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Mark300SL

1962-2010. Gone, but not forgotten.
Joined
Jul 21, 2002
Messages
1,641
Cheap MB's

As some of you may be aware - I am considered by some to be "mechanically minded" - including my boss !

Consequently I get to buy the company fleet of second hand astra estates from auction !

Because of this i have access to BCA's online list - and out of curiosity I decided to look for "nice MB's" about 10 mins ago - well I am shell shocked !!

Registrations removed for security !


MERCEDES SL280 2.8 Convertible, SILVER, 2 Doors, Automatic, Petrol, 22146 Miles, VAT Qualifying.
T****** Registered *-04-1999


Guide price £22,300 as top book price - cars rarely make top book at auction :)

MERCEDES CLK 4.3 430 ELEGANCE TIPTRONIC Convertible, SILVER, 2 Doors, Semi-Automatic, Petrol, 18320 Miles, VAT Qualifying.
X****** Registered 11-12-2000


Guide price £24400

MERCEDES CLK 4.3 430 AVANT GARDE TIPTRONIC Saloon, JASPER BLUE BLACK LEATHER, 2 Doors, Semi-Automatic, Petrol, 7238 Miles, Marginal.
**02** Registered 08-03-2002


Guide price £27150

MERCEDES AMG 5.4 CL55 Saloon, SILVER, 2 Doors, Automatic, Petrol, 29814 Miles, Marginal.
**02*** Registered 28-03-2002


Guide £58600 - was £83500 new !!!


And my favourite

MERCEDES 300 3.0 SL Convertible, WHITE, 2 Doors, Automatic, Petrol, 92242 Miles, Marginal.
G888FSX Registered 21-03-1990


Guide £4500 - I reckon its old shape - but almost worth buying just to turbo !!!




Mark
 
Mark, when you say old shape for the G reg 300SL, do you mean a 107 rather than a 129? I'd have thought it will be one of the first 129s, unless manufactured in early 89 and reg'd in 90.
 
Originally posted by Black180

What does Marginal mean in relation to the above?

Sorry Simon I dont know for sure - but I think its to do with claiming the VAT back - I suppose I should ask one day!

Originally posted by Malc
Mark, when you say old shape for the G reg 300SL, do you mean a 107 rather than a 129? I'd have thought it will be one of the first 129s, unless manufactured in early 89 and reg'd in 90.

I just placed it as a late 107 because of the price - I've yet to see a 129 under 9k at auction - regardless of mileage and condition

So £4500 makes ita 107 in my book - but if its a 129 - I'm going to auction !!!

HTH

Mark
 
Mark

I have bought my last two Mercedes through BCA, and have been very happy (with the price and the cars!).

Auctions are, however, fascinating places.... ....I have seen private buyers (convinced that they are always getting a great deal, because it is an auction) get into a bidding war and pay over RETAIL for cars.

"Nice" Mercs seem particularly susceptable to this sort of thing, usually where husband is buying for wife!!!

I'd bid on 6 different SLKs before I got the car I wanted at the price I wanted - the trick is to remember, nice as todays motor is, there will always be a dozen more next week!!!

I can recommend visiting Mercedes (DaimlerChrysler Finance) sales - many of which are open to the public - to see what the dealers are really paying for their stock!!

I am quite happy I could have sold my current SLK for £2k more than I paid for it, with an ad in Autotrader. But the same week I had seen a couple pay £4k more for an almost identical car?!!!

For cheap motoring, I can recommend a 3 year old Merc bought from auction and then sold on privately.

And if you wanted a BMW (godknowswhy) I watched 100+ 3-Series go through at Nottingham for very cheap money (funny thing, no-one wants Z3's now, but SLKs still holding well!).

Good luck.


:bannana:
 
PS

Marginal means that the cars was bought for business purposes when new, and the VAT claimed back.

At an auction, this makes NO DIFFERENCE to the price you pay, but means that if you too were buying for wholely business purposes, you can claim back a proportion of the selling price too.

If you are a private buyer, you can't claim back anything.

Oh, and remember, there is Buyers Premium on the hammer price.



PPS

I have seen a 129 go for less than £9k. It was a tarty red thing.

Not at all like yours.

Which I can clearly see is tarty silver.




:bannana: :bannana: :bannana:
 
Flip

I've had over 200 cars from BCA - its a little sideline and a service for friends, family and work colleagues :)

I have never lost money on a car from BCA - though on a couple of occasions I had to work hard for a small profit !!

As for "Tarty Silver" - thats rich coming from someone in a girls car ! :D :bannana: :bannana: :bannana:

Mark
 
What's a "girl's car"?

Why is that some people call the SLK a girl's car? I remember a comparison done on "Driven" between the TT, the Alfa Spyder and the SLK320, where Penny Mallory (of all people) called the SLK a girl's car. Jason Plato agreed. I understand that a "hairdresser's car" is one that is more show than go. This obviously can't be an accurate description of an SLK (particularly a 320) but it's still used. If it's because most of them are driven by women then this applies to all 2 seat convertibles, with the exception of TVRs (they can't depress the clutch).

