Greetings from Malaysia

[Zomar56]

I am Zulkifli Omar from Malaysia. I bought and imported a Mercedes Benz W123 230CE from the United Kingdom.

Chassis Number : WDB 1232432A132929
Engine Number : 10298022112474
UK Registration Number : A818 ANH

It has been almost 4 months and I am not able to register the car since the arrival here in Malaysia.

The Transport Department has failed the car during inspection and black listed the car.

I am very disappointed as I have paid for the car and paid the Customs Import duties, shipping, import fees etc. which was paid from my retirement money. I am very sad that this has happened to me. I have paid for duties, port charges repairs etc of almost 10,000 GBP.

If the car cannot be registered, I will lose all the money and the car will be confiscated by the authorities here

The problems were :

1. There was an XXXXXXXXX stamped on the bulkhead and

2. The chassis number that was stamped below it was not clear due to rust and corrosion.

The authorities questioned why there was a marking XXXXXXXXX stamped above the rusted chassis number.

They said that maybe the numbers have been tampered with.

I need your urgent kind assistance to get a letter from Mercedes to confirm the chassis numbers and why there was another number that was marked XXXXXXX on the firewall above the chassis numbers that is also not clear due to rust and corrosion.

They now require a formal letter from Mercedes Benz and on why there was an XXXXXXX stamped and a confirmation of the chassis number.

Since the car has been blacklisted and cannot be registered, I will lose all my money and car will be confiscated by the authorities here.

I need your urgent assistance for a formal letter to confirm the XXXXXXX and chassis number.

Thank you.

Zulkifli Omar

c/o FIRST CLASSIC CARS GALLERY SDN BHD
No 38 First Floor, Jalan 52/18,
Petaling Jaya 46200
Selangor, MALAYSIA

Telephone : +60137323666

[Bartman4800]

Dear Omar,

MB might not have a record of this, since it might have been done by the UK department of Transport.

Maybe you can contact the UK to see why a new number has been stamped into the car? There must have been a genuine reason if it was done legally.
It looks like a genuine stamp, since it has the Mercedes star in front.

If it would have been me, I might have welded the XXXXX's shut to only show the new number before showing the authorities, but that ship has sailed.

Sorry, that is all I can do to help.

Good luck, Bart

[John Green]

Hello, as per the other thread I have seen this quite a few times and on cars that are 100% legitimate Australian delivered cars.

Can you make out what the crossed out VIN number is? If so we can search the MB datacards and see if it is a real VIN number. This would help you to prove what has happened.

[Zomar56]

Thanks John. I will try to check out the numbers that was Xed out.

Seems quite unclear due to rust and corrosion.

[Zomar56]

Thank you all for the advice and opinion.

The latest development is that I have written an appeal to the Director of the Department of Transport here in Malaysia. He has directed the Automotive and Engineering Section to look into the matter.

The information that I received recently is quite encouraging as the Automotive and Engineering Section after looking closer at the fonts and with the 2 stars marked at the front and back of the numbers, they believe that the Xed out numbers was done by the factory probably due to errors in stamping.

Hoping and praying that they will consider another inspection to clear the matter and thereafter approve the registration of the car

Despite writing to the CEO's of MB UK and Germany, sadly no positive response from them

Wish me luck!!

Thanks again. Will update accordingly.

[T-Modell]

...Despite writing to the CEO's of MB UK and Germany, sadly no positive response from them

Hi Omar,

those guys are busy implementing the "luxury" strategy ... I wish you good luck with it; maybe instead try to contact the classic center in Fellbach ...

Regards
Thomas

[John Green]

The latest development is that I have written an appeal to the Director of the Department of Transport here in Malaysia. He has directed the Automotive and Engineering Section to look into the matter.

Can you make out the number under the X's? If you can, we can check to see if it is a legitimate VIN number. If it is not a legitimate number, I would of thought that would prove why it was crossed out.