Question about buying a friend's mercedes

Alright hopefully this is in the right place but my question is concerning a friend of mine's 2012 mercedes c-250 with 65,000 miles. He just recently blew the engine because he wasn't putting in any oil. He can't afford to have the dealership replace the engine either. He offered me the car for $4500 and this seems like a great deal seeing as I could buy a used engine for it for $4500 and swap it out myself. If my math is right it should be under 10k to have it running again and then sell it for 17 or 18 thousand. Another sidenote if this is relevant but he's been in two accidents if that affects the value. Is this a good deal? Is swapping a relatively new mercedes engine any different from swapping engines in an old ford? I've only ever swapped one engine in my life and it wasn't too difficult so can I expect the mercedes engine to be similar? Any advice would be much appreciated.

it was designed by mortal humans. if you're even willing to ask, you can probably do it.

Different motor and two wrecks is going to affect value. Probably a lot. Like that 18K car is now a 12K car, if I had to take a SWAG. I haven't worked on a merc that new, but a motor swap is a motor swap. Just lots more electrical stuff on the new cars.

Dang I didn't think value would be that greatly affected.

Depending on the wrecks and the motor, yeah, it can be. Certainly more than 1 or 2K. And people who buy almost new mercs are kinda picky about that stuff, I would think. Anyway, I think you would be doing well to get low wholesale out of it at a private party sale, if there are still those things.

Now, if you want the car for yourself, go for it. But to flip for profit, I dunno. I think it would be tight.

I can almost guarantee that unless the car was in a bhph lot somewhere that some goober had to buy a benz....you would never see 18k. Its a 4 year old entry level merc. Add those accidents and a new engine, any astute buyer is going to run like hell. No one wants to pay standard used prices for what could be percieved as a time bomb.

In reply to mndsm:

What he said. Not a great idea, unless you plan on keeping it for yourself for a while until it needs something expensive.

Alright I appreciate the help so far. I talked to my friend and got the carfax and there's only 1 accident actually so maybe that helps. Also I guess since flipping for a profit is a bad idea would it also be stupid to fix the car and drive it myself and sell my car (04 camry with 160k miles)? Would maintenance on the mercedes be significantly more than the camry? Also if this helps I plan on keeping the car for at least another 5 years.

2012 non running Mercedes that you can buy for $4,500.

How much does your friend still owe on this 4 year old car?

lukejns13 wrote: Would maintenance on the mercedes be significantly more than the camry? Also if this helps I plan on keeping the car for at least another 5 years.

In a word yes. Parts will cost more, labor will take longer. It will need attention more frequently

If you were planning to keep the car, is this really the guy who's hand-me-down you would want?

In just 4 years he has managed to knock the car around 2 times but more importantly, in just 4 years he has managed to neglect the car and general car maintenance so severely that the car has been rendered inoperable.
Add to this that he seems to state that he has no money to reverse this problem.

At 65k miles I'm gonna bet that the original tires (which were likely rated for 50k miles) are still on the car. If the tires have been replaced, I'll bet they are some ultra cheap tires.
I'll bet the brakes are equally neglected, etc.

In short, I would pass, if for no other reason than this is exactly the guy that I try not to buy used cars from.

I agree with John. Your friend has destroyed a $30k car in four years. Keep the Camry, and don't let your friend borrow it.

JohnRW1621 wrote: 2012 non running Mercedes that you can buy for $4,500. How much does your friend still owe on this 4 year old car?

This is probably the most important question. Clear liens before transferring any money.

If I had a good engine source I would probably pull the trigger. 1 accident on Carfax isn't a real deal breaker for me. I'm seeing some C250's in my area in the 14-15K range with those kinds of miles. So if there is absolutely nothing else wrong with the car. I would try and see if he'll take $4000. I see some '12 C250 engines on ebay for $3500, so for $7500 I don't see how you can go wrong.

Also with the engine you take out, you can probably part it out and get close to half or more back in parts sales if you wanted to go that route.

I say go for it. But I'm the guy that bought a 156k mile C55 AMG that I couldn't test drive.

Edit: I would ask for your friends info if my wife wouldn't have a small meltdown when I brought another broken Mercedes home.

I would normally say that you probably shouldn't buy his car because he neglected it like the others said, but I will say, how is the rest of the car? Have the brakes checked, the chassis checked (to be sure it isn't bent), and the trans fluid analyzed by blackstone labs, if they do trans fluid. If you like that generation C-Class, it may be a good deal to fix it and drive it for 5 years. It will break more often and be more expensive than your Camry, so if you don't want to fix everything (or most repairs), don't bother.

buncha sissys.

I'd do it.

drive it two years. get all/most of your money back.

Too many red flags IMO to begin with considering your friend's neglect of the car up until that point. I would have to question if any damage occurred to the interior, body work, suspension, etc. in the same time frame he was neglecting it so much.

I can't imagine a replacement engine for a 4 year old car is going to be that cheap either. Swapping a motor out of a say a 2004 Benz might be a lot more affordable if you could find one in a junk yard, but this is a different story. As other's said the scrutiny that someone is going to have for a relatively new car with some serious red flags will be high. I know I wouldn't take a risk on it.

I don't know anything about new Benz, but...to replace a headlamp switch in a 12 year old BMW, it has to be coded to the instrument cluster (IKE) module. I don't imagine things have gotten much simpler in German electronics since then. An engine swap may not be a plug and play affair, unless you are just swapping the long block.

That's some impressive neglect right there. Also, $4,500 seems too high for an entry-level Benz with a blown engine, accident repairs, and god knows what else had been deferred.