MERCEDES-BENZ (R230) SL 550: BUYER'S GUIDE
Median Price: £20,215 • Highest Price: £44,225 • Lowest Price: £8,722 • Sell-Through Rate: 82%
Source: Bring A Trailer
How much is a (R230) SL 550 worth?
In our experience, we've seen plenty of (R230) SL 550's go under the hammer and based on analysing every sale you can expect to pay £20,215 for one in average condition - that places it amongst the most expensive 60% of collector cars across our database.
As Mercedes-Benz's go, a (R230) SL 550 is on the higher end relative to other Mercedes-Benz models. In fact this model is £1,854 above the median Mercedes-Benz price of £18,361.
What is the maximum to pay for a (R230) SL 550?
Across the 362 (R230) SL 550's we've seen sell, the highest price ever recorded for this model is £44,225. It was sold by Mecum in the US on 18 Jan 2013.
What is the lowest to pay for a (R230) SL 550?
Well, that depends on where you draw the threshold.
The lowest sale of all time for this vehicle is £8,722. Mecum sold the car at auction in the US on 14 Mar 2019.
When looking at more recent sales the lowest recorded price is, as you would expect, higher. Analysing every sale since 2020 shows that the lowest price between 2020 and today is £8,825, Mecum sold this car in the US on 14 Jan 2024.
What is the background of the make / model?
Mercedes-Benz produced this model between 2007 and 2011.
Mercedes-Benz is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926 and headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany.
In 2018, Mercedes-Benz was the largest brand of premium vehicles in the world, having sold 2.31 million passenger cars.
The brand's origins lie in Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft's 1901 Mercedes and Carl Benz's 1886 Benz Patent-Motorwagen, which is widely regarded as the first internal combustion engine in a self-propelled automobile. The slogan for the brand is "the best or nothing".
How common is a (R230) SL 550?
We've seen plenty of these go under the hammer at auctions around the world, 441 to be precise. It's among the 2% most common collector cars to sell at auction.
Of those, 441 times the model has gone to auction 362 have sold. In other words, this model sells on 82% of times it goes to auction - that's above the average sell-through rate we traditionally see.
What is the [enter model]'s like to live with?
We know from reviews of this model by our 42,000+ strong community how this car performs across multiple variables. Those variables stack up to give a TCVScore which is a relative score of how good a car is across the 5 variables in comparison to all other cars.
For the [enter model], it scores a [enter score] out of 100 - that places it in the [enter position] of all cars in our database.
How the car scores across all variables is below:
Styling:
Cool Factor:
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Handling:
Speed:
To understand more or add your own review, click the links below.
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Why this article was created
Well, we've got one of the largest databases of sold classic car prices in the world so we thought we ought to help and put that data to good use. To be clear though, this article is not intended to be a full tour of every nook and sill of the (R230) SL 550, rather it's meant to act as an introductory guide and overview of the market for this model.
It is here to provide you guidance on how much you should and shouldn't be paying for one based on the 441 we've seen previously.
If you're after more detail, we've got you covered. Click the button below to be taken to a the price guide for this model so you can see every single sale, price trend over time and lots more.
How this article was created
This article was created by looking back at sales of (R230) SL 550 since the beginning of our database in 1992. We've scanned over 30 auction houses and results from over £15 billion of sold cars around the world to understand the where the market is at for this car.
The Classic Valuer takes that data and analytics which enables it to generate these articles at scale, for further information regarding the (R230) SL 550 please visit the price guide linked below.
About The Author
Giles Gunning
Giles is CEO of The Classic Valuer - one of the world's largest databases of sold classic cars in the world going back over 30 years covering over 11,000 models. Giles and The Classic Valuer are regularly referenced in key classic car publications including Classic & Sports Car.
Giles grew up around the iconic historic motorsport venue at Goodwood and enjoys his 1972 Alfa Romeo 1600 GT Junior around the Sussex roads. His primary car goal is to purchase back a selection of his grandfather's car's including his 1931 Riley Brooklands.
