Please talk me out of this madness.....

MBDevotee

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 24, 2009
Messages
2,242
Reaction score
623
Location
Bristol
Your Mercedes
Dreaming of a CL55k - one day maybe....
About 5-10 years ago I drove a CL500.

It was a nice car, it was SUCH a nice car.... oh god it was a nice car.....

I have a company car - this company car is good - it's lovely it's shiny, it's new (ish) it does 40mpg....

BUT it's also costing me £470 in company car tax a month........

I can insure a CL500 for about £15-20 per month, I can tax it (pre 2006 see) I can (if I LPG it) afford to fuel it and I can (if nothing breaks) afford to maintain it.......

However, what if something (I am thinking ABC struts) does break......

Can these be re-furbed now or is it still best part of £1000 per corner.....

I am looking at a CL500 or CL55 or CL55k - the fact is the purchase price of each is not too dissimilar - they seem to vary more based on miles and condition.

What's the tin worm like at this age now - I had a CLK of smilar vintage and it was spot on - but i know many rusted away as you watched them.

It's madness of course - I should get a jolly nice E320CDi estate with lots of spec for the same money, and heck the back end isn't even THAT pretty..... but in black, with the right wheels..... OH GOD Please help me... talk me out of it!
 

Jimbo1959

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2018
Messages
1,785
Reaction score
1,807
Location
Ayrshire
Your Mercedes
VW Scirocco. The Quattro, E350 CDi Blue Efficiency Sport Coupe, now both gone
About 5-10 years ago I drove a CL500.

It was a nice car, it was SUCH a nice car.... oh god it was a nice car.....

I have a company car - this company car is good - it's lovely it's shiny, it's new (ish) it does 40mpg....

BUT it's also costing me £470 in company car tax a month........

I can insure a CL500 for about £15-20 per month, I can tax it (pre 2006 see) I can (if I LPG it) afford to fuel it and I can (if nothing breaks) afford to maintain it.......

However, what if something (I am thinking ABC struts) does break......

Can these be re-furbed now or is it still best part of £1000 per corner.....

I am looking at a CL500 or CL55 or CL55k - the fact is the purchase price of each is not too dissimilar - they seem to vary more based on miles and condition.

What's the tin worm like at this age now - I had a CLK of smilar vintage and it was spot on - but i know many rusted away as you watched them.

It's madness of course - I should get a jolly nice E320CDi estate with lots of spec for the same money, and heck the back end isn't even THAT pretty..... but in black, with the right wheels..... OH GOD Please help me... talk me out of it!

No! Go for it, you will only regret it if you don’t. Life is too short for what if’s and I should have’s.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
OP
M

MBDevotee

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 24, 2009
Messages
2,242
Reaction score
623
Location
Bristol
Your Mercedes
Dreaming of a CL55k - one day maybe....
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #3
Oooooh god.... It's so tempting....

I've seen one that is well priced - however it states that....

"with window and soft close on passenger door not working, some very minor paint issues and plastic degradation on some control switches." any ideas as to how easy these bits are to get and what the likely cures may be - these cars can really cost....
 

Jimbo1959

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2018
Messages
1,785
Reaction score
1,807
Location
Ayrshire
Your Mercedes
VW Scirocco. The Quattro, E350 CDi Blue Efficiency Sport Coupe, now both gone
Oooooh god.... It's so tempting....

I've seen one that is well priced - however it states that....

"with window and soft close on passenger door not working, some very minor paint issues and plastic degradation on some control switches." any ideas as to how easy these bits are to get and what the likely cures may be - these cars can really cost....

Well knock the vendor down on the price. Incorporate the repair costs in the purchase price. I suppose it all depends on how badly he wants to sell (and how badly you want to buy). :D

Negotation is the name of the game. ;)
 

alexanderfoti

MBO Forum Supporter
Authorised Forum Supporter
Joined
Mar 25, 2010
Messages
15,091
Reaction score
6,247
Location
Tonbridge
Your Mercedes
W221 S65 AMG - W204 C63 AMG + Various other MB's
Depending on year, the window and softclose issue is likely to be broken wires in the door hinge, not too horrendous to repair.

