Just purchased a brand new 2011 E550 and found evidence of previous repair: masking tape and metal shred in the spare wheel area. Looks like somebody was taking off nuts that hold rear bumper. Called $tealer and they claim no repairs done ... the mystery then is who & when repaired what & why?

Would appreciate advice on how to resolve this mystery.

Thanks!

 

Cars are damaged sometimes during transit and for some reason they are never shipped to the dealer with damage. Everything gets repaired at the delivery center at the port of entry. I would assume the reason for this is a dealer repair must be disclosed whereas a manufacturer repair is just part of the build process.

 

As Petee says it was no doubt something fixed at the distribution prep center.

In 2006 I took a tour of the BMW VDC in Port Hueneme. They have a complete body shop and paint shop, repair facility with several lifts; they can do pretty much anything.

They told us if it can be fixed at the VDC, then as far as BMW is concerned, the car is okay to ship to the dealer. But if damage is determined to be within 3% of its value, then it has to be disclosed to the dealer. This was only in respect to body work. If they replaced an engine or transmission, etc., nothing is disclosed because those are factory replacement parts. If the cars had any frame damage they got scrapped.

I'm sure it's the same with Mercedes Benz.

 

How many miles was on the car at delivery?

 

Only 39 miles, and dealer has not done any repairs. I had sales manager sign a written affidavit stating there were no repairs done. Could be coming from the facrory like this, or VDC.

Actually, they showed me another new car with the same signs - the latest story on shred is because of self-locking nuts - does this make sense?

 

Yes it does. I checked my car in two of the areas in your pictures and found similar debris. It did appear to be plastic thrown off by the self-locking nut in the area. If there had been repairs done, I would have expected to see a nut scrape surrounding the bolt. I saw nothing like this at all.

 

Thanks for checking, not worried any more

 

enjoy the car!!!!