Gap between Delivery and Registration

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E55BOF

Hardcore MB Enthusiast
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CLS63 SB, SLK55, Cooper S, Triumph Sprint (Bike not Dolly...),
The CLS 63 I've just acquired was delivered in September 2013, but not registered until six months later, and I'm a little puzzled. It's a low-specification AMG, with few options, in an unusual colour; virtually all the others have lots of options and are white, black or grey/silver. I would have thought it would only have been built to fulfil an order, not to be imported to go into stock, and if it had been intended to be a demonstrator it would likely have had lots of options too.

The only explanation I can think of is that the order sale fell through, and it took a while to shift the car subsequently. Does anybody have any other ideas?
 
As far as I know, demonstrators are registered with the DVLA just like any other car. I don't think that you can legally let a prospective customer test-drive a car on dealer plates. It's difficult to know why the car stood in a field (or forecourt) for 6 months. In which factory was it built? You can tell the factory from the single letter in the middle of the VIN.
 
I just checked my car (W204 C180), it was made in Sindelfingen as well, delivery date 31/01/2013, date of first registration 01/03/2013, so there's a gap, albeit only one month, but more that can be explained just by the time it takes to ship the car over to the UK and do the PDI. .
 
Just checked my c63 w204 it says 4 days and made in Bremen
 
Maybe a Brooklands track car? :devil:

Where was it first registered, and where/when was it first serviced? Despite the registration date it would call for a service on time still? :)
 
Bastard... :eek: Brooklands you say? I hope not...

Original plate was a KN, so standard MB in Northampton I think. The first service was on 15 January 2015, on 12K miles, at a Sytner group MB dealer in Sunderland. The next two services, at 15K and 20K miles, were at Brooklands, though...
 
Likely it was a sale that fell through. My local dealer used to ask for a large deposit if a customer wanted a strange colour or odd spec. They once got stuck with a cancelled order for a 203 coupe in a very vivid green that took months to get rid of. The other possibility is that the purchaser did not want to register it immediately (perhaps had gone abroad for a time) and had it delivered unregistered.
 
All cars are delivered unregistered, keep in mind the delivery date on the data card is the date it left the production line, not when it arrived at the dealership.
My guess, a sale that fell through.
 
I'd go with the cancelled order explanation... you say the car has basic spec and little options, possibly it was considered 'undesirable' by potential CLS63 buyers at the time, and sat on the forecourt unregistered? Another explanation is that the simply didn't sell many CLS63 cars, so once an order was cancelled it just sat there waiting for the next CLS63 buyer?

Or... are dealers required to buy stock of certain models? Pethpas they were obliged to place an order for at least one CLS63....

Or... could it have been a showroom car?

Just speculating.
 
Don't dealers have to register a car before the manufacturer recognises a sale and the dealership gets its commission? It would be in their interest to register the car?
 
The PDI was done at Purfleet, by an agency, three days after the release date on the datacard.
 
Most likely a cancelled order; we've cancelled one (an E) and the dealer was quite determined for us to reconsider due to the difficulty, as they said, in finding another customer who would want exactly the same spec., without having to discount it. It was quite a while ago but I can't see that the situation would change much.

An AMG CLS wouldn't exactly have had millions of customers queueing up at the door.
 
It fell off the transporter after PDI and spent a few months in the bodyshop being straightened out?

:devil: 😂

That's before or after it was tracked at Brooklands within an inch of its life...... ? :D
 
The PDI was done at Purfleet, by an agency, three days after the release date on the datacard.

Now that's interesting, so how about a lease specialist firm reserving production slot in advance then not being able to sell the car on for 6 months....?
 
Bastard... :eek: Brooklands you say? I hope not...

Original plate was a KN, so standard MB in Northampton I think. The first service was on 15 January 2015, on 12K miles, at a Sytner group MB dealer in Sunderland. The next two services, at 15K and 20K miles, were at Brooklands, though...
Have you got the OASIS report?
 
The PDI was done at Purfleet, by an agency, three days after the release date on the datacard.
Wow, that's very quick! Surely takes longer to get from factory than 3 days. Special delivery?
 
Would still be unusual to have it not only registered but PDI’d that quick IMHO - the OASIS report should be able to clear this up.
 

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