W202 C43 AMG

[5ean-f]

Hi All, been lurking a long while but posting now,
I have been looking for a w202 c43 for a while now and not seen any pop up for sale so have expanded my search area after some advice from a friend and I have now found 2 in silver the only problem is they are in Japan going through auction so I would be bidding without seeing then which is a gamble 1st one is a 1999 with 91,000klm auction grade 3.5 which my friend tells me is a good grade, second is a 2000 with 125,00klm grade 3, I know they won't have suffered much corrosion if any and I know that they will have both been looked after due to the costs involved with owning a car in Japan especially one over 10 years of old, my dilemma is what to pay I really want one but the costs buying in Japan soon get out of control, £1000 to ship the car, Japanese agent fees £700, then when it gets here VAT @ 20% import duty @ 10%, but I'm still keen and just wanted to know what a equivalent one would cost me if I found one here in the UK,

Any help would be much appreciated

Thanks in advance

 

[Skd884]

I have a black one 66k miles, £30k might tempt me.

 

[5ean-f]

£30k over my budget sadly but that is nice miles, I have found 6 for sale round Europe and one on ebay but Ebay one has more miles than I would like the 6 other are on theparking-cars.co.uk 126k miles up for £10k, 86k miles up for £15k, 51k miles up for £17:5k, 104k miles up for 12k, 135k miles up for 13:2, These are round Europe none in ,

Ideally I would like one with less than 100k on the clock

 

[andy27168]

Hi
Is the Japanese 2000 registered one a proper MY 2000 with the tiptronic gearbox?
If it is then it is uber rare, there were very few of these made worldwide, additionally Japanese C43's had a few different options as far as interior trim options, colours etc.

 

[5ean-f]

Thank you I am unsure if the 2000 has has a tip box all I know is its a automatic transmission and I only have 3 photos of each car and the auction condition report the auctions start 09:00 Japanese time and I have just got in from work and need to be out in the morning at 08:00 so I'm not going to be able to speak to the agent before I go to bed and by the time I get up the auctions will be over so I think I'm going to have a bid on both and see what the morning brings,

Wish me luck

 

[noogieman]

UK cars are mostly rust buckets.
You have to look hard to find a good RHD specimen.

Jap cars are very nice, their interior has some nice dark wood panels.
The MY2000 has an Avantgarde grille with more chrome ribs than 1998 - 1999 cars
MY2000 also has the improved transmission

 

[5ean-f]

Thank you for your help, I know Japanese imports tend to be nicer than cars from elsewhere,

 

[5ean-f]

Well I placed bids on both cars and have definitely won the 1999, but the 2000 has frozen in the system so won't know till tomorrow if I have won that but it looks like I will have them both, which is a bit of a problem as the wife doesn't know I'm trying to buy one so some explaining needed

 

[5ean-f]

Didn't win the 2000 so only need to tell the wife about one, it should be at the docks in Japan in the next couple of days then the agent will send me some photos I can post them here if anyone interested?

 

[Spider10]

I'd also like to know how you found the whole process start to finish thanks

 

[noogieman]

Would love to see the links with photos of both cars 99 and 00.

 

[5ean-f]

Sadly past auctions are no longer on the site but another has popped up here is the link but not sure if the link will work so you are looking at auction A lot number 79002 sadly its a LHD

Exporter of used Japanese cars auto auctions online net - Showa Trade

 

[noogieman]

couldn't see any info, maybe it's a log in requirement?

 

[5ean-f]

I think you could be right so I have screen shot the lhd one, I was using my friend's login until I got my own one set up, was easy to get set up and well worth it there are some amazing cars going through last night there was a super nice red SL60 AMG with 20,000 klm finished at 5,800,000 about £38,500 which I think was an absolute bargain even when you add vat, duty, shipping, fees, full inspectionand service, etc, etc, it could have been on the drive for £55-60k

 

[noogieman]

You haven't seen any w202 C55 AMG on this Japanese auction site?
You should look for the C55.
That's a rare car

 

[5ean-f]

I'm in enough trouble as it is the wife has had a meltdown that I have bought something else I now have to sell something to keep the c43 apparently you can only drive one car at a time, I said I that's what I do but I like a choice, didn't go down well, watch this space I might let something MB go but might have to be something else

 

[DRBC43AMG]

I understand your reasoning and that's also why I'm no longer married....

 

[5ean-f]

Photos from agent car is at docks getting on boat should be here mid May

 

[Spider10]

Quite like that

 

[noogieman]

You have a bought a MY00 with new tiptronic transmission
This was the best transmission for C43.

Nice interior with wood panels and black leather.
Black leather will wear much better than twin colour Tuxedo seats