Well, I came back to my parent's place, and my parents said they wanted to take my car and I go get something else that I wanted...

I wanted a 07 GS350 all along, but it's kind of weird to have a GS350 while my parents have the GS400, so I decided to look for a 2003 S55, I just can't resist the hp figures. And it's not that expensive too, it's a bit older (03 S55 vs 07 GS350) compared to the GS350, but it's got all if not more features anyways that I wanted on the GS350, for the same price range.

Now I'm looking at them on Ebay, I have to wonder how safe is it to buy a car online, though we're thinking of flying over to see the car (multiple samples if possible) in person and buying it. But since I don't know enough to know if the car have problems or not, can anyone help? I mean how do I know if a car have previous damage as most of them says it's mint....

Also, I'll get the extended warranty, but what does it typically include? is it the bumper to bumper warranty that's honored by MB themselves and good for Canada as well?

I want to make sure this time the car's as I see advertised as I've got screwed by buying a car from the internet, specifically from a member of CL (my GS4 came broke)

And do anyone know what problems the 03 S55 has?

 

eBay is good when dealing with a dealership. They can do all the paperwork for you; even deal with delivery.

If it's a private seller, I suggest you only deal with local sales. Make sure that all documents and paperwork are complete and legitimate.

Extended warranties differ from contract to contract. When you buy it, get the specifics such as any deductibles, what's covered, year vs mileage from model year vs year of purchase, etc.

 

I bought a car from eBay once sight unseen from a local dealer. In hindsight I should have hired an independent mechanic look it over for me or at least make the short drive and see it, but the auction was ending and it was a spur of the moment purchase anyway. lol

Philip got it right though - private seller and you should stick to local sales. If something goes wrong on an eBay deal with a legit dealer you'll have better chances of correcting whatever went wrong, whereas a private seller might just leave you hanging.

Not too many additional problems with the '03 S55 from the rest of the S-Class line of that time, but keep in mind that 2003 was the first year for the supercharged V8.

 

Many 2003's had problems with the "Command" system which is the central touch screen that controls: Navi, phone, audio etc.

 

I've searched around and seems like there's only like 1/2 recalls, and 04+ would be better... so I found this...
http://cgi.ebay.ca/Mercedes-Benz-S-C...QQcmdZViewItem

It's a 04 S600 in Brooklyn, NY... though the seller's history and feedback is iffy, but the car's just too good to miss, imo.

I've already emailed them about warranty, but on the page it says no warranty, is there something wrong? I don't know about Mercede's warranties, but I saw some that's 03 but still have the warranty?

 

I disagree on the basis of many dealerships being notorious for selling under (or refusing to deliver to) winning bidders. As always, such shady dealers can sometimes be avoided by checking their ebay feedback.

 

Maybe they were extended warranty? Mercedes factory warranty is 4yrs/50k miles.

 

A few years ago I bought a 62 Vette on line. I made and offer, flew to Boise ID from NY, inspected the car made the deal and flew back the same day. If I was going to spend that much money I would fly to look at it. I flew round trip for less than $500 [if my memory is correct it was under $400], the seller picked me up at the airport so there was no rental to pay for. If the deal is good invest in a plane trip or don't buy the car.

PS I forgot to mention I belong to the Corvette forum. Forum members were nice enought to pre-screen the cars before I flew out, it savd me the trouble of spending a lot of money to look at a real clunker. Have someone that knows abot cars look at it first and if necessary get a pro to inspect it. Carfax is good but they sometime miss things