emoving

I wouldnt say alot cheaper. Not all 05s have sliding cup holders. They started switching to the sliding cup holders in 05.

mikey33

Oh. All of them that I have seen have the sliding cup holders but I was just assuming. Anyways, I can not wait to find that perfect car!

emoving

There was a 2005 last month that sold in the classifieds to a memeber and it had the older style. I have an 03 with the older style and I had an 06 before, in some ways I like the older style ones. They are bore durable and actually you can use them as an arm rest. The newerstyle slider almost seems flimsy. That deffinetly would not be something that holds me back from buying a car though.

mikey33

this was the car I was looking at but they wanted $32,900 and I do not have that much.

http://www.jemmotorcorp.com/detail-2...5-4536717.html

emoving

That car at auction would problally bring @29 plus fees, taxes and whatever else it needs. You are gonna need to look at 04s or higher mileage 05s. These cars are actually starting to go up. Now that they are cheap enough for younger byers, they are being snatched up quick. People want to say they are going to go down again just because a new body came out and that is just not true. What has happend is they are available to a whole new demographic that can afford them now and they are more desireable then the NA motors because of their tuneability. Not to mention the 63s are still in the high 40s low 50s. So these cars are becoming pretty hot in the used market. This is the same thing that happend with the previous CTSV.

bigswin

Emoving, right again.

Also agree with the armrest. I think the sliding thing looks a little goofy. My functionality isn't great b/c there is a phone inside of mine but at least I can lean on it.

You asked if it was cheaper to buy at the auction: Well for the most part...YES. Dealers go to these auction to buy to put cars on their lot. You are typically looking at a 4-8K markup depending on the car of course but have found this number to be moderately true for the E55s I have seen.

I actually bought my E55 off of a private seller b/c I couldn't find one at the Indy auction where I live and I needed to get one b/c I had just sold my other MB.

So, best advice is to know what the wholesale price is and try to find or negotiate something that works for you. I'll let you know what that low mileage 04 in Phoenix sells for when I get the results of the auction. Good luck.

emoving

+1 Bought my 03 privately and got it for what they sell for at Manheim. Not to mention no auction fees or reconditioning fees, and no transport fee! These cars are hot right now, so you gotta act fast if you find a deal!

Karlson

wow Emoving. you are keep balling. CLS and E!

mikey33

So even if I buy it from the guy who is taking me I got to pay some kind of registration and fees? He told me all I have to do is pay him $500 which is his commission and that is it?

emoving

There is also a buy fee at the auction which is @500 and then whatever you have to spend on the car to get it looking good. Remember these are auction cars, not dealer cars, when a dealer gets a car at auction there are alot of things done to it before it hits the lot, tires,detail,oil change, paint bumpers if needed and so on.

emoving

LOL, sold the Pcar and couldnt pass the deal up on the E! A good friend bought it new in 03 and just got into some serious trouble with the IRS!

mikey33

Do you think that a car that is in the "above average" category at auction will need a lot of work or are they pretty much ready to go?

bigswin

it's been my experience that any USED car you buy is going to need something. Realize that cars coming through the auctions are trade-ins, lease returns, repos, etc... The odds of it just getting serviced and having new tires are pretty slim. Nobody is going to put a bunch of money into a car and then purposely get rid of it. And yes, there is an auction fee. It varies on the type of car you buy or the amount you spend but 500 is a pretty solid guess on a 55.

wizos6

I have been looking as well for a 05 or 06...The prices have been going up and I think that is crazy that 2010 is right around the corner

K-A

I've been keeping a close eye on the Used Car market in the last year+ (not Auctions BTW), and no doubt Used prices have gone UP ALOT in the last 2-3 months especially. 6 months ago deals were amazing, it almost seems like prices are the same as, if not more than a year ago even. The Used market has definitely solidified from the downpour in the last year, and prices are reflecting that.

emoving

+1 on the prices going up. And just because the 2010 are around the corner, that has nothing to do with it. Those cars may affect 63s but not 55s. The 55s are starting to plane out and there is much demand for a clean 55 in the used market.

K-A

Yeah, you'd think with '10's out now we'd see prices lowering.... not at all.

Yeah, 55's were CHEAP a year ago, now prices seem to be way less of a bargain (although still a bargain of course considering what you're getting) compared to the last year.

mikey33

Yeah they seem to be going up a bit, but just watch with time they will continue to drop as all cars do to the mid 20's I am guessing. Anyways, I am fine with an 04 or an 05 but would prefer the 05 if possible and must be from the west coast because east coast cars are usually rusted and in not that great condition. I want silver with panoramic roof and stock everything with less than 50k miles. I have seen several 05's for around 32k with the options I'm looking for but they are hard to find with the panoramic roof all of a sudden. Just guess I will have to keep looking.

milepostnate

My best friend is a wholesaler, and I used to wholesale cars also (10 years ago). I have direct access to Manheim and to Adesa, and ended up buying a car from a MB dealer. This is the first car I have ever bought that I did not pay wholesale for, and it did not bother me a bit.

