The E63 I now own.

[Hakon]

I know it's a hassle but from previous experience it may be best to head there and take a look and a test drive.

 

[Petrol Pete]

Why not just hire a suitable vehicle over Christmas ? Seek out independent rental companies, these are people you can actually negotiate with on price . Especially if you hire for a few weeks.

Christmas is a quiet time for them. Even worse with Covid, a good deal could be had.

 

[Dammit]

Flexibility really - I love skiing*, and if it looks like we might get the chance to dash over and get some time in the Alps I'd like to be able to do it. Hire cars are tricky when you say "we might want to extend the hire for two weeks and drive to a country that at the moment I couldn't tell you what our relationship with is going to be like".

*Not that I'm any good at it

 

[pmcgsmurf]

Looking at that car now it seems somewhat unloved.
The 3 month warranty from a garage on this would put me off too.

 

[Dammit]

I'd certainly never run an odd tyre on my own car - I always replace both tyres on the same axle at the same time (which has been both expensive and annoying in the past, thanks to London screws not caring that a tyre is new!)

In terms of the warranty is it the term, or that it's not an MB warranty that you find off-putting?

 

[pmcgsmurf]

The term, if buying from a garage I'd want to know I was covered for longer, 12 months perhaps.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Thanks Patrick!

The car would come with a three month warranty, the list of exclusions is impressive! What I'm taking from this is that only major system failures (engine, gearbox, ECU's) are covered, does that sound about right?

If buying from a dealer then a three month warranty isn't required for you as the buyer as you have consumer rights. It's a way of the trader passing on the risk so that they don't bear the full cost - in most csaes they'll need to make good on any reasonable issues regardless of the exceptions stated by the warranty provider.

 

[Dammit]

Got you. The sales manager will extend it to 12 months - for an additional £295.

 

[Skd884]

Point taken. This one has had the following services according to the vendor, and they'll get it serviced again in the next couple of days at the local MB dealership to maintain the current full MB service history:

15/08/2016 @ 11167 Miles, Service A
10/08/2017 @ 19492 Miles, Service A
06/08/2018 @ 26425 Miles, Service A
12/08/2019 @ 36919 Miles, Service B

I would assume that it'll be another service A, and it's being done on time rather than miles, as the next service is due at 49,419 miles (according to the paperwork the vendor has shared with me).

The car has had four previous owners, so I'd be the fifth.

Being picky the 2017 service should have been a B not an A.

 

[Dammit]

I agree. I think that would (for some) disqualify it from "full MB Service history", would there be repercussions with Mercedes themselves if one needed their goodwill to get something repaired/a recall/etc?

 

[st13phil]

Got you. The sales manager will extend it to 12 months - for an additional £295.

To put that in perspective, an MB Tier 1 warranty on an E63 of that age would cost > £2k for 12 months which is one of the benefits of buying from an MB Main Dealer (2 year warranty on AMG cars) and why there's a big margin between trade and retail prices on these sort of cars. If the 12-month warranty on offer has the same exclusions as the 3-month one, I'd say £295 was poor value.

Personally, I'd want to see it in the metal and drive it. The reality is that as a used car it will have faults - it's just a question of identifying any that are significant. The odd / damaged tyre is not something I'd expect to see, but it could have a relatively innocent explanation so it's difficult to read anything into it in isolation.

 

[DavE400]

I really don’t want to buy the wrong car, but just sitting here and waiting for a good one feels a little too passive.

I’ve tried to use the used car thing on the Mercedes website and I suspect I’m doing it wrong as I’m finding it terrible to use and it’s turning up nothing but E 200 D estates.

I can buy a stop-gap vehicle and then wait, with the money for an E63 in the bank, although that does of course kick off a “what winter beater estate” dilemma.

I will admit that there is a strong temptation to just buy an E63 that’s decently priced and low mileage that has a full service history, without paying too much attention to the options and then swap from that at some point in future when the ultimate spec E63-S turns up.

From the MB website for E63 AMG at £50k lowest price in white

Mercedes-Benz

Find your new Mercedes-Benz here

shop.mercedes-benz.co.uk

other E63 options at

Mercedes-Benz

Find your new Mercedes-Benz here

shop.mercedes-benz.co.uk

 

[Dammit]

I had seen that one, but £20,000 is a degree of budget creep that I'm afraid I do not have deep enough pockets for.

 

[sgregory124]

Flexibility really - I love skiing*, and if it looks like we might get the chance to dash over and get some time in the Alps I'd like to be able to do it. Hire cars are tricky when you say "we might want to extend the hire for two weeks and drive to a country that at the moment I couldn't tell you what our relationship with is going to be like".

