Gap between Delivery and Registration

[Harrythedog]

I’d guess at a cancelled lease order hence the no options spec

 

[E55BOF]

Have you got the OASIS report?

Not to my knowledge. How do I get it?

The PDI report is a red herring; now I look at it closely, it's for a different car...

 

[Rory]

Car manufacturers often require their importers to place orders in a mix of models and specs well in advance so that production capacity is fully utilised - it cost buttons to make a car if the lines are running at capacity. These cars can get modified up to a certain point before build but once inside that they get built and shipped. The importer then has to sell them.

The thing mitigates against that in this case is the unusual colour, unless there's some method in doing that.

 

[jdrrco]

Hyacinth Red wasn't that unusual a colour in 2013. It was the showcase colour for MB. Nearly all adverts etc showed a Hyacinth car.

It still looks great, so much better than the fifty shades of grey.

 

[E55BOF]

Hyacinth Red wasn't that unusual a colour in 2013. It was the showcase colour for MB. Nearly all adverts etc showed a Hyacinth car.

It still looks great, so much better than the fifty shades of grey.

I agree entirely, but you don't see many cars around in that colour at the upper/larger end of the Mercedes range. I've seen very few, and most of those were C-classes. I'd been looking for a 63 SB for nigh on six months, and this is the only one I'd seen in anything other than black, white, grey or silver.

 

[markjay]

So my guess is: cancelled order, unusual colour, expensive car, in the forecourt

 

[tonysmb]

It's Hyacinth Red, is it?

I would say that that was a very unusual colour for a CLS then; I still have a 2013 (early 2013) brochure for the CLS from when I was looking at them, and Hyacinth Red is not listed as an option. The Designo paint costs then varied between £2,000 - £2,800 (more for the Magno matte paints), so it wouldn't have been a cheap option.

I seem to recall that it was used a lot in their advertising when first introduced, so possibly one if the early cars in that colour and a showroom model?

If it was a cancelled order, which was my original thought, I can see why another customer might not want to spend £2,000 extra on a colour choice. The vast majority of AMG CLSs that I saw then were Black or Silver, almost as if they were the default choices.

I think it's a great colour.

 

[Will]

Not to my knowledge. How do I get it?

The PDI report is a red herring; now I look at it closely, it's for a different car...

Any MB dealer should be able to produce you one. Very detailed - shows all the vehicle details - when the car was built, shipped, registered etc. All the options, prices etc

 

[Rory]

Could have been ordered by an MB employee who left. Someone saw the colour in publicity and thought it looked good and no need to worry about it being unusual if you're only keeping the car for 6mths. Might also explain the limited options as I guess they pay a bit extra for those and not much benefit if not keeping the car for long.

Mine is ex-MB and is also red. Bought it at 6mths old from MB direct and even back in 2005 it looked most odd amongst a sea of silver and black cars! Salesman apologised it wasn't black inside - I love the light grey! Mine didn't come with PDI paperwork or data card.

 

[BoristheBounce]

It's Hyacinth Red, is it?

I would say that that was a very unusual colour for a CLS then;

My neighbour has one

 

[Dippo]

Having worked for a manufacturer, I can tell you there is nothing whatsoever unusual about a car reaching 6 months in stock before being retailed. Manufacturers would love a situation where every vehicle was ordered to a customer order, but there are few makes and models that achieve that. One of the jobs of the manufacturer's area manager was to keep an eye on overage stock, and pressure the dealer to move it.

It's on a K registration; as has been said many times before, that does not automatically mean it was first registered by Mercedes. If it was, then the reasons why it was not registered as soon as it arrived in the country are too numerous to even consider. Manufacturers defer the VAT liability when the car is initially imported, and it only becomes payable upon registration or after a year - whichever comes first.

 

[E55BOF]

Having worked for a manufacturer, I can tell you there is nothing whatsoever unusual about a car reaching 6 months in stock before being retailed.

Yes, I'm well aware of that, but in the case of my particular example, it's a (relatively) up-market model with a (relatively again) down-market spec in an unusual colour, and I'd have thought it would be unlikely to be made for stock without a specific order.

 

[E55BOF]

I obtained the OASIS report today, and yes, the car was just sitting unregistered from arrival in the UK on 01 October until first registration on 06 March 2014.

One thing puzzles me slightly, though: "06/03/2014 VID: 114177 12/03/14 02:06:39 - ZFOC - Factory Order Confirmed"

 

[Dippo]

Is it a fairly low VIN - are the last 3 100 or less?

 

[E55BOF]

No; they're 606.

 

[markjay]

I obtained the OASIS report today, and yes, the car was just sitting unregistered from arrival in the UK on 01 October until first registration on 06 March 2014.

Where in the UK was it 'sitting unregistered'...? Silverstone?

 

[E55BOF]

Probaly not...

 

[E55BOF]

Cracked it, I think. Sale agreed and recorded on 06 March, but the car was actually registered on 11 March, and presumably the owner collected and signed for it on 12 March.

 

[Spider10]

You new deep down there was a simple explanation

 

[Dippo]

What has that solved? Your original question was why had it arrived in the UK in September, and not been registered until March.

You'll never answer that question without access to people and internal records at MB UK.