Waht should I offer?

[neilrr]

What should I offer?

Today I looked at 1991 560SEL which was VERY nice. Nautical blue/grey leather, loaded with goodies - electric, heated front and rear seats, rear sun blind etc (everything works), 71,000 documented miles, 2 owners, last for 6 years & 22,000 miles, FSH, hasn't beeen in the rain for 6 years, wheels looked so fresh I assumed they'd been refurbed (they haven't been, just never kerbed), goes like sh*t off a shiny shovel, body rust free & dead straight - in short a lovely, always loved, late, low mileage example. Just had 4 x new tyres (the original set wore out!), brake rotors & brakes.
I'm more of a W201 and W123 fancier so am looking to this forum for W126 expertise. Anybody know what value such a car would have? Is there a market for these monsters?

 

[LazyBob]

There isn't a strong demand for such large cars although as the price keeps dropping they are getting into well off chav territory (very drug dealerish/pimpish/gang boss looking with dark tints and fhaat rubber) so the price may plateau.

Look in Autotrader, you can get a mid nineties S class (of varying engine size) under 100K for about £4,000 and that's before you knock the price down.

The cost of fuel, servicing, insurance and standard replaceable parts (tyres, brake pads etc. even windscreen wipers) will quickly surpass whatever you pay for the car.

You'll only ever be ripped off if you pay more than YOU think it's worth so in true Dirty Harry stylee... You've got to ask yourself one question ... "How much is worth to you?"

Sounds lovely, any photos/links ?

Welcome to the 'Why aren't parking bays as big as my car ?' club.

On the upside you can go very environmental and use the big motor to get to town, then take the Smart out of the boot for pootling round the High Street

 

[andyman]

Neil it depends on wether you want to buy it to sell on and make money out of or to buy it to keep,
If you want to but it to keep then it would be worth paying that bit more for(if you had to!),
Dont buy it to resell unless you can get it dirt cheap as if it goes wrong before you got to sell it you could lose a hefty wack of your profit and these cars can be hard to sell,
I've had two SEL's and the 560 is the "daddy"in everyway inlc cost to run!!.
At lot of people overprice their cars but I would have though it should be worth from £3000 to £5000 max if it is as good as you say.
These caers get advertised for a fair bit more but a majority of the time they dont sell or would maybe take weeks/months to sell because the market for these cars is rather low as the running cost are high,
I think its qiuet often the case that the 300 and 420's(especially in SE form) are more popular due to more affordable running costs and losing 6 inches in SE form is also easier to live with, mainly due to parking bays and garages never being as big as you want.
If you wanted to buy this to resell you would need to buy it a lot cheaper than the above prices.
The main problem with these cars is that they live in the shaddows of the Coupe and as such will never be as desirable as them.
Dont meaqn to teach granny to suck eggs and all that!!,sorry to waffle and good luck, all above is imho.
Regards Andy.

 

[neilrr]

Well. I've decided the 560SEL is not the car for me.

If I still lived in LA, land of wide roads, cheap gas and radar detectors, it might be a different story, but the car is just too big, too long and too thirsty for UK conditions.

If anyone fancies it call Brian Johnson (the owner) on 01628 530 492. He's asking 7,950, which sounds a lot until you consider it's about the same as a new Hyundai Accent 1.3GSi Hatchback!

Thanks to everyone for their advice.