kellte2

So, I have a bit of a dilemma facing me for a 2014 C250 CPO car that I recently purchased. Long story short, it appears like my otherwise reputable dealer did not do a very good job inspecting my car prior to sale. It was my first MB purchase, and I understand that I may have "missed the boat" to secure a full repair of the issue, but I wanted to see if anyone here had any sage advice for a newbie. Needless to say, the dealer in question has already replaced the windshield on the car that was an aftermarket part installed by AAA (but on the CPO car at the time of the sale) due to some bad distortion in the glass. The windshield was replaced with an OE part, thankfully - so the dealer did step up there.


I was detailing my car for the first time last weekend and I noticed a rough spot where the bumper met the left fender. Upon closer inspection, it appeared as though the two parts were not perfectly aligned and some touch up paint had been applied- this area appeared to also include some cracking paint. I was really stumped as to how such damage could have occurred as there was no other physical damage present on the exterior of the car. Well, toward the end of the week, I finally located the culprit. A portion of where the bumper meets the wheel well was cracked and missing, and the two parts were not secured properly with the plastic pins used in that area. Not a car expert, but it appears as though the previous owner "took a curb" when parking the car. I have absolutely no idea how such issue could have "slipped past" the dealer supposedly running the MB CPO check, but it did.


I've been in contact with the dealer, and they've agreed to have my take the car to a sister dealership to be looked at. Based on our conversation, it was unclear whether they agreed to foot the bill for the repair, or to simply have the bumper and wheel well properly secured.


What is very frustrating is that the car arguably needs paint work only after 2.5 weeks of ownership. I'm usually a very particular and fastidious consumer, but I completely missed this issue on my pre-purchase inspection. Do I have a leg to stand on to have this completely repaired? The bumper damage is minimal, but irritating. The paintwork that appears to be necessary on the fender is what is most troubling.


Attached are some photos of the affected area(s). My apologies for the blurry quality, they were hastily taken in a dimly lit parking deck this morning at the request of the dealer. Of course, any advice would be appreciated!


Lastly, does anyone have a link to the MB USA CPO checklist. I've seen Audi's and it does include underside front/rear bumper checks and I was curious if MBUSA was interested in inspecting the same area.


EDIT: The CarFax and MB internal system both show the car as having no accident history. I requested this information of the dealer, but we know that it may be of only limited value.

phenom3030

I was in a similar boat when I purchased mine.

-first MB purchase
-hasty look over due to the dealership closing and it was also night time. Also I didn't look at the underside of the front bumper as it was parked front facing the curb/sidewalk at the dealership.

The 7th day of ownership was my first opportunity to detail my CPO purchase when I discovered that the underside of the front bumper was scratched all to hell and had paint exchange from a yellow and red curb or parking block.
I brought it up to the dealership (you can find the CPO checklist in the CPO section of the MBUSA website) and how dissatisified I was.
They kind of tried to get out of it but I maintained a very dissatisfied position and they finally took care of it within the first month after purchase.
I'll try to pull the link for the checklist.

phenom3030

http://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/cpo#!l...-certification

Then click on certification and you'll see a bunch of squares that have drop down lists for each area of the vehicle.

kellte2

Very helpful reply! Thank you.

So did you have the entire bumper replaced?

phenom3030

I'm sorry, i forgot to mention that. They did not replace the bumper. They smoothed it and repainted it.

kellte2

I figured as much, given the cost of the part. The cracked piece on mine is not visible unless you're looking for it, so I can live without the little 2 in. piece of plastic if there's nothing they can do there.


Otherwise, this sound promising that I can get the paint damage on the fender repaired and have them properly affix the bumper to the wheel well and fender.


Thanks for the information!