Its a difficult one, 25% is a large drop to accept, €500 off a €2000 car doesn't seem bad but €5000 off a €20000 is a lot. In reality people do end up dropping their price this much though.

Take my Z3 I originally asked €25995 after seeing dealer cars at €29995 I ended up selling for 22k. But I reduced the price myself and got near the asking. If someone had offered 22k when I still had it up for 26k I probably wouldn't have taken it, but I revised my expectations as time passed.

If you're after a bargain you need to keep an eye on how long a car has been for sale and if its been dropping in price. Either that or go in with a cheeky offer, be prepared for a refusal but leave your number and tell them the offer is open for a few weeks.

flyingalexf68 wrote: @ B123. Did you buy an Elise?

Yes

What tends to happen is that sellers watch what prices others are asking and pitch their car price based on that.  As time passes and the phone doesn't ring they adjust their price downwards a step at a time until they start to get a response.  Unless someone has left their car at the original (over)price for months and never reduced it, I'd say that an offer of anything lower than €500 off the asking price would be politely declined.

Usually buyers have a price point they will pay and will wait until a car approaches that point before they make an enquiry.

As regards the Mercedes, the fact that the mileage is less than starship level, the spec is good, low no. of owners and that it has a full MBSH (obviously subject to confirmation) would have it stand out from the rest of the cars available and therefore warrant a higher price than usual for such a car and probably would mean that the seller would stick closer to their asking price.

There's a castle east of Edinburgh went on sale earlier this year at £15,000,000.  The price dropped at the start of the summer to £10,000,000 and it now sits at 'just' £5,000,000.

Some people are more realistic than others when it comes to putting a price on something that’s not new.  Others will set a low price to get rid or get a quick sale.

I think the bottom line is take each case individually, and on its own merits, and see how it compares with similar items.

With only 96K on it, I'd make sure that instrument cluster hasn't been replaced at some stage. Heard somewhere they were prone to going bust, just like on the '94 on C class models. - Was about to buy a nice one recently when I noticed a crack around one of the screws on the cluster.

Otherwise lovely car !