Also, go for it too, excellent cars. Just find a good mechanic in case of issues. People get frustrated when they fail, and then some non Mercedes specialists guess at problems, which gets costly.
 
Last edited:

bembo449

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2012
Messages
6,774
Reaction score
3,518
Location
gainsborough , lincolnshire
Your Mercedes
Mercedes Cl500, shitron dispatch
I also say go for it ! the CL is a proper lovely thing to drive and be in generally , there are plenty around so you can take your time and find a cracking example , you can always ask on here if you find a possible purchase you want checking out pal
 

Wighty

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 4, 2016
Messages
13,435
Reaction score
12,466
Location
Sunny Essex
Your Mercedes
W211/E320cdi/2009 and CLK200k 2009
You haven't said what the cars use is going to be , is it for commuting daily , if so what distance etc .
Or what budget you are going to spend on the car .
My first thought is CL pre 2006 as a regular commuter :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek: .
Get a 350cdi something ?
Try and talk me out of that with more detail from your end ?
 

JBell

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 9, 2011
Messages
14,845
Reaction score
7,186
Location
Torquey
Your Mercedes
C350 CDi Estate (GAD Edition)
I have a company car - this company car is good - it's lovely it's shiny, it's new (ish) it does 40mpg....

BUT it's also costing me £470 in company car tax a month

That is a ridiculous amount to pay in Company car tax!!!!!! Take the allowance!!!!!
 

Blobcat

Moderator
Joined
Feb 8, 2006
Messages
38,785
Reaction score
27,420
Location
Grange Moor
Your Mercedes
R171 SLK280, Smart R451, Land Rover 110 County SW, 997 C2S, R1250 GSA TE 40th, CBR600FP
I think you should be going for a CL600 :D
 

ajlsl600

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 18, 2013
Messages
9,031
Reaction score
6,029
Location
france
Your Mercedes
clk3202001,sl6002003 with everything regrettably sold ,A class 170cdi auto. NG/TF1800 ML250
About 5-10 years ago I drove a CL500.

It was a nice car, it was SUCH a nice car.... oh god it was a nice car.....

I have a company car - this company car is good - it's lovely it's shiny, it's new (ish) it does 40mpg....

BUT it's also costing me £470 in company car tax a month........

I can insure a CL500 for about £15-20 per month, I can tax it (pre 2006 see) I can (if I LPG it) afford to fuel it and I can (if nothing breaks) afford to maintain it.......

However, what if something (I am thinking ABC struts) does break......

Can these be re-furbed now or is it still best part of £1000 per corner.....

I am looking at a CL500 or CL55 or CL55k - the fact is the purchase price of each is not too dissimilar - they seem to vary more based on miles and condition.

What's the tin worm like at this age now - I had a CLK of smilar vintage and it was spot on - but i know many rusted away as you watched them.

It's madness of course - I should get a jolly nice E320CDi estate with lots of spec for the same money, and heck the back end isn't even THAT pretty..... but in black, with the right wheels..... OH GOD Please help me... talk me out of it!


if you do your research you will likely find a nice car, just beware these cars you speak of can suck yr wallet fairly dry, mitigated if you do most everything yrself and spend the time,like on here to find out how,if you dont already know . lots of stuff for these motors a bit cheaper now and more reconditioned compnents available i was a big fan of the cl500 as well, think quality was better then than now myself.
 

400ixl

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2016
Messages
438
Reaction score
168
Location
UK
Your Mercedes
E250 AMG Sport Convertible
Does your company allow you to take an allowance and use it on a car that old. Many have age restrictions.
 

Capra

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 27, 2018
Messages
3,320
Reaction score
1,197
Location
Gloucestershire
Your Mercedes
W204 2013 C350 CDI Pan roof
About 5-10 years ago I drove a CL500.

