Newbie requesting help/advice!

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

koopz

New Member
Joined
Jun 16, 2021
Messages
20
Location
Newtownabbey
Car
SL500
Hi all, new to the forum and looking to buy my first Merc. Have my heart set on an r230 SL500. I'm in Northern Ireland and they are nearly non-existent over here so I'll probably have to travel to England to pick one up. Annoyingly this means I can't see the car in person before buying! I've seen this one in particular that I like the look of and is a good spec, just wondering if anyone knows this car or dealer and what they think - SL500 for sale. (Reg is LG52 XYW).

I've spoken to the dealer and they have sent me pics of the service book, the standout being that the car wasn't serviced between 2011-2019, or there is no record if it was. It only covered 9k miles in that time so it looks like it was owned as a weekend car. Is this a massive red flag that I should walk away from? MOT history shows a fail last June for worn ball joints and prop shafts, these have been replaced and they have sent the receipt for this (work completed by ABP Motorsport in Crewe). No record of any work done to the ABC system so if I bought it the first thing I would do is change all fluids. Anything else is need to be aware of? Is this a potential decent car or a disaster waiting to happen? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
 
"Next MOT due 01/07/2021, Last serviced on 02/07/2020"

It needs a service + MoT in the next couple of weeks.

NJSS
 
Thanks for the reply! The dealer has told me they will put it through an MOT and that they have completed a service recently it just hasn't been updated on the website. I would ask for an invoice for the service to show what work was completed and for the book to be stamped. Honestly though I never actually trust a dealer service anyway....

Any thoughts on the car itself?
 
My thoughts are do you have a Mercedes independent specialist near where you live to work on the ABC suspension which WILL have problems at that age . If you don’t , I wouldn’t buy it , if you do have one then budget £1k for each corner and another £1k for the pump .
Also gearbox service and filter straight away , it probably won’t have had one yet ?
 
I'm just outside Belfast and there are a couple of Mercedes specialists there. If the ABC system is ok now and doesn't have any issues and it's gets a service/fluid change straight away are the struts still likely to fail? I would have hoped it would be ok as long as there are no issues now and it's well maintained going forward. Spending half the cost of the car in the next year or so to fix something that will grenade regardless of maintenance or condition doesn't really seem worth it.
Yes, I would get the transmission serviced too, as you say it probably hasn't been done so better safe than sorry
 
Just a bump to see if anyone has any more thoughts. Thanks!
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom