SL65 depreciation $111k after 2 years and 3300 miles
 

In 2017 when I considered and subsequently bought an SL65 AMG for $231k, I posted on this forum seeking advice from other forum members. One of these members cautioned that the depreciation was 'breath taking' on the SL65. Well 2 years later I gotta tell ya, it was all of that. I recently traded it in but before doing so I contacted a number of different MB and Porsche dealers. They offered, $104k, $118k, and 3 others at $120k. In retrospect, I should have heeded their advice. The old adage 'live and learn' certainly applied here.

Holy Bat, ****man! I’ve heard the stories too, but I recently went ahead and bought (one of) my dream cars, a new 2019 SL63 AMG. I reasoned that at age 68 this may well be my last car, so I’m all in.

I can't even fathom that...you're out of my league!

Congratulations on your car! Hopefully it is not your last. I am 64 and the SL65 was not intended to be my last. In fact now, I don't take any of the add-on extended or prepaid anything at purchase. I am now in the mode that every 2-3 years, I am going for something new. Keeps us young!

BTW, I shopped the SL63 at the time as well. Both models had a brutal depreciation curve. When I looked to trade-in the SL65, I asked my original SA what the trade-in value was and he said, are you sitting down, and then said $118k. I was blown away. For comparison, I then checked to do a what-if if I had purchased the 63 instead. The 2017s that I checked had depreciated about 35% after 2 years (170k msrp, asking 110k), still brutal on both models. I even checked a couple of consignors and they said these cars all head into the 30k range at some point. That is why I sold after only 2 years, just to protect what little depreciation I could salvage!

I have since moved on and returned to Porsche, which I have always loved. Yes, they of course depreciate as well, but I know in this case, I will be re-buying the same brand and therefore my trade-in equity is more easily applied.

It is thanks to you guys that guys like me end up with these cars. My original owner paid 170. I purchased it 4 year later for 85. Only had 13 K miles.

So thank you sir!

And soon yours will be worth 35k. On a percentage basis your depreciation will be even worse.

Yep, the time to buy an expensive MB is at about 10 yrs old. The vast majority of depreciation has been realized.

You can shop and buy @ $.25 on the dollar, or less in some cases. Key is to find a low mileage (2-3k miles/yr) auto with all service records to confirm it has been properly maintained.

I finally found an one, a 2008 SL55 AMG, with 26k miles, all MB service records and got it delivered 600 miles away for under $32k, including sales and property taxes. Car sticker was $138,450. Now that's a bargain!

The maintenance costs however can be brutal if performed by mb. An aged v12 especially so. Good luck with the 55.

Not sure what your point is here. Personal finances run on dollars, not percentages. How much a car costs you is not determined by the initial price...it's determined by the initial price minus whatever you get when you sell it. I'm honestly sorry that you lost $111k by buying your car new and then selling after two years, but even if Sunline gives his car away (which he'll never have to do), he can't lose any more than $85k. That's the very real advantage to buying used and letting the original owner eat the most vertical part of the depreciation curve. I'll be joining him on that depreciation train, too. I want an SL 450 really bad, but since virtually none of them have been ordered with ABC, I'm now looking at CPO'd AMG SLs instead. Therefore, I must echo Sunline's sentiment...Thank you, sir!

This! Wisdom don't always come with age. But I'm happy to see plenty of people buying new cars and selling them shortly there after allowing us to get what we want.

Yes. bought my ‘03 SL55 with 68K for $22K. Flawless and no issues yet.

Times have changed. The last SL65's were shipped mid 2018 - there's no more V12 SLs. In the past year prices have gone up. 2009 SL65 Black Series are going for $400k (MSRP was $305k). There are two 2017 SL65's on Autotrader right now: a 26k mi for $170k and a 1630 mi for $198k. Expect prices to continue to go up as the SL65 is such a unique car, and not many R231's were made - especially "facelift" 2017/18's.

Just wanted to say thank you
 

Hi folks,
I'm new to the forum and am looking into getting an sl65 hopefully sometime next year. Just wanted to say thanks for the op for posting this and to all the helpful responses. I'm taking note and casually observing as I do my research. Still waiting to save up a bit more funds before I can purchase one

Thanks again 😁

After having had a number of AMGs, I hate to tell you that the value PLUMMETS even with these "special" cars. 2002 S55, 2005 E55 wagon, 2009 SL63 (yes, the one with the cylinder head bolt problems - fortunately fixed before it blew), 2014 E63 wagon. All purchased new, worth little when I went to sell. Finally got smart - traded the 2009 SL63 on a 2014 SL63 (2 years old at the time) and got a decent return and decent price. My verdict on AMGs - love the cars, but they're not perfect and have engineering issues (e.g. the bolts and the ABC failure on the 2014 SL), and they're worth nothing (relatively) when you unload them. So buy USED only, and be prepared to enjoy for a long, long time. Unless you are ready to Add More Greenbacks.

OP.... Soooo $33.00 and change per mile.

Thank you for buying such a fine automobile and not using it so that a depreciation monkey like myself can scoop it (or similar) up in the secondary (more like third to fourth owner for me) market.

Your being a fine first owner is appreciated.

Love the 279 bent 12.

John

The Black Series SL65 seems to be holding its value, maybe even coming close to beating inflation. The limited production is what drives the price for those. I think it was 100 units per model year? Not sure.

