Sad day...CLK55

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Big Jim

Active Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2005
Messages
90
Location
Anglesey
Car
CLS63
I was made an offer by MB today to buy my car from me.

It was inevitable that I was not going to get a good price, but to be honest it still feels mildly insulting. Guess I should have seen it coming.

I bought the car in Jun 05 for £42000
Nine months later I need to sell and they have offered me £31000.

Glasses and Prices put the car at about £36000 but I've not had any serious sniffs since marketing the car at £35500.

I've reduced the price again in the 'for sale' section but I don't hold out much hope.

I can hear a lot of you say 'cars aren't an investment' 'what did he expect' etc....but MB need to realise that it costs more to find new customers than it does to keep existing ones. If they'd offered me a few grand more perhaps I'd be happier.

So when I get back from the States that new CLS55 looks like it won't be coming from a MB main dealer. :rolleyes:

Jim:cool:
 
I hate all dealers!

They will end up selling your car for approx £36k, have you thought about asking them to sell it on sale and return for you? You should get a little more for it then if you dont need to use the car daily.
 
It's sad, I know :( . Believe me, if I wanted a CLK 55 (I do, of course, but just not now), I'd be buying it.

Do you need to sell before you go? HAve you considered putting it on commission with someone? I've done a fair bit of this in the past, and it's quite popular with people in your situation.

PJ
 
Jim, I didn't notice the mileage of your car ... but there's an '03 CLK 55 at M-B Hertford with 17,500 miles for £33k. In that context a 'take it off your hands mate' offer (i.e. not trading it in) of £31k may not be that unreasonable?
 
I have the feeling that Glass and Parkers are not currently reflecting the true values of big petrol engined cars. With the current downturn in the economy and the high price of oil and talk of the chancellor putting a higher tax bracket for high emission cars, peolpe are running scared of buying these cars at the moment. I would have thought that £31K is not that unreasonable a trade in. I dont think they'll get much more than £33k when they sell it on.

Very sad I know, but its the situation we are in at the moment.
 
I think the higer end of the car market is generally suffering and there's not a lot we can do about it. Example, July 2003 my dad buys a 70k CL500. Nearly 3 years later, MB offered 29k in part ex for the new S Class. In my mind that's outrageous because its such a lot of car for that money. It has every extra and is very luxurious. I don't think its even retained 40% over 3 years which is just terrible from a so called respected brand.

Also, most people would regard Porsche as one of the best cars to buy in terms of depreciation. I don't think that's true anymore. Someone I know bought a Jan 05 997S, pretty loaded, came to 73k new. Admittedly it had done 19k miles but he ended up selling it privately on ebay for £56500. That's £16500 in 13 months from a brand that supposedly doesn't depreciate much at all.

Add on to the fact that financing a car is so much easier and feasible nowadays as well as the fact that even brands such as Porsche are selling too many cars now and have too many models, it's all dragging down the high end car market. Look at Mercedes with SL, S, E, CLS, C, SLK, A, B, R, M, it's crazy. Too many cars, too much stock not enough demand. And if Porsche bring out this Panamera thing (on top of the poor residual Cayenne) it will just drag values in their brand even further.

All IMHO.
 
No car is immune these days, except those where demand exceeds supply.
I am no fan of dealer prices, but if you want the convenience of buying from and selling to dealers then you pay a very high price.
This is not just because of high depn, but because they want to make a big profit out of you as well. So it costs you the loss in value of the car, plus the dealer's profit twice - once when you buy and once when you sell.
The exclusivity factor is no longer there. You can buy a £100K car from hundreds of places, many offering big discounts off list. Obviously that has an immediate effect on used prices and this inevitably feeds all the way down the chain to affect the value of every car.
The ONLY way to beat the dealer is to be prepared to buy and sell privately.
e.g. buy a 1 year old CLK55 (with 2yrs warranty remaining) for £40K privately, rather than £42K from a dealer. Sell it for £33K rather than to a dealer for £31K. It costs you £4K less and only loses £7K in depn during your ownership (17.5%).
What do you get for your £4K extra? A bit of convenience and, if you're lucky, an ego massage from a 2nd hand car salesman.
 
anissut said:
And if Porsche bring out this Panamera thing (on top of the poor residual Cayenne) it will just drag values in their brand even further

All IMHO.

