Is there a price guide?

[mossgreen123]

I am looking into buying either a w201 or a w124 (saloon or coupe), but I'm only going to be looking at 2.0 w201s and 230E model of the w124. Where can I find an accurate, realistic price guide to these cars? Mercedes Enthusiast magazine has examples of these cars in the adverts in the back and some of the prices seem ridiculous compared to those on Autorader or in local press. Some are even priced higher than those advertised by trade garages! Can anyone point me in the right direction to find out what is a good amount to pay for these cars. I had a 730i which I bought at 19 for £1400 (foolhardy...!) and ended up having to sell 2 and a half years later for just £750. Hence the reason behind me actually researching prices before I buy!
Thanks
Dan

 

[crockers]

I had a 730i which I bought at 19 for £1400 (foolhardy...!) and ended up having to sell 2 and a half years later for just £750. Hence the reason behind me actually researching prices before I buy!
Thanks
Dan

So you had 2 and a half years in a BMW 7 series for the cost of £650....The problem being? Seems good value to me,

 

[seymansey]

So you had 2 and a half years in a BMW 7 series for the cost of £650....The problem being? Seems good value to me,

I have to admit, I was thinking the same as you. The 7 series second hand prices tend to fall through the floor when they hit sub £3000. That's car depreciation for you

 

[Swiss Toni]

I am looking into buying either a w201 or a w124 (saloon or coupe), but I'm only going to be looking at 2.0 w201s and 230E model of the w124. Where can I find an accurate, realistic price guide to these cars? Mercedes Enthusiast magazine has examples of these cars in the adverts in the back and some of the prices seem ridiculous compared to those on Autorader or in local press. Some are even priced higher than those advertised by trade garages! Can anyone point me in the right direction to find out what is a good amount to pay for these cars. I had a 730i which I bought at 19 for £1400 (foolhardy...!) and ended up having to sell 2 and a half years later for just £750. Hence the reason behind me actually researching prices before I buy!
Thanks
Dan

So,

You are 19 and someone offers you a 730i to rent for £650 for the next 2 years - you pay all other costs.

Sounds good to me.

Well, except that its a BMW of course.

 

[mossgreen123]

I wouldn't mind buying at a REALISTIC price (I shouldn't have paid over £1000 for that car). Hence why I'm asking for a few prices, not to be flamed. Thank you.

 

[grober]

Take a look at the Autotrader site adverts--Mercedes enthusiast magazine---Ebay---if you like the "del boy" car buying experience ---go and have a look at some cars ----and draw your own conclusions. That age of car can range from sound straight relatively rust free motors with a comprehensive service history to "BASKET CASES" fit for the breakers yard. The only real way to assess their value is go and look at them/test drive them. There is no definitive guide other than your eye and experience IMHO sorry.

 

[mossgreen123]

For old W124 230Es they range from MOT'd £400 quid fleabay cars car to £3000 for something from a specialist with half the mileage or less. I'm not too worried about buying an immaculate car as all I want is a well screwed together, decent size RWD saloon which is reliable and not too prone to rust. I wouldn't mind a cloth interior car with minimal extras as I'm sure it will be better equipped than the Sierra/Carlton RWD saloon equivalent I'd normally go for.
I'm very tempted to get something in the 400 to 600 range just to see if I like it or not.

 

[BlackC55]

The prices vary so much for the 124.

If you find one I can inspect it for you.

Be aware there are loads of sheds about.

 

[Vlad]

Its all down to condition, spec and mileage....anything less than £1000 will be high mileage, a bit moth eaten etc etc....if you want a mint low milage 230E W124 expect to pay @ £2500 to £3000. I saw a 230E go through auction last year with just 25000 genuine miles on it and it was mint and that went for £3100 at auction!!!! and it generated a huge amount of interest and guy who won it was chuffed to pieces.

 

[Will]

It tends to pay off if you spend a little more and buy a decent example - you'll otherwise end up spending money on trying to sort out the previous owner's problems and you'll be unlikely to see that money again.

Try and find one with a decent service history (or a least plenty of supporting paperwork), and as little rust as possible. At your kind of budget you're looking at only one large repair away from the scrap heap (no offence intended).

Seriously, a head gasket, duff gearbox or even a load of welding for the next MOT could be the final uneconomic repair for a £400-600 car.

Good luck with the search,

Will

 

[mossgreen123]

Thank you for the advice, and thanks especially to BlackC55 with your generous offer! I'll keep my eye out locally and may be asking further advice on my potential first Mercedes Benz if I find a suitable one.

 

[GrahamC230K]

I wouldn't mind buying at a REALISTIC price (I shouldn't have paid over £1000 for that car). Hence why I'm asking for a few prices, not to be flamed. Thank you.

Nobody flamed you. I almost responded the same, as the first reply. Regardless of MB prices, you need to know the depreciation you suffered was nothing, in fact an amazingly good deal. If you think otherwise, this will cloud your judgement.

 

[big x]

I agree there's a big difference between the average W124 and the best.
The E320 I sold for £600 looked decent but had common W124 failings.Rusted out rear jacking points,rust on lower front wings, 2 broken springs (but still passed the MOT) and some suspension rubber bushings on the wishbones that would need replacing shortly.The fact that the car was still on the original water pump at 104k and the air pump bearing was getting noisy when cold indicated more future expense.Being a petrol saloon with no aircon and cloth limited it's value despite the MB badge

There is so much choice in the sub-£1000 bracket that W124 saloons are always going to struggle.I only paid £720 for this more useful BMW E34 touring before replacing it with the better E39Touring

and £680 for this faster 740i I used to run.Again there is close to zero demand for E32 BM's.

adam

 

[mossgreen123]

Adam, I think my 730i was in similar condition to your £680 740i (showing I paid too much for it!). Seeing that interior brings back a lot of old memories, especially the size of those back seats!

