Where Do You Think I Stand?

Xtractorfan

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You have to remember that many Mb models ..cabriolets etc.. were only available in limited numbers...so the dealers were importing those cars hand over fist ..because there was a demand.. some desireable models were making a premium over the 'new price'....
As for your offer ..excellent.. the dealer is going out of his way to please you, and his gesture is generous...no doubt also backed by MB..who wont wish to be acknowledged for their contribution....
I would take it .. and be content..
 

drdre78

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hi complain to mercedes head office.Always works.
 

NISFAN

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Sorry But how can you tell if your car is an import on the V5 as I am loking for a 129 SL for a mate of Mine, hope this question is'nt to obvious

It will depend on whether the car was registered in another country I think. My import says the following in the special notes section (bottom of front page V5)

Non transferable registration mark
WAS REGISTERED OVERSEES. DECLARED MANUFACTURED 1996
 

jubhi

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Also cars which are for the UK market are normally treated with a special underbody sealant I believe which prevents rusting etc. A car for Trinidad wouldn't have had this so probably explains why you are getting rust issues.
 

Frontstep

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Shame really he liked his car and now it will always bug him whatever MB's offer, a bit like finding out your paintings a fake same painting just never looks as good again !
Its a great forum topic though.
 

Rory

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He also has to answer yes when asked if the car was imported, to his insurer.

Wish you'd stop trying to scare him. If the V5C says it was "declared new at first registration" then it's an absolute non-issue.
 
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rozel

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Its a great forum topic though.

Glad you think so :(

I know, however that your sentiments are cool, so no problem :)

This topic seems to expand at an ever increasing rate and I'm ever so grateful for so many constructive comments/advice and support - thank you all so very much :) :) :)

First - my V5 shows absolutely nothing at all regarding the fact that my car is an import

I have just this minute come off a telephone conversation with my Insurance Company - MB - who have told me that there is absolutely no problem here - they say it's obvious that the car is of UK spec, have made a note about our call on my file and have agreed to send me a letter in confirmation, when I ask for it at a later date. There will be no adjustment to my Insurance Premium.

HOWEVER .........

I now have some more information regarding the previous owners and some other information provided by the DVLA and their letter states: -

"THE CAR WAS iMPORTED INTO THE UK AND REGISTERED AT THE DVLA ON 01/09/2002". This could mean from Germany though, couldn't it?

But.............

The first owner with a foreign sounding name lived in Epsom - included with the information, is a V267 - a "Declaration of Vehicle Newness", for use by Independent Importer - this guy has signed a statement that it was a new vehicle WHICH HAS NOT BEEN PERMANENTLY REGISTERED IN ANY COUNTRY PRIOR TO IMPORT INTO GREAT BRITAIN - signed 23.08.02

The second owner lived in a town not a million miles away from the Dealership Network from which the car was sourced for me in July 2004. This previous owner applied his own registered number plate to the car and of course I did the same in 2004.

The first owner acquired the vehicle on 01.09.2002 (the Registration Date shown on my V5) and shows he disposed of it on 14.02.2003

The second owner acquired the car on 14.02.2003, the day before the date of First Registration, shown in Mercedes records.

I (as third owner) acquired it on 28.07.2004

Ok what does that lot show guys?

I'm of course concerned about the existence of a V267 - what exactly is this document??

Nowhere in the stuff from the DVLA is there any record of mileages. However on the V267, it states the recorded mileage was 25 miles only! And somewhere before I got the car I see a declaration from a Motor Trader in the South Yorkshire area dated 01.06.04 which is puzzling.

The first owner is shown as a Director on the V267 - company - "Romans International Ltd, Epsom" (I won't include the rest of the address) and on googling, it seems they are: -

"Romans International is one of the country's leading suppliers of highly prestigious and specialist cars with a reputation second to none. Paul Jaconelli founded the business, on the basis of a lifetime of experience in the car industry and as a result he is one of the country's foremost independent car experts."

The bombshell is that Paul Jaconelli was the first owner of my car!!!

I would refer people to the Production date of my car as stated earlier (somewhere lol!) - just wonder if the car could have somehow been clocked before Mr Jaconelli got hold of it?

OK people - please chew on that lot :), I'm sure you guys can interpret this information better than I can - I have to dash to work very soon, so my next post will be tomorrow.

Again please keep your responses coming through, they are extremely helpful to me here :)

Paul
 

deejaybee

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I agree with the above post by Rory.

