vins do not match, what would you do??? - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Carson357 · #1 05-12-2007, 08:13 PM

on friday we had a car come in to the shop for a prepurchase inspection, the car was reported to the buyer that it was a european graymarket import, which is kind of unusual for a 2003 C320, we were suspicious from that alone. living in san diego i thought the buyer might have it confused with a mexico car which we see from time to time and do infact appear "euro", but it clearly was a california car had all california emissions labels. over all the car was nice and had basically zero defects, after all it was only 9k miles, another red flag, i was reviewing the report we generated after scanning the car and i just happened to notice the vin generated from the report was different from the vin on the car and on the pink slip!! i went to inspect and the door sticker looked unusual and the vin tag at the windshield was not centered like it should be, i told the perspective buyer and he said mercedes had no record of the vin number displayed, both came back "clean" through carfax. i thought it was a little much to report to the local authorities, but now i am thinking different.

kerry · #2 05-12-2007, 08:25 PM

Where did you get the VIN for the report if it's not the same as the one on the car or pink slip?

Carson357 · #3 05-12-2007, 08:29 PM

i got the vin from the report, when you use a mercedes scanner it puts the vin at the top of the report, in order for the drive autorization system to function, the vin in the eis and in the engine control module must be the same, so by default it prints the vin at the top, i guess to identify which car the report is from, but the report vin and the vins on the car do not match, similar, but not the same

300SD81 · #4 05-12-2007, 09:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carson357

i got the vin from the report, when you use a mercedes scanner it puts the vin at the top of the report, in order for the drive autorization system to function, the vin in the eis and in the engine control module must be the same, so by default it prints the vin at the top, i guess to identify which car the report is from, but the report vin and the vins on the car do not match, similar, but not the same

Any chance the ECU was swapped at some point?

#5 05-12-2007, 10:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 300SD81

Any chance the ECU was swapped at some point?

That is what I am thinking, lower mile ecu and speedo can change the value of a car in a big way. I see them on eBay all the time.

Matt L · #6 05-12-2007, 10:27 PM

I think there's a 100% chance that the ECU was changed. Had it been done legally, the mileage would still be correct, and the numbers would match.

Carson357 · #7 05-12-2007, 11:35 PM

how do you explaint the invalid vin on the drivers door pillar and windshield area? when they were given to mercedes they said the car does not exhist. you would have to change the engine module and eis

iwrock · #8 05-12-2007, 11:40 PM

Have you ran both vins thru carfax to see if they are both valid?

Carson357 · #9 05-12-2007, 11:42 PM

both do work in carfax, just the one on the car is invalid through mercedes benz. unfortunately carfax will not report if a car is stolen or not.

iwrock · #10 05-12-2007, 11:44 PM

Does it show how many miles each has? Is one mileage closer than another?

Does it show if one has been wrecked?

Carson357 · #11 05-12-2007, 11:46 PM

both show clear title, the valid vin shows low mileage as well

iwrock · #12 05-12-2007, 11:47 PM

How many miles does the other vin say? does it say where the car resides?

Carson357 · #13 05-12-2007, 11:49 PM

i don't recall, i will have to check at work on monday

iwrock · #14 05-12-2007, 11:51 PM

Hmmmm..... If both are clear, then perhaps stolen parts.... Thats definitely an odd one though.....

Hes going to eventually order a vin coded part, and find out which vin number works..... Thats going to be fun.

Carson357 · #15 05-12-2007, 11:53 PM

that is another thing, all the body panel vin stickers are missing