It was a nice car, it was SUCH a nice car.... oh god it was a nice car.....

I have a company car - this company car is good - it's lovely it's shiny, it's new (ish) it does 40mpg....

BUT it's also costing me £470 in company car tax a month........

I can insure a CL500 for about £15-20 per month, I can tax it (pre 2006 see) I can (if I LPG it) afford to fuel it and I can (if nothing breaks) afford to maintain it.......

However, what if something (I am thinking ABC struts) does break......

Can these be re-furbed now or is it still best part of £1000 per corner.....

I am looking at a CL500 or CL55 or CL55k - the fact is the purchase price of each is not too dissimilar - they seem to vary more based on miles and condition.

What's the tin worm like at this age now - I had a CLK of smilar vintage and it was spot on - but i know many rusted away as you watched them.

It's madness of course - I should get a jolly nice E320CDi estate with lots of spec for the same money, and heck the back end isn't even THAT pretty..... but in black, with the right wheels..... OH GOD Please help me... talk me out of it!
£5640 a year tax, what company car do you have? Porsche? Would like to know what the P11 value and co2 is on your car. I also opted out of the car scheme as I was looking at being taxed £1500 a year, and the car choice is rubbish. But I don't really drive for work at the moment and that would be a deciding factor before selecting a car. If I did drive like I did 10 years ago for work, I could not afford to run a CL500.
 
Last edited:

Capra

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 27, 2018
Messages
3,320
Reaction score
1,197
Location
Gloucestershire
Your Mercedes
W204 2013 C350 CDI Pan roof
Does your company allow you to take an allowance and use it on a car that old. Many have age restrictions.
Some companies from a mileage policy. So if you are doing over 8k a year you have to take the company car, anything lower and you can take allowance. My company would not let you run a car this old.
 

Craiglxviii

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2015
Messages
17,781
Reaction score
7,426
Location
Cambs UK
Your Mercedes
970 Panamera Turbo; W221 S500L AMG Line, C215 CL500, W251 R350L AMG Line, plus several more now gone
About 5-10 years ago I drove a CL500.

It was a nice car, it was SUCH a nice car.... oh god it was a nice car.....

I have a company car - this company car is good - it's lovely it's shiny, it's new (ish) it does 40mpg....

BUT it's also costing me £470 in company car tax a month........

I can insure a CL500 for about £15-20 per month, I can tax it (pre 2006 see) I can (if I LPG it) afford to fuel it and I can (if nothing breaks) afford to maintain it.......

However, what if something (I am thinking ABC struts) does break......

Can these be re-furbed now or is it still best part of £1000 per corner.....

I am looking at a CL500 or CL55 or CL55k - the fact is the purchase price of each is not too dissimilar - they seem to vary more based on miles and condition.

What's the tin worm like at this age now - I had a CLK of smilar vintage and it was spot on - but i know many rusted away as you watched them.

It's madness of course - I should get a jolly nice E320CDi estate with lots of spec for the same money, and heck the back end isn't even THAT pretty..... but in black, with the right wheels..... OH GOD Please help me... talk me out of it!
Do it. DO IT.

Forget LPG. My CL500 returns 28-30mpg measured at the pump, tank to tank.

Keep £2-300/mth for service budget and you won’t go far wrong. We have come on leaps & bounds on this forum in reducing costs of CL ownership, specifically ABC parts.
 
OP
M

MBDevotee

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 24, 2009
Messages
2,242
Reaction score
623
Location
Bristol
Your Mercedes
Dreaming of a CL55k - one day maybe....
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #17
Ok, so work for a car dealer - it's car or no car - no allowance / mileage etc on offer.

I have a Band 5 car (we drive different cars so are banded on the kind of car not the ACTUAL car) so Band 5 is £25,000 - £30k purchase price and an average CO2 - It means the car I drive is banded as having a taxable benefit of £9825 per year (£27500 x 34% or something like that) then I get £200 fuel a month (so £2400 actual benefit) but fuel benefit scale is £23000 x the bik (34%) so about £7820 - so just the tax on that is £3128 - so dropping the fuel allowance is a total no brainer.

