To buy or not to buy??

[Deleted member 37751]

You’ve done the right thing pal, because once another, better car comes along you’ll forget all about this one.

And just think that if they’re not returning calls *now* when they’re meant to be selling you it, imagine what they’d be like once they’ve got your money!

 

[Abb]

I think if you are serious about the car then you need to be standing in front of the dealer looking prepared to do a deal, he will discount despite what he is saying.

I was about as serious as I could be, sat on an oil platform in the ocean. I explained my situation to the dealer, organised a full inspection and offered to pay for it over the phone in full if we could agree on a deal! Didn't get much more of an easier sale for him

 

[Abb]

You’ve done the right thing pal, because once another, better car comes along you’ll forget all about this one.

And just think that if they’re not returning calls *now* when they’re meant to be selling you it, imagine what they’d be like once they’ve got your money!

Cheers mate. I did not expect to ever contact them once I had got the keys, even if the wheels fell off on the way home. My expectations of car dealers are lower than a snakes belly and I assume once they have my cash, that is where it ends!

If franchised dealers like MB, BMW etc can treat you in that manner, I would expect nothing less from clowns like this outfit

Guess I will have to resign myself to a diesel variant, as the 63's are no longer an option.

The search continues

 

[merc85]

Re Car dealers, good ones are few n far between, I’m glad you didn’t go for it by there attitude in not wanting to fix the faults highlighted. Why not try Mercland tell them the sort of car your after you never know or Save some pounds and buy privately. Dodged a bulliet mate. Good luck in the hunt it’s a mine field as I well know.

 

[Will]

Hi Will, pretty certain now that it’s the same car I saw in October last year. I won’t share on the forum what it needed as I may be wrong, but if right then it’d be around £6k to get it decent again.

Obviously at the price it was being offered at it was very attractive to the uninformed buyer, I still think it went for less than £18k so someone may think they have a bargain for a few weeks.

Jules

If you’re saying you know the car in detail then fair enough. Otherwise it’s just conjecture of course. As this thread shows just because a car is priced on the high side it doesn’t mean it’s without fault or free of issues.

I was just surprised when you said that you knew that ‘63 as it was yourself who started the thread on it, and you didn’t mention anything about having seen it or knowing about it even after posting more than half a dozen times about it?

Perhaps I’m different but if I’d gone and viewed a CLS63 only a few months beforehand and made a list of £6k worth of work needed I’m certain I’d have remembered it

 

[Will]

Abb,

Wait for someone else to buy this one and buy it next time once the niggles have been addressed

Only kidding, I think you’ll soon forget about it. The money you spent on the inspection - at least you won’t be kicking yourself having missed ‘the one’ if you know what I mean? As in, you’ve not missed out on that peach of a car, with unicorn spec and all that. You’ve made the decision not to proceed, based on what you know about it - not been beaten to it by someone else who snapped it up because you couldn’t get to it in time.

Patience is a virtue. A different car with no doubt different spec/merits will come up and probably better priced than this one.

The dealer does seem pretty unhelpful. Those spray painted disc centres on obviously tired discs says something about the car and the dealer to me (I reckon they did that!)

Better luck on the next one

 

[flowrider]

I was about as serious as I could be, sat on an oil platform in the ocean. I explained my situation to the dealer, organised a full inspection and offered to pay for it over the phone in full if we could agree on a deal! Didn't get much more of an easier sale for him

Now I understand your problem. If the dealer is sticking to his price then let him sweat on it for a week or so and see what happens, if the car isn't sold he might be a bit more cooperative.

 

[Cyclone1]

If you’re saying you know the car in detail then fair enough. Otherwise it’s just conjecture of course. As this thread shows just because a car is priced on the high side it doesn’t mean it’s without fault or free of issues.

I was just surprised when you said that you knew that ‘63 as it was yourself who started the thread on it, and you didn’t mention anything about having seen it or knowing about it even after posting more than half a dozen times about it?

Perhaps I’m different but if I’d gone and viewed a CLS63 only a few months beforehand and made a list of £6k worth of work needed I’m certain I’d have remembered it

Let it go.......

I put the thread up as a means to warn off any prospective buyers and thankfully advised a couple via pm on my thoughts. If you read my first couple of posts you’ll probably realise I was dropping subtle hints. As someone who is very knowledgable on the CLS63, I like to help existing and prospective owners. This includes raising the awareness on a potential lemon. Just look at the advice you received when you went through your fiasco of a car purchase. You paid top end for a relatively rare car and rightly wanted it right at the point of sale from the dealer.....the advice you received was excellent and that’s why this forum is so good.

I didn’t want to fully expand on my direct thoughts as initially I wasn’t 100% sure it was the same car and secondly wasn’t sure if the seller was on here, so didn’t want to offend / upset them. Sometimes you have to tread carefully and be respectful of other forum members...

Hope this helps and ends the tit for tat exchanges ....