Nonononono... The Panamera is there for people like my dad who want a porsche for the performance, heritage and prestige, but don't want to be branded with the porsche owner's reputation of "that fat balding 50-year-old with a mid-life crisis". It's also more practical I would have thought. I once asked my dad:

"What's the Cayenne for?!"

He replied:

"For the Porsche drivers' wives."

Porsche are geniuses. I know a lot of people hate the Cayenne, but look how many are on the road. The base model may not perform like a 911, but it's still a Porsche godammit. And with the introduction of the new Cayenne S Turbo, it means Mrs. Porsche owner can get the kids to school in record time. ;)

I think the Panamera is a fantastic idea. I have visions of four Porsches in black lined up outside my future house each for their own purpose. The Panamera for myself, the Cayenne for my wife, the Carrera/Cayman for my eldest son and the Boxster for my daughter. Hell, I'm only 21 and I'm planning my life around a brand of automobile. Am I growing up or down?!
 
Iyse said:
The Panamera for myself, the Cayenne for my wife, the Carrera/Cayman for my eldest son and the Boxster for my daughter. Hell, I'm only 21 and I'm planning my life around a brand of automobile. Am I growing up or down?!

Now you've bought a Boxster you're on that slippery slope!! What a slope to be on though, eh!!?? ;)
 
Big Jim said:
I was made an offer by MB today to buy my car from me.

It was inevitable that I was not going to get a good price, but to be honest it still feels mildly insulting. Guess I should have seen it coming.

I bought the car in Jun 05 for £42000
Nine months later I need to sell and they have offered me £31000.

Glasses and Prices put the car at about £36000 but I've not had any serious sniffs since marketing the car at £35500.

I've reduced the price again in the 'for sale' section but I don't hold out much hope.

I can hear a lot of you say 'cars aren't an investment' 'what did he expect' etc....but MB need to realise that it costs more to find new customers than it does to keep existing ones. If they'd offered me a few grand more perhaps I'd be happier.

So when I get back from the States that new CLS55 looks like it won't be coming from a MB main dealer. :rolleyes:

Jim:cool:

Unfortunately they're not and much as I hate it myself they're there to make a profit. I change cars very often and one particular car I bought a few years ago (an ex demo BMW 530 sport) I only kept for 9 weeks before I decided to get rid of it. I bought it for £33k and Sytners bought it back off me for £27500 :( .
 
Bobby Dazzler said:
Now you've bought a Boxster you're on that slippery slope!! What a slope to be on though, eh!!?? ;)

I think my reply may have been biased due to my recent purchase. :)
 
All good points and well made.

I understand completely that Mb are trying to make a profit, but why do they insist on making a killing both ways. For an extra £2k I wouldn't have quibbled and would be selecting my next motor ready for my return as we speak. Although I haven't gone off the product, I will definitely try another Marque when I get back....something I wouldn't of contemplated before. Who knows I might like the other brand more.

All the salesmen seem genuinely embarassed when they give me the price and say their hands are tied when negotiating. :p

I have thought about SoR but I'd ideally like to shift it before I go to fund some of the move etc.

Desperate times....

Warm regards

Jim
 
To be honest, Parkers values it around 29K with 20K miles, so i think u have a reasonable offer, especially as you arent buying anything else...
 
jaymanek said:
To be honest, Parkers values it around 29K with 20K miles, so i think u have a reasonable offer, especially as you arent buying anything else...

That's interesting....certainly not the quote I got. Cheers for the info though.

At this current depreciation rate the car loses £800 a month - but it still costs less to run than my Wife's debit card.;)
 
Big Jim said:
That's interesting....certainly not the quote I got. Cheers for the info though.

At this current depreciation rate the car loses £800 a month - but it still costs less to run than my Wife's debit card.;)

So bin the wife and keep the car!!!!! ;)
 
Alfie said:
So bin the wife and keep the car!!!!! ;)
Don't know the age, but could well be selling vintage:D :D
 
I don't think there's a market for vintage 'large load carriers' out there at the moment...if not the missus would go for definite!

OMG...I hope she never reads that :bannana: :bannana: :bannana:
 

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