2004 SL55 immaculate on 29k miles....

[Will]

Exactly; I'm not daft.



Generally speaking, a '£29k car' isn't going to sell at all; that's why so many high-priced examples linger on the market for so long. All hoping for another daft buyer, perhaps ?



Most of us seem to think the buyer was daft. Our opinion, not yours; fair enough. It all depends on your definition of daft.

Again, that is only your opinion, of which you are entitled to - but doesn’t mean you’re correct of course.

The buyer clearly wanted the car, could afford it and paid the going price for it. Whether you, I, or anyone else would pay that much is not really relevant, especially if you’re not looking to buy one (especially in that condition).

I would argue they’d have been daft not to have bought something they clearly wanted considering they were willing and able to pay the going amount for it. But that’s not what happened is it

I bet the guy who nearly bought it (second highest bidder), who went home empty handed probably regrets going home empty handed more than the buyer who may at worst feel he’s paid a little more than he expected.

Some people are obsessed about getting stuff as cheap as possible. Others are more concerned about the intrinsic quality.

There’s an old adage -

The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.

If £29k was what it took to secure this car, that was it’s value. The buyer wanted it and got what he wanted. Nothing daft about that, IMHO.

 

[alabbasi]

Silly me for not having the same opinion as your good self

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion of course, but we're all adults now and the days of putting RS2000 stickers on an Escort MK2 1300L and calling it almost the same should be behind us (I know, I'm showing my age).
I've probably owned a couple of hundred cars in the last decade and the SL55 is still one of my favorites, even compared to much more expensive cars.

 

[Will]

12K GBP is about $16K US? My SL55 has about 67000 miles and is close to perfect (I may have only put 7000 miles on it in the last 5 years). I can't imaging getting more than $16k for it today. Hell of a car, which is why I'd likely never sell it.

There’s a reason why £12k SL55s are £12k, and also why some nice ones sell for twice that or more.

You can’t undo mileage. 67k is not high but to put it into perspective there’s a 65k miler linked on here that’s up for £18k. Dennis has said its worth £15k. So if yours is close to perfect it stands a chance of being worth similar money

£12k cars tend to be 100k milers with patchy history and probably most will need a fair bit of work doing to them.

Lower mileage cars are not always better and likewise sometimes you find cars with higher mileage in great condition. But mileage (and condition) does affect value quite a lot, certainly in the UK

 

[alabbasi]

You can’t undo mileage. 67k is not high but to put it into perspective there’s a 65k miler linked on here that’s up for £18k. Dennis has said its worth £15k. So if yours is close to perfect it stands a chance of being worth similar money

No, I buy a lot of cars and I am realistic about prices. $15k would be all the money on it today. Not because it's a bad example, but because if 100 SL55's are for sale in the trader for $12-15k, nobody would look at mine if it was even $15.5k let alone $18k.

That said, I've never considered cars as anything more than a hobby and certainly not an investment. My S55k is my beater car and is pretty much worthless to me. I insure it 3rd party only and drive it like I stole it. Low values also contribute to the fun factor.

 

[Will]

I think UK and US prices may differ to some degree.

Go and have a look on Autotrader. There’s 50 SL55s on there, sub-£12k there’s only 5. That gets you a category-C car or a 100k miler.

The downside of buying a car like that is they cost at least as much to run as a nice one (and it stands to reason, often more), but you’ll not see any of that come resale - unfortunately they’ll always be worth low amounts if they’re insurance write offs and/or high milers.

Out of the remaining 45, anyone who’s been to see used cars for sale will tell you - there’s plenty of disappointments out there. If something sounds too good to be true, there’s usually a reason

 

[alabbasi]

anyone who’s been to see used cars for sale will tell you - there’s plenty of disappointments out there. If something sounds too good to be true, there’s usually a reason

Oh yeah, no question. I've met some magicians or jedi's who think that they can increase the value of a car 30% just by owning them. For this reason, I don't pay too much attention to asking prices (I do most of my buying at auctions). TBH, I don't understand how SL55 prices or anything with a V8 for that matter are not in the floor in the UK with what ya'll pay for fuel, road tax and insurance. After a certain age, I would expect car values to fall off the cliff.

FYI, some really great deals can be had from buying salvage. I got my salvage dealer license about 8 years and have picked up some of my best cars at the insurance auctions. My S55 was a salvage purchase because it was in a hail storm. I paid $4500 for it and another $1500 in paint and labor to fix it up. The parts (swapped the bonnet, boot lid, doors etc) were effectively free as they were picked off parts cars that I bought, and recovered much of what I paid for them by selling parts.
Of course, this assumes that I paid myself 50 pence / hour for my labor.

 

[E55BOF]

Face it, Will; the buyer paid too much. End of story, really.

And what I actually said was that if I wanted one, I'd pay £15K for the £18K car. Even if it's worth £18K, on 67K miles, does that make it worth not much less than half the original car, on 27k miles, which actually cost the buyer £32K? Your opinion is that it does; mine is that it doesn't.

Most contributors to the thread seem to share my opinion. Judging by the number of high-priced cars, wherever they're advertised, that remain advertised for ages, the market also seems to agree with me. Another old adage: 'Hope springs eternal in the human breast'.

We're just going round and round now, so let's agree to disagree. I'll end with yet another old adage:

'Fools and their money are soon parted'.

 

[rockits]

I have no problem with this car going for what it did. Would I have bought it for that price? No.

The market will pay what it pays and that is it. It is purely subjective on the value. There is no right and no wrong. Just opinion which everyone has and has a right to.

There will always be someone (not me!) with deeper pockets than your average Joe (me!) that will pay more....more even that market rates to secure the purchase of the very best examples. Maybe a desired colour combo or certain spec.....no problem.....knock yourself out.