On top of that, thanks to my (now ex) wife who decided she wanted £1k maintenance and I argued, so CMS got involved and I discovered that CMS include car benefit as actually EARNED income - so you pay 20% on that as well.

So cost of having the co car I do is.... £9825 + 7820 = £17645 x 40% = £7048 in Tax - there is NIC on that as well! Then there is another 20% of CMS on it - £1409 per year! - so the car will cost me £8457 or £704 per month out of my wage packet.

This may be an eye opener for any of you paying Child Maintenance and earning more than £45-50k salary as the car pushes you into higher rate tax - so you're paying 60% on that car! It made my eyes water!

_______________________________________________________________________________

So to answer the above - my commute is about 25 miles each way and consists of slightly pre-rush hour traffic from Bristol to Bath - mainly rolling along at 30mph or so but not much high speed. Then I travel to Wells - about 30 miles on normal A roads twice a week and I go out and about when I can. Do about 12,000m a year.

LPG - have had 6 cars on LPG now - love it. It helps I have a good converter who does a good job for about £1200 on a V8. I expect to get 22-25 mpg from a CL - doing 15,000m per year I'll use approx 3095 liters of petrol at a cost of £1.30 per litre that's a cost of £4024 per year in fuel. On LPG the car would do about 19mpg so that's 3584 litres of LPG at a cost of £0.60 per litre so that's £2150 per year in fuel - so I'll save £1874 per year in fuel after paying out £1200 I'll be ahead after about 9 months or so so I need to make this a long-term thing to make that worthwhile. In my experience, an LPG converted car is worth around £500-1000 more when you sell it (at least three of mine I got about that more for them and they sold in a day!)

If I budget £200 a month for maintenance, the road tax and insurance won't cost a lot (pre-March 2006 road tax is £235 (call it £20 per month and insurance about the same). If we assume depreciation will be fairly glacial at that age, the car will cost me about £300 per month all in plus fuel...... I'm working on £400.

If I lose the fuel at work, and go into a Band 2 car (Up to £11999) then I can run a car for £96 per month all in..... but what car can I get for £12k - that won't get me a fiesta.....!

The only other option is seeing if they will let me run a Van - but that means I'm still paying £136 a month out (but getting £200 back in fuel so net cost is actually negative) but that means I'm driving a Van around - not my idea of motoring Nirvana....

Of course, I could take the van and the fuel... and still buy a CL500..... and use the van for the daily commute - then I would only do about 3000m a year in it and not bother with LPG (never get the money back on that mileage)......

That's the maths.... the heart is not so logical lol..

The other option is try and find a really really mint E320CDi Estate with every toy in the world on (the 2007 era style) and use that - probably a much cheaper, more sensible option.... but it isn't a CL is it.....
 

JBell

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 9, 2011
Messages
14,845
Reaction score
7,186
Location
Torquey
Your Mercedes
C350 CDi Estate (GAD Edition)
Ok, so work for a car dealer - it's car or no car - no allowance / mileage etc on offer.

I have a Band 5 car (we drive different cars so are banded on the kind of car not the ACTUAL car) so Band 5 is £25,000 - £30k purchase price and an average CO2 - It means the car I drive is banded as having a taxable benefit of £9825 per year (£27500 x 34% or something like that) then I get £200 fuel a month (so £2400 actual benefit) but fuel benefit scale is £23000 x the bik (34%) so about £7820 - so just the tax on that is £3128 - so dropping the fuel allowance is a total no brainer.

On top of that, thanks to my (now ex) wife who decided she wanted £1k maintenance and I argued, so CMS got involved and I discovered that CMS include car benefit as actually EARNED income - so you pay 20% on that as well.

So cost of having the co car I do is.... £9825 + 7820 = £17645 x 40% = £7048 in Tax - there is NIC on that as well! Then there is another 20% of CMS on it - £1409 per year! - so the car will cost me £8457 or £704 per month out of my wage packet.

