Another IAAI salvage auction purchase

[GON]

Someone sent me a listing of a car with many of the same features (but the listing one has more than mine), a NY vehicle, 95k miles. Sold at auction for 38k USD. Of course- clean title...... which the one I have in this thread does not....

No Reserve: 2013 Mercedes-Benz S550 4MATIC

Bid for the chance to own a No Reserve: 2013 Mercedes-Benz S550 4MATIC at auction with Bring a Trailer, the home of the best vintage and classic cars online. Lot #48,679.

bringatrailer.com

 

[Wolf359]

Someone sent me a listing of a car with many of the same features (but the listing one has more than mine), a NY vehicle, 95k miles. Sold at auction for 38k USD. Of course- clean title...... which the one I have in this thread does not....

No Reserve: 2013 Mercedes-Benz S550 4MATIC

Bid for the chance to own a No Reserve: 2013 Mercedes-Benz S550 4MATIC at auction with Bring a Trailer, the home of the best vintage and classic cars online. Lot #48,679.

bringatrailer.com

I can't believe it's got some designo package and a bunch of other nice options but no distronics. Before the pandemic you could get them around 20k-30k, not as loaded though and about the same mileage. It was really the 2014+ with the newer body styling that was 40k+.

 

[GSCJR]

Way to go @GON!

 

[CKN]

SO-the question is how does a clean title car that hasn't been flooded compare in value to one that has?

 

[dishdude]

SO-the question is how does a clean title car that hasn't been flooded compare in value to one that has?

Good question. Clean title $38k, OP has $7,200 in it. What's it worth now that OP has cleaned it up and confirms it's in complete working order? $20-25k?

 

[CKN]

Good question. Clean title $38k, OP has $7,200 in it. What's it worth now that OP has cleaned it up and confirms it's in complete working order? $20-25k?I

I don't know. Personally-I wouldn't lay down $25,000.00 for a flooded vehicle-regardless of what badge is on the hood, and what it may have been worth given a clean title, but that's just me. I can tell you here in Utah there are many, many vehicles on the road with clouded titles, as there are many dealerships that only sell those type of (branded/clouded) vehicles. However- that's not to say some do a good job of repair-I have seen a few that I wouldn't have purchased, but somebody did.

 

[Wolf359]

Good question. Clean title $38k, OP has $7,200 in it. What's it worth now that OP has cleaned it up and confirms it's in complete working order? $20-25k?

That 38k was an extreme example had some rare option packages. You can find a bunch of other run of the mill 2013 S550's for 20-25k. A flooded/salvage title is supposed to knock off about 30-40% off retail price but lots of people tend to overpay so maybe not even that.

 

[FordMan59]

OP I'm glad you still have the patience to work with things like this and figure out what's going on. 30 years ago maybe I could have but with age and chronic back pain I've found I hardly even have the patience and nerves to do an oil change any more. I still do lots of my own work but with my pain/anxiety I often find myself wishing I'd have paid someone to do the work. Really gets to me when it's something I know should have taken 1-2 hours and I spend all day on it.

I don't know about MB but I've been told that flooded/rebuilt title should decrease the value by 20-40% on most cars. I bought my '16 Nissan Versa with a rebuilt title and 10K miles in Feb. 2019. As I recall the clean title book price on it was something like $9800 when I bought it. I bought it for $5300 which was about 46% below clean title book price. It now has 31,xxx miles and has been absolutely trouble free. When I bought it at that price I figured if I could get it to around 100K miles with no major problems I'd be money ahead.

 

[Rmay635703]

OP I'm glad you still have the patience to work with things like this and figure out what's going on. 30 years ago maybe I could have but with age and chronic back pain I've found I hardly even have the patience and nerves to do an oil change any more. I still do lots of my own work but with my pain/anxiety I often find myself wishing I'd have paid someone to do the work. Really gets to me when it's something I know should have taken 1-2 hours and I spend all day on it.

I don't know about MB but I've been told that flooded/rebuilt title should decrease the value by 20-40% on most cars. I bought my '16 Nissan Versa with a rebuilt title and 10K miles in Feb. 2019. As I recall the clean title book price on it was something like $9800 when I bought it. I bought it for $5300 which was about 46% below clean title book price. It now has 31,xxx miles and has been absolutely trouble free. When I bought it at that price I figured if I could get it to around 100K miles with no major problems I'd be money ahead.

I wouldn’t mind locating specific rust free old flood damaged cars from down south could do a motor swap and replace the seats

No flood totaled car is every worth more than a few thousand unless it wasn’t actually flooded.

 

[Wolf359]

I don't know about MB but I've been told that flooded/rebuilt title should decrease the value by 20-40% on most cars. I bought my '16 Nissan Versa with a rebuilt title and 10K miles in Feb. 2019. As I recall the clean title book price on it was something like $9800 when I bought it. I bought it for $5300 which was about 46% below clean title book price. It now has 31,xxx miles and has been absolutely trouble free. When I bought it at that price I figured if I could get it to around 100K miles with no major problems I'd be money ahead.

