Pre-purchase inspection in St Louis

[gstork]

Can anyone recommend a Mercedes shop or mechanic who knows these cars well enough to do a proper PPI in St Louis?

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

Hi George,

Looks like there are only a few members near you when I look at our members list (sorted by location) I recommend you google for European Car repair or maintenance. You very likely will find trained by Mercedes, Porsche or BMW knowledgeable and qualified mechanics.

Good Luck

Dieter

To check our member-listing click on Members>Memberlisting>then in the Table Harding’s Click on Location this will sort all locations. Now go to around page 30 and look for USA MO
 

[gstork]

Thank you Dieter. Looks like I was able to find a qualified Mercedes trained mechanic. Fingers crossed!

[xasqwer]

Nowadays, it's not that hard to find a good car service. Most owners of such businesses have learned to use the Internet, implement various software in their business, and buy promotions from SEO specialists. I do not understand why they did not do this before. That is an essential part of any business. It's probably because there are more and more young owners now. My brother told me a lot about his car service, and I understand how lucky he is to be a young owner. He interacts well with his customers with AutoLeap software, buys advertising, and trains his employees. If he were a 50-year-old man, the service wouldn't be as good.

[Benz Dr.]

A PPI can give you a basic idea of the condition of a car you might want to buy but it will never give you everything. No one can see through paint, or inside an engine, so it's only useful up to a point. If the car is a real turd that should be fairly easy to spot but what if it's a rough diamond? Not everyone car spot a really dirty car that has good bones.

The only way to really know a car is to have worked on it. Service records help but if there are none, or the car doesn't run, what then? Your Euro car garage will begin to fail quickly when it comes to the fine details that a specialist would spot. And even then, you still won't find everything wrong. Just factor in an extra 25% for unknown costs and you might be marginally close.

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

As mentioned before past service records are a great help for the PPI as well as being able to talk to the previous owner that has been driving the car you plan to purchase.

Another good point is to check the shops (if this info is available in most cases it is not). Can you drive the car and if you do what can you learn. Now having the car properly inspected is the key. you can arrange to split the cost for such inspection with the owner. If you end up to purchase the car it will give you an excellent tool for the final negotiating since you will be in a position to have preliminary cost estimates in front of you. The seller (should you not purchase the car) will have documents to share with any future purchaser.

Now to your original question, as has been said there are many mechanics that think they know those cars. Then there are mechanics and then there are mechanics. Check in the area where you live if there are any European Specialized Shops. There you may find certified factory mechanics. I drove fairly old BMW's before I purchased Mercedes. My cars back then were looked after in a European Specialized Shop to my complete satisfaction. They did have a trained and citified BMW mechanic on staff. Specialized Shops make sure to have qualified and knowledgeable mechanics on staff it is just good business and returns customers over and over again.

Last bud not least, you joined a Group here where many members were faced at one time or another with the same question you raised. So find out where the next cars and coffee is being held, join in and talk to the owners of the Pagoda.

Good luck with your search of a good shop and mechanic!

Dieter