Lots of E-Series are in dealer's inventories and I recently purchased a CPO 2009 E350 so I'd like to share my experience.
I used cars.com and dealer websites to find candidate 2007-2009 cars. If it is a dealer car it is likely that both the dealer website and cars.com listing provide a free carfax. Use that. Look for accidents and if one is listed, either reject the car or inspect the car closely because CARFAX doesn't generally tell how bad the accident was. Also beware that the car could have been in an accident and the owner choose to pay cash for the repair, so it wouldn't show up on CARFAX.
Sometimes the cars.com listing shows a newer car from a dealer who forgot to list it there as a Certified Pre-Owned (extra one year warranty coverage, extendable two more years). Check the dealer website for the car and sometimes you will find it is actually a CPO.
If the car is built in 2007 or earlier (MY2008 or earlier) you should check the engine serial number to see if it could have the "soft sprocket" issue. You can do this without having to get the engine serial number from under the hood: 1. Get a free subscription to the EPC (EPC-net Online). 2. Start EPC and copy and paste (control-V) all but the first three letters of the VIN into the EPC. Hit return. Hit Ctrl-F6. Compare the engine serial number shown with the range for either M272 (E350) or M273 (E550).
E350 M272 Engines up to Serial No. 2729..30 468993 may have the soft sprocket problem
E550 M273 Engines up to Serial No. 2739..30 088611 may have the soft sprocket problem
I understand that you should compare all of the last eight digits to tell. I.e. a M272 with number 31 345678 should be okay.
I have seen carfaxes which show the sprocket being replaced at 25,000 miles. It is up to you whether to purchase such a car. Keep in mind that the soft sprocket metal was entering the oil for almost three oil changes before it was caught and replaced. Not good for the engine, but maybe not a big deal. If the sprocket was never replaced and the car has less than 50 or 60Kmi and not under warranty then I would be concerned if you want to take the car to 100Kmi+.
The benefits of buying a CPO, which usually adds a few thousand dollars to the price are as follows: Seven-day money back period; warranty extended one year or 100,000 miles, which ever is first; right to buy up to two more years of warranty; and in theory, the dealer has checked and replaced any wear items that don't meet standards, such as tires and brakes. Even though the dealers SAY they check hundreds of things on the car before CPO-ing it, often they don't, they just check the boxes. So even if is a CPO, you should still take the car to an independent Mercedes mechanic and have them check it. Really good mechanics can even tell you if the car has been in an accident (paint work, new suspension parts). If it is a CPO, the car should have a CPO blue sticker on the inside of the driver's door jam. The extra one year CPO will start when the original factory warranty ends, or upon delivery of the car, if the factory warranty has already ended. The dealer or CARFAX will tell you how many more months are on the factory warranty (four years, 50,000 miles). You can purchase one or two years of Mercedes Extended Warranty on a car that is currently under the factory warranty or under the CPO warranty. I.e., you can purchase the Extended Warranty any time from the date of sale to when the factory and any CPO warranty run out, but after that, you cannot. The price is $1595 for one year and $2295 for two years. Opinions here range from "total rip-off" to "crazy not to buy it." I'm on the "crazy not to buy it" end of the spectrum. The Extended Warranty is 100% refundable if you decide to cancel it before it kicks in. The Extended Warranty is pro-rated refundable if you decide to cancel it before it ends (i.e. trade the car into a dealer). The factory, CPO, and Extended Warranty are transferable to the next owner if it is private sale. The CPO and Extended Warranty end if the car is traded into any type of dealer. To transfer the warranty to another private party, there is a form that must be filled out and sent to Mercedes.
Ask the dealer to print out the VMI (vehicle maintance information). If the car was dealer-serviced the VMI will list the oil changes and any other stuff that was done. If the car was in a major accident, it may list mechanical repairs associated with the accident (replace radiator, etc.).
Compared with 2007 and 2008, the MY2009 has the next generation COMAND/Navigation which is better than the 2008 and earlier ones. It seems about half of the cars have the sport option (avant garde). This give you bigger wheels and thinner tires, tinted glass, lower suspension, dual exhaust, different front and rear end look. Not for everyone and the non-sport is probably a more practical choice for ground clearance and potholes. The 2008 and earlier have nice 10-spoke wheels in the sport model, the 2009 has faux AMG wheels which I could take or leave (actually, I took them). Almost all the cars have the Premium I option package which has the COMAND/navigation. Other options are wood steering wheel (looks very nice), panoramic sunroof (not excited about that), and, very very rarely, a folding rear seat for more trunk space (cool, but impossible to find.) The Premium II package is somewhat rare, and includes things like turn-aiming Xenon headlights.