 

[John]

I "liked" your post Abb but I obviously didn't like the fact you didn't get the car you really wanted...

I think you've done the right thing. They've put the £3k odd on top but their lazy asses are not willing to do any work to justify it. Had you been able to buy it at trade or even private, you could have spent the extra getting those issues sorted and you would have probably been more than happy to do that (as would we all most likely). I didn't even mind putting in some money into my E55 after negotiating with them and them agreeing what they would and wouldn't fix - and that was a 5.5 year old car when I bought it.

They are clearly "wide" and as you already noted, "after sales" to them means the bit where they ignore you.

Asking Jay to look out for one is a good call - at least you will know it's a good one...

 

[John]

https://www.mercland.com/car.html?id=4853
https://www.mercland.com/car.html?id=4814

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Guess I will have to resign myself to a diesel variant, as the 63's are no longer an option.

What’s the budget? If it’s circa £15k, you’re not a million mile from a FL 350d?

 

[Abb]

Cheers John. Appreciate the links, it looks like I may have to settle for a diesel now (not ideal) but beggars cant be choosers and all that!As a couple of things have changed on a personal level, coupled with the fact I want a second car rather than 'need' one and I want that 'one' to be a CLS with a budget of circa £15k, looks like it will be a CLS 350 sport diesel. Not exactly 'slumming it' by any means, but for the mileage I need it for a petrol would have been my preferred option.

It seems with the petrol versions which are few and far between (early ones anyway) have issues, the 350 with check valves and chain tensioners and even the '63 with the chain stretch (not that it's in budget)!

Just need to find a great 1 owner, low mileage, FMBSH, highly specced, right colour combo, new as possible, example! Can't be that hard!

 

[Cyclone1]

Cheers John. Appreciate the links, it looks like I may have to settle for a diesel now (not ideal) but beggars cant be choosers and all that!As a couple of things have changed on a personal level, coupled with the fact I want a second car rather than 'need' one and I want that 'one' to be a CLS with a budget of circa £15k, looks like it will be a CLS 350 sport diesel. Not exactly 'slumming it' by any means, but for the mileage I need it for a petrol would have been my preferred option.

It seems with the petrol versions which are few and far between (early ones anyway) have issues, the 350 with check valves and chain tensioners and even the '63 with the chain stretch (not that it's in budget)!

Just need to find a great 1 owner, low mileage, FMBSH, highly specced, right colour combo, new as possible, example! Can't be that hard!

They’re stunning cars regardless of which engine sits under the bonnet. Enjoy the hunt as I’m sure a cracker will be along shortly, plus you’ll have a few of us on the lookout for you as well

 

[Will]

Let it go.......

I put the thread up as a means to warn off any prospective buyers and thankfully advised a couple via pm on my thoughts. If you read my first couple of posts you’ll probably realise I was dropping subtle hints. As someone who is very knowledgable on the CLS63, I like to help existing and prospective owners. This includes raising the awareness on a potential lemon. Just look at the advice you received when you went through your fiasco of a car purchase. You paid top end for a relatively rare car and rightly wanted it right at the point of sale from the dealer.....the advice you received was excellent and that’s why this forum is so good.

I didn’t want to fully expand on my direct thoughts as initially I wasn’t 100% sure it was the same car and secondly wasn’t sure if the seller was on here, so didn’t want to offend / upset them. Sometimes you have to tread carefully and be respectful of other forum members...

Hope this helps and ends the tit for tat exchanges ....

Jules,

I don’t expect any tit-for-tat, and expressed my thoughts as politely as I could - was just genuinely surprised that you’d start a thread about a car for sale, which spanned three pages on the forum, now saying you know the car in question obviously in great detail and being so knowledgeable about the model - to wait several days and many posts later to show your hand? You suggested a few figures about that car £3k, £5k, now it needs £6k spent on it. Which is and and what was wrong with it?

I put the thread up as a means to warn off any prospective buyers

I didn’t want to fully expand on my direct thoughts as initially I wasn’t 100% sure it was the same car

^^
This is the part I don’t understand. As I said earlier, if you’d been and viewed it only a few months before and made a list of upto £6k worth of work it needed I am certain you’d know if it was the same car or not. How many CLS63s for sale have you been and viewed since October? Assuming they’re all the same colour or year or mileage or whatever.

I’ve seen numerous threads on here over the years warning people of lemons - cars that have been written off and not mentioned in adverts, or clocked, or hiding serious faults etc. It’s pretty normal on car forums for people to post up links to cars for sale, sometimes people pick holes in them, other times we all marvel at how nice they are etc. Obviously if it’s a forum member’s car you’d tread carefully but there’s treading carefully and starting a thread off knowing you know the car and not saying anything? Or even if you thought you may know it, why not say something?

If you just stick to facts and don’t post anything personal I’m sure people can’t and won’t take offence. You should have just said if you knew it needed £6k worth of work and what was wrong with it (or perhaps suggested that it would be worth checking XYZ on said car?)