This may be an eye opener for any of you paying Child Maintenance and earning more than £45-50k salary as the car pushes you into higher rate tax - so you're paying 60% on that car! It made my eyes water!

Truly horrific numbers there!!!!

Have you used www.comcar.co.uk to confirm the figures??

Working it out on bands is not fair at all, it hammers you, your employer is saving a fortune tax wise, and the govt are laughing as they will take the £30k figure and tax you on that

For £704 a month a CL is easily doable, I would look for a W216 and you will still be up money wise.

CL seem to be better if used, from what I read on here ABC doesn't like being sat around.

I know the CMS include everything except your pension, I hope you pay her direct not via them. and you will need to re-assess it if you remove the car as the figures will have changed and you will owe her less
 
OP
M

MBDevotee

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 24, 2009
Messages
2,242
Reaction score
623
Location
Bristol
Your Mercedes
Dreaming of a CL55k - one day maybe....
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #19
comcar doesn't work - I'm not taxed on an actual car - but a band agreed with HMRC. Theoretically we can take a different car every night (in reality we don't) so HMRC agree 6 bands with our company. The car we mainly drive is in the band we're taxed on. So if you drive a car at £24999 list including extras you're in a band lower than one costing £25001 - hence why we have to be careful.

CMS have told me they will only re-assess if my salary drops by 25% and my maintenance is set on last years figures - so this is why I'm keen to sort it out now so that this years figures are sensible - then will be re-assessed in March next year.

I do pay direct, she wanted to make me do it through them but I managed to stop that!

As long as I pay she can't force me to pay through them.

I'd love a W216 - but entry cost is way higher, road tax is way higher (£550 per year?) - otherwise costs are similar but maintenance should be a fair bit less. I'd be happy with a 2004 / 2005 car as it has the facelift Comand.

Do people think a W216 would cost less to run overall including maintenance? I could probably struggle to find the entry cost, as when I sell it will be worth a fair bit more..... You need to stop that line mind.... you could get me in a lot of trouble!
 

JBell

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 9, 2011
Messages
14,845
Reaction score
7,186
Location
Torquey
Your Mercedes
C350 CDi Estate (GAD Edition)
comcar doesn't work - I'm not taxed on an actual car - but a band agreed with HMRC. Theoretically we can take a different car every night (in reality we don't) so HMRC agree 6 bands with our company. The car we mainly drive is in the band we're taxed on. So if you drive a car at £24999 list including extras you're in a band lower than one costing £25001 - hence why we have to be careful.

Your employer is laughing all the way to the bank

CMS have told me they will only re-assess if my salary drops by 25% and my maintenance is set on last years figures - so this is why I'm keen to sort it out now so that this years figures are sensible - then will be re-assessed in March next year.

Yup, you can re-assess every 12 months

I do pay direct, she wanted to make me do it through them but I managed to stop that!

Would cost you another 20% (and her 4%)

As long as I pay she can't force me to pay through them.

No she can't, provided there is a paper trail so a DD is perfect then she can't do anything.

I'd love a W216 - but entry cost is way higher, road tax is way higher (£550 per year?) - otherwise costs are similar but maintenance should be a fair bit less. I'd be happy with a 2004 / 2005 car as it has the facelift Comand.

Do people think a W216 would cost less to run overall including maintenance? I could probably struggle to find the entry cost, as when I sell it will be worth a fair bit more..... You need to stop that line mind.... you could get me in a lot of trouble!

I would think a W216 will cost less to run in the long term, much more modern car as well and they can be had for £10k
 

AIB understand your special Mercedes deserves a special insurance policy. We have a refreshing attitude to insuring high performance, modified, imported or classic and vintage cars and deal with the UK’s leading insurers. We offer discounts for length of ownership, where the vehicle is kept overnight and limiting the mileage and can also cater for those clients who need higher mileage and business use. To obtain a quotation please call the team on 02380 268351 or visit us atAIB Insurance
Top Bottom