As for secondhand prices, they're on the floor. Part of the reason is the state of the economy and part of it is that last year was a record for sales of new cars. This means that there are a lot of secondhand cars looking for buyers. Price on any market is affected by the ratio of buyers to sellers. The other factor driving price down is the deals you can get on new cars. In theory new prices should be going up in future (because a lot of cars are priced in Euros and most Mercs were priced assuming a Euro to be 60p - it's now 66p), and because the motor manufacturers are not making any money (except Porsche). But I think we're living in deflationary times so it may not be possible for the manufacturers to put up prices. They'll just find ways of saving money here and there.

BTW, does VAT Qualifying mean that if a business buys the car they can claim back the VAT - and to a private buyer it's irrelevant?
 
Last edited:
Re: What's a "girl's car"?

Originally posted by MainMan
Why is that some people call the SLK a girl's car?


Because it looks feminine. I agree, going to be hard to look macho getting out of one. I would try hard in SLK32 though.
 
Last edited:
Re: What's a "girl's car"?

Originally posted by MainMan
But I think we're living in deflationary times so it may not be possible for the manufacturers to put up prices. They'll just find ways of saving money here and there.

Wish you were right - Merc prices went up across the board yesterday, an average of 1.6%.

Effective February 10, 2003, DaimlerChrysler AG will be increasing the prices of Mercedes-Benz passenger cars by an average of 1.6 percent. Orders received by this date will still be processed according to the current prices for a period of four months.
 
Re: What's a "girl's car"?

Originally posted by MainMan


BTW, does VAT Qualifying mean that if a business buys the car they can claim back the VAT - and to a private buyer it's irrelevant?

VAT qualifying means that the purchaser can claim the VAT back if they are VAT registered and the vehicle is used solely for business purposes - ie no personal use


Mark
 
After buying those 200 cars, I'll bet you're glad you just found out what "marginal" means?!! (Don't let all those family and friends know you didn't have a clue....). :p

You'd have thought that it might have been the sort of thing you'd have asked. Still, I'm sure you know a decent Astra when you see one. LOL

:bannana: :rolleyes:
 
Originally posted by Mark300SL
Sorry Simon I dont know for sure - but I think its to do with claiming the VAT back - I suppose I should ask one day!

Mark

Flip

As I'm personally not VAT registered - I didnt worry about it :bannana:

For some of the company pool vehicles however - I look for "VAT Qualifying" - because I do know what that means :)

Are you coming to the GTG ? - would be nice to compare BCA tales :)

Mark

Ooops - over 500 posts - I think I need a social life !!!
 
access to auction

Mark,

I'm very interested in this as have just been ringing BCA myself to find out if they have any W124 estates. I wouldn't mind finding out if they have any E34 5-series estates either, I'd consider either so long as has leather and air con! Any recomendations for me from what's on today?? ;-)
 
Greg

Current list of estates + one saloon

but the 430 is on sale today !!!!!

MERCEDES E320 3.2 ELEGANCE V6 Saloon, AZURITE BLUE, 4 Doors, Automatic, Petrol, 11870 Miles, VAT Qualifying.
R****** Registered 18-05-1998
Derby 19-02-2003

MERCEDES E430 4.3 AVANTGARDE V8 Saloon, SILVER, 4 Doors, Automatic, Petrol, 94582 Miles, VAT Qualifying.
T****** Registered 01-03-1999
Blackbushe 17-02-2003


MERCEDES E240 2.4 ELEGANCE V6 Estate, BLUE, 5 Doors, Automatic, Petrol, 1 Miles, VAT Qualifying.
T****** Registered 11-06-1999

MERCEDES E240 2.4 ELEGANCE V6 Estate, BLACK, 5 Doors, Automatic, Petrol, 37105 Miles, VAT Qualifying.
T**** Registered 19-05-1999
Paddock Wood 27-02-2003

MERCEDES E240 2.6 ELEGANCE Estate, GREEN, 5 Doors, Semi-Automatic, Petrol, 40755 Miles, VAT Qualifying.
X****** Registered 23-11-2000
Nottingham 20-02-2003


MERCEDES E430 4.3 ELEGANCE V8 Estate, BLUE, 5 Doors, Automatic, Petrol, 86321 Miles, VAT Qualifying.
X****** Registered 12-10-2000
Blackbushe 14-02-2003


HTH

Mark
 
You do know that EVERYONE can access the BCA list on-line, don't you?

:bannana:
 
I had to wait a while before they gave me full access

They checked out the company before giving me a login, and we have since bought quite a few vehicles - though I can honestly say that it wouldn't have happened without the website - I can now find white Vx Astra estates anywhere in the country :)


Mark
 
I had a look but could not find the guide price? Did you phone up?
 

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