Hi all,

The latest turn of events is that I have spoken with the mechanic in LA (He is the owner of a quite large MB only repair shop in LA), and he has continuesly assured me that if I bring the car down to him, he will take care of the mechanical issues on the car and he will not charge me for it, but go after the PO. I believe we can get the PO on document fraud.

I have been confused as to what he exactly will do for me so I wrote up the agreement we came to over the phone and faxed him the letter. I asked him to sign it as it would make me feel more confident in spending time and money bringing the car back and forth.

I call him up today to see if he had seen the fax. He was very firm on the phone saying that he did not want to sign the agreement.
He said this is not how they do business and that he has already given me his word. At his place that's good enough. He went on to saying that he took this letter as an insult as he is volunteringly putting his neck out for me.

I have not approached him with the facts that he could have saved me and him for the entire deal if he had looked inside the engine for buildup. (1st thing my mechanic did)
Also the hand brake does not hold the car at all and the rear suspension is dead, which the mechanic up here noticed after 1 min of driving.
The mechanic in LA did notice on the inspection sheet that the car burned oil but prescribed the change of a valve seal. So in effect I have already paid for fixing oil burning as a part of the first $750.
The car smells of gas fumes after startup and he has already changed the fuel actuator.
The car is still hard to start when warm/hot.
The air condition does not get cold enough according to the mechanic up here.

These are all basic issues and for these issues to bypass him on a buyers inspection where he claims he drove the car, it is clear to me that he did a bad job at best. I believe the LA mechanic feels taken as well by the PO so he is very much interested in setting PO straight.

So far I am the only one out of money and it makes me uncomfortable that I am driving to LA with no real binding agreement in place. Given my experience w/ PO I feel like I am about to be taken for a ride again. I come down there and he turns around and basically tells me it will cost me or that he will only do 1 thing out of the 4-5 issues.

Am I totally out of order here? - and what should I expect from the mechanic given what he has said over the phone?

I really do hope he pulls through for me on all the mechanical issues.

Jari

Is the previous owner acting like he is going to refund your money ? Have you asked him point blank to take the car back and have him refund you the purchase price plus $750 plus gas and time... To get this to happen you have to very casually put the fear of god in him by saying that if he will not refund everything and make this right you now and only now have no choice but to pursue him legally - you do not have to clarify what this means, only that you have spoken with your family lawyer who says he is ready to take care of this if you ask him to... the PO should balk at this point and offer to make things right.. if he doesn't then go after him, you know he lied to you!! Make it your life long mission to resolve this in your favor and don't back down. But first you have to sound very calm, and try to act as if you have resigned yourself to let your family lawyer have it and you are calling him one last time to give him one last chance to make things right... forget the mechanic if you can and get a refund and go forward or fix the car and get over it... I could never ever get over it though .. Dont back down if you dont want to!!! You know he lied to you!!

Hi Jari...
I've been reading up on all the responses you have gotten and I will try to give you some fair advice. I own a MB & BMW body shop in the Los Angeles area and quite often I see these issues occur between buyer and seller. Especially with the amount of cars that are salvaged here in SoCal. CarFax does not mean much...All the entries in CarFax are done by smog stations and Insurance companies - CarFax has nothing to do with DMV! 99% of the time the attendants at some of the smog stations are illiterate - no joke! They either add a zero or a 1 in front of the reading...As far as the legal side is concerned, you may be out of luck. The car is older than 10 years - it no longer falls under the Odometer reading act...So if the seller turns the miles to 19K and tells you that the car is AS IS - no WARRANTY - even more, you took it to a shop to have it checked before buying! As far as the seller is concerned - you have nothing on him...Believe me, it's not worth he agony and the time...I think you should fix your car. Forget about the shop in Los Angeles, I don't think anyone is going to cover for the work and then go after the original owner. Especially here in Los Angeles! I am sorry to be so blunt but the way I see things is exactly the way the other shop owner sees it. One more thing, Ca DMV will NOT release the information on prior owners. Good Luck!

Yes, but Washington State might.

__________________
Willy

'94 E420 White

Mods
-------
Berg Werks Keyless Entry
Buzzer replaced with Chime
Dash Light Upgrade
Burlwood/Leather shift knob
Alpine CDA-9815 Head Unit
2002/2003 16" C Class 7-Spoke Wheels
Updated "Chip" to fix Code 19 problem

Is it to late for the dealer to sell you a extended warranty?

__________________
Make it a great day!
Jay E.

E55 '00 (Silver)
....SOLD

E500 '94 (Pearl Black)
...love my E500 so much!

Toyota FX-16 GTS '87 (Very Red)
...stored in my garage

Audi 4000CS Quattro '87 (Alpine White)
...Totalled

Mitsubushi Montero '91 (Blue)
...my daily ride

I believe the car is an '89 model. Not sure what the statute of limitations is on age, but I think 14 yrs. pretty much exceeds it.

I think somethimes it depends on the milege...no harm asking.

__________________
Make it a great day!
Jay E.

E55 '00 (Silver)
....SOLD

E500 '94 (Pearl Black)
...love my E500 so much!

