I am a proud new member of this club now..or actually will be shortly since I pick my car up on Monday. I will fly into Florida from Germany and drive my 2000 CLK 430 for a day and then ship it to the land of the AUTOBAHN. I am excited about it. It is black exterior with the grey interior, navigation, sunroof, AMG Package, and NO HEATED SEATS!! Oh well I guess I cant have it all right now. It has 87K miles so it is pretty high but I bought it for 17 thousand out the door. I will post pics of it later as I am not on my personal laptop right now.

And now for the good part!!! Since I am located in Germany (4 years so far and 2 more to go), I was thinking that if anyone wanted to buy something from here I could work it for the forum. I hope I am not getting in over my head but I would really love to help out the CLK's at least. This way I can also learn what parts / mods are out here for me. Well on to reading everyones posts and time to get a little more knowledgable!!

Thanks,
Greg

 

Here are the pics I said I would post.

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Greg:

Welcome and congrats! I'm just wondering why you'd fly to Florida to buy a CLK and ship back to Germany? Seems like a round about way to buy a German car. Aren't they less expensive (particulary considering the shipping costs) to just buy in their country of origin? Just curious.

Good luck and have fun with your new car.

Dave

 

Well you are on the money about the cars being cheaper here in Germany BUT and its s big BUT.....all the cars that I have found are GERMAN Spec cars, I can buy a brand new one from the dealer in US Spec but then I will be paying way more than I wanted to spend in the 1st Place. I have looked for about 3 years for an American Spec BMW or Mercedes and each time I do find one it is expensive and does not have all the options. I checked into the conversion for these cars and it was in the 8-10 thousand to have a conversion done complete with new VIN number, parts and labor, shipping and paperwork fees. Shipping would normally cost me anywhere from 1500-2500 depending on what shipper I went with. I have found one in Jacksonville that shipped for 800 dollars including the port fees. My ticket to Florida came out to be 500 dollars in economy class, I will then stay the rest of the time in Houston with my family and fly back in June. I know its a backasswards way of doing it but its the only way to get exactly what I wanted when I wanted it. I could have had it shipped without looking at the car at all but I am not comfortable with that. I know 17K isnt much to some but I wanna make sure that this car is up to par before I get it here and find out the engine shakes like crazy or worst barely starts at all. I wanted to find someone in Florida to look at the car for me instead but couldnt find anyone.

WAIT A MINUTE!!! CAN SOMEONE FROM HERE DO THIS FOR ME. THE CAR IS NEAR ORLANDO FLORIDA. THIS WILL SAVE ME 1 thousand dollars and 15 days of vacation time. If someone can do this please let me know immediatelly. I will pay someone to drive this car and ensure it is a good buy!!