SL-Class (R232) Discussion on the 2022 R232

SL/R232: CPO/Tracking (Race) Question

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Old Jun 11, 2025 | 09:41 PM
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CPO/Tracking (Race) Question

I am looking at an 2022 SL63 AMG. (I know about the electrical gremlins).

The car was in the process of being CPO'ed and the salesman told be that it could not be CPO'ed because the car had been taken out on the track. This seems odd to me given the track timer that is included in software. I was also told that it was brought back to the same standard as a CPO (new tires et al), but that they cannot punch it as a CPO due to the track use.

I was offered the Mercedes extended warranty which I was told would give me the same coverage as a CPO and that any Mercedes dealership would honor it (and not use the tracking as an excuse to avoid the work).

Since I won't be servicing at the dealership that I am purchasing, I wanted to get some advice. I generally hang in P-Car land and most everyone talks about obsessively tracking their car once a year -- so all of this seems a bit off.

Thanks for any insight!
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Old Jun 11, 2025 | 10:15 PM
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Originally Posted by downtroddengoat
I am looking at an 2022 SL63 AMG. (I know about the electrical gremlins).

The car was in the process of being CPO'ed and the salesman told be that it could not be CPO'ed because the car had been taken out on the track. This seems odd to me given the track timer that is included in software. I was also told that it was brought back to the same standard as a CPO (new tires et al), but that they cannot punch it as a CPO due to the track use.

I was offered the Mercedes extended warranty which I was told would give me the same coverage as a CPO and that any Mercedes dealership would honor it (and not use the tracking as an excuse to avoid the work).

Since I won't be servicing at the dealership that I am purchasing, I wanted to get some advice. I generally hang in P-Car land and most everyone talks about obsessively tracking their car once a year -- so all of this seems a bit off.

Thanks for any insight!
The extended warranty covers more things anyways, if they don't CPO it, they can't use CPO as an excuse to charge you an CPO fee (included in the sale price which they will never list) which by the way not every dealership actually follows the checklist. I seen some in their office sipping coffee checking off the list.
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Old Jun 11, 2025 | 10:19 PM
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As for the gremlins especially battery drain issue, most are solved through software updates. https://mbworld.org/forums/sl-class-...ry-issues.html

After the software update, you don't need the trickle charger anymore. By the way, you need to specifically request for the updates to be installed, as it takes time, dealerships don't just go looking and checking for updates themselves. Depending on the size and how many updates/modules that have updates.... as well as bandwidth and internet speed, it may take hours to days. As well as depending on how many vehicles are in the shop.
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Old Jun 11, 2025 | 10:21 PM
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Here you go, the service bulletin:
https://mbworld.org/forums/new-membe...ml#post9118472
https://mbworld.org/forums/new-membe...ml#post9118476
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Old Jun 11, 2025 | 10:23 PM
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Originally Posted by W205C43PFL
The extended warranty covers more things anyways, if they don't CPO it, they can't use CPO as an excuse to charge you an CPO fee (included in the sale price which they will never list) which by the way not every dealership actually follows the checklist. I seen some in their office sipping coffee checking off the list.
Had not even thought of the cost of that process. Thanks.

Originally Posted by W205C43PFL
As for the gremlins especially battery drain issue, most are solved through software updates. https://mbworld.org/forums/sl-class-...ry-issues.html

After the software update, you don't need the trickle charger anymore. By the way, you need to specifically request for the updates to be installed, as it takes time, dealerships don't just go looking and checking for updates themselves. Depending on the size and how many updates/modules that have updates.... as well as bandwidth and internet speed, it may take hours to days. As well as depending on how many vehicles are in the shop.
Thanks. I w at to see what was done on the service to bring it up to CPO anyways. Since they claimed that it can't be CPOed maybe I have them clear all recalls and updates, which they should have done to CPO it.
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Old Jun 11, 2025 | 10:25 PM
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Originally Posted by downtroddengoat
Had not even thought of the cost of that process. Thanks.