Also, cheers for showing me some of the W124s bad points, I only have limited access to a 2 post lift so I'd definitely have to plan ahead to get underneath to inspect thoroughly.
If anyone could provide me with any buying info on 190e W201 2.0s (my other choice) It would be much appreciated.

 

[big x]

Adam, I think my 730i was in similar condition to your £680 740i (showing I paid too much for it!). Seeing that interior brings back a lot of old memories, especially the size of those back seats


Also, cheers for showing me some of the W124s bad points, I only have limited access to a 2 post lift so I'd definitely have to plan ahead to get underneath to inspect thoroughly.
If anyone could provide me with any buying info on 190e W201 2.0s (my other choice) It would be much appreciated.

I think your 730i may have been better than the silver one I used to own.
It looked good but the body and suspension felt very baggy.I paid £320 at auction but anything that cheap is just not worth spending money on the suspension department so it could be argued I wasted my money !
One advantage older Benzes have over larger BMWs don't is that solid bomb proof feel through the steering in part because there is less body flex.
Apart from rust check the condition of the engine wiring on older Mercs it's well short of the quality found in BMWs.

adam

 

[hawk20]

I wouldn't mind buying at a REALISTIC price (I shouldn't have paid over £1000 for that car). Hence why I'm asking for a few prices, not to be flamed. Thank you.

I really think you misunderstand, Mossgreen. Nobody is flaming. They are saying you under-rate how well you did. To buy a 7 series -or any good car- and run it for two years for only £650 of depreciation is pretty good going. In fact it is a figure some of us will lie awake dreaming about!

 

[mossgreen123]

Thank you Hawk, I see what you mean - I'm new to this forum game. I didn't mean to cause offence, I just felt that people were picking up too much on an aside comment rather than answering my question! I didnt mean to upset anyone.

To put this thing to bed though, I should not have paid as much as I did for that car. I was mugged off.
A family friend in the motor trade told me I shouldn't have paid more than a grand for it and that he would only have paid around £600-800. Now that I am going back to a German prestige manufacturer, I do not want a repeat of paying over the odds for a car in a market I am unsure about. I can understand how £650 depreciation is peanuts for some of you owners of MBs a few years old, but I am convinced you shouldn't lose half the value of a car at the bottom of its depreciation curve over two years for putting 10,000 miles on it, keeping it as immaculate as it was, as well as spending around £1400 again on the amount of new parts I had to get. In reality the endevour cost me around £2000. Not nice for a trainee teacher on a student loan... If it was a 3 year old 7 series, I can see how it wouldn't be an issue!

All I want to do is to arm myself with enough information to protect me from the Del-boys of the car sales world and ride off in a quality car which I know was a good deal that will see me through a few years without being as unreliable as the BMW was.

I apologise for the long winded reply and getting finnicky about stuff, I'm on summer holidays and bored an its very easy to get caught up in the minutiae of forums, I don't mean to cause any offence!

 

[hawk20]

Thank you Hawk, I see what you mean - I'm new to this forum game. I didn't mean to cause offence, I just felt that people were picking up too much on an aside comment rather than answering my question! I didnt mean to upset anyone.

To put this thing to bed though, I should not have paid as much as I did for that car. I was mugged off.
A family friend in the motor trade told me I shouldn't have paid more than a grand for it and that he would only have paid around £600-800. Now that I am going back to a German prestige manufacturer, I do not want a repeat of paying over the odds for a car in a market I am unsure about. I can understand how £650 depreciation is peanuts for some of you owners of MBs a few years old, but I am convinced you shouldn't lose half the value of a car at the bottom of its depreciation curve over two years for putting 10,000 miles on it, keeping it as immaculate as it was, as well as spending around £1400 again on the amount of new parts I had to get. In reality the endevour cost me around £2000. Not nice for a trainee teacher on a student loan... If it was a 3 year old 7 series, I can see how it wouldn't be an issue!

All I want to do is to arm myself with enough information to protect me from the Del-boys of the car sales world and ride off in a quality car which I know was a good deal that will see me through a few years without being as unreliable as the BMW was.

I apologise for the long winded reply and getting finnicky about stuff, I'm on summer holidays and bored an its very easy to get caught up in the minutiae of forums, I don't mean to cause any offence!

No worries. I think we understand your problem. Very difficult buying older cars and knowing enough to be sure that they are unlikely to go wrong. Certainly I don't know enough to do it. And when I was young and had to buy cheap, I came a cropper many times. Know what it is like. Not easy.

 

[ceejaySL]

.... but if you had paid £800 and it died really quickly?

Guess you paid what it was worth to YOU.

Any older car is a gamble - and someone has to be the last owner before it has a place in the car park in the sky...........

Is a better tactic to spend on a more modern budget car that should not have horrid bills? Or just to assume any amount you buy it for may be written off?

 

[mossgreen123]

Any older car is a gamble - and someone has to be the last owner before it has a place in the car park in the sky...........

Is a better tactic to spend on a more modern budget car that should not have horrid bills? Or just to assume any amount you buy it for may be written off?

Thats an interesting bit of advice and point you make. I'm hopefully going to be in the position of being able to buy a Mercedes and keep it on the road for a few years with the procceeds from my new job! I have been thinking of other cars, but after driving the W123 me and my father own, then a w201, I'm settled on another MB. I'm really looking for something which doesn't rot too bad, RWD, comfortable, safe and quiet. My Nova is none of these, wheras a mondeo fits the bill for all except one or two, hence this not being the right choice! I don't want a 3 series and RWD Volvos tend to be a bit too soft; so I'm kinda left with the same default answer!