Advice on buying a 4 year old C220 CDi

[Lulu01]

Hi, I'm a new member who stumbled upon the excellent website by accident. I was wondering if anyone could help me with a problem.

I have had a 2004/04 C220 CDi Elegance from new for four years as a Company car. It has 95,000 on the clock and has been serviced/maintained regularly, but not by MB. My company is moving everyone over to allowances rather than cars. I have the option to buy my car, and really like it but am a bit concerned about what may or may not have been done under the servicing; what needs replacing after 4 years/95000 miles etc (for example, my husband's car needs a new cam belt every four years or XX,000 miles).

If anyone can offer me any advice and guidance, it would be much appreciated.

 

[television]

Welcome Lulu 01, we have many members with the same car including a member Lulu (not 01)

There are no cam belts on these cars, as they use chains.
You know the car, its a good year, and at the right price you should not go wrong. You will get many more answers

 

[Cole@MBS]

Milage not a problem as Malc saids, two LULU,s didnt think i would see that!!!

 

[Alex M Grieve]

You know the car, its a good year, and at the right price you should not go wrong. You will get many more answers

Hello and welcome. I entirely agree with the comment so far. To Malcolm's point on price, however, I have found on more than one occasion that the employer (or their rental company) can have an inflated idea of the current value of the car - possibly set when the rental arrangement was set up some time ago. Worth comparing the price they are asking with a current search on a used price search engine such as "Valuations" on the What Car site, or the used car search on Autotrader.co.uk.

I thought my last company car was overpriced (the rental company failed to get even close at subsequent auction), so I declined it and went on to by a car half the age and mileage with a better spec in the market.

HOWEVER. If your company owns the car, and are selling it at trade price, corrected for mileage, less a discount to encourage you to buy (and save them the hassle of disposal), it might be a fantastic deal. After all, they would struggle to sell a 95,000 car in the current market.

In the final analysis, you know the car and are happy with it. Experts here have assured you that mileage is not a problem. And any car you buy instead was sold for a reason!

Probably a nice position to be in. You are clearly not going to let sentiment cloud your judgement. We look forward to hearing how you decide to progress.

 

[Nick1964]

Wouldn't pay much more than £4000 if I were you; cars may be advertised at silly money on Autotrader, local press and eBay but they simply don't sell until the asking price falls to a fair and reasonable price. While mileage may not be a major problem there are some maintenance considerations that can be quite expensive: automatic gearbox service; B type service not to mention many of the faults that may be stored in your ECU that only code readers can identify (if it hasn't been maintained by MB or a MB specialist).

Added to which, it's not just the engine and drive train to think about; everything has covered 95,000 miles which means all suspension components, alternator, strater motor, water pump, hubs, seals and bearings have all covered the same. I hear it all the time that diesel cars do 'rocketship' mileages, and the engines do, but don't forget the remainder of the car.

Hope this helps,

Nick

 

[lulu]

Milage not a problem as Malc saids, two LULU,s didnt think i would see that!!!

Neither did I!

 

[PeterCLK]

This site seems to have realistic valuations.
http://www.wisebuyers.co.uk/

I have found What Car valuations to be higher than the market in the past.

 

[Lulu01]

Thanks for all your replies, they are really appreciated.

The only problems I have had with the car over the last four years is a persistent fault with the Preglow Indicator Lamp going on/off whilst the car is running and a slight vibration at 70-ish which you can drive through.