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Well gents, it looks like it is time to bid adieu. I am selling my 2006 E55... it has about 190k miles and has been well taken care of for sure. It is all factory and everything is in terrific working order (except the seat massager). What do you think is a reasonable asking price and what do you think the best venue is for me to do the listing? The car is located in Orange County. Thanks for your thoughts!
As far as service history goes it was (mostly) done by my friend who is a Mercedes Technician. All repairs were made using Factory parts and on schedule... I just don't have the paperwork to back it up. I'll see if I can put a summary together but at this point basically everything has been replaced at some point (even the Airmatic).
As far as service history goes it was (mostly) done by my friend who is a Mercedes Technician. All repairs were made using Factory parts and on schedule... I just don't have the paperwork to back it up. I'll see if I can put a summary together but at this point basically everything has been replaced at some point (even the Airmatic).
It's a KeylessGo car with Dynamic Seats, so that is a plus (even if the seats need work).
Service history not being verifiable is a bit of a problem on a higher mileage car. Even if you could dig up receipts for parts that would help a buyer make a better decision. I'd do what you can to put together some sort of history.
You might want to post a few pics as well. Things like paint and seat leather condition will play a big roll in valuation. I have seen cars with over 200k miles that look like they only have 50k on them and other cars with 85k that look like they have been abused their entire lives.
What's your opinion on price? Wrecked E55's sell around $4500 at Copart, so that's the bottom dollar. Stock cars are always worth more than modded ones.
Here's a less desirable '03 with 200k:
https://carsandbids.com/auctions/3OP45lvk/2003-mercedes-benz-e55-amg
Last edited by E55Greasemonkey; Dec 10, 2021 at 09:05 PM.
I now have all the service history scanned and available dating back to my purchase in 2008. The only things not working are the sunroof and the seat massager. Interesting things people may appreciate are that the airmatic was recently replaced with factory and also the seats/upholstery are in perfect condition after a minor driver side bolster repair which was done perfect. Also, the rims are refinished and even the headlight lenses are crystal clear. The car has 190k miles and runs/looks perfect. Getting ready to take it to Cars and Bids.
Gents... I bid adieu to my 14 years with my E55 about a month ago. I put 160k miles on it and it was immensely reliable and super fun throughout. I sold my car on carsandbids and I must say the selling experience was top notch. I am now driving a ModelX and although I miss the E this new ride is fantastic. Cheers!
I will never understand how this forum tends to be the epicenter of 55k enthusiasts and yet every single time someone has a car for sale that isn't a museum-piece with 5k miles that's been wiped with baby diapers and never seen the rain these people can't wait to jump on it and claim it's worth nothing.
Some day in the future I'll decide to sell my 05 E55 wagon with 180k miles and a rebuilt title and I almost can't wait to see everyone's reaction when it sells for much more than $5k.
I will never understand how this forum tends to be the epicenter of 55k enthusiasts and yet every single time someone has a car for sale that isn't a museum-piece with 5k miles that's been wiped with baby diapers and never seen the rain these people can't wait to jump on it and claim it's worth nothing.
Some day in the future I'll decide to sell my 05 E55 wagon with 180k miles and a rebuilt title and I almost can't wait to see everyone's reaction when it sells for much more than $5k.
I don't know if your post is to me or not, but I'll bite...
This is (generally) a car enthusiasts website. When experienced car enthusiasts look at a car for sale, they look through the eyes of an experienced car enthusiast that's looking to buy a car.
It's true that a car is "worth" (or "only worth") what someone actually pays for it. In this market, assigning worth is crazy. So, your 180K salvaged title E55 wagon to an enthusiast is probably worth $5K for very good reasons from their point of view. And those reasons are very valid. I wouldn't pay more than around $5K for your car. But, that doesn't matter to you, because all you want is money...not for an enthusiast to be happy and content with a purchase. So, yeah, it won't be hard for you to find someone with $20K (or a lot more) to drop on your car...because they are out there and all you need is one of them to buy your car. And when you do, you'll be vindicated...but not because your car was worth that money. It's because there is a shift in the supply of the Supply/Demand curve of the market.