In the past I have owned imported cars from Japan - these are clearly marked on the V5 as an imported vehicle and must be declaired as such when insuring them.

But in a similar situation to the OP, my current W140 is shown on the V5 as being registered new in the UK and I have had this verified by Swansea, however I know from the MB history that the car was supplied via Dubai and then to a UK dealer (the reason is not clear, but there are several possible reasons as the original purchaser was a UAE national resident in UK). It is also a full UK spec car. The only difference is that I knew this when purchasing it, but I certainly don't think it makes any material difference to the value when buying used once it is more than a few years old.

It sounds like you have enjoyed owning the car and still do, plus you have been made an offer to rectify all the corrosion problems on a car that is about 8 years old, so really there is not too much to worry about. At the worst you may have paid a bit more for it when you bought it, but that is a long time in the past - much better to have paid a premium price for a good car than a bargain price for a dodgy one!

Regards,

Dave
 

441

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The way i see it, although probably completely wrong:)
Is the Paul Jaconelli fella bought it as a personnel import originally, ran it around for 5 months then sold it on to the second owner in February 03, and this is when he registered it with MB for European warranty cover.
So the question still remains is how your dealer managed to buy the car in and re-sell it to you without a) either knowing or bothering to check if it was an import or b) bought it and sold it on to you knowing it was an import but did'nt bother to tell you, knowing that they would make a higher return on the car than an official UK supplied car.
I personally would try to contact Romans International and see if you can obtain some more info on the original purchase/importation.
 

ncooper

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I agree with the above post by Rory.

Me too.
What a storm in a teacup.
The form V267 is telling you that Mr Jaconelli's company brought the car back to the UK from Trinidad.
It also tells you that it was virtually unused.

All that's happened is that your car had a ride to the Caribbean before it began its life in the UK.
I doubt very much if it travelled there and back lashed to the deck of a tramp steamer,so it will have suffered no ill effects.

An insurance company's definition of an imported car excludes all UK spec vehicles imported new.
Mercedes are all "imported",there being no factory here.
There is nothing you can do to change your car's history and now that it's eight years old,it is pretty much irrelevant.

It is not registered at the DVLA as imported.
You have your reassurance from MB insurance.
Your dealer has repaired it once,free of charge and well beyond the call of duty,is going to do this again.
You will still own an immaculate low mileage car.

Accept his very generous offer,forget you ever heard or read the word "import" and go on enjoying your car for many years to come.

Regards,
Nick.
 

Boogs

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Romans are well known in the Epsom area. A CLK to them would be at the botom end of their stock list, for example their usual stock list would frequently include a couple of Veyrons and they never have less than a dozen or so Ferraris.

Despite it's high profile in the area I have never heard anything negative about them, and with the type of customer they service I don't suppose they can afford to.

Paul Jaconelli is the owner of Romans.

I suspect that the car was either a cancelled order or stock car built to spec but personally imported by Romans who are independant, hence considered an import from MB perspective.

In respect of the dealers offer, this sounds good to me. To put thi sinto context my CLK was sold to an English citizen by an MB dealer in Dusseldorf and personally imported. Declared new at first Reg in UK and undoubtedly considered an Import by MB. I am happy with it and that is the important thing.
 

Xtractorfan

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Right let me just bring you all up to speed on the ins and outs of car importation....
The guy who imported the car, Mr jaconelli, his business is imorting and selling prestigious cars.. Now being in the trade he was aware that CLK mercs and some other models were in big demand and there was lots of money to be made from the sale of such items.. his main reason for being in business...
Now it was well known within the trade that each dealer was allowed a number of cars per year...
The smaller and more far flung dealers didnt need their full quota.. so in comes Mr. Jaconelli and offers to buy the remainder of a dealers stock..
Now being a car dealer this was moving metal, and good business.
There was a provisio... MB knew that cars were being bought for profit and resold.. So they imposed conditions.. One of those conditions was that anyone buying one of the scarse or sought after models had to register the car and keep it for 6 months..otherwise the supplying dealer would lose his quota..
So tht is why Mr. Jaconelli had the car for almost 6 months..and never used it ..
When your car was new .. you would have been put on a waiting list of up to a year or more to get your new car..
Many people with money wanted one next day... And the dealers could'nt personally import cars... but they could buy 6 month old cars all day long.. I wouldnt worry about import or export . you have a car that is an MB and no different from any other...and a story behind it..
 
