Corporate Mercedes With An Accident In History: What The Seller Tells About What Is Not & Nbsp

2023 Author: Natalie MacDonald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-21 02:36

A car is not only a luxury or personal means of transportation for its owner, but also a "workhorse". And this is not only the lot of commercial vans and budget cars in yellow and white stickers. Premium cars can also be used as corporate vehicles. However, noble birth does not guarantee them a quiet life. These cars are used in the same way, "in the tail and in the mane", change drivers and those they carry. Get into accidents … And then they are often sold under the guise of "favorites" of the previous owners.

Under the heading “Not bit, not beautiful,” we study suspicious advertisements for the sale of used cars and, using ProAuto's reports, which Avto.ru generates by VIN or license plate, we find out their true history. The hero of today's investigation is a very fresh 2018 Mercedes-Benz E200. In black, with a strict (also black) interior and a tax-friendly 2-liter turbo engine with a capacity of 184 hp.

The sedan looks good in the photos - unsurprisingly for a car barely two years old. The seller even promises the condition of the new car and especially focuses the attention of potential buyers on the configuration with an LCD instrument panel and ambient lighting - not only the lines in the description are devoted to them, but also a good third of the photos. Finally, the price of 2,200,000 rubles looks very attractive. Most of the E-classes in 2018 are sold at least 100-200 thousand rubles more.

Seller comment

“The car is in new condition, excellent equipment with monitors, with ambilight interior lighting, real mileage. Any checks. Bargain".

However, the seller is a little disingenuous about the level of equipment. The drive of the sedan is rear, the wheels and the exterior design of the body are basic. And the trim is the most common. Finally, the car's mileage in two years is not the smallest - 38,000 km. Taken together, this leads to suspicions about the corporate past of this E-class.

We look at the basic report of ProAuto - it is. The first owner of the car was a legal entity. But for some reason, only a year. And then - a big break in registration and a new owner, already a "private trader", who is now selling this sedan.

Ownership stories like these are well known to those who regularly read our column and watch videos on our channel. It is also known what lies behind such stories. So the E-class was no exception: already on the next page of the report there is an accident registered with the traffic police. Then - the calculation of damage from it from the insurance company, immediately for 1,800,000 rubles.

It contains a complete "gentleman's set" of replacement parts: hood, fenders, headlights, front bumper, radiator grill, belts and airbags (including knee airbags). And also radiators with a fan, crumple elements of the side members, a windshield and a long list of all the little things. The blow was strong.

Not surprisingly, the insurance company decided not to restore the car, but to pay the owner full compensation for the damage. No one is amazed by the fact that after some time the remains of the sedan appeared on sale - and we can see what the consequences of that accident were in reality.

In the comments to the ad, they wrote that the car was auctioned by the insurance company and that the engine was not affected. This may have been the case, although one of the photographs even shows the warped front suspension subframe. And in the same announcement there is a mileage of … 43,000 km.

Seller comment from past ads

"The end of 2018, the engine is not touched … sale from an insurance company.. a guarantee of the legal purity of the transaction …"

But who in Russia is stopped by such serious damage? E200 is quickly sold and, judging by the date of renewal of registration, they are repaired in a couple of months. It is unlikely that 1.8 million rubles were spent at the same time, given the current price of the sedan. After some time, Mercedes is back on sale.

There are few photographs, and those that exist do not say much about the condition of the car. The main thing that can be noticed on them: in the process of restoration, the E-class acquired the aforementioned instrument panel (in the photo, the broken car had ordinary arrows), at the same time dropping several thousand mileage. Well, I got a more attractive "legend" about my life and the reasons prompting the owner to part with the car.

Seller comment from past ads

“The car was purchased for the needs of the company. Used as a service transport (transportation of executives, documents). The car was controlled by the company driver. The trips were made either to the airport or around the city. As a result of the events taking place, it was decided to sell the property at a value below market value. The sale is urgent!

We will be glad to real buyers, dealers, please do not bother."

After studying the ProAuto report, this story no longer stands up to criticism. First, in the summer of 2020, the company was unlikely to have anything to do with the sedan - and even more so it sought to sell it at a price below market. Secondly, it is hard to believe that a sedan has driven 43 thousand kilometers in a year, just taking the head of the company around the city and to the airport. Such mileage, combined with black color and modest equipment, rather speaks of service in the VIP-department of a taxi, where cars are not covered with foil. The complete lack of service history for the E-class hints at the same: taxi companies prefer to do everything on their own or in unauthorized services.

As a result, the first "legend" obviously did not work - the car could not be sold that time. But the second attempt with a story about "the car in a new state" still succeeded. While we were preparing this article, someone bought a black E-class. Perhaps the buyer was simply too lazy to look into the ProAuto report. Or he regretted a very small amount, relying on the seller's assurances. Hopefully, the new owner will not have to regret it in the future, spending a lot of money on repairing a car rebuilt after a serious accident.