*Not that I'm any good at it

Good luck with the skiing - not sure if you've been following but the French are looking at a co-ordinated plan of keeping resorts closed for January at least until things calm down on the Covid front. We took the decision to cancel our regular January trip because of that. Also lets face it, come January 1st, France will have another reason to deny us entry to the slopes but don't get me started on Brexit!

 

[Dammit]

I had seen that, and don't hold out much hope - but I do hold some hope, if things calm down there that we might get some time on the slopes.

Anyway - first world problems for us, very much immediate problems for the people who make their livelihood from the ski trade.

Update on the silver car - the vendor will swap the rogue Avon out, the other tyres are in practically unworn condition apparently.

(Yes, I do agree that going to see the car would be ideal).

It's gone to the local MB dealer for it's 2020 A service, and the vendor will get them to check when the discs and pads need to be replaced - I checked in with DDR for a quote on that and got the following in case it's needed:

Discs & pads on the front £1639.12 inc vat
Discs & pads on the rear £845.68 inc vat

£2484.80 all in

The vendor is also going to ask what the official MB position is regarding service history with that A being in place of a B in year 2.

Once the vendor has a picture of what work needs to be done, what the service history is in official terms, and therefore what the value of the car is then we shall talk about it.

 

[Skd884]

I had seen that, and don't hold out much hope - but I do hold some hope, if things calm down there that we might get some time on the slopes.

Anyway - first world problems for us, very much immediate problems for the people who make their livelihood from the ski trade.

Update on the silver car - the vendor will swap the rogue Avon out, the other tyres are in practically unworn condition apparently.

(Yes, I do agree that going to see the car would be ideal).

It's gone to the local MB dealer for it's 2020 A service, and the vendor will get them to check when the discs and pads need to be replaced - I checked in with DDR for a quote on that and got the following in case it's needed:

Discs & pads on the front £1639.12 inc vat
Discs & pads on the rear £845.68 inc vat

£2484.80 all in

The vendor is also going to ask what the official MB position is regarding service history with that A being in place of a B in year 2.

Once the vendor has a picture of what work needs to be done, what the service history is in official terms, and therefore what the value of the car is then we shall talk about it.

Oem front discs and pads are £1050 on ebay retail, DDR seem very very expensive.

 

[pmcgsmurf]

Discs & pads on the front £1639.12 inc vat
Discs & pads on the rear £845.68 inc vat

£2484.80 all in

£1k in labour for discs and pads sounds a bit much to me.

Discs and pads for the front on those are just shy of £1k to buy.
Front Discs A2124210512, pads A0004204400.

Rear discs and pads about just shy of £500.
Rear discs A2124230412, pads A0004203400.

 

[Skd884]

£1k in labour for discs and pads sounds a bit much to me.

Discs and pads for the front on those are just shy of £1k to buy.
Front Discs A2124210512, pads A0004204400.

Rear discs and pads about just shy of £500.
Rear discs A2124230412, pads A0004203400.

Forget a bit much, a rip off is better suited, DDR.

 

[Abb]

I had seen that, and don't hold out much hope - but I do hold some hope, if things calm down there that we might get some time on the slopes.

Anyway - first world problems for us, very much immediate problems for the people who make their livelihood from the ski trade.

Update on the silver car - the vendor will swap the rogue Avon out, the other tyres are in practically unworn condition apparently.

(Yes, I do agree that going to see the car would be ideal).

It's gone to the local MB dealer for it's 2020 A service, and the vendor will get them to check when the discs and pads need to be replaced - I checked in with DDR for a quote on that and got the following in case it's needed:

Discs & pads on the front £1639.12 inc vat
Discs & pads on the rear £845.68 inc vat

£2484.80 all in

The vendor is also going to ask what the official MB position is regarding service history with that A being in place of a B in year 2.

Once the vendor has a picture of what work needs to be done, what the service history is in official terms, and therefore what the value of the car is then we shall talk about it.

May be worth calling the MB dealership it has gone to and explain to the service dept you are potentially purchasing the vehicle to ensure it gets a proper health check. Would the vendor realistically tell you it needs new discs and pads all round (if it did) and then them done at their own cost to the tune of circa £2k?, if you were to proceed with the purchase, or perhaps they are good for another 'x' amount of miles and leave you to foot the bill in the not distance future.

Not saying the MB dealership will/can divulge such info, but guess it is only a phone call to find out either way.

 

[st13phil]

Dear me.

A potential purchaser of a car asks an indie to give an indication of price to replace discs and pads so that he has a benchmark to a) decide what his downside risk is in purchasing and/or b) negotiate with the vendor on price.

It then descends into allegations of a rip-off by the indie.

If the OP is asking purely to establish his downside risk, I'm sure he will be ecstatic having purchased the car to have someone else recommended who will do the job for less at some time in the future; If he wants to use the info to negotiate with the vendor, why would he want the cheapest, rock-bottom, price to argue with?