Rturn

I have had my R500 for 3 years now, that I bought new, and am on the fence about doing some performance upgrades since the warranty is up......OR......trading it in for a new car.
Has anyone traded one in recently and if so if you wouldnt mind sharing how it was equipped and what you got for it. I traded emails with an MB dealer near Tampa about a possible trade in and he semi-quoted me more then $12000 less then what Edmunds guestimated the trade in should have been. In the past on other vehicles Edmunds has been fairly accurate as far as my dealings. Maybe it was a one time lowball offer and I could have gotten more going in, but this was WAY lower then I would have dreamed they would low ball me at.

I am going to follow with another post about performance.

Thanks.

cyeung65

Was the dealer in St Pete? They are selling 09s at $12k off so that may be why they are lowballing you. You may want to check first what a dealer is selling a new one for before asking about trade value.

Rturn

Pinellas Park. Im familiar with the rebates, I got 13 grand off mine when I bought it. That is taken into account though when Edmunds, NADA, etc come up with thier average retail, trade in and private party sales numbers. I would love to see what a new R500 was selling for if they made them so I really cant make that comparison. There was/is quite a price difference between a loaded 500 and a base 350 of the same vintage.

supernsx

Rturn, you can buy extended warranty if you want to keep it for longer.

For R500, I brought mine a year back very similiar to yours without the AMG, lighting and rear entertainment package but with the airmatic for $25K. My guess is the retail now probably in the $22-24K range for my car and $18K will probably be the wholesale. Is that close to what the dealer quote you?

bzliteyear

actually, i think the prices have firmed up a bit since oct/nov 2008...so nsx and others' R might actually be worth same/more than was paid. when i look for 2006 R500's now, i've even seen some in the $30k+ range.
Patrick

Benz-O-Rama

R-Class prices have definitely firmed up a bit, this Summer. What did they offer you? Here's the latest auction numbers for a 2006 R500, sorted by price. Trade in offers should be inline with this.


2006 R500

07/30/09 DFW Lease $20,750 56,672 Below ALB WHT 8G A Yes
07/22/09 ATLANTA Regular $21,700 57,024 Below GRAY 8G A Yes
07/09/09 DFW Lease $21,750 61,812 Below IRI SIL 8G A Yes
08/05/09 NADE Regular $21,900 64,093 Below SILVER 8G A Yes
07/09/09 MANHEIM Regular $22,000 59,948 Below BLACK 8G A Yes
07/22/09 NADE Lease $22,250 33,067 Below BLACK 8G A Yes
07/09/09 GTR TMPA Regular $22,700 45,437 Avg LT BLUE 8GS A Yes
07/24/09 MANHEIM Regular $22,900 43,214 Avg Silver 8G A Yes
07/30/09 RIVRSIDE Lease $23,000 48,412 Avg ALB WHT 8G A Yes
07/29/09 W PALM Lease $23,000 49,419 Avg ALB WHT 8G A Yes
08/03/09 DFW Lease $23,500 19,069 Avg PEWTR 8G A Yes
07/24/09 MANHEIM Regular $23,500 62,558 Avg SILVER 8G A Yes
07/09/09 NEVADA Lease $23,750 26,170 Avg PEWTR 8G A Yes
07/22/09 ALOHA Lease $24,250 45,914 Avg IRI SIL 8G A Yes
07/23/09 MANHEIM Lease $24,500 31,097 Avg IRI SIL 8G P Yes
07/08/09 NASHVILL Lease $24,500 39,565 Avg PEWTR 8G A Yes
08/05/09 SEATTLE Regular $24,750 55,423 Avg BLACK 8G A Yes
07/31/09 MANHEIM Regular $24,900 41,346 Avg WHITE 8G A Yes
08/06/09 MANHEIM Lease $25,000 40,459 Avg PEWTR 8G P Yes
07/09/09 MANHEIM Lease $25,250 31,424 Avg PEWTR 8G P Yes
07/29/09 MILWAUKE Regular $25,300 34,516 Avg BLACK 8G A Yes
07/15/09 MILWAUKE Lease $25,500 28,910 Avg BLACK 8G A Yes
07/27/09 FAAO Lease $25,985 23,278 Above PEWTR 8G A Yes
08/05/09 BAY CITI Regular $26,000 24,246 Above Black 8CY A Yes
07/30/09 GTR PHNX Regular $26,000 28,478 Above GOLD 8G A Yes
07/16/09 RIVRSIDE Lease $26,250 43,802 Above OBS BLK 8G A Yes
07/30/09 RIVRSIDE Lease $26,500 37,321 Above BLACK 8G A Yes
07/22/09 ATLANTA Lease $28,000 28,839 Above BLACK 8G A No

supernsx

Wow, thanks for the info. My dealer got mine from DFW Manheim for $22500 last July. Mine was "Avg" with 39K miles. It seems like the auction price has gone up since then. Very interesting.

Rturn

I was quoted $22000 trade in. I was really looking to see what others got for real world feedback rather then trusting the averages you see on the popular websites. Thanks for that list Benz-o

So with that I did a little online homework for my particular R.
Disclaimer* - This is not scientific and I am not a professional or claiming any of this to be fact. I am only making guesses and listing data as it was provided me by the websites I went to based on the information I supplied about my vehicle (this if for the people who get bent out of shape by, well, anything)

I checked the 3 main sites for appraisals on trade in values based on my equipment and miles.
Edmunds stated trade in as $34000.
Kelly Blue Book online says trade in is $29000.
NADA guide online says $28000
So an average of the 3 is an expected trade in of about $30000. Also note this is for my zip code or region. Other areas of the country or world could be more or less. So since those sites tend to be a little behind and higher then you normally get, I am guessing real trade in value should be about $28000 as NADA suggested for my vehicle. For others, I also noted that the value drops very rapidly by making even minor adjustments to the data about the car. ie. increased miles, lowering the condition, less options.

I then went to Autotrader online and checked to see what they are currently being listed for, same year and equipment as mine, for retail sale. I found the average asking price to be about $35000 for very similar vehicles. Option packages make a huge difference, more then I expected in the used market.
When I averaged the retail sale price as listed by the 3 websites, it came to $36000.
With the adjustment for it being a little higher I am guessing the average retail sales price to be about $34000, again, for my particular vehicle.
Bottom line is based on the list given by Benz-o-rama, I did get low balled on the trade offer which is what I really wanted to find out. Hope this info helps some others or saves you some time if in the same boat as me.
Im probably going to keep it at this point and see if they get the big makeover rumored for 2013, and hope an AMG or 550 will be available. Otherwise I will not get another R Class. The few cosmetic changes slated for '10 dont do much for me to make it worth it, besides the lack of an eight cylinder motor.