baymotorsports

came across a 2005 SL55 for sale locally...to be honest was really looking for a SL500 but on but after close inspection/driving it cant resist now

again its a 2005, dark blue over tan, has 83k miles... its prob a 8/10 shape, wheels were peeling and needed new floor mats/carpets cleaned/detail. seemed to run/ride/drive like it should and had good power.

heres the catch, it has a lemon law/buyback title for re-occuring problem with batteries/alt. the local dealer said it was bought back in 2007 with 39k miles. current owner says its had no issues in his 3 yrs of ownership.

what would you guys put its value at?

he is asking 27k for it but says its neg.

thanks for any input

okbarnett

no way

Derek_Miller

Dont do it. There might be future costs you wont expect. Nasty surprises i tell ya!

Zaddick

Shoot for about 20 if you are not planning on reselling it. That lemon law issue will kill resale. I'd say it is about 25% off trade in from Edmunds as a starting point, whatever thet number might be.

The seller will probably balk, but you should walk unless it is really cheap.

AMGfan

Like my brethren above...don't walk...run. Heck...I saw a 2005 SL55 with 48K miles for 35K on ebay...

If you really want one pay a little more for one that doesn't have a lemon law designation.

Benz-O-Rama

Generally, I'm ok on purchasing buy-backs, as long as you've researched the particular issue, are completely informed about what purchasing a buy-back means down the road, and you're relatively sure about what the fix will be, or has been for the buy-back. I purchased my 2004 E500 with 29K miles on it many moons ago, as a buy-back. The reason for the buy-back was poor shift quality. Well, between the time the original buyer went through the process, and the time I purchased the car, it was determined the that 7G transmission did indeed suffer from poor 1-2 and 2-1 shifting. The fix was an updated valve body for the transmission. I felt comfortable enough that I purchased the car, saving 8000.00, and rolled the dice. Now keep in mind that the car was still under FACTORY WARRANTY, which made a huge difference in my decision. I'm happy to report that I've put an additional 80K miles on that car, with zero transmission problems, sans the TCU updates that came out at various times.

That said, I wouldn't purchase an SL that was a buy back. And I'd certainly never purchase one that wasn't still under the manufacturer's warranty. These cars should not be owned outside of warranty and I highly doubt that you'll find a warranty company willing to write a contract on a buy-back vehicle.

As noted above, pay extra for a clean SL. When I purchased mine a few years back, I paid 5K more than what I budgeted. You'd be hard pressed to distinguish my SL600 from a new car, and it's still had upward of $10K in warranty work. Not even major stuff, but modules, pumps, and relays are common failures on these cars, and very pricey to fix.

YMMV.

jwrichter

Keep looking, but keep looking for a SL55!!

alx

a buyback means the dealer could not fix a problem multiple times at the time of the problem (ie a fix might have become available later as benz-o-rama said).

are you more than capable to fix such a stubborn problem?

your mileage will vary.