first post, been reading since September. i'm 34, work in IT downtown Minneapolis, and i've wanted an S-Class since forever. budget is maybe 55k. the S580 thread got me looking at the repo listings.
here's my fear. every flagship in my budget has air suspension, and air suspension is the thing everybody here complains about. if i buy one blind out of a lender yard and the Airmatic quits in month three, who pays?
two promises on their site. a limited warranty that runs six months, capped at 10,000 miles for cars. and your money back within 30 days if the lot turns out "materially misrepresented." i can read the words. what i can't figure out is how either one plays out with a leaking air strut. anyone actually filed a claim?
no claim through them, but here's what you'd be insuring against. on a W222 a front strut is 1,000 to 2,200 for the part depending on Arnott or OEM, plus two to three hours. a compressor runs about 900. the valve block is the one that ruins people because it takes hours just to find.
on a car with 22 to 40k miles the struts are usually fine. they start going somewhere between 60 and 100k, sooner where it gets cold.
my read, and i asked before i bid on mine. the 30 day guarantee is about whether the listing was honest. if the listing shows the car sitting level and it rolls off the truck on the bump stops, that's misrepresented. if a strut fails on day 40 on a car that was fine when it arrived, that isn't a listing problem, that's what the warranty is for.
the warranty is limited, so read the real terms before you bid. i got mine by email from the lake park office in a day and a half. i'm not going to paraphrase a contract on a forum. ask them for it.
best protection is catching it before the bid. on any air car, ask for a side photo after it sat overnight on level ground. ask for a scan printout that includes the chassis module, not only the engine. and listen to the cold start video for the compressor. on a 223 it runs a few seconds and quits. if you hear it the whole video, something is leaking.
that's one email. a strut is a car payment.
ask them for it
did. took two days to hear back from the lake park folks, which made me nervous, but the terms came through. i won't post them either, sioux falls is right, but it lined up with what the site says, 6 months or 10k and limited. marcus, saving your list.
update since a couple people messaged. in November i bid on a 2020 S560 4MATIC with 34k miles at a yard in Ohio and lost, i was at 49,500. no idea what won. i asked for the overnight photo first and it sat level, so at least the list works.
next time something comes up on lake park i'm bidding what i'd actually pay instead of what feels safe. still saving.