I ended up getting an '04 with 46k and loaded up with everything except Parktronic and distronic for $29k. It has Pano and the cooled and dynamic seats, which I really wanted.

I looked at the MMR every day, and the nice cars that needed nothing were selling for a ton. Plus, add to the fact that not many sell in the whole country (this isn't a Camry), and they are spread out all over the place.

Here is how I reasoned it: I could buy a 2004 with miles in the 50s for $24k at the time. I would have no control over color or interior, and Panos seem to be pretty rare. Add giving my buddy $500 for his cut, $500 for fees, $100 - $650 for transportation. Then I still need to inspect it, change the oil and *hope* it doesn't need anything. If I got lucky, I am in for a total of around $26,000. I needed a car sooner than later, I had been researching for 5 months, so I bought the one at the dealership with all of the owner's records, and they just put on new tires and brakes all the way around. To me, this was a hell of a deal. Additionally, my car seemed to have a pretty rare "Avante Garde" package that has really cool maroon leather inserts on the seats.

If you are buying a car for yourself, you should take the history of the ones that sell for the most at the auctions, because these are the ones that have the equipment that you want and are probably in the best condition. I also think that I am going to drive this car for a long time, and paying a few thousand extra to get the right one seemed like the way to go for me.

Good luck with your search. I still get smile on my face every time I jump in the car.

K-A

I agree. I have had tons of Auction cars in the family and there's always a certain element to them, I just call them "Auction Cars", sure that is unfair to an extent, as I have seen some amazing ones where you could never tell (namely newer cars), but a lot just get really roughed up through that whole process.

I was at the Riverside Auction the day I bought my E350, I saw the exact models going for about $4-5K cheaper than what I paid at the Dealer afterward.

However the piece of mind, knowing service history, having all worn items replaced, CPO Warranty, fresh Wax/Detail, etc. etc. were all more than worth it to me.

bigswin

Through that whole process? Not really sure what that means. My last 5 have been "auction cars" but these were trade-ins and lease returns from the dealer that were run through the auction.

I think your message implies that just b/c you are buying a car from a dealership you will have no issues with it. Mercedes send buyers to these exact same auctions to buy used MBs to put on their lots. So there is no difference between an auction car and a car sitting on a lot somewhere IMHO. Obviously there will be exceptions to this rule. Also, you don't have to buy a car from a dealership to get the records. If the work was done at a dealership (warranty items only) they will be able to tell you that. Otherwise, you will have zero access to any service records. I know this b/c my brother runs the shop at the Indy Mercedes dealership. They were able to pull the records from the VMI on the warranty items that were repaired. The only real way to get "complete" records is to buy from a private seller and hope they have kept a good log of what has been done to the car.

K-A

True. I meant that some of these cars don't sell for a while, sit there, pieces of the interior get stolen, etc. I guess this can happen at Dealerships also.

Actually from what I've heard, not sure if this is BS or not, but Dealerships usually Send their "B List" cars to the Auction, and the ones that are "up to par" to keep on their lots, again not sure if that's spin or not. My brother has also told me that Dealers buy cars from Auctions, I know Indie Dealers only buy from Auctions, but from what the M-B Dealer guy "said" to me, they don't buy them from Auctions to put them on lots for CPO vehicles.

Yeah of course you'll have issues with Dealer cars too. Just for me, I get a bit more of that "comfort" when buying a CPO car, whether or not it's valid is another story, but of course piece of mind goes a long way....

K-A

BTW I had totally forgotten, my Brother who is known to be pretty good with getting people to do things that they usually would never do, called MBUSA when we were at the Auction, and somehow got the guy to take the Vins of all the cars we were looking at, and tell us (seemingly through his teeth as he said he wasn't really allowed, or not allowed to give full details) whether they were recommended, or advise to "stay away".

rarfinancial

r u kidding

emoving

Well let's see here......if 06's for example are seling at auction for 30-31 lately and a few dealers are selling them for $34,000 after reconditioning..I would say that is not much!

Just in case an example would help you understand bettter!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tab%3DWatching

11/03/09FAAOLease$31,50030,701AbovePLA BLU8GAYes10/26/09ATLANTALease$29,25038,271AvgGRT GRY8GAYes10/22/09RIVRSIDERegular$30,00046,970AvgBLACK8GAYes