Thanks. I w at to see what was done on the service to bring it up to CPO anyways. Since they claimed that it can't be CPOed maybe I have them clear all recalls and updates, which they should have done to CPO it.
You're welcome, hope all goes well, please do keep us posted with pictures when you take delivery : )

You may also print those two PDFs I linked from another thread so they know what to do and update.
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Old Jun 13, 2025 | 09:53 PM
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I have never had to work so hard to buy a car before. Had this same issue with another couple dealers as well. I assume they all view it as no pressure.

Got the inspection report for dealership and the only issue was tire tread on the report. And the lojack that they have to take off if I go forward. Lol

​​​​​​Waiting for the pricing breakdown on the extended warranty. Jeff @ Louisville is out of the office, so I can not get his pricing to compare. How much will dealers negotiate this? The one other dealership I got to numbers with only wanted to give a 200 dollar discount on the extended CPO warranty.
​​​
Summer is going to be over at this pace. Lol
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Old Jun 14, 2025 | 12:07 PM
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Originally Posted by W205C43PFL
The extended warranty covers more things anyways, if they don't CPO it, they can't use CPO as an excuse to charge you an CPO fee (included in the sale price which they will never list) which by the way not every dealership actually follows the checklist. I seen some in their office sipping coffee checking off the list.
Absolutely. I negotiated CPO for my car. Got a clean bill of health which means the checklist had “ok” on every question. My car had 9,000 miles. Rear tires looked great. Front quite worn. I asked for tread depth measurement they said they’ll get them to me but to rest assured it was all checked. I drove it home. Checked the depth and got < 5/32 on passenger side front. I called. The answer I got was that they’re sticking to their technicians assessment and that -I kid you not- I got a good deal and should be happy about it. 3rd AMG from this local dealer.


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Old Jun 14, 2025 | 06:27 PM
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Originally Posted by Dunga
Absolutely. I negotiated CPO for my car. Got a clean bill of health which means the checklist had “ok” on every question. My car had 9,000 miles. Rear tires looked great. Front quite worn. I asked for tread depth measurement they said they’ll get them to me but to rest assured it was all checked. I drove it home. Checked the depth and got < 5/32 on passenger side front. I called. The answer I got was that they’re sticking to their technicians assessment and that -I kid you not- I got a good deal and should be happy about it. 3rd AMG from this local dealer.

If it gets lower it becomes a safety issue too.
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Old Jun 14, 2025 | 09:55 PM
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Originally Posted by Dunga
Absolutely. I negotiated CPO for my car. Got a clean bill of health which means the checklist had “ok” on every question. My car had 9,000 miles. Rear tires looked great. Front quite worn. I asked for tread depth measurement they said they’ll get them to me but to rest assured it was all checked. I drove it home. Checked the depth and got < 5/32 on passenger side front. I called. The answer I got was that they’re sticking to their technicians assessment and that -I kid you not- I got a good deal and should be happy about it. 3rd AMG from this local dealer.

HA. Sounds like the conversation I had today. Salesman was offended I tried to hold something he promised and couldn't deliver as a reason for a discount, almost verbatim he was like had 6K into the car and were giving me such a great deal already.

He then told me that the Extended Warranty is standard pricing among all the dealers. I sent him one dealership's posted rates...he didn't have much to say other than his Finance Director would have to speak to me next week.

TBH, this process has killed any irrational thought about buying this car. At this point, it is buy the car and pay anyone else to get the extended warranty or drop the SL hunt for the summer and see what things look like next year. With the news and all, that isn't exactly insane.
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Old Jun 14, 2025 | 11:14 PM
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Originally Posted by downtroddengoat
HA. Sounds like the conversation I had today. Salesman was offended I tried to hold something he promised and couldn't deliver as a reason for a discount, almost verbatim he was like had 6K into the car and were giving me such a great deal already.

He then told me that the Extended Warranty is standard pricing among all the dealers. I sent him one dealership's posted rates...he didn't have much to say other than his Finance Director would have to speak to me next week.

