It seems like 90%+ of cars posted on Craigslist are from either dealers or scummy-looking used-car lots.

I think I just got lucky...Found a 2000 SLK230, black on black, 102,000 miles. $6,000 firm price.

I speak to the guy on the phone. Says it was his wife's daily driver for the past 6 years, and they are upgrading. I do a search on this guy and he is an engineer at Honeywell. Well spoken, tells me the car is in "great shape, absolutely nothing wrong with it"...

This is well under blue book and I think I might have found a great deal. He tells me he has gotten a bunch of emails, but if I can pay-in-full ASAP, it's mine.

I told him I want to take it to get inspected by a MB dealer or mechanic just to make sure it's as mechanically-sound as he claims...He's totally cool with it, says we can both go in tomorrow to the dealer he uses.


OOT: WHO PAYS FOR THE INSPECTION? I am ready to hand him a certified check if the car turns out to be in good condition, but I have no idea how much an inspection will cost, or whether I should ask him to cover it? Should we split it?

You pay for inspection. You could always try to negotiate it into the price. If you don't end up buying the car it's on your dime, though. Unless of course you can convince him to pay for it.

Another question, how much should I expect this to cost?

Do I just call up the dealer and say "hey I found this car on Craigslist can you look it over and tell me if I'm buying a POS?"

You obv pay. Just ask for a pre-purchase inspection, they'll know what you want.

When I got this done in May they charged about 150 but that seemed high to me. Curious what others have paid.

I did this at Midas before. I called them up and told them I was looking to buy a used car I found in an ad and asked them if they could give it a pre-purchase inspection. It sounded like it was a pretty common thing that they do. They charged $79 (price may vary by location), we dropped the car off for a few hours, and they basically gave the whole car a thorough inspection. When we picked it up they gave me a few sheets of paper with grades (poor, average, good) for like everything, and there was some notes about things that might need repairs soon.

The car I dropped off ended up having good in almost everything, average in a couple categories, and the mechanic said he'd buy it if it was up to him. I did end up buying it and so far I've put about 20k miles on the car and no problems yet.

Also, if you have them in your area, AiM Mobile Inspections is pretty convenient. They are pricier though, and I've never used them before so caveat emptor.

Also, I never even answered your question: in general, the buyer pays for the inspection.

And get Autocheck or Carfax ldo (I prefer Autocheck because I've actually found accidents with AC that CF didn't find before, but my evidence is anecdotal and YMMV). I've seen really good deals before on used cars, put the VIN in Autocheck, and found that it had a salvaged or rebuilt title.

Definitely have a mech look at it, even if it's from a big shiny dealership and is labeled "pre-owned certified." I know this from personal experience.

Also, just because the guy is perfectly trustworthy doesn't mean there isn't something wrong with his car he doesn't know about.

You pay for it. At the price he is asking I am wondering if it has a salvage title.

Thanks for the advice. He is going to bring the car by my office tomorrow. I plan on running the VIN through Carfax with him (Is there anyway to get this without paying?), and then it's off to the MB dealer to get it looked at. Hopefully I will own it by Monday.

Unless you are buying it from a dealer who already has a account with them, no. Also don't ever rely on reports from like Carfax, etc. Which is good since you are going to a mechanic.

Hope it all works out for you.

I'm not reading the entire OP but you obviously pay for the inspection.

A big reason for that is that you take it to whoever you want and pay them to inspect it. That way you know it's legit. What's the point of having the owner show you an inspection his brother in law did 8 days ago that says the car is fine? Save a few hundred bucks then walk away with a POS? No thanks.

you pay. if it comes out clean sounds like a pretty good deal.

Generally an inspection should run you around one hour of labour. At an MB dealership this will be $100-150. They might charge more for the inspection, though, being a stealership and all. Make sure someone drives the car and they don't just have it up on a hoist for a while. If you buy the car I highly suggest finding a good independent Benz mechanic in your area if you can. Dealerships are notoriously incompetent and expensive (I'm a BMW guy but I assume the same applies to Benzes and most cars in general).

I saw an episode of 60 minutes which exposed Carfax as being unreliable/scam. Carfax is useless, half the time the info is wrong or out of date. They showed car after car that was in an accident but the Carfax report didn't mention anything about it. Don't waste any money buying a report from them.

Advice on finding an independent Benz mechanic on short notice? I'm in Minneapolis FWIW

You don't necessarily need to do it on short notice -- the dealership should be perfectly adequate for the inspection and stuff. But for routine maintenance and repairs you will save money and form a better relationship with a good indy mechanic. Best way to find one is probably by asking around on Benz forums. I think benzworld.org and mbworld.org are pretty big ones and should have regional forums where you can ask around. If you can't find anyone reputable in your area just stick to the dealership.

Dude, you are investing $6,000 in a car which can turn into $10,000 with a bad tranny and a couple of other problems. Spend the $100-$200 to do the inspection/car fax and be done with it.

The last time I bought a used car I took it to a (Toyota) dealer and got a pre-purchase inspection. 45m and about $100.

Are smaller car sellers usually ok with you taking their car to mechanic to check out?

definitely get it to someone who can look it over, mechanic/friend. small price to pay. i'd want to have someone i know look at it though. i really like that car too.

If they were not I wouldn't bother to buy the car from them, as there is probably something wrong with it.

**** inspection that's so ****ing nit life

post the vin and I'll run the autocheck for you. sounds like good deal to me imo.