SL55 value?

[Sjmw]

Hi everyone

Can you help me on the question of value? I will need to sell my SL55 in the next couple of months as were starting an extension and the garage is going, sadly. I know selling in winter isn't the smartest thing to do but there you go. Question is, advertised values seem to vary wildly. Mine's a 2004, Tellurite silver with black leather. 50k miles, full history (MB and respected exMB independent) and some expensive recent stuff done like ABC pump, exhaust, tires etc. Pan roof, Bose and all options apart from keyless go and distronic.

The Autotrader/Pistonheads ads for cars of that age under 60k miles range from £15k-£24k with no obvious logic. Ignoring the outliers, a better range seems to be from around £17-21k.

I'm thinking around £19k given its condition but don't want to wait months etc. Does that sound overambitious?

Alternatively, I suppose I could find a garage and wait 'til the spring to sell?

Thanks to anyone who's read this far and bothers to reply

Stuart

 

[BFT]

Personally £19k for a quick sale isn't going to happen sadly. Personally find a garage and keep it. It's what I did!

 

[Will]

There's loads of SL55s for sale, so buyers can be choosy. Many of them have been advertised for months and aren't moving. Actual sale prices are normally a good bit less than they are advertised for.

People buying secondhand cars normally want a bargain, so if you have to sell it you may need to move it on cheap.

I bid on a nice one the other day. It had only 32k miles, mint and had full MB history. I was the only bidder and it still didn't make over £16k.

I think £19k is too high personally. If I was to bid on yours without seeing the pics and other details I would want to pay somewhere around £14k but then I would only buy a mint one as cheap as possible.

My advice - if you like the car and don't need the money, find somewhere else to keep it. If you need the money, take whatever you can get. If you don't sell it in the next few weeks you'll get even less nearer to Christmas

 

[cb1965]

There's loads of SL55s for sale, so buyers can be choosy. Many of them have been advertised for months and aren't moving. Actual sale prices are normally a good bit less than they are advertised for.

People buying secondhand cars normally want a bargain, so if you have to sell it you may need to move it on cheap.

I bid on a nice one the other day. It had only 32k miles, mint and had full MB history. I was the only bidder and it still didn't make over £16k.

I think £19k is too high personally. If I was to bid on yours without seeing the pics and other details I would want to pay somewhere around £14k but then I would only buy a mint one as cheap as possible.

My advice - if you like the car and don't need the money, find somewhere else to keep it. If you need the money, take whatever you can get. If you don't sell it in the next few weeks you'll get even less nearer to Christmas

+1, pretty much my exact thoughts.

These cars are not holding their value at all right now.

This is solely down to the fact I bought one, whatever I buy plummets in value the minute I get my hands on it .... be warned

 

[Deleted member 37751]

This is solely down to the fact I bought one, whatever I buy plummets in value the minute I get my hands on it .... be warned

PM me your next purchase, just so I know which to avoid, thanks...

 

[cb1965]

PM me your next purchase, just so I know which to avoid, thanks...

No worries, I will do better than that, will put a thread up on here

 

[Deleted member 37751]

I would try and get rid as soon as possible to be honest; you can guarantee that as soon as you make murmurs about selling it, there'll be something go wrong with it!

Price seems a little high to me, for a 'bottom buck' price use WBAC for a valuation and go from there; at least you'll know the worse case scenario price.

 

[Sjmw]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Will hang on to it for now, hopefully avoiding anything expensive going wrong that always happens when one decides to sell

 

[Jeff666]

May...... be of interest..

Valuations » Deltapoint

J.

 

[Will]

May...... be of interest..

Valuations » Deltapoint

J.

Those prices are inaccurate, they value too highly.

 

[cb1965]

Those prices are inaccurate, they value too highly.

Agreed and by quite a margin!

 

[BenzedUP]

so the R171 SLK55 and SL55 have similar value?

 

[Will]

so the R171 SLK55 and SL55 have similar value?

I think there's been a few threads on here recently discussing the merits of both.

SL55 = better but with higher running costs. Hence they have deprecated more?

What's a similar age SLK55 worth then?

Joseph - pop your reg into WBAC for comparison.

 

[BenzedUP]

Well I've bought mine at 16k Miles for a little over 20K from a lady owner who had ordered it from new.

I was quoted 16k trade value by a Ferrari dealer 2 weeks ago but I decided to keep it as I do love that little beast.

I've seen a few on the net with around 40-50k miles going for 15-17k

The facelift models are even more expensive.

 

[Jeff666]

Those prices are inaccurate, they value too highly.

Totally agree. That provides a snapshot of what is being asked rather than what is achieved. This forum can look and say from experiance actually no...

The thought was were to start a pitch in relation to other sellers...

 

[BlackC55]

I would say 12-15k.

 

[Will]

Well I've bought mine at 16k Miles for a little over 20K from a lady owner who had ordered it from new.

I was quoted 16k trade value by a Ferrari dealer 2 weeks ago but I decided to keep it as I do love that little beast.

I've seen a few on the net with around 40-50k miles going for 15-17k

The facelift models are even more expensive.

Without knowing the actual value of your car, those figures don't sound bad. Either you bought it very cheap or the Ferrari offer is generous - because after all whoever buys it for £16k would need to make a profit. And obviously you've added age/mileage/wear and tear to the car since buying, plus another owner on the log book of course

Always funny when people come to buy and sell cars. As a buyer you want a bargain and as a seller you want top dollar. But let's be honest, you don't usually search out expensive/overpriced cars when buying

Cars need to be rare, immaculate/low mileage or cheap to sell. Sticking one more example up for sale amongst a load of similarly priced cars that aren't selling doesn't usually get a sale within a short timeframe.

I always work on 'find a better example for less money'. If you can't then you're more likely to sell. If there are similarly good cars out there for less money then what would you buy?

 

[BenzedUP]

I see what you're saying Will and agree with most of it.

If I ever decide to sell it then I'd sell it privately as I know I'll get the most money out of it, I'd wait for the right buyer.

I was happy with what I got for my C55 AMG, I bought the car for 17.5K at the time and 3.5yrs later I sold it for 15K with 16K miles added on the mileage, no wear and tear though it looked new and felt new.

But I did spend a lot of money on modifications, just the Coilovers @ £1400 and I believe it was the best/cleanest C55 in the country.

I know that my current SLK55 stands out from the rest that I've seen advertised and I'd like to think if I do sell it now then it will sell quite easily to the right buyer without having to drop the price too much.

Every car is different, they might look the same and share the same name but that doesn't mean they are the same if you know what I mean.

 

[Will]

Then your cars fall into the immaculate/low mileage category.

Buyers either want mint or cheap (or both!), not average condition/average price etc.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Always funny when people come to buy and sell cars. As a buyer you want a bargain and as a seller you want top dollar.

The amount of people that I have dealt with, with this mindset is quite astonishing.