Terrible first post I know but maybe some more knowledgeable people here can help 
I'm looking to purchase a C230SE Avantgarde. It's a 56 plate, done 32k miles, from a dealer (non-MB). Price after haggling is £12k. Chassis number begins WDC203. It seems to have quite a high spec, but no electric memory seats
, but everything else seems to be on it.
The car claims to have full service history and after looking through it, while it does have two official MB dealer stamps at 9/7/08 and at 13/7/09, both services are marked very spartan. That is, all that has been indicated to have been done is the oil has been changed, everything else is marked as 'No'. The last service was around 23k I think. It got an MOT at 27k miles (from Kwik Fit, no less!).
Of course the salesman will tell you anything to get a sale as he told me that there's no point changing things you don't need to do. I pointed out that the service book itself states that you should change the brake fluid every 2 years (which wasn't indicated) never mind the other stuff and I thought that if you didn't service the car to the manufacturer's guidelines, your warranty would be jeopardized? (Of course he told me it wasn't the case). I mean, fair enough if it's a £6k no marque, but we are talking about a car that initially cost the high side of £30k new - no person in their right mind would forfeit the warranty on that,would they?
I am planning to give the MB dealer that serviced the car a ring on Monday to see if I can find any more about the car's past before I buy. I just don't want to buy the car and then receive a big service bill for all the stuff that hasn't been done!
In any case, I'm just hoping that some kind people on here can give me some more insight into whether this particular model will be a good buy for the details mentioned. If you can offer your opinions on what to look out for (common faults, etc.) it'd be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks in advance
I'm looking to purchase a C230SE Avantgarde. It's a 56 plate, done 32k miles, from a dealer (non-MB). Price after haggling is £12k. Chassis number begins WDC203. It seems to have quite a high spec, but no electric memory seats
, but everything else seems to be on it.The car claims to have full service history and after looking through it, while it does have two official MB dealer stamps at 9/7/08 and at 13/7/09, both services are marked very spartan. That is, all that has been indicated to have been done is the oil has been changed, everything else is marked as 'No'. The last service was around 23k I think. It got an MOT at 27k miles (from Kwik Fit, no less!).
Of course the salesman will tell you anything to get a sale as he told me that there's no point changing things you don't need to do. I pointed out that the service book itself states that you should change the brake fluid every 2 years (which wasn't indicated) never mind the other stuff and I thought that if you didn't service the car to the manufacturer's guidelines, your warranty would be jeopardized? (Of course he told me it wasn't the case). I mean, fair enough if it's a £6k no marque, but we are talking about a car that initially cost the high side of £30k new - no person in their right mind would forfeit the warranty on that,would they?
I am planning to give the MB dealer that serviced the car a ring on Monday to see if I can find any more about the car's past before I buy. I just don't want to buy the car and then receive a big service bill for all the stuff that hasn't been done!
In any case, I'm just hoping that some kind people on here can give me some more insight into whether this particular model will be a good buy for the details mentioned. If you can offer your opinions on what to look out for (common faults, etc.) it'd be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks in advance
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