What is Oppo Opinion on Buying unsold Cars?

"Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW." (aya-yu) 10/02/2013 at 07:49 • Filed to: None

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This is the two of the last three W221 Mercedes-Benz in a local dealer in my town.

It's a S300 S-Class with RSE package, made in 2010. This is the very base model that they have, but the problem is nobody bought this poor S300. Most of them go for S350, so for almost 3 years the car just sat there, doing nothing.

The car originally offered for 163k USD in my country. But due recent introduction of W222, they now only asking for 80k. For a comparison, the current-gen Camry Hybrid sold for 65k in here, and Miata is sold for 50k, so it's quite cheap.

I'm not thinking of getting one, but my father want one. He said that he always like the look of the W221, plus he said it's time for his trusty W140 S500 to retire, after 22 years. And because our family since my grandpa always buying Mercedes from the same dealer, we offered a special discount that could bring the car down even further to 65k.

A relatively new-ish S-Class for the price of a camry!

But i wonder about the car myself. I mean..

The car has spending an entire 3 years locked in local mercedes dealer. I'm affraid there's quite a lot of something, waiting to be broken in there.

Or is it just like a new car, but an older model?

What do you think?

Tom McParland > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. 10/02/2013 at 07:57

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Interesting...I don't think we really have brand new high end cars just sitting in dealerships for years in the US, months maybe. It seems like a good price but I really don't know the effects of a car just sitting without running but the more mechanically inclined members might be able to help with that.

Alex87f > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. 10/02/2013 at 08:01

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Well.. It's only been three years and the car seems to have been stocked in good conditions.

I'd say that a full service (oils, filters, braking fluid, maybe a GPS udpate too) should be enough. Just be careful that the tyres didn't suffer from sitting in the same position for a long period, and request an extensive test drive to spot anything unusual. But I wouldn't be too worried.

EL_ULY > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. 10/02/2013 at 08:08

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new tires off the bat lol. I work at a Mercedes, Volvo, Lotus, Aston dealer that for the most part has the least sales in town. Until a little while ago, we still had Elise and Exige from 2010 upstairs being sold as new. Crazy good discounts on S60's, Evoras, DB9's and Mercs like those pictured. They might be Camry money but defiantly not Camry money when it comes to the cost of ownership obviously. Factory warranty would be dwindling fast time wise. I'd ask sales/service about that more than anything.

Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. > Alex87f 10/02/2013 at 08:12

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Ya, quite good.

But i'm affraid on that tyre issue, maybe when we're back to the dealer on saturday we'll ask for a new set of tyre for a test drive, just in case.

Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. > Tom McParland 10/02/2013 at 08:14

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Well, in indonesia, the dealers are not connected with each other. So, sometimes things like this happen.

Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. > EL_ULY 10/02/2013 at 08:20

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nah, my father can afford to own W140 for 20+ years. He should able afford to own this. Especially this car have better fuel economy, so the money for fuels can be used for parts.

They offer us the same 3 years of warranty as per new car.

davedave1111 > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. 10/02/2013 at 08:20

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$65k sounds like a price at which you'd look very carefully at the deal, at least going by UK depreciation rates - if the car would depreciate slower, then it's worth a bit more, I guess.

I'd be very wary of the possible problems caused by sitting three years, especially if it wasn't prepared for storage or started/driven regularly. You'd really want to have some kind of (written) agreement with the dealer about how the warranty will work, and who is responsible for any problems caused by the car standing.

That said, there must be an upper limit to how much can need to be cleaned-out/replaced/fixed, so if the price is good enough, you'd be onto a winner even if the car needs thousands of dollars worth of work to bring it up to scratch.

I've never really heard much about anyone leaving such a new, high-tech car sitting for such a long time, so I don't know about the gizmos and gadgets, but in general, from what I've heard, if you change all the fluids and the car starts, it means there's nothing too seriously wrong. If not, it may be minor things, or on a car as complicated as an S-class it could be something really expensive. Obviously if the engine's seized or something - fairly unlikely over just 3 years, I understand - then all bets are off.

EL_ULY > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. 10/02/2013 at 08:24

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Go4it :)

Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. > davedave1111 10/02/2013 at 08:29

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Well..
in here a nicely used W221 S300 with arround 10k on the clock could fetch somewhere above 100k, which is insane.

They said if my father interested, they ask me and my father to go back there tomorrow and unwraps the car. Even they let us bring the car home tommorow for an extended test drive. They said the car runs just like a new car, but afterall they said that maybe because they want to get rid of this car.

So for now i just wish that this is a new car, just an older model, and discounted like not tomorrow.

Squid > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. 10/02/2013 at 08:33

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New tires, new fluids, a thorough comb through all the rubber seals and bits. If it comes with a new car warranty as it should, there shouldn't be an issue. You may find niggles appearing out of nowhere for the first few thousand miles. If you guys get the car return to the dealer after about 1500 miles to get it on a lift and all the rubber bits and visible seals are checked.

There shouldn't be an issue about the synthetic fluids breaking down but have them perform a full flush of the coolant, diff, tranny and engine oil. I doubt new mercs have any zerk fittings underneath but some grease might help condition up the bushings. If the bushings look like they are not looking so hot, they will get replaced under warranty. . .

Alex87f > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. 10/02/2013 at 11:34

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Well for what it's worth, before I bought it my car sat parked outside for a bit more than a year.

I Bought it anyway because it was a good deal, and I haven't had many issues. The brakes are a bit noisy but I don't think this is linked to the extended storage, the only real issues clearly linked to it were some moss on several seals, and small a paint scratch probably because made by a cat trying to climb on the car.

davedave1111 > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. 10/02/2013 at 18:22

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I'd be a bit sceptical if it's too cheap. If it's going for less than the car would fetch with a few miles on the clock, but it works fine, why wouldn't the dealer just drive it himself for a few months, then sell it for more?

If he's giving you a good deal because of customer history, that's a separate issue - but if the base price for anyone else is 80k, and a secondhand one of the same age goes for $100k, it would make me wonder.

I guess one question to ask is whether your dad would be happy enough to drive a three-year-old car in good condition for around $100k. If he is, then for the prices you're talking about, he could pay for a lot of fixing to the car that sat around, without getting near $100k. At least when he's done, he'll have a brand new 3yo car.

Have you thought about persuading him to import a classic Citroen SM instead? :)

Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. > davedave1111 10/03/2013 at 04:33

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Well, the dealer already got the new W222 before everyone else.
That dealer is always got everything before everyone else. Even my grandpa buy a 190SL from there when it was new.

Well, my father said he always want a W221 when he saw it for the first time, but he said the price is waaaay too expensive back there.

And he don't like Citroens and W222. He said W222 is too sporty to be a S-Class, and Citroens is too slow, simply because my grandpa has a DS, and he learn how to drive in that thing.

Howie > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. 07/10/2014 at 05:00

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Aya, I live in Indonesia, mind if i ask what is the dealer name and the city that the cars are? I might have 2 parties that would be interested to buy the cars if they are still for sale.

Regards, howie from sby