOT a flush, but a drain and fill with a filter change. A shop or the dealer may use low pressure air to push fluid from the torque converter and transmission cooler, but that is not a high-pressure fluid flush some independents may want to sell you. A transmission service parts kit from FCP Euro is $200. Labor is about 2 hours at a dealership, so $600 - $700 is a good ballpark estimate for a shop or the dealership.

WRT the purchase of a car from a major brand dealer, I would think tires and brakes would be in really good shape or have been replaced.