Was talking with a wholesaler friend about the value of my '06' as a trade in on another car and was absolutely shocked at the numbers he quoted. These are south Florida wholesale numbers and may not reflect what's going on in the rest of the country.

CLEAN book is only 53K and AVERAGE is only 50K. And this is an '06' with only 21,000 miles!

Guess I'll be keeping mine for awhile.

 

look at the stock market, the housing market, the economy, fuel prices.

3 sinking, one rising

 

I feel your pain,AMG's tend to plummet in value in a short time.Just look at what you'll get if you own a $195,000 '06 SL65&trade it in,less then $100,000.

BTW,im interested in your kit Cobra,is it a FFR?I plan on building one soon

 

Yes it is an FFR. What would you like to know? Awesome fun car by the way. Closest thing to a race car you'll ever drive on the street.

 

I'm starting to see mid-to-high mileage '03s in the $20s now. I am biding my time, I figured the values would drop like a brick in a pond once 2008 rolled around and it's starting to happen.

God, I can't believe I almost paid $39k for an '03 a few months ago. Dodged that bullet big-time.

 

Its a conspiracy by us poor folk who want to have fun too!

 

Your lucky you made the right decision. I paid 74K for mine 18 months ago. It's not a lease and I put a lot of cash into it so I'm still in pretty good shape equity wise. Still, not a deal I'd do again even though I love the car.

 

Did you use the I.R.S.,and did you go smallblock or BB?I'm leaning towards a forced induction smallblock to save some weight&keep some of the handling vs the sheer monster power of a 427 or 460 crate engine.Any input?

 

The price you were quoted is very much in line with what Galves shows. They're showing trade-in at $49K for an '06 with 21K on the clock, and $50.5K if the car is market ready. Your mileage is considered high for the model year (16K is normal for a '06). It's amazing how the wholesale prices being offered for our cars are so far below what MB dealers continue to ask at the retail level for these cars on their lots. It seems as through the spread has increased substantially over the past 6 to 9 months.

No doubt, rapid depreciation tends to make long term owners out of those of us that actually bought our cars instead of leasing them.

 

I went with a straight donor car build using the solid rear and converting the 302 to a carb with mods. My little 302 dynoed at about 325 HP which doesn't sound like much until you put it in a 2000 lb car. In five years I have NEVER lost a stop light race to anything including Vipers and Z06's. It's not real fast but they are lightening quick through the first three gears and the race is over. From a roll I know I'm toast with the 302.

I recently threw a rod through the 302 and am now waiting for delivery of a 347 stroker supposed to dyno over 450 which should give me the advantage in a longer sprint. Truthfully, these cars are scary at speed due to the 90" wheelbase and their brick like aerodynamics.

There are several big block FFR's in town and an active club. The smal block guys hold their own and then some. I could have done either but choose to go small block for an easy, cheap build. I have a total of 23K in the car and built it in 90 days give or take.

IMO the FFR is the best bang for the buck. There are others out there that are more sophisticated, have more bells & whistles and are also much more expensive but don't offer any more performance. I think of mine as my 4-wheeled Harley because that's about how practical they are...Only much safer. They also have a terrific support network.

 

Thats excellent info,thankyou!
$23k huh? Thats awesome,you cant go wrong with bang for the buck factor.
That 347 should be ridiculous

When I get closer to this project I may PM you with a few detailed questions

 

Guys please note that you guys can use these huge drops in value to your advantage. When you go buy a new car, you'll be able to negotiate the hell out of the price

 

The Mercedes dealers are complete and total idiots.

They will price a car at $5k over dealer retail and $10k-$15k over wholesale, then sit on it for 6 months waiting for a sucker to walk in the door until they finally have to move it off their floorplan and run it through the auction at a loss, rather than let a customer get a decent deal on it.

Both the dealers near me, Brumos and Daytona Mercedes, are the same way, but especially Brumos. I have had 3 run-ins with them...once they refused to budge off sticker for a 1998 C230 (this was back in 2001), and the car sat on the preowned lot for 4 1/2 months and then disappeared. I assume auction. They were asking $31,500 at the time, which is insane since it was within $1000 of what the car sold for brand new, but by that point it had 3yrs and 30k mi on the clock.