On the other hand, the "regular" SL65 is also a fairly rare beast. I think it's under-appreciated. MB may have been willing to make as many as we wanted, but the reality is that the numbers were quite limited. The MB archive shows worldwide production of the SL65 at 631 units for the pre-facelift R231, which goes from the end of 2012 through 2016. That averages out to about 158 units per year. The later years are probably much rarer than the earlier years. Here's the link:

SL 65 AMG, 2012 - 2016 (from 12.2014: Mercedes-AMG SL 65) (mercedes-benz-publicarchive.com)

Given the production numbers and the fact that the V12 is basically gone now (except for the S Maybach) there's a chance it will eventually become of interest to collectors. I doubt it will ever prove to be a good investment. :) If you have one enjoy it!

I recently picked up a 2014 SL65 with 28K miles and in great shape. My biggest problem so far is I need better tires. You can't get into the pedal very far before it breaks them loose. Being retired I probably won't put more than 2K miles/yr on it, but I'll enjoy every one of those miles.

Enjoy that Beast !! Congrats.

Depreciation
 

I traded my 2005 SL55AM with 96,000 miles for a 2013 SL63 AMG this week with 18,500 miles. It listed for $69 grand got it for $55 difference. What a nice car I think new it listed new for $140 grand. This one should last me a very long time.

Question how one change the view on the Command GPS to Drive up, it is presently on Noth up?

That is just mind blowing depreciation! I couldn’t ever imagine that. Definitely way over my league for sure. Not that I ever could even swing that. I buy CPO and used cars lol. Only car I ever sold for more than I paid was my 1999 F355.

newbie here
 

Hey don't beat on my too bad here for being a newbie but for what it is worth I have owned about 8 BMW's in my 67 years. 2 of those were brand new so I understand the huge depreciation. How ever I owned a 97 BMW 840, bought it right sold it for almost double what I paid and thoroughly enjoyed driving it. I also bought an 03 BMW M3 coupe with removable hard top. When I sold it a few years later I made about 25% return. With that said I am in the market for a 2005 to 2009 SL 55, 63, or 65. I have and still doing tons of research but looking for any insight, advise, opinions whatever from some of you. IMHO I think the all of these cars are amazing and way under appreciated. I suspect from what I have seen is that these year models have hit bottom and maybe heading north in value like some of the older BMW M cars.

One can find 55's in the low 20's to high 30's, the 63's and 65's high 20's to mid 40's all day long on the web. Like someone else in this thread, this will be my last impractical but fun car I ever purchase so I would like it to at least go up in value enough to cover annual registration and insurance each year or somewhere close to that. I also know that one repair can change this whole script.

Here are some of my hesitations. I live in a rural part of Colorado 2 hours from any MB Dealers or shops that can work on it heaven forbid. But that is the reality. The other thing is I live on County Road which is dirt for almost a mile. It is a good road but still dirt and one can certainly go slow enough yet never even meet any traffic. So any advise from you wise people is much appreciated, for instance 55 vs 63 vs 65? How many miles is too many? I see ABS being a problem so what repairs should have been done on these 15 to 19 year old cars? Thank you in advance!

55/63/65, doesn't matter. These are expensive cars to maintain irrespective of their acqusition cost. For example, I've spent over $11k in almost 5 years on my 2008 model SL55. Add another $14k in cosmetic and performanc stuff and you should begin to get the picture.

You need to be looking at a Porsche if you're hoping for an increase in value over time. These MB will not get you to that Holy Land.

A 981 or 718 Spyder would be about the lowest entry auto I can think of that's likely to INCREASE in value over time as limited availabilty will likely lead them to collector status. Figure low $90's to get in a 981 and $30 more for the newer 718.JMO.

Bill

If you go for an SL, make sure you buy one without ABC. That's the most expensive part to repair/maintain and it's a huge failure point past 65 to 70k miles.

Thank you for the insight Bill, but can't a guy hope and dream? My son has told me told me the same exact thing about a Porche. But honestly I don't want to spend that kind of money.

Please allow me to give you a brief history. Back in the mid 80's I traded a time share and some cash for a matching numbers 68 Camaro SS/RS all in for about $8 grand. I did not put a lot of miles on it and zero maintenance cost but 7 or 8 years later I traded it for $25K in asphalt work that I had to do for my business, (I have seen similar ones roll across Barret Jackson recently for high 40's). I bought a 97 BMW 840 15 + years ago and they were selling for mid teens to high 20's at the time. I got mine for low 20's, kept it and drove it for about six or 6 years and traded it for a piece of property that I sold for $35K. The 840 and 850 are bringing more these days than they did 20 years ago especially the 12 cylinder 850's so long as the the clock does not show over 75K miles. The AMG SL's will run circles around the BMW 8 series. In 2013 I bought a really low mileage 2003 BMW M3 for low 20's, drove it for about 5 years and sold it for about $27K. Fortunately other than gas and oil changes, I did not put more than $500 in either of those two vehicles. In a perfect world I would acquire an SL65 that does not require any major repair work, drive it around 1000 miles a year, baby it and it will at least be worth what I paid for it 2-5 years later. My logic is that like the 12 cylinder 850's the SL65 will have a small but loyal following. I hope they have hit bottom and go up even ever so slightly.

Please tell me my logic is sound so I can explain to my wife it is a good idea and she will let me buy one. :mercy:

Thank you BlownV8, I appreciate the heads up. The ABC failure is something I have read about and even more so since I joined this forum.

Buying a 08 or older 55 or 65 without ABC is nearly impossible. Only a few people have converted their cars to coil over suspension as that cost $$ too.

Instead, look for a car that has an ABC system properly maintained. For instance, I proactively replaced all accumulators and did a fluid change. I have had zero issues in 5 years and really don't expect any until the pump goes, not a costly repair. And there's no comparison in ride quality, ABC is far superior.