It would have saved countless lengthy posts and time, and perhaps help prevent one of our other members who may not have initially recognised your hints from perhaps buying it too.

I’ll agree to disagree on matters of opinion, but I can’t see any grey areas here - it’s either the same car or it is not, and either needs £6k of work or not, a big difference

 

[Cyclone1]

You don’t need to understand.

The people that did were informed and didn’t buy it. Job done.

I’ll block you now as you are incredibly annoying. If you don’t get it then fine let it go. I’ve asked you once but you carry on.

Jules

 

[Abb]

So, when I thought it was all over (it is), I spoke to the boss lat night and she informs me, the p/o contacted her! As she had tried to contact him but he was not available at the time, she spoke to his wife and left her contact details, but also answered the questions she could.
The boss said he sounded like a lovely chap, explained about the car (nothing we did not know at this point) and how he was in his late 60's and was very light on the brakes. Confirmed they were the originals all round.
He was told by the dealer when trading it in, that it would be going to auction. Whether it did and they acquired it in that manner, or it went to these guys direct who knows.

 

[st13phil]

OK, late into this, but here's my two penn'orth...

The spec and ownership history are both good. Those are the things that are (still?) drawing you towards buying.

The issue is that the dealer wants top price for a car with (expensive) issues, and won't budge on either rectification of the faults or the price.

The brakes are, frankly, neither here nor there: they're wear parts and unless you get lucky with a purchase and don't run it for long you're going to have to spend on replacements during your period of ownership, so it's just a matter of timing for the spend. The expensive bits are the struts and a potential issue with the Cat or sensor on one bank (it should be "sulphurous fuel suspected", btw). The rest of the faults (and more!) - could just as easily be present on any other example you look at. One possible exception is the split dust cover on the front strut: isn't that an MOT fail?

Would I buy it? It depends on how much I wanted the options that are on the car, and whether I could persuade the dealer to move in my direction with the price. Big petrol MB's that aren't full fat AMGs are pretty rare and ones with all the options ticked are even rarer, so the notion that "another one is out there" may be true, but the chances of stumbling on it are low.

Sorry for being no help whatsoever

 

[Deleted member 37751]

We’ve just managed to make him see sense @st13phil and you come along and try to blow it all away!

 

[Abb]

We’ve just managed to make him see sense @st13phil and you come along and try to blow it all away!

That is right Lee, you tell him!

 

[Abb]

OK, late into this, but here's my two penn'orth...

The spec and ownership history are both good. Those are the things that are (still?) drawing you towards buying.

The issue is that the dealer wants top price for a car with (expensive) issues, and won't budge on either rectification of the faults or the price.

The brakes are, frankly, neither here nor there: they're wear parts and unless you get lucky with a purchase and don't run it for long you're going to have to spend on replacements during your period of ownership, so it's just a matter of timing for the spend. The expensive bits are the struts and a potential issue with the Cat or sensor on one bank (it should be "sulphurous fuel suspected", btw). The rest of the faults (and more!) - could just as easily be present on any other example you look at. One possible exception is the split dust cover on the front strut: isn't that an MOT fail?

Would I buy it? It depends on how much I wanted the options that are on the car, and whether I could persuade the dealer to move in my direction with the price. Big petrol MB's that aren't full fat AMGs are pretty rare and ones with all the options ticked are even rarer, so the notion that "another one is out there" may be true, but the chances of stumbling on it are low.

Sorry for being no help whatsoever

Thank you for your input. Re the brakes, i completely agree with you, I know I keep harping on about them, I just cannot see how they have not been highlighted at services or the MOT, when we all know MB are pretty quick to tell you that your pads or discs are 0.0001% worn and need replacing immediately or you will face death if you drive another yard in your death trap!

I didn't think sultrous fuel made sense when wrote it, but I was trying to read from a photo of a laptop screen on whatsapp!

The split cover was not that bad, it was made worse by the mech, who on his own admission stated he could see it split, so he 'opened' it more so he could see inside.

I know some on the subject of specifications, some people are not bothered as it's more to go wrong, won't use them anyway, etc etc, BUT I am not one of those people! lol I am a sucker for a decent spec, and always have a list of minimum spec I would want (obviously takes a lot longer looking for a car when buying in the used market) when buying.

5 cars nationally on AT for less than £18k and only 3 for less than £15k, I would say is pretty rare. 2 of which are basic of basic specs and this was the opposite end of the spectrum, and the notion "another one is out there" I genuinely think not!

The spec now makes sense, with it being a owner who is a little older, as the vast majority of it is safety related, blind spot assist, lane tracking assist, distronic etc, as obviously whether we like it or not or reaction times/observations/awareness deteriorates with age.

Oh and your apology is not accepted, but the cat you have just thrown amongst the pigeons has been ushered away