The second time I tried to pick up a 2002 CLK320 back in 2003, they came down a whopping $1000 and refused to budge any more, while also sticking by their $559 dealer fee. This was another one where the pre-owned price was within a few thousand of the original sticker. Ridiculous.

Then, the last time was just a week or so ago. The have a silver/black 2002 S55 (I know, no Kompressor, but the car was gorgeous). They are asking $37,900 while the car books out around $32k for high-retail on Edmunds and NADA. And who pays high retail anyway?....I sure as hell don't. So, as usual their price is obnoxious. I offered them $31k, which I felt was fair, and the guy completely dismissed me...told me my offer was "unrealistic" and a "low-ball". I told him I thought what was ridiculous is their idea that, after 6+ years and 55k miles, a car could still have a 40% residual. Three days later, he calls me back and came down to $35k plus their $559 dealer fee. Gee....how generous, $3.5k over high retail. I passed.

I have been all over the place looking for an AMG. I think I am going to buy a last-of-the-line R129 SL600 instead. I found an '02 for sale with 19k miles on it. Whatever I buy, I think I will steer clear of the dealers...even the CPO programs don't make up for their outrageous prices. You can do a heck of a lot of repairs for the $5k-$10k premiums over private party value that the Mercedes dealers around here are asking.

 

It's sad to see the value in merc's drop so fast. BMW is also feeling the pressure to lower prices to move product. I went on the lot of a BMW dealership and I told the sales person in front of another customer that I am seeing the same cars on the internet for 10K less than what you are selling for. I pulled out my blk berry and showed him. the sales guy then pulled out a paper from his back pocket and said this is what we can really sell them for if you are serious. it was an 8 to 10k difference from the sticker on the window. it is true the dealers are looking for suckers. I took a big hit moving from a 05 clk 500 convert. to an 04 E55 with 20K miles on it. I watched my clk that book at the time 48K drop in 45 days 12K while I was trying to sell it. the dealer I bought the 55 from stepped big time and bought the car from me because it would not sell. I still had to come out the pocket, but the dealer worked with me. on top of that he lost money on the car when it finally did sale. for less than what he gave me for it. the market is really bad and people are really hurting out there. insurance valued my car at 62.5K, that sure is not what emunds has to say. I don't regret getting the 55 because it's a hell of a car. I love to drive it and there are times when i look at the car n awe, such beautiful lines. I don't mine being stck with it as long as I can afford it and I got the best and longest warranty. judging by the way the market is going. it won't be long before the days of overdrive are back and cars will have speedo's that only go to 75 mph. so fasten your seat belts because the rollercoast is only about a quarter of the way to the top of the first peak, everbody is nervous and when the clack-a-de-clack stops and all is quiet the screams will begin as we head towards the darkness of economic hell.

 

Personally, I would NEVER buy any AMG product... Even at the ridiculous lease prices we pay (1200-1500 depending on options and "deal"). Your still ahead of the game, after 2-3 years of ownership. AND you get to keep your cash, AND walk away at the end of the term..

 

I have mixed feelings about this. I used to lease my cars. I'd lease for 36 months with 12k miles per year and then return the car with 20k miles and fairly new tires. I always felt like I got burned.

So I bought my 55 (traded in my Z06 and financed the balance at 4.99%). I think that I would have been in the same economic place last August when my lease would have expired based on what I was quoted on a lease for the 55 at the time of my purchase.

 

Ya, but with a lease you coulda put like $3k down and sold the Vette and had the money earning interest in the bank. Not to mention your payments would probably have been lower.

I do think that leasing is the way to go, when you get into cars that depreciate this quickly.

 

Yeah, maybe if I was in your shoes I would feel different. My E55 will go back to the lease company, with no mileage to spare(will have 55k on it, in 3 years most likely) Its my daily tripper, snow,rain,taking my daughter to school,etc,etc.. So I feel like I get the value, out of the lease.. Without the hassles of trying to re-sell or trade the car in..

I had an 02' Z06 as well.. Fun cars, but I opted to buy a Viper as a weekend toy, and keep the E55 for my daily runner..

 

I've leased and sometimes purchase depending on the car and how long I intend to keep it. I like the flexibility of ownership to trade or sell if the mood strikes me and don't like feeling stuck with a lease car I'm not happy with.

I financed my CPO car at 1.9% which was a motivating factor to purchase in this case and also had a pocket full of cash from selling another car. No regrets.

 

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