braverichard

Yesterday I was driving in downtown Kansas City and I saw a total of seven 126s that seemed junked on auto repair lots. I stopped by three of the five lots to inquire about the cars and each of them had the same story: owner brought the car to be repaired, after the repair he/she couldn't pay the huge bill, so the car is just sitting on the auto repair shop lot. I've seen too many Mercedes-Benzes in general going through this same thing. People really should stop buying these cars if they can't afford to keep them up. This really upset me as some of these cars were beautiful inside out! I guess the prestige of the three pointed star is so hard to resist. :p

dtkw

Here I haven't seen any jucked W126 at all. There's handfull of 380SE, SEL, 420SEL and 560SEL and SEC here. Everyone seem to take good care of these fine vehicles.

Hattaresguy

I have already consumed and junked an 1988 420SEL. It is probably a Honda by now. I am still hunting for a junk 300SDL, that car would be a gold mine for me. Junked W126's look like $$$ to me. :v My SDL can feed off the remains of dead W126's. :v


I think most people don't relise how expensive these things can be to own if you buy the wrong one. A $500 repair on a Camry is a big deal, on a MB it is a drop in the bucket.

A $5k 420SEL is not equal to a $5k Camry. It is better, but not for the same person. Unfortunitly they sometimes sit on the same lot and people who should not be buying them end up with them.

farooq

MB repairs are really dirt cheap here if u compare them with US.. i had a brake job done on my car for $22USD

braverichard

Yeah unfortunately true. I've seen so many beat up M-Bs around here that I just wonder what those people are thinking.

donbryce

I don't know how things work in Kansas, but here, in the Canadian province where I live, we have a 'Mechanic's Lien Act' that allows the mechanic to apply to the court to sell the car to recover costs. There may be 'gold in them thar hills' if you wait for the process to run its course, and maybe get a chance to buy the whole car for a pittance. (added) Looks like Kansas has similar legislation http://www.ksrevenue.org/pdf/forms/tr96.pdf

braverichard

That applies here as well. By the way, I live in Missouri not Kansas. Kansas City, Missouri.

I had the chance to buy a 1985 US Spec 500SEL for $2,500. The car was repaired for a blown headgasket. The mechanic actually did a lot of work on it additionally: complete valve job, new water pump, timing chain, etc. The interior of the car was sweet but the exterior was rough, with the paint peeling off and faded on the hood. Well, the car was for sale because after six months after the repairs were done, the owner didn't come for it and never returned any calls from the mechanic. So he obtained that lien you were talking about and got the title. Obtaining the lien does cost money though, about $250.

donbryce

[QUOTE=braverichard]That applies here as well. By the way, I live in Missouri not Kansas. Kansas City, Missouri.

I must apologize for not reading your locale properly. Hope you weren't offended.

I guess that this lien thing is pretty well universal in north america. Seems like a great way to pick up a deal as long as the repair + a couple hundred is worth it.

braverichard

No man I wasn't offended at all.

Well, your statement summarizes the problem with buying a car from a mechanic via a lien title. The US 500SEL I was going to buy had, like I stated earlier, a poor exterior but for some strange reason, a very nice interior. It definitely needed a paint job. Then, at 250,000 miles, even though I know the engine is perfect as it had just been worked on, many other components of the car would start wearing out and costing me money. For instance, the ABS light was on in the dash, the car was vibrating a lot (needs motor mounts) and the life of the transmission was unknown. That's why I walked away.