It's a deal if it hasn't been hit. Find someone with a paint thickness gauge. Mercedes typically puts 4 to 5 mils of paint from front to back. If the paint is more than 5 mils in any area, it's been repainted by a body shop.
It's actually an ultrasonic thickness measuring gauge. They can run upwards towards $500 online. It may be a little much for a $23k purchase but I'm thinking of getting a CL from an auction and I'm not going to walk in witout one.
Thanks ... I am still debating ... I have bought many cars without asking people before. This time, I will take as much time as it takes to get the good one.
It's actually an ultrasonic thickness measuring gauge. They can run upwards towards $500 online. It may be a little much for a $23k purchase but I'm thinking of getting a CL from an auction and I'm not going to walk in witout one.
The cheapest one I saw was from Germany about $475. They come in ferrous and non-ferrous (steel or aluminum) or both. The one that measures both is almost $650. For a purchase of 40K+ it might be worth it. A star marked car means it's been inspected. It doesn't mean the cars never been hit. Be vary warry!
Thanks ... I am still debating ... I have bought many cars without asking people before. This time, I will take as much time as it takes to get the good one.
I was on the same boat, I was going to buy a 99 CLK 430 with 98K Miles. Then I decided to spend extra $7000 and buy a 01 with 40K still under warranty.
I'm also a car dealer and selling this
Nice car! However, I don't have enough money to buy it. I was looking [to pay cash] for a car in the lower 20K range.
There is this local guy who sells a CLK430 silver 2002 with 5K miles for $34,000 only. But the car was theft recovery (warranty void) so I was kinda ... [?]
I think he listed on eBay about a month ago with buy-it-now for $35K but no one bid on it. He then listed on the local newspaper. I think he might still have it for sale.
I always think that "you got what you paid" for ... the guy ain't no fool so with that price, there must be something wrong!
Hmmm, I'd probably take the middle one. Oh who am I kiddin', I'd happily take all 3 at once, lol. []
I was down in Chi-town a couple years ago. One of my boys is a DJ here in Philly. At a music conference (Miami) he met a DJ from Chicago named DJ Lovebone. We brought him up here to spin at a couple of our parties and he brought my friend down (DJ Yan) to spin there twice. I went down with him the second time. Chicago was awesome. I love the city.
I can't for the life of me remember the club he spun at though. It was a russian/european party that was thrown. Good time. []
It's actually an ultrasonic thickness measuring gauge. They can run upwards towards $500 online. It may be a little much for a $23k purchase but I'm thinking of getting a CL from an auction and I'm not going to walk in witout one.
You dont need all that . All u need is a good Flash light and a sharp vision for details .
the darker the car the better u can usually see imperfections.
U have to be familiar with how the paint looks like and how the car should shine and reflect the light. Its a process that I cant really explain .
NO gauge in the world will allow u to determine if a car is legit or not .
And another thing . I would rather buy a car with a bumper that fell off and got replaced then a car with engine electronic problems
The metal parts on the outside of a car can be easily replaced from a junkyard or something to that degree. Having your radiator blow a week after you get the car would suck.
This may be true, but there are no checks for intermitant electrcal problems at all. At least with a thickness gauge you can tell if the cars been hit. It took me almost 6 monthes of crawling under cars to find a cherry CLK. The gauge I borrowed helped me turn away at least 4 cars that I would have purchased if I had no way to tell they had repaired body damge. One had the rear smacked hard. They all looked very, very clean and I've been in the automotive industry over fifteen years. Some of these body men are masters. Big props to good body men. The way I look at it is, if it's never been hit the chance of it being a good car all around is probably pretty good. Just my phylo, or did I pick a bad week to quit sniffing glue [xx(]
A) A car that was hit pretty hard on the side but since it doesn't show up on car-fax or theres no visible abnormalities, then there was probably no damage done to the frame. In this case they replace the doors and windows and do some nice paint work. All good.
B) A car that was never even in a fender bender. never was even bumped into while someone was backing out of a parking lot. Here's the catch. The guy who had it before you was 18 years old. Mommy and daddy bought him the car and no matter how many times people told him it wasn't true, he forever thought he was the character in the cartoon speed racer. He puts 75K miles on the car in 3 years (yes it's possible) and then turns it back before he sells it to 43K (trust me, lol, thats possible too).
Which car would i rather have? The one that was hit rather than the one that was beat on for 75K miles. hands down. Pass the glue, lol. []
It's hard to find a clean car, even when I bought mine the bumper and fender were painted.
TOUGH SHIT!
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