This is like the average looking guy/girl going to a school where every other guy/gurl is busted af and they gets treated like a "10". They didn't become more attractive overnight...everyone else just looked worse...overnight.
So, that doesn't disprove what the enthusiasts think, that your car isn't worth a lot (to them).
The sum of all of that is: If your car sells for a lot, it's because the buyer over-payed...by a lot. Why? Because the car market is pretty effed-up right now, and in a seller's market, the buyer loses.
So, Sulaco , if this isn't your "forever car" that you are gonna drive until the wheels fall off, I strongly suggest that you consider selling it now, while W211 AMGs are hot and before the market settles down.
Take your extra cash and use that to offset how much you are gonna have to overpay for your next project. And if you aren't in love with any new project car, just sit on that cash until something seems fun or apply it to a different hobby.
No, I wanted an E55 wagon, and I bought one. And I won't part with it.
Also, I feel it's necessary to point out I lost count of how many times you contradicted yourself in that defense. And good luck paying someone $5k for any E55 in decent condition because that's what you think it's worth. This may be surprising, but "what the cars are actually selling for" versus "what a single guy on a forum is willing to pay" are so far from parity it's almost comical. You are correct in the concept that worth is proven by what someone is willing to pay. Where your argument falls apart is how you mistakenly believe that "someone" is you.
No, I wanted an E55 wagon, and I bought one. And I won't part with it.
Also, I feel it's necessary to point out I lost count of how many times you contradicted yourself in that defense. And good luck paying someone $5k for any E55 in decent condition because that's what you think it's worth. This may be surprising, but "what the cars are actually selling for" versus "what a single guy on a forum is willing to pay" are so far from parity it's almost comical. You are correct in the concept that worth is proven by what someone is willing to pay. Where your argument falls apart is how you mistakenly believe that "someone" is you.
Please, illustrate where I contradict myself instead of just saying that I did.
I just bought my 2003 E55 which had 138,000 miles on it like 6 months ago. Two owner car, optioned-out, clean CarFax, no accidents, 20” Lorinser LM-5 wheels, unmodded, lady-driven and a clean title…for $10,000 (her asking price).
I got receipts to back up my BS…and an unbranded title.
Not for nothing,
if anyone has a e55 wagon or not wagon for 5k salvaged clean whatever it is send it
my way lmao
Keep an eye out on Craigslist. I've bought some great cars there in the past few years, no joke. It's not the dealer ads, but the middle-aged or older guy/lady who isn't in a hurry to sell and isn't gonna pay to post to Autotrader or whatever. They have time to wait...but also don't charge crazy markup. That's where I found my E55 and two other nice cars in the past few years. They were all cars that have low KBB values but high values on the enthusiast market (like the W211 E55). Basically, the seller wasn't "on the scene" and didn't know that there is a lot of interest in their gem of a car. They just put their info into KBB and listed for a little more than what KBB stated it was worth.
There is a S55 with 200K miles (with a book a records 2" thick, I've seen it) in my area for $14K when last I checked. It's super clean and been for sale since November. The seller is a retired dentist and he's just waiting. If you hit him with a fair offer, he might bite. But, $5K might be too low.
I almost bought it to be a mate to my E55. But, I already have a daily car and the E55 as a project. Having 2 project cars is excessive. I barely drive the E55 as it is. I've put 2K miles on it since last summer.
Back in like 2020, I saw a clean silver W211 E500 Wagon with like 80K miles listed for $8K on my local craigslist. I missed it by a few hours. The lady on the phone was like, "We had no idea this car is so popular. A buyer in Birmingham just paypalled me a deposit and is coming to pick it up this weekend."
I offered her $2K over and said I could be there in an hour, but she wanted to honor the first deal.
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