I hope this helps somebody else save some time.
Will
I used cars.com and dealer websites to find candidate 2007-2009 cars. If it is a dealer car it is likely that both the dealer website and cars.com listing provide a free carfax. Use that. Look for accidents and if one is listed, either reject the car or inspect the car closely because CARFAX doesn't generally tell how bad the accident was. Also beware that the car could have been in an accident and the owner choose to pay cash for the repair, so it wouldn't show up on CARFAX.
Sometimes the cars.com listing shows a newer car from a dealer who forgot to list it there as a Certified Pre-Owned (extra one year warranty coverage, extendable two more years). Check the dealer website for the car and sometimes you will find it is actually a CPO.
If the car is built in 2007 or earlier (MY2008 or earlier) you should check the engine serial number to see if it could have the "soft sprocket" issue. You can do this without having to get the engine serial number from under the hood: 1. Get a free subscription to the EPC (EPC-net Online). 2. Start EPC and copy and paste (control-V) all but the first three letters of the VIN into the EPC. Hit return. Hit Ctrl-F6. Compare the engine serial number shown with the range for either M272 (E350) or M273 (E550).
E350 M272 Engines up to Serial No. 2729..30 468993 may have the soft sprocket problem
E550 M273 Engines up to Serial No. 2739..30 088611 may have the soft sprocket problem
I understand that you should compare all of the last eight digits to tell. I.e. a M272 with number 31 345678 should be okay.
I have seen carfaxes which show the sprocket being replaced at 25,000 miles. It is up to you whether to purchase such a car. Keep in mind that the soft sprocket metal was entering the oil for almost three oil changes before it was caught and replaced. Not good for the engine, but maybe not a big deal. If the sprocket was never replaced and the car has less than 50 or 60Kmi and not under warranty then I would be concerned if you want to take the car to 100Kmi+.
The benefits of buying a CPO, which usually adds a few thousand dollars to the price are as follows: Seven-day money back period; warranty extended one year or 100,000 miles, which ever is first; right to buy up to two more years of warranty; and in theory, the dealer has checked and replaced any wear items that don't meet standards, such as tires and brakes. Even though the dealers SAY they check hundreds of things on the car before CPO-ing it, often they don't, they just check the boxes. So even if is a CPO, you should still take the car to an independent Mercedes mechanic and have them check it. Really good mechanics can even tell you if the car has been in an accident (paint work, new suspension parts). If it is a CPO, the car should have a CPO blue sticker on the inside of the driver's door jam. The extra one year CPO will start when the original factory warranty ends, or upon delivery of the car, if the factory warranty has already ended. The dealer or CARFAX will tell you how many more months are on the factory warranty (four years, 50,000 miles). You can purchase one or two years of Mercedes Extended Warranty on a car that is currently under the factory warranty or under the CPO warranty. I.e., you can purchase the Extended Warranty any time from the date of sale to when the factory and any CPO warranty run out, but after that, you cannot. The price is $1595 for one year and $2295 for two years. Opinions here range from "total rip-off" to "crazy not to buy it." I'm on the "crazy not to buy it" end of the spectrum. The Extended Warranty is 100% refundable if you decide to cancel it before it kicks in. The Extended Warranty is pro-rated refundable if you decide to cancel it before it ends (i.e. trade the car into a dealer). The factory, CPO, and Extended Warranty are transferable to the next owner if it is private sale. The CPO and Extended Warranty end if the car is traded into any type of dealer. To transfer the warranty to another private party, there is a form that must be filled out and sent to Mercedes.
Ask the dealer to print out the VMI (vehicle maintance information). If the car was dealer-serviced the VMI will list the oil changes and any other stuff that was done. If the car was in a major accident, it may list mechanical repairs associated with the accident (replace radiator, etc.).
Compared with 2007 and 2008, the MY2009 has the next generation COMAND/Navigation which is better than the 2008 and earlier ones. It seems about half of the cars have the sport option (avant garde). This give you bigger wheels and thinner tires, tinted glass, lower suspension, dual exhaust, different front and rear end look. Not for everyone and the non-sport is probably a more practical choice for ground clearance and potholes. The 2008 and earlier have nice 10-spoke wheels in the sport model, the 2009 has faux AMG wheels which I could take or leave (actually, I took them). Almost all the cars have the Premium I option package which has the COMAND/navigation. Other options are wood steering wheel (looks very nice), panoramic sunroof (not excited about that), and, very very rarely, a folding rear seat for more trunk space (cool, but impossible to find.) The Premium II package is somewhat rare, and includes things like turn-aiming Xenon headlights.
I hope this helps somebody else save some time.
Will
