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Maintenance Costs On Aging Luxury Cars?

Anyone have any info on maintenance problems/reputation 89 mercedes 560 sel. Thinking of buying one for $7,000 with 130K miles but don't want to buy problems as I have heard merecedes are very expensive to repair. Thanks for any input you have.
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If you are lucky and the car is in top shape right now, figure $200 a month to keep it that way, presuming no major catastrophes.
Stay on top of this car, and spend money on mainenance lavishly. If you are by nature a bit of a tightwad on maintenance, don't buy this car.
Labor costs are high. Many Mercedes Benz enthusiasts do a fair amount of work, especially minor repairs and maintenance, themselves. However, major repairs will cost you. No matter at what stage, a Mercedes will never be inexpensive.
Of course the term expensive varies by definition. It should be cheaper to drive the old Mercedes than driving a new luxury vehicle. But your cost of ownership will never be in the same category with the one of a Honda Accord.
That being said, Mercedes can be very satisfying to drive and have plenty of character. I do not know any other brand that has quite the feeling of 'heft' to it.
What is happening with these older luxury cars is the issue of supply and demand. The cars last a long time (build quality I mean) so they are plentiful.....good supply.....but demand is low because most people are pretty intimidated by the possible maintenance costs...so high supply, low demand = low (relatively) price. The nicer the car, the better the service records and the lower the miles, the scarcer they are, and the more people want these "mint" cars for the reassurance of not having huge repair bills.
So I think that these old Benzes are not "bargains" but clearly reflect the rational thinking of fairly educated consumers.
-rear window actuator module $300
-engine gaskets $500 (Mercedes paid half)
-broken radiator neck (new radiator) $600
-new fuel injection $2,000 (had to do it twice, 2nd time free)
-new power steering gear box $2,000
-rear wheel hub became frozen $300 (had to drilled out)
-rear tail light held water (broken seal) $300
-passenger vanity light broke $150
I like my cars to be perfect and I paid for it. Most of the repairs happened in the last 3 yrs. of the 7 yrs that I owned it. I traded it in on a new 2000 E430 sport (no more service repairs, YEAH!)
M.
Of course, if we calculate mark's costs based on mileage rather than years, the car was really more expensive to own than is suggested by $143/month figure.
Thanks for posting those numbers, that's very helpful.
My rule of thumb is if you buy a $50k car for $12k used -- expect to lay out the purchase price every 4 year in maintenance/repairs if you are lucky. By the time its 10-12 years old it cost more each year than the trade in is worth.
But paying more up front [plus finance and tax] usually equalizes with pay as you go repairs so from the warranty end [60-70k] to 120k the corrected for inflation out of pocket cost are the same.
Generally these cars cost less [adjusted for inflation [38k x1.45] than when they were launched in 1990 but there has been some serious decontenting on both after 1996.
-Andrew L
In fact, it would be quite prudent, if you really like these old luxury boats, to shop wisely, bargain hard to get a good deal on a decent but not mint car, and then drive it for as long as it takes something really big to break. Once you have a bad transmission or defect heater/ac system, or collapsed air suspension, or major electrical/computer problems, just junk it and go buy another. I'm sure you can get a decent BMW 735 for dirt cheap. I'd just keep buying them and junking them. If you get 2-3 good years you are way ahead, even writing off the car completely.
Thanks for all the info!
p.s. the Blaupunkt sounds great. :-)
105,000 mile service: $24.95
110,000 mile service: $119.00
new flame trap (bought through iPd, installed by me) $10.00.
Ancillary expenses:
Cupholder/armrest from a Volvo 940: $80.00
Used Blaupunkt CD player: $80.00 on EBay.
So, $150 in maintenance costs over seven months. Knock on wood, nothing major has broken yet, and most of the big stuff (like a new A/C system in the summer of 2000; I'm glad I didn't have to pay that repair bill) was taken care of by the previous owner. Over the next couple months, I plan on throwing tires on it (~$400) and taking care of the aforementioned sagging headliner (quoted $150.) These are maintenance costs I can live with, and it's on a car I genuinely enjoy driving that I bought for less than $4,000. Not bad at all, I say. Your mileage may vary.
Bought a lease Deville with less than 13,000 miles. Have no idea what repairs were done. I did get the 'maintenance' records, and it had oil, filter and wash jobs well under recommended scheduled time during it's first 2 years, at a Caddy dealership.
I got the 'certified' Cad extended warranty. Best $600 I ever spent. (Actually part of the 'purchase' price of the car.)
Things I quickly remember:
Traction Control - Bad connection.
Dead battery - Jumped it.
Dead battery - New battery.
Dead battery - Looked for a problem. The AM/FM/Cassette/CD was replaced.
Cold air leak - Windshield pulled and reinstalled.
Door lock button 'pushed in' - Replaced panel which contained clip holding button. Clip previously broken, button was secured with masking tape.
Pinging - Decarboned it.
Water leak - Replaced water pump.
Interior lights would not turn off - Kept 4 days, replaced 2 'electric modules'. Lights stayed off a few hours, then on again. Kept 2 more days, found 'bad connection'.
There were other things not looking good...
This happened across 4 years, remainer of the 6 year certified warranty. And the car then had about 30,000 total miles. (We don't drive much.)
When the Cad certified warranty expired, I sold it.
No more Cadillacs for me.
Well of course "your mileage may vary". Some people have better luck with a car than others, but I have to say that this is often because they are more on top of things in general.
My comments are directed more towards the average American driver who looks under the hood once every three months and expects his car to run like a Camry. This system may work for a Camry but not always for an older luxury car.
Another thing I've observed, which I've brought up before, is the people's tolerance level varies widely. Some folks claim to have had "no serious problems" with their old luxo-boat, but when I drive in their cars with them I can spot about ten things wrong right off the bat. This is leaking a bit, that is rattling, this switch doesn't work, there's this funny smell, etc. , but to them the car has been "trouble-free" because it hasn't burst into flames.
So what I'm saying is that some folks have not spend a lot on maintenance costs but are in fact slowly running the car down. It's like they are making withdrawals from the bank acount but not many deposits. Sooner or later they are going to go bankrupt, automotively speaking.