Toyota FX-16 GTS '87 (Very Red)
...stored in my garage

Audi 4000CS Quattro '87 (Alpine White)
...Totalled

Mitsubushi Montero '91 (Blue)
...my daily ride

Go to a lawyer, find out what are the laws about selling car and what protects the buyer. I the mean time keep searching info about the car and keep the ad of the seller saying the info of the car. One last thing who recomend the mechanic in LA, The seller??
Good luck on this, never say die.

as the seller had the car serviced there for the last couple of times.
I had my father in law go to the mechanic and he isa rather large and he claims a reputable mechanic.
He has promised to take care of the mechanical issue as I am actual leaving for LA today.
I have not mentioned his name here as I believe he will come through for me.

Staytuned for an update when I return on monday after having meet with the mechanic myself face to face.

I still believe we can get the PO on fraud with regard to ownership.

Thanks for your advise.

One thing: I would surely like to know where this replacement engine came from? How do I figure that out now that the PO is totally reluctant to give any real info.

Jari

Like I said earlier... go to a Mercedes Dealership Service Department. See if they can look it up in their system. Or you can start calling some service departments... tell them you purchased a care and just found out that the engine number does not match and you are concerned that the engine was stolen. Use some creativity.

__________________
Willy

'94 E420 White

Mods
-------
Berg Werks Keyless Entry
Buzzer replaced with Chime
Dash Light Upgrade
Burlwood/Leather shift knob
Alpine CDA-9815 Head Unit
2002/2003 16" C Class 7-Spoke Wheels
Updated "Chip" to fix Code 19 problem

I still have a lot of questions on the details of what the mech was supposed to have ... can't figure out what was exactly done.

Setting that aside, it is time to fix it, drive it, and prosecute the bad guy if you can be reasonably assured you (a) have a case, and (b) can win the case. Spending more money (and, if you think $750 is a lot ... BTW, this sounded pretty reasonable for the items you broadly discussed, but again, I can't figure out what was actually worked on and the result) on an attorney to take a small time twit down (I also don't think I understand exactly what might have happened here ... newpapers are full of stories of people buying off the corner and finding out cars are from all over with hail, flood damage and repaints, etc) ... you will spend more than it is worth and in the end still be jacked that you got screwed ... except an attorney will have shared in your pain.

Fix it, learn from it, and persistently address whatever you can to ensure you pass on the experience AND the people and businesses that were involved (make sure you actually know what you are talking about and how to legally do this without getting in trouble yourself).

At no point, btw, have you mentioned doing any work yourself ... while this is obviously not something everyone does, driving a complex foreign car that is 16 years old without being able to understand and work on some portions of it may be unadvisable.

Good luck ... this time next year you will be very, very knowledgeable ... keep reading the many posts here ... I continue to be awed by the depth of knowledge and caring attitudes by everyone; posters, pseudo-mechanics, mechanic moderators, etc... and even the best parts guy - Phil!! - in the business ...

__________________
George Stephenson
1991 350 SDL (200K and she ain't bent, yet)
former 2002 E320 4Matic Wagon - good car
former 1985 300 CD - great car
former 1981 300 TD - good car
former 1972 280 SEL - not so good car
a couple of those diesel Rabbits ...40-45 mpg

Jari,

I would be really weary of a mechanic that was recommended by the PO and personally would steer clear from the get go. Since you've already used the mechanic I would suggest being very cautious with any further proceedings.

I'm a little confused though, you mention that you want to go after the seller for fraud or false advertising, but at the same time you are getting the vehicle repaired at no charge. If the shop doesn't charge you for the repairs (find this hard to believe BTW) and says he will go after the PO then let the shop worry about it and get the car fixed with a receipt stating "no charges will be incurred". Walk away from the mess and enjoy the car.

On a separate note, when I was in Seattle buying my 500E I had the car inspected by Phil Smart Mercedes and my Service Advisor was Derek Oakley. They found absolutely everything (including the really minor items) when they did the PPI. If you're still unsure what condition your car is in I would recommend them do a PPI which will cost approx $245.00 and includes their Starmark Checklist. You can provide this list to the mechanic repairing the car in LA to insure nothing is overlooked.

__________________
Afshin

Current:
02 C32 AMG

Previous:
92 500E
84 190E 2.3 5 Spd

Soooooooo...........any update!?

__________________
http://w3.uqo.ca/gravelle/images/250S/flood.jpg
DAN
1967 250s The Monster Project a.k.a "The Monster" a.k.a "Rolling Coffin" --sold--
The photographic ART thread
+++Price Guide+++

I'll throw in my 2 cents here. On the back of a CA title it states under penalty of perjury that the mileage is true and correct.

It might be worth a try to complain to the DMV and/or Consumer Affairs in CA.

If all else fails plaster the guys name everywhere in LA.

BTW...LA is on of the havens for cars having mileage turned back.

Can someone hack the EPC to get the VIN that corresponds to the engine number? It has to be in there, right?

Sixto
95 S420
91 300SE
87 300SDL
83 300SD