TBH, this process has killed any irrational thought about buying this car. At this point, it is buy the car and pay anyone else to get the extended warranty or drop the SL hunt for the summer and see what things look like next year. With the news and all, that isn't exactly insane.
Here's my 2 cents. If it's not passing the "sniff test", or you have a weird feeling in your gut, just walk away. It's not meant to be. If the desire to have it is strong enough, you will overcome little niggles here and there. I was real irritated about the tire, like thinking I'm a frequent flyer, and you're choosing to **** me off about this $400 tire, $800 if you do the whole axle. But at the end, I had already signed for it, it was the right color and options for me, and I wanted to enjoy it so I chose to move on. Lesson learned though that in the future to iron out everything before you sign. In the instance you're describing above, I would have my spider sense tingling too much to be comfortable with this much money and a track use affecting warranty kind of stuff. Like yes of course it's a given when you buy used you take the risk of not knowing how it was used, but that's why you fall on things like warranty and CPO and whatnot. Something like this would put me off but that's just me.

Keep an eye out. They're not exactly rare and there's a ton of deals to be had. If this doesn't work out, it doesn't mean you should defer the prospect of snagging one entirely.

Unfortunately might got hit parked at work and is still in the shop nearly 6 weeks later.
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Old Jun 15, 2025 | 12:20 AM
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Originally Posted by Dunga
Here's my 2 cents. If it's not passing the "sniff test", or you have a weird feeling in your gut, just walk away. It's not meant to be. If the desire to have it is strong enough, you will overcome little niggles here and there. I was real irritated about the tire, like thinking I'm a frequent flyer, and you're choosing to **** me off about this $400 tire, $800 if you do the whole axle. But at the end, I had already signed for it, it was the right color and options for me, and I wanted to enjoy it so I chose to move on. Lesson learned though that in the future to iron out everything before you sign. In the instance you're describing above, I would have my spider sense tingling too much to be comfortable with this much money and a track use affecting warranty kind of stuff. Like yes of course it's a given when you buy used you take the risk of not knowing how it was used, but that's why you fall on things like warranty and CPO and whatnot. Something like this would put me off but that's just me.

Keep an eye out. They're not exactly rare and there's a ton of deals to be had. If this doesn't work out, it doesn't mean you should defer the prospect of snagging one entirely.

Unfortunately might got hit parked at work and is still in the shop nearly 6 weeks later.
Thanks and OUCH. Sorry to hear that.

Part of the reason I was looking at a car was that I have been a bit grumpy lately and needed some retail therapy. LOL What attracted me to MB and the SL was that I thought I could just buy a car without all the work and nonsense that comes in the Porsche world now, plus the expectations from everyone that the "investment" in a 10 year old 911 is going to appreciate. There are 911's that I was looking at a year ago that are back up for sale and are 25K more, with another owner and more miles on the odometer. These are run of the mill targas and cabs. Even if i can afford it, this isn't how cars work, LOL

To your point, this one has a good spec (missing one of the night packages for the grill and darkened lights but I can deal with that on my own) and is priced ok. I think if i can get the answer to HOW they can assert it was tracked, then I can make my risk assessment. Given that it was more than one car, it all just seems odd. Everything was ok on the inspection, but for the tires. I don't know whether it was the track pace in the car or what. If it is MB's new stance, then my guess is that MB is trying to cut corners with the impacts of the tariffs and some bad dealerships that CPO anything. Assuming it is a lot of hot air, I will then go to my local dealership and get the extended warranty from them, since they will be servicing, rather than give the selling dealership another dime.

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Old Jun 15, 2025 | 06:41 AM
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Originally Posted by downtroddengoat
Thanks and OUCH. Sorry to hear that.

Part of the reason I was looking at a car was that I have been a bit grumpy lately and needed some retail therapy. LOL What attracted me to MB and the SL was that I thought I could just buy a car without all the work and nonsense that comes in the Porsche world now, plus the expectations from everyone that the "investment" in a 10 year old 911 is going to appreciate. There are 911's that I was looking at a year ago that are back up for sale and are 25K more, with another owner and more miles on the odometer. These are run of the mill targas and cabs. Even if i can afford it, this isn't how cars work, LOL

