Vntgrcr

There is some sort of mistake on that e-bay report.
Car has a clean CarFax and was sitting at dealer for sale before going to auction as CPO.

It is now on Autotrader.com

VS70

I think the Autocheck is correct and the Carfax is wrong. It's likely the accident was never reported (it may have been a company car). If you look closely at the Carfax you'll note the car had some weird stuff replaced (headliner, interior door handles, rear tailgate trim) and among its sparing pictures you can see the car's AMG badge on the tailgate has been removed. Honestly, though, the car looks great - I would just inspect it very, very thoroughly before buying.

Vntgrcr

VS70 if you are serious you should come do a personal inspection of car.

These reports can be misleading. The report also shows 2 tires replaced, was that from wear or due to the "accident"... tires wear out and need replacement.
-Headliner was never replaced or rear tailgate trim- but had to be lowered for the dealer to fix the rear cargo cover motor that was not working properly when you opened the hatch and moved it out of the way. So the dealer lists it on carfax for some reason, very misleading.
-Interior door handle replaced on pass side, because of wear from passenger with diamond rings. It just bothered me when i had to use the handle, so had them replace it.
-Visor replaced because the internal retraction spring, or whatever makes it work, did not allow the visor to go flush with the headliner on the drivers side, so i had it replaced.
-AMG badges removed because i dont care to advertise for AMG, this is common in Europe but US buyer prefer to add badges to cars that are not real. I prefer to own the car for what it is.
-I have offerred to send as many pictures of the car as needed, there are not major defects but the car is black so there are a few minor paint defects to be expected.
-If the car was in an accident as stated MBUSA would not have honored any warranty work that could have been related, there has been no issue with warranty.

I have a storage lift in my garage. I can videotape or photograph any aspect of the car that is of concern.
The car will be going to a dealer soon, if not sold privately, who will surely list it for $50k so now is a good time to buy the car.

Wagons are rare and hard to find. Feel free to PM me any questions or call, number listed in the ad.

VS70

Thanks for posting here! I don't mean to disparage the car in any way - it truly looks great and it has all the right options. But I get very nervous when Autocheck reports frame/unibody damage as an auction announcement. That sometimes means there was an accident but it was fixed privately so there was no insurance/police involvement. By no means am I saying that's certainly the case here - Autocheck definitely gets things wrong, too.

I am not one of your typical shoppers who turns a blind eye the second an accident is reported - I'd just want to make sure everything has been repaired to factory specs if an accident has indeed occurred. Unfortunately either way it's just a little too pricey for me.

EDIT: Out of curiosity, is there any CPO warranty left? I note you bought the car October 2010 with around 38k on the clock.

TonyC

glad you cleared it up Vntgrcr.

pardon us for the accusations & GLWS. If that was an '06 E55, I'd be on it like white on rice.

Quattromaniac

Car looks to be sold. eBay auction ended.

Vntgrcr

I have moved the car to autotrader.com it is still for sale with a few interested buyers.

PM me if you would like to see HiRes pictures from yesterday in dropbox folder.

VS70

Off eBay after no bids at $35k. Even with these options, the car simply isn't worth that money (especially in that color!). Dealer has already dropped the price to $40k on their site.

TonyC

+1. Worst e-class color ever.

Shadow5501

Too bad, because otherwise it looks like a nice enough car.

Dumb question - is pewter the successor color to desert silver/smoke silver/etc., which are all basically metallic gold colors? Or is it more of a dull silver?

VS70

Especially for an AMG!

3etoiles

Flint grey(??) on charcoal 2005 car in az. 60k miles for $40k. Looks fully loaded except for distronic, dynamic seats, and Bluetooth. 3rd row seats look grey for some reason but it looks very clean:

http://www.classicsportsandtrucks.co...&listingID=355

Not getting any cheaper, that's for sure!

3etoiles

Sold already.

VS70

Or catch it here on cars.com for $34k. No VIN posted.

aw21

I remember talking to this dealer some time ago. I have no info on the car but he was the quintessential used car dealer a$$...

Shadow5501

Pretty sure that's a California lemon car that's been offered by that dealer before. Some of the legal documents were actually posted on mbworld at one point. Would explain why they're hiding the VIN.

gedelea

Just a shout out to all of the regulars here..you are a great resource in the E63 search. You really help seperate the wheat from the chaff with your knowledge, analysis and histories of the cars that are offered for sale.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge!!

