First, I don't know why one would pretend that this is what happened, unless there is something else involved (parents, alcohol, ??). Regardless, fake.

My oldest daughter backed her '85 4000quattro out of the driveway fast, smacked the right taillamp into the front of a parked Suburban (steel bumper, steel fascia). It missed the quattro bumper, quite similar to the "accident" in the photos. Took out the taillamps, bent the trunk lid slightly, buckled the 1/4 panel, did $3000 damage to the Suburban including the bumper, bumper backer, mounting brackets, sheet metal, light and grille. Lots of parts, I paid the bill. The quattro looks quite good in comparison even though it was taillamps vs 'burb bumper. Much less damage than on this M-B.

My Uncle ran into the back of my wife's Jetta, hit the bumper and rode over it hitting the taillamps, with a Ford E-150. Cracked the taillamp, messed the bumper fascia (Jetta), van had: bent bumper, broken headlamps and bezel, bent steel around grille, broken grille, bent fender, broken fender flare, RF door won't open. This was at a stopsign, about 10mph.

Offset hits like this is supposed to be create a mess. In both cases the front of one vehicle had damage similar to the rear of the other, in the case of the quattro/suburban it was exceptionally similar to the one possibly staged in these photos, even a mid-'80s German car. If this car had hit the minivan hard enough to do this much damage, it would be going lets guess 15mph or more, (I'd realistically guess more like 25 or more though, notice the bumper is shoved in also, a hard hit), simple physics puts the kinetic energy moving both vehicles backwards at roughly 7mph on impact, and the minivan would take several feet to stop at that speed on level ground, especially without a parking brake on, and even more if the front were lifted slightly, the differential on the minivan in park would allow one wheel to roll if the other were substantially unloaded/lifted.

Further, this would have done much more damage to the front of the van. I've seen those vans in fender-benders, they bend. The ground under the van would have lots of anti-freeze and transmission fluid on it, plastic from the grille and Mercedes taillamps, ... and just un-latching the hood so that it is elevated slightly (but still aligns perfectly) doesn't convince me. Van is backed in, nobody backs minivans in, driveway across the street curves, unlikely it would have made the curve, ...

I'll throw in a guess though, tailgator, road-rage, slammed on the brakes, got hit, left the scene, had to make up a story or spend time in jail, notice he wants to sell fast.

- Jeff Miller
190DT