To your point, this one has a good spec (missing one of the night packages for the grill and darkened lights but I can deal with that on my own) and is priced ok. I think if i can get the answer to HOW they can assert it was tracked, then I can make my risk assessment. Given that it was more than one car, it all just seems odd. Everything was ok on the inspection, but for the tires. I don't know whether it was the track pace in the car or what. If it is MB's new stance, then my guess is that MB is trying to cut corners with the impacts of the tariffs and some bad dealerships that CPO anything. Assuming it is a lot of hot air, I will then go to my local dealership and get the extended warranty from them, since they will be servicing, rather than give the selling dealership another dime.
Same process landed me in the SL. I looked at a couple 911 turbos and they are commanding above MSRP pricing at 5 years old. I asked “well why not just order a new one” and got the whole spiel of “one does not simply walk in to a Porsche dealer and order a 911”. Even a non GT car. So the SL seemed like a bargain for similar MSRP brand new. I was quite familiar with Benzes so I snagged it.

Come back and post pics if you end up driving it home. It’s a sweet sweet ride tbh.
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Old Jun 21, 2025 | 12:01 AM
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Figured I should close the loop on this. Everything I was told was extremely misleading or wrong, at least it feels that way.

Turns out that the cars were not tracked like one may ordinarily think, they had been used by MB as part of an MB/AMG driving events. Given that, the cars were blocked by Mercedes for CPO. Additionally, a non-CPO MB sold by an authorized dealer with over 5k miles, is excluded from the MBUSA Extended Limited Warranty program. They may have been barred from that too but for the mileage.

It seems to me that all of this information the dealer should have had up front. I had a deposit down for two and a half weeks before I learned this and then all of my backup cars sold. ​So back to the drawing board I suppose.

Thanks for the help.
​​​​​






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Old Jun 21, 2025 | 01:31 AM
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Originally Posted by downtroddengoat
Figured I should close the loop on this. Everything I was told was extremely misleading or wrong, at least it feels that way.

Turns out that the cars were not tracked like one may ordinarily think, they had been used by MB as part of an MB/AMG driving events. Given that, the cars were blocked by Mercedes for CPO. Additionally, a non-CPO MB sold by an authorized dealer with over 5k miles, is excluded from the MBUSA Extended Limited Warranty program. They may have been barred from that too but for the mileage.

It seems to me that all of this information the dealer should have had up front. I had a deposit down for two and a half weeks before I learned this and then all of my backup cars sold. ​So back to the drawing board I suppose.

Thanks for the help.
​​​​​
Forum member superswiss participated in many of those lately, he might know more.
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Old Jul 2, 2025 | 08:29 PM
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Sooooooo. As I was about to put a deposit down a targa, a CPO SL popped up with under 1K in miles in the neighborhood of what I was looking to pay. The nice thing was that I wasn't pressured to put a deposit down within 30 seconds of talking to the salesperson, but the process has moved so slow (nearly two weeks from agreeing to buy to signing papers). I didn't even get the fun chit chat session from the finance guy trying to sell me everything.

Perhaps they are not used to dealing with non-local purchasers? Anyways, signed the initial batch of paperwork today and now have to deal with notary and shipping... LOL

a judge is sitting in a courtroom giving a thumbs up sign .
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Old Sep 5, 2025 | 09:40 PM
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Soooooo registration has been a pain. It baffles me that these large multistate dealerships still process registrations locally instead of through a centralized system.. But I at least didn't lose time driving it while getting it detailed.







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Old Sep 6, 2025 | 12:54 AM
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SL63
That is a looker.
It looks from the picture that it is some kind of matte black finish.
I have a glossy black finish, but I would much prefer the subdued color option.
As far as driving it past summer, the combination of the airscarf, seat warmers, heated steering, and climate control heating has me leaving my top down all winter.
I have driven comfortably in 20 degree weather.
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Old Sep 6, 2025 | 01:06 AM
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Thanks. I tend to hang onto cars, so I ended up having nearly everything covered in the stealth PPF with some of the "shiny" black trim in clear PPF. Something about penny, pound, or something. LOL
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Old Sep 8, 2025 | 09:16 PM
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Congraaaaats. That’s a beauty! Enjoy in good health. The downshifts in manual Sport Plus/Race are delicious 😅
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