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television

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Thank you for bringing some sanity back Xtractorfan into this thread
 

st4

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Rozel-show the MB dealer the V5 saying it was "declared new at 1st registration". They are doing the work on it and if the V5 shows this then the car isn't an import? or am I lost by all this.
 

Frontstep

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Well we could romance this up a bit by saying some gorgeous celebrity had it shipped to one of her holiday homes,
back to my original, work out an amicable settlement with the dealer if you like it and think of your favourite film star sat on the other seat when you drive it ! as to the rust repairs you were entitled to those anyway,
A free fully inclusive B service or something sounds reasonable.
 
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rozel

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Well we could romance this up a bit by saying some gorgeous celebrity had it shipped to one of her holiday homes,
back to my original, work out an amicable settlement with the dealer if you like it and think of your favourite film star sat on the other seat when you drive it ! as to the rust repairs you were entitled to those anyway,
A free fully inclusive B service or something sounds reasonable.

Hmmm - Cameron Diaz immediately springs to mind hehe - had to agree with Jezza the other night, she looks gorgeous even with a helmet on :) :)

On a more serious note I am pleased at least someone knew about Romans International and has spoken highly of them - cheers Boogs - and thanks for the explanations from ncooper and Xtractorfan - these have made me feel much better now - phew! I like the bit - "An insurance company's definition of an imported car excludes all UK spec vehicles imported new" - on further examination of my V5C - it states on the bottom of the first page, under Special Notes, "1. DECLARED NEW AT FIRST REGISTRATION". I didn't attach any relevance to this until after reading the responses to my posts after getting home from work last night. Can I say how grateful I am?

As for the B Service, this has already been paid for, maybe I will try it on with MB themselves, with whom I have not had a single phone call which I could loosly term empathetic, but not with my Dealership, with whom I have total respect.

I will be concluding matters this morning, with several telephone conversations and will report back to bring this whole matter to a close.

Thank you all once more

Paul
 
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rozel

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Ok to conclude this matter, I have accepted the Dealership's offer in addition to which the MD has kindly agreed to a 50% discount on my next service, in addition to which to check the underbody sealing to ensure that is the same as for a UK supplied car. I have also requested a copy of the car's DataCard to complete my documentation.

I know I have a case to persue a litigation claim through the court but this would almost certainly involve giving up my car with no certainty on the level of Damages.

I hold my Dealership in high repute, always have and during and subsequent to this affair coming to light, always will.

How many other members can say the same regarding their Dealerships, I wonder?

Thank you all once again for all the detailed information and help/advice - marvellous!!!!!

Paul
 

Rappey69

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Wow, what a post and so many comments to make but can i remember it all?
the first point would have been the cars insurance but since you have spoken to them and they are happy to continue with your insurance then that is not a problem. (my parallel import cost me over twice as much as uk model to insure :( )

Quote rory[ If the V5C says it was "declared new at first registration" then it's an absolute non-issue.]
Total rubbish ! I know of many plg registered vehicles with this on their V5c yet they have been used off road for 2-3 years before being made road legal and have been issued with a vrm some 3 years newer than the vehicle actually is.
That leads me on to the V267, now if a vehicle is not homologated like any euro sold car is then it has to have a sva test or prove similar so a certificate of newness (267) is needed.
the above plg vehicles i mentioned have needed this which is supplied in that case by the manufacturer.
It could be that your V5c shows nothing about being imported as i think it may need to be registered then imported to show that ?
My friend bought a brand new car from holland with full uk specs, saved thousands on uk list price but it is still a parallel import even though there is no mention on reg document.
I bought a brand new quad (plg) some years ago and it has dealer as first owner (was only way to buy it with road tax on ready to ride) It had to have msva test to road legalise it, dealer on vrd had it for one day then transfered to me, sold as no previous owner as i could explain why it said one previous..

At the end of the day if insurance is happy with situation and swansea are happy thats its not an import i would get on and enjoy your car regardless of where it came from as it has given you many years of joyfull motoring.
 

Rory

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Quote rory[ If the V5C says it was "declared new at first registration" then it's an absolute non-issue.]
Total rubbish !

It's not total rubbish at all.

If the V5C says the car was new then that's the end of the matter as far as the insurance company is concerned.
This has been demonstrated in practice by the OP's insurance company confirming cover at no additional premium. This is because all they care about is what the V5C says. If it said it was an import then they'd load the premium or even refuse cover.
 

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