I’m looking for a used 2014-2016 E63. Initially I only wanted one-owner ones with low mileage and no accident/damage. However, one owner E63 is so rare. There was one in Hennesey Porsche in Atlanta but it’s too far from me (I’m in Seattle). So would appreciate your opinions on:

1. Should I make a compromise and not focus on one-owner cars? How does the number of owners affect the resale value?

2. Is low-mileage more important or one-owner more important?

3. Should I purchase one that might be far away and sight un-seen?

4. Any recommendation on third-party extended warranty?

Thank you!

 

Buy a new one.. I'm sure its beyond your original budget but they are selling NEW 2019 E 63 S for almost $25K off MSRP right now. If my warranty didn't have another 15 months to go I would have already done it myself.. check out cars.com..2019 black E 63 s $118K MSRP for $95K in Stevens Creek (bay area) , and they have a blue one in Laguna for $100k, looks about $120K MSRP I know they are a year old but the clock hasn't started on the warranty.. I think they are a steal at that price..

 

Hardyli,
I just went through exactly what you are feeling. I would not make any absolute decisions based on number of owners. My rationale and thought process was this: Most of the 1st owners are leases. Lease owners will do all maintenance because they have to,

Most second owners are still under the factory 4 year warranty, they will probably do all maintenance to maintain the warranty.

As a 3rd owner, you are most likely OUT of warranty, either due to miles or time or both. I wouldn't want to be a 4th owner as a result, so I, like you, looked and 1 or 2 owner vehicles, and shy-ed away from 3 owner vehicles that were still under warranty (I was concerned there was an undocumented, persistent issue that forced people to keep selling it). A clean CarFax history can help assuage your concerns.

I like to see a clear history of maintenance at a single shop, preferably a Mercedes Dealer, because I take that to mean that the owner isn't afraid to spend money on maintenance. Also, I can call that shop with the VIN and ask about the car (I have done this on my last 3 vehicles and gotten good info to corroborate the Carfax history).

Then look at the CarFax history and see if the owners drove and had regular maintenance, or if there were repeated problems that didn't seem to get fixed.

At this point someone usually says "Do a pre-purchase inspection by a 3rd party!" and that's great advice, but for weeding through the 25-30 2014-2016 E63 S's for sale right now, that's what I did. I ended up with a 2 owner E63 S with 17,100 miles that was still under factory warranty for 2 months and flew 400 miles to get it, and drove it home. I almost purchased a 2 owner CPO vehicle from the MB dealer in Dallas, but I procrastinated too long. (I'm in Syracuse, NY). I figured I could drive 1000 miles and not be too concerned.....if I found a vehice with low-miles.

Last I checked, there were 1 or 2 CPO E63s for sale. Good luck! Its a fantastic car!

The salesman did a great job with video, photos and emails/texts until i was satisfied about condition, and I was impressed when I showed up.

 

I would agree with Oliver's sentiments re: number of owners beyond two, but obviously one-owner cars are the ideal. If the car kept changing hands every few months that'd be a red flag. For me, with these cars, the key is provenance. Has the car been well maintained/cared for. Has it been tracked. Has it been driven in the snow, and if so, how much. Where is it located (warm/dry climate, wet climate, cold climate, etc.). All of these things will help you determine if it's the right car.

Resale values are driven by a few factors, but if considering one of these used, I would say that mileage is the #1 factor followed by # of owners. From what I've seen, performance cars (AMG, M, Audi Sport, etc.) all lose significant value after they cross 50K miles. It's irrational that simply turning the clock to 50K causes a drop, but talking with friends in the business, they have all consistently said that 50K is the killer for these cars and if you're planning to sell one, do it before 50K.

There's nothing wrong whatsoever with buying a car from far away. I bought my wagon based on a bunch of pictures and the car had impeccable provenance. However, before plunking down tens of thousands, a few things:

- PPIs are absolutely essential unless you are 100% sure of the provenance. A few hundred bucks can save you all kinds of headaches later.
- Go to your local dealer and ask them to run the VIN for you. That way you can check the service history (assuming MB serviced it) and see if there have been consistent problems or has it run like a top. But as Oliver indicated, take that with a grain of salt because the owner might have serviced it elsewhere.
- Go and see it, even if it's just a day trip. Again, weigh the cost of going to see it and drive it vs. the cost of the car. When I bought mine, I flew to NY in the morning, bought the car, arranged with the owner for the shipper to pick it up, and then flew home that evening.
- Just because a car is CPO or was CPO does not mean it's better or worse than other cars. There are plenty of examples out there where a car was CPO'd yet it has plenty of issues. I had one of those, again no fun whatsoever.
- If you buy it and get it shipped, go with a top line shipper like Intercity. Yes, you'll pay for it, but again weigh the cost of the shipping vs. the cost of the car. It was well worth having complete peace of mind to pay a few hundred more to ship with Intercity than DAS or some other no name company.

I can't comment on 3rd party warranties because I went with the MB ELW. A lot of money for sure, but it's worth it to me.

GL

 

I truly lucked out with my 2014 E63S.

