acr2001

I bought a CPO C240 a few months ago and after noticing the clear coat pealing on two separate areas of the rear bumper a further examination reveals with 100% certainty that the entire rear bumper was repainted. So far the clearcoat is pealing in two areas and there is a 4" long crack in the pant (very thin crack, hard to notice but it will surely get worse).

I thought CPO vehicles couldn't have repainted body panels?
Can anyone tell me if this is true and if they have any official word from MB on it so I can go to the dealer armed with that as ammo?

I expect that they're going to want to repaint the bumper again - does anyone have any advice?

I'll name the dealership if they don't resolve this issue properly.



Edit: Still under warranty

Ryanr317

I'm not 100% sure but i think CPO just means that it has passed all of their tests. I don't know if repainted body parts is one of the things they check for. If it is then you may have something.

mleskovar

My understanding is even new cars can have repainted panels, or even the whole car, and be sold as new. Some cars don't pass MB final inspection and get repainted before they are even shipped to the dealers!

acr2001

Wow thats interesting.

I just read on the MB website that CPO cars may have repainted panels but the dealer is supposed to note it which mine did not.

It looks like when they repainted my bumper they just slapped some paint on top of the existing paint. While most of it looks good with the exception of a little orange peel, it's definitely beginning to fail (peeling) already.

What can I do to make sure the paint shop the dealer uses does not just repaint over it a second time? I assume the right way to do it would be to sand it all down and start over. This is very frustrating.

dblock2151

Yep, BMW for example has a body shop at their port in Jersey, just in case anything happens during shipment/delivery to the US.

acr2001

What do you guys think I should expect of the dealer?

The paint is peeling in two places (which i touched up but its still obvious) and its cracking in one place which i did not touch up.

Repaint the entire bumper, right?

Now the problem is, how do i know the paint shop did it right this time around since my warranty expires in a year or so?

Tangerine

Previous owner could have had it repainted without noticing the dealership. Its hard to show any repaint unless imperfection shows. Dealer can't monitor the car 24/7. Good luck resolving it from your dealership.

Paculdo

could the dealership be accountable for selling the vehicle without notifying the new owner (buyer) on this? they should atleast repaint (better) the whole bumper. it'll be a bummer if the dealership will still charge for the paint work.

acr2001

I'm the first owner of this vehicle according to the carfax. The dealership had their hands on it for its first 18k miles before I bought it. So they cant screw me from that angle.

Tangerine

Ah so it was a loaner car then, yikes.

I would go to the dealership and have them handle it. Was it just the paint issue or was there more? Like did you check to see if nothing was backed into it to need the repaint in the first place?

acr2001

I took the trunk liner out. Also went under the car and poked around. All of the structure and the bumper itself is in pristine condition.

As far as it being a loaner car- no it was not. I think it was either used as a demo or for the employees personal use because the condition this car was in when I bought it (other than the bumper apparently) is AMAZING. Not a dent or a scratch on it, and the interior looks like a brand new car. It looks and runs like it has much much less than 18k miles on it (maybe 1 - 5k). Weird I know.