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Seeking Your Advice On Buying a Used 2011 MERCEDES BENZ GLK 350
Hello everyone,
I am in the market for a used car and I have come across a 2011 MERCEDES BENZ GLK 350 with a V-6 3.5L engine. The car is priced at 11,000$ and has a salvage title. I am a big fan of Mercedes-Benz and the GLK 350 seems like a great car, but I am not sure about the salvage title and the price.
I was wondering if any of you have any experience with the GLK 350 or with buying a car with a salvage title. Can you tell me what I should be looking out for when considering a car with a salvage title? Is 11,000$ a fair price for this car given its age, make, model, engine and title status?
I would greatly appreciate your advice and opinions on this matter. I want to make an informed decision and ensure that I am getting a good deal and a reliable car.
Thank you in advance for your help!
Best regards,
A Car Buyer in Need of Advice
HERE IS MY UPDATE:
Upon my research, I used Carfax to search for previous images of the vehicle, but I was unable to find it in a Carfax report. A friend recommended Detailed Vehicle History, and the report I got showed that although the vehicle was involved in an accident it was a minor accident and that the vehicle was in good shape even as the photos suggest.
But there is something really fishy about this car, it had 3 owners, yet its current mileage is quite lower than it should be, I suspected that the odometer has been tampered with and that was exactly what it is, the Detailed Vehicle Report showed that it had some mileage discrepancies
By the way here is a link to the vehicle history report: https://detailedvehiclehistory.com/r...GG8HBXBF652438
After some consideration, i decided not to proceed with this purchase because I don't even know what else is possibly still hidden about the car
Here are some images from the auction:
Last edited by Vanderson; Aug 11, 2023 at 11:02 AM.
Reason: i found additional information about the vehicle
2014 GLK350 base model (active) ; 2001 E320 base (retired); 2001 Wrangler soft-top
salvage title? Is 11,000$ a fair price?
Absolutely not.
We experienced hurricane Harvey's wrath, as many folks did - six foot of Harvey water consumed our property , engulfing a Jag and three motorcycles.
Many water logged autos were eventually put back on the road with Salvage titles ... many folks were scammed as a result ... NEVER EVER buy a Salvage title vehicle !!
Ditto on that reply by calder-cay. Many of our “submarines” were shipped around the country for the unsuspecting to snap up. There is a poster on the W204 forum who has been restoring a wet C250 for over a year and he’s still posting problems.
I had a 1980 Toyota that got water up to the door sills. Within a year every piece of rotating equipment needed replacing. A 2011 Mercedes is far more complex.
I bought an accident salvage car, knowing it would need a lot of work, for about 10% of clean title value. Stripped it, put it on a frame machine, welded and reinforced the damaged structural areas, reassembled it, then applied for a RESTORED title so it could be insured. I would be kind of surprised if a salvage titled vehicle could be insured.
Ditto on that reply by calder-cay. Many of our “submarines” were shipped around the country for the unsuspecting to snap up. There is a poster on the W204 forum who has been restoring a wet C250 for over a year and he’s still posting problems.
I had a 1980 Toyota that got water up to the door sills. Within a year every piece of rotating equipment needed replacing. A 2011 Mercedes is far more complex.
I bought an accident salvage car, knowing it would need a lot of work, for about 10% of clean title value. Stripped it, put it on a frame machine, welded and reinforced the damaged structural areas, reassembled it, then applied for a RESTORED title so it could be insured. I would be kind of surprised if a salvage titled vehicle could be insured.
Well I would assume he means the 11k GLK in question here has a “rebuilt” title meaning it’s ready for road use and able to be registered.
And not every “salvage” title is a flood car gentlemen.
Well I would assume he means the 11k GLK in question here has a “rebuilt” title meaning it’s ready for road use and able to be registered.
And not every “salvage” title is a flood car gentlemen.
That could be, but it takes a lot of experience to tell the ones that were done right from the ones that were “flipped.” Older accident cars are totaled because the book rate repair cost is higher than the market value of the car. They may not have severe damage and are quite repairable. The insurance companies sell those at auction for whatever they can get. The restored one we had ran for years and was taken as a trade on a new car.
That price still looks quite high without further description.
My previous, previous car was a 2005 Audi A3 wagon. It was totaled by a dog running into it (chasing a cat, hit the side of the car). Dented the front fender and both doors.
That was enough to total it, and the check was for more than I had in the car, so I just took the money and bought my next car (a BMW 5-series wagon).
Whoever buys the Audi will have a car with a restored or salvage title, but without any damage that the new owner would need to worry about.
The ironic thing is that the dog was still up and walking around, and probably survived.
2014 GLK350 base model (active) ; 2001 E320 base (retired); 2001 Wrangler soft-top
Originally Posted by GLKattitude
And not every “salvage” title is a flood car gentlemen.
I never suggested that a salvage title vehicle are only that, because of a floodin event.
I was simply providing a real-world example of one *type*.
And it is a catastrophic purchase to buy one of those - there were countless reports of folks being ripped off across the US with the thousands of Harvey (or any hurricane for that matter) vehicles flooded and being shipped around.
A visual inspection is not always revealing, unless you know what the potential evidence looks like.
Last edited by calder-cay; Feb 11, 2023 at 05:17 PM.
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Seeking Your Advice On Buying a Used 2011 MERCEDES BENZ GLK 350