I have no issue with it and don't see why I would have. Who cares.....it doesn't bother me.....why should it?

 

[Will]

Face it, Will; the buyer paid too much. End of story, really.

And what I actually said was that if I wanted one, I'd pay £15K for the £18K car. Even if it's worth £18K, on 67K miles, does that make it worth not much less than half the original car, on 27k miles, which actually cost the buyer £32K? Your opinion is that it does; mine is that it doesn't.

Most contributors to the thread seem to share my opinion. Judging by the number of high-priced cars, wherever they're advertised, that remain advertised for ages, the market also seems to agree with me. Another old adage: 'Hope springs eternal in the human breast'.

We're just going round and round now, so let's agree to disagree. I'll end with yet another old adage:

'Fools and their money are soon parted'.

Dennis, there’s nothing to face, the topic has been covered at length. You don’t seem to understand the difference between what you would pay for something, and what someone else paid for something they wanted, and that difference does not make either of you wrong.

There’s overpriced cars out there for sure, this clearly wasn’t or it wouldn’t have sold. Likewise I’d argue that the market didn’t agree with your expectations and/or budget as you’d have bought one otherwise. It kind of works both ways

I’ll politely agree to disagree with you and leave it there.

Thanks.

 

[c63chris]

Can’t believe this thread is still going! First rule of selling anything is it’s only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it. Can’t see how that goes to five pages of posts

 

[Will]

Can’t believe this thread is still going! First rule of selling anything is it’s only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it. Can’t see how that goes to five pages of posts

Except, according to some - whereby something sells for what someone is prepared to pay for it, it’s apparently not worth that amount.

And only cars in the bottom 10th percentile price wise are worthy of being bought!

 

[E55BOF]

Will, with respect, you don't quite understand my reasoning. I regard what a car, or indeed anything else, is worth as its market value.

Fact One: There are lots of SL55s for sale at high prices, many of them less than £32K. They're not selling.

Deduction One: Either they're all rubbish, or they're priced above their market value.

Conclusion: Even the best are priced above their market value.

Fact Two: A buyer paid £32K for an SL55.

Conclusion: He paid more than the market value. The large number of (still) unsold cars would seem to support that.

I suspect, as I said (much) earlier, that two bidders got carried away; either that, or the eventual winner was being trotted up by a pro. Whether the buyer considers the car was worth it doesn't alter anything.

Your move...

 

[oldguy57]

In simple terms, someone buys a £5 note for £10- doesn't mean to say that the value of a £5 note is £10.

 

[alabbasi]

Let's just say that it was an outlier and not representative of values. It would be nice... But we're not there yet and probably won't be for another decade.

 

[Will]

Dennis,

I’d already made my last move. This car (which is what the thread is about) has sold, and you know what it sold for.

That is what you’re arguing about, the status quo.

You can cite any reasons you like as to why you feel it is or isn’t worth that amount, but that is what it sold for. Saying that the buyer was daft, got carried away, or whatever you think is your opinion, your interpretation, and doesn’t change those facts. If the buyer hadn’t have bid what he did, it would have sold to the next highest bidder for a similar amount, and there’s a good chance that there were more than two who wanted that car anyway.

I’ve nothing to argue about, simply stating facts

 

[flowrider]

Will, with respect, you don't quite understand my reasoning. I regard what a car, or indeed anything else, is worth as its market value.

Fact One: There are lots of SL55s for sale at high prices, many of them less than £32K. They're not selling.

Deduction One: Either they're all rubbish, or they're priced above their market value.

Conclusion: Even the best are priced above their market value.

Fact Two: A buyer paid £32K for an SL55.

Conclusion: He paid more than the market value. The large number of (still) unsold cars would seem to support that.

I suspect, as I said (much) earlier, that two bidders got carried away; either that, or the eventual winner was being trotted up by a pro. Whether the buyer considers the car was worth it doesn't alter anything.

Your move...

Sorry but I don't think its Will that has missed the point. Anything is worth what a buyer is prepared to pay, at the time of the sale of the SL it was worth, to the buyer, what they paid or they would not have paid it. Now just because you wouldn't have paid £29k for the SL only means it wasn't worth that to you. I accept your argument that the cars on AT are not worth what buyers are prepared to pay for them too but they have nothing to do with the car that was sold.

 

[Will]

In simple terms, someone buys a £5 note for £10- doesn't mean to say that the value of a £5 note is £10.

And if someone was to sell a £10 note for the equivalent of £5, it doesn’t make all £10 notes worth £5 either

But more to the point, an SL55 has no face value. They were £100k cars new, not being made anymore and people pay what they feel they are worth (and what a seller agrees to sell at). The values reflect the demand for individual cars. This particular car’s value was £29k (plus any fees is applicable)

 

[E55BOF]

Sorry but I don't think its Will that has missed the point. Anything is worth what a buyer is prepared to pay, at the time of the sale of the SL it was worth, to the buyer, what they paid or they would not have paid it. Now just because you wouldn't have paid £29k for the SL only means it wasn't worth that to you. I accept your argument that the cars on AT are not worth what buyers are prepared to pay for them too but they have nothing to do with the car that was sold.

I say again: "I regard what a car, or indeed anything else, is worth as its market value". That car sold for what was clearly more than its market value. The scores of unsold cars support that conclusion. What the buyer paid - £32K - does not change that conclusion.

(Unless, of course, the market value of the other high-priced cars moves upwards, and they now start selling. I'm not holding my breath...)

 

[flowrider]

I think this discussion is going round in circles.

 

[E55BOF]

IS? Has been, actually. That we can all agree on...

I'll just add one little extra item: Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG 5.4 auto SL55 AMG Roadster Panoramic

A dealer retailing a car for auction value? Really? Doesn't happen often...