I too wanted a 1 Owner only example, 40-65K miles was my target, but the one I ended up going with was a 1 Owner , originally ordered for European Delivery but fairly higher mile example. I went with it because I knew that it was traded in on a new Taycan S at a Porsche dealership and my connection at that dealership mentioned that the owner was in there early 60's and a well know Doctor that took impeccable care of it. He was quite sure it was never tuned or abused based on his interactions with the guy.

The Carfax and repair orders showed it lived at one dealer and the maintenance was impressive and no accidents.

That said, I bought it sight unseen, no PPI.. just a VMI report that was stellar.

In hindsight, I would've been smart to have paid for a PPi with a compression test as after getting it, reading about the cylinder 5 issue scared me a bit. As a result I ended up having a full inspection and SDS Compression - Leakdown test done post purchase for peace of mind. I really lucked out as it was completely healthy and in amazing range considering its got 100K miles. My Tech said he wasn't surprised at the results as he's worked on quite a few m157 cars and has yet to see a major issue other than leaking plastic turbo coolant lines and even then, only a handful.

It seems that our cars come w/ a fairly lean tune from AMG, hence the good mpg's for a 5.5 l biturbo, so if I were you, order up a thorough PPi before pulling the trigger.

Good luck with your search. These are phenomenal cars. I traded in my Panamera 4S for it and there's no comparison.

 

More than one owner should not necessarily exclude a car from your search - but if there are a lot of owners, or a lot of recent owners, it can be a red flag. For example, one owner per year for the last two or three years would indicate to me at the very least a lack of maintenance being performed, but at the other end - a problem that each subsequent owner cannot fix. I would stay away from something like that.

Also, a car that was leased first and then purchased may actually be a one-owner car (just not legally). For example, if someone uses their business to lease it, and then purchases it outright personally once the lease is over. Technically two owners, but not realistically.

Purchasing sight unseen - get a PPI (one that includes compression/leak down results).

 

Does the E63s have any major issues that need to be brought up with the turbos or motor or cooling? I've been looking for a 14-16 E63s with sub 50,000 for a daily driver.

 

Thanks for the info and I know it's a deal for an AMG. But that's 2X of my budget. :-) So I will just target 2014-2016 for now.

 

Oliver,

That's really insightful thought on one-owner vs 2 or 3 owners! It makes a lot of sense. I wouldn't mind driving 400 miles either. But I'm a little worried about flying out there under the current pandemic situation. Now there is only one CPO for 2014-2016 models across the country and it's already booked by someone. These cars are moving fast in the market!

 

Haha the one I was eyeing on was a one-owner and also in a Porsche dealer. If it were like 500 miles from me, I would have bought it. You traded in a Panamera 4S for it? Now this makes me more eager to own one.

 

Hi cotmfk,

Does carfax show two owners if the car is leased first and then bought out? A PPI with compression test? Got it. Will keep that in mind.

 

yes

i just bought a 15 with 47k on it and got lucky and found it at a large GM dealership 20 miles from my house had a few owners and brake work done several times in a short period of time. I assume someone complaining about squealing noise. Other than that the history was good on it.

I would put low miles way ahead of previous owners if I were you.

 

I believe the ‘16 has the slight upgrade to the console buttons and much better Comand. Pretty sure everything mechanically is the same.

 

Correct - if it was leased through a company, it will show two different owners even if it's actually just the same person driving it the whole time.

 

Thanks, I have my moments! I understand about the concern about the cost / risk of flying to see something. I guess the old expression that you are "buying the seller" applies...in the end, I was shopping from established manufacturers' dealers (I purchased from a BMW dealer and the CPO vehicle was from Park Place MB in Dallas) and paying a slight premium as a result. The car I bought was previously sold as a CPO by the original selling MB dealer to the previous owner 7 months earlier (longer story there), then the BMW dealer I purchased from also replaced a lot of wear items before sale. The one I missed out on in Dallas also looked brand new: with 4 new tires mounted (still had the mold release markings on the tread & sidewalls), so these 'OEM' dealers appear to have deeper pockets when they prep a car like this for sale. Per Goodmaj's comment; there is no guarantee that a CPO'd car is a 'good one', but mileage, history and how the dealer interacts with you are good indicators.

I did spend a lot of time kicking myself for missing out on "the one" in Dallas, but I couldn't be happier with my purchase. Its very hard, but if you wait long enough, a perfect one will eventually pop up. Look at it this way, the 2016s that were sold in the latter 1/2 of 2016 are all running out of warranty (4 year factory warranty) now (which is when most 1st - 2nd owners sell these cars), AND they didn't make a 2017 model E63 S, so, you have the next 365 days to watch for used E63 S's to pop up for sale! I am assuming the 2018 E63S's didn't hit the floor for sale until mid 2017, so a year from now, in mid-2021 at this time, THOSE new body style E63s will start to pop up for sale as 'out of warranty' cars!!!


I continue to watch prices even after I bought mine in June, and I have seen at least 3-4 that I would have made offers on....a beautiful blue one just sold for less than $50K with 32K miles on it in MA, I think.