jaywbigred
Active member
Okay, so the deal went through. I spent almost 3 months looking for a car like this:
1) old enough that it was cheap/young enough that I can finance part of it for 1-2 years so as to take adv. of my job's reimbursement plan (have to have a monthly payment)
2) presentable enough that I can have (often times wealthy) clients in it/take it to their houses for Will signings and such.
3) fast enough that I'm not bored
4) Have the features/colors I want (or close to it)
5) Have a combination of mileage and engine/interior/exterior condition that my buddy/mechanic gives 2 thumbs up to
6) clean Carfax with good maintenance record
Maybe in an ideal world it would have been AWD too, but that's why I got a 2nd car/SUV, right?
It is a 2003 MB CLK500. 51,000 miles, $17,000 (which was way below the Edmund's True Market Value listed, by almost a grand for the "Good" condition rating, and over a grand for the "Outstanding" rating. Mechanic and I agree it is certainly in "Outstanding" condition.)
For that price, I could obviously have gotten something newer, Japanese/American, less mileage, but it wouldn't have fit all my criteria, and also this car only needs to last me ~2 years at the most (again, because of the way our reimbursement works, I am better of selling the car ["cashing out"] and buying another one, once this finance term is up), so I think it made sense vs., e.g. an '06 Acura TL.
1) old enough that it was cheap/young enough that I can finance part of it for 1-2 years so as to take adv. of my job's reimbursement plan (have to have a monthly payment)
2) presentable enough that I can have (often times wealthy) clients in it/take it to their houses for Will signings and such.
3) fast enough that I'm not bored
4) Have the features/colors I want (or close to it)
5) Have a combination of mileage and engine/interior/exterior condition that my buddy/mechanic gives 2 thumbs up to
6) clean Carfax with good maintenance record
Maybe in an ideal world it would have been AWD too, but that's why I got a 2nd car/SUV, right?
It is a 2003 MB CLK500. 51,000 miles, $17,000 (which was way below the Edmund's True Market Value listed, by almost a grand for the "Good" condition rating, and over a grand for the "Outstanding" rating. Mechanic and I agree it is certainly in "Outstanding" condition.)
For that price, I could obviously have gotten something newer, Japanese/American, less mileage, but it wouldn't have fit all my criteria, and also this car only needs to last me ~2 years at the most (again, because of the way our reimbursement works, I am better of selling the car ["cashing out"] and buying another one, once this finance term is up), so I think it made sense vs., e.g. an '06 Acura TL.