I'm just not a fan of rebuilt/salvage vehicles because any factory warranty on it no longer applies. On the W211, they had a couple of extended warranties, one for 25 years on the SBC brakes and 15 years on the fuel tank. Haven't really heard of anything on his car but those extended warranties can pop up years later when a common problem crops up.

 

[FordMan59]

I wouldn’t mind locating specific rust free old flood damaged cars from down south could do a motor swap and replace the seats

No flood totaled car is every worth more than a few thousand unless it wasn’t actually flooded.

My Versa wasn't a flood damage car. It was totaled by the insurance as a result of a rear end collision then I assume sold at auction and repaired by a local independent dealer. I may be missing out on some good deals but I've always been afraid of repaired flood damaged vehicles not knowing what might come up in later years.

 

[FordMan59]

I'm just not a fan of rebuilt/salvage vehicles because any factory warranty on it no longer applies. On the W211, they had a couple of extended warranties, one for 25 years on the SBC brakes and 15 years on the fuel tank. Haven't really heard of anything on his car but those extended warranties can pop up years later when a common problem crops up.

I was surprised when I received a letter from Nissan stating the extended warranty from 5/60 to 7/84 associated with the class action law suit WOULD APPLY to the CVT in my Versa. I made a point to keep the letter with my VIN on it as proof to a dealer in the event I ever need it.

 

[GON]

Good question. Clean title $38k, OP has $7,200 in it. What's it worth now that OP has cleaned it up and confirms it's in complete working order? $20-25k?

Beats me.... guess marketing plays a role. Clean her up super good (which she will), take pictures of the undercarriage being corrosion free and spotless. Post the extensive MB maintenance history, to include it was under a MB extended warranty for most of its life....

Not a worry for me. I only buy these to keep. As mentioned before, my daily driver is a Hurricane Harvey flood salvage vehicle. 2005 S500. I have put nearly 60k miles on it, my total cost on that car including parts was under $2500.

 

[GON]

That 38k was an extreme example had some rare option packages. You can find a bunch of other run of the mill 2013 S550's for 20-25k. A flooded/salvage title is supposed to knock off about 30-40% off retail price but lots of people tend to overpay so maybe not even that.

This car has almost every option package that car has except 19" rims and rear entertainment center. I was not looking to purchase another MB S-class so soon, but when I saw what this had, maintenance history, Florida car.... could not pass on it.

I tried to buy a W220 designo out of California last year, was outbid.... some people strongly desire the designo option.

 

[GON]

I wouldn’t mind locating specific rust free old flood damaged cars from down south could do a motor swap and replace the seats

No flood totaled car is every worth more than a few thousand unless it wasn’t actually flooded.

Rmay,

You nailed it. Any water damage to a vehicle is flood damage. Go into a river and completely submerge a vehicle, gets classifies the same as leaving a sunroof open. I use to rebuild 2000-2005 Pontiac Bonnevilles (wish I could still find some worth rebuilding). Almost every single Bonneville had water interior issue from the driver's door letting water under the carpet. These are also classified as flood vehicles.

Some auction house will draw a water line- how high the water was in the car. My 2005 S500 had that line. Of course this car and the white one I am also working on do not have that line.... as water came in through a cowling and under carpet.

Big lesson I learned on the white car, is not that it had water in the interior.... but how long the water was there. Not so concerned about one gallon or ten gallons of water, but how long did any water sit. This blue car the very minimal water sat for under 30 days before I got the car. And it was at a shop the day after water issue was identified with carpet pulled. The white car sat with a few gallons of water under the carpet for nine months, waiting at the auction house for the title to arrive. The white car issues are from the length of time the minimal amount of water sat in it... not the quantity of water.

 

[GON]

OP I'm glad you still have the patience to work with things like this and figure out what's going on. 30 years ago maybe I could have but with age and chronic back pain I've found I hardly even have the patience and nerves to do an oil change any more. I still do lots of my own work but with my pain/anxiety I often find myself wishing I'd have paid someone to do the work. Really gets to me when it's something I know should have taken 1-2 hours and I spend all day on it.

I don't know about MB but I've been told that flooded/rebuilt title should decrease the value by 20-40% on most cars. I bought my '16 Nissan Versa with a rebuilt title and 10K miles in Feb. 2019. As I recall the clean title book price on it was something like $9800 when I bought it. I bought it for $5300 which was about 46% below clean title book price. It now has 31,xxx miles and has been absolutely trouble free. When I bought it at that price I figured if I could get it to around 100K miles with no major problems I'd be money ahead.

FM59,

Sorry to hear about the pain you have. Pain is a very hard thing to overcome...

We have like challenges I also find things taking much longer to diagnose/ repair then it should. In my case, my memory does not seem as tight as it once was.

 

[FordMan59]

In my case, my memory does not seem as tight as it once was.

I'm the same way I'll lay a tool down somewhere then have to spend 15 minutes looking for it. Sometimes it's right in front of me other times I find it stuck in my pocket.