Jim's500E

Anybody know what is the matter with the E55 wagon for sale here in CT at Coventry Motorcar? Poor thing just sits on their lot.

Someone was interested here and got a PPI from the local dealer...just wondering what was found that needed attention.... Anything major? Of course, the dealer is saying nuttin'.

3etoiles

Oh man, sorry Jim. I got your PM and thought I had replied until now. I had the PPI done at New Country Mercedes in West Hartford I believe. I was in Europe at the time so the report was given to me over the phone and I dont remember the exact details. What I do remember is that all brakes were pretty low, transmission had a little leak (not a big fix from what they told me) and one of the struts needed replacement (leaking too i guess). All in all, about $3k-$4k in repairs I believe they said. Dont quote me on all this but I am fairly certain. The Coventry owner told me that they were all BS and he told me I could come down there for him to show me. Maybe, maybe not, I didnt check the car out myself as I am not a mechanic and didnt have time to go down there again before I found the other car I bought. I just drove it around for a bit though and it drove very well. Interior is very well kept even though it seems the previous owner may have had a dog (hair in the crevices of the 3rd row) - doesnt bother me but some of your are fanatical about this stuff.

I think the other part of the problem is that the dealership will not come down on their price at all. Maybe $1k if you are lucky. Seems they overpaid for it and dont want to lose money because the car is so rare and they think they can sell it. Again, I am sure they would consider you taking the car for another PPI and if something comes up, they might address it this time.

Good luck man.

Jim's500E

Thank you, I sure appreciate the info !! I wasn't sure you wanted to respond to me, since it was your $$$ spent on the PPI,.

I'll take a look at the rotors and price them out, do you know what rotors list at by chance ? ...I know they have to be expensive, even more than the $300+ each RS6 ones. If its pads its no big deal.

Yeah, the dealer is into it a tad too much to come down much if any. I know what he paid for it.

3etoiles

Oh not at all, the money is spent so I am hoping it helps out as many people as possible. Rotors are not bad at all actually. Probably about $800 for all 4 of them through bmwmercedesparts.com (i am sure these other regulars will correct me if i am wrong). The strut and tranny leak (if I am remembering correctly) is what I would have checked out more closely. Otherwise, I also didnt like the fact that the car has had 4 owners I believe. Again, the car looks very clean and well taken care of otherwise. I was still considering it but wasnt TOO hot about it considering all this.

Edit: Funny thing is I went to Coventry to look at an RS6 they had and this wagon. RS6 was gone when I got there! You have great taste in cars by the way. Love the 500e too.

Shadow5501

Rotors aren't bad at all on an E55. About $130/ea front and $80/ea rear for Balo (OE) quality stuff. Pad set is $150 front and $60 rear, roughly, again for OE quality. These are online vendor prices, BTW - expect double at the dealer. No extra charge for all that brake dust! It's the E63 which has kills you on the rotor price.

Struts are expensive. Roughly $1k for the part, front or rear. And it's 10 hours of labor to replace a rear strut. Only about 2 hours for the front, though.

TonyC

The owner of the non-corporate used car lot was previously involved in a law suit with a Cali dealership/club owner-op, and runs an air-con biz on the side? Or something like that. It's amazing what google can turn up these days...

If I don't find an e55t this year, I'm going for an '08 535xiT that came off lease this year. EFF ME I hate awd (and bimmers) with a passion, but the W210 wagon is feeling realllly long in the tooth.

Shadow5501

Hey Tony, how does the cargo capacity of the 5 series wagon compare to the E class? I know that years ago the BMW had much less interior space & cargo room than did the E, despite being pretty much the same size as an E on the outside. As a result, I've not paid much attention to the 5 series wagons. However, like you, I'm getting a bit frustrated in my search for an E55 wagon.

TonyC

So this is the interesting part: the E61 wagon is wider/taller/longer than the W211t, so seat-in-place cargo room with seats up is actually 9 cuft more. But with the seat down, the W211t trumps the E61 by 10 cuft. I don't know how that works, especially when the w211 holds 2 more gals of gas?

With a ecu tune, the bimemr's good for 380hp and a gob ton of torque, so while it ain't no E55, at least it'll move faster than the v6 that's lugging my estate around right now.

there's a super clean '08 535 w/ only 30K mi near my house. If I can sell ze battle wagon this wknd to Carmax, I might be quitting this board on Monday