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We previously reported that Ms. Tang from Changsha, Hunan Province, bought a Beijing Mercedes-Benz E200L from Hunan Huamei Automobile sales Co., Ltd. in July 2017, when Ms. Tang drove her vehicle to the annual inspection station, she was told that her vehicle could not pass the annual inspection because the frame number engraved on the crossbeam of the passenger seat was tampered with. Due to the unacceptable behavior of Huamei Mercedes-Benz, Ms. Tang sued the Hunan Huamei Mercedes-Benz 4S store in 2017.

In August 2018, the Tianxin District people's Court made a judgment of first instance that the defendant, Hunan Huamei Mercedes-Benz 4S store, provided defective goods to the plaintiff, Ms. Tang, and deliberately concealed the true situation, which constituted fraud, and asked the defendant to return the car purchase money. and pay compensation according to three times the purchase money. Hunan Huamei Mercedes-Benz 4S store refused and filed an appeal. at the end of December 2018, the Changsha Intermediate people's Court, on the grounds that the vehicle did not adversely affect its daily use, did not involve greater property interests, and also went through the annual inspection procedures of the vehicle involved, overturned part of the judgment of the first instance and awarded Hunan Huamei Mercedes-Benz 4S store 50,000 yuan in compensation to Ms. Tang.

However, in January this year, Ms. Tang's vehicle was temporarily impounded by Yuhua traffic police again because she failed the annual inspection in 2018 and the driving status of the vehicle without annual inspection.

In the latest development yesterday, the material evidence Identification Institute of Changsha Public Security Bureau confirmed that Ms. Tang's Mercedes-Benz E200L was formed by file modification and tested the original frame number. After the vehicle was detained for more than four months, on May 27, the traffic police brigade of Yuhua District, Changsha City, issued a voucher for the return of goods to Ms. Tang, verbally telling Ms. Tang that the Mercedes-Benz E200L was not a theft and robbery of the vehicle, and asked Ms. Tang to retrieve the vehicle.

As a result of dissatisfaction with the identification results of the material evidence appraisal of the Changsha Public Security Bureau, Ms. Tang never went to pick up the car. Ms. Tang's biggest doubt is: how to ensure that my car will not be impounded again in other places? Who is responsible for tampering with the frame number?

According to the inspection report made by the material evidence Identification Institute of Changsha Public Security Bureau, on May 22, the Yuhua Traffic Police Battalion entrusted Ms. Tang's Xiang A * * 9 to be identified by it, and the identification requirement is: whether the frame number is changed, if the file is changed, please restore it.

According to the report, the current frame number of Mercedes-Benz sent for inspection is "LE4HG4JB9BL032799", and the first frame number of the car is inconsistent in font type, size, spacing distance and so on. There are signs of grinding and filing, polishing and chemical corrosion, which shows that the original frame number is "LE4HG4JB1BL032800".

At this point, the conclusion that the frame number of Ms. Tang's Mercedes-Benz has been tampered with is further clear. The test result of the report is that the vehicle frame number "LE4HG4JB9BL032799" is modified and the original frame number is "LE4HG4JB1BL032800".

In response to this, Ms. Tang once again appealed to the Hunan Provincial higher people's Court on the issue of inconsistent vehicle frame numbers, and the case has been accepted.

The latest development is that the traffic police inform the car to pick up the car, and the owner is worried that he will be detained again.

Ms. Tang's husband, Mr. Gu, said: after the identification issued by the public security material evidence appraisal in Changsha City, the Changsha Yuhua traffic police brigade informed them on May 24 that the couple went to the traffic police brigade to take notes and understand the detailed process and use of the car purchase. You can reclaim the detained vehicle when you receive the return voucher issued by them on May 27.

Mr. Gu said that after the vehicle has been detained for four months, no one can guarantee whether the vehicle can be driven out, especially after leaving Hunan, whether it will be detained again, because the fact that the frame number has been changed already exists.

As for who is responsible for the tampering of the frame number, the relevant responsible person of Hunan Huamei told the reporter that the situation of the tampering of the frame number already existed when the manufacturer delivered the goods, and the manufacturer of the car, Beijing Mercedes-Benz Automobile Co., Ltd. Mercedes-Benz officials have not yet responded to the matter.

When the new car is sold, the PDI checks whether there is any concealment in Huamei, the frame number that must be checked.

The full name of PDI inspection is "guidelines on pre-sales Inspection Service for passenger cars (for trial implementation)" issued by the China Automobile Circulation Association on March 10, 2017. The guidelines were drafted by many automobile sales enterprises, such as China Automobile Circulation Industry Association, FAW-Volkswagen sales liability Co., Ltd., Beijing Mercedes-Benz sales and Service Co., Ltd. PDI inspection is a common international practice, and PDI inspection is a presale test certificate, which is a necessary inspection for new cars before delivery. Because the new car has experienced thousands of kilometers of transportation and long parking from the manufacturer to the dealer, PDI inspection is necessary to ensure the safety and performance of the new car to customers.

The first item of PDI inspection is to check the relevant information on the configuration order and the consistency of VIN (vehicle identification number) according to the pre-sales inspection list. Employees of the automobile sales industry told reporters that according to the industry, manufacturers and dealers must conduct a comprehensive inspection after accepting the vehicle and confirm that there is no doubt before selling the car to customers. The inspection operation of the PDI includes checking the frame number (VIN).

In Ms. Tang's lawsuit with Hunan Huamei, the court pointed out that the inspection list of dealers' new cars issued by Hunan Huamei did not include the frame number. " In the "Dealer's New car pre-delivery Checklist", the second line is the inspection of VehicleIdentificationNumber, in which the VIN number is a handwritten record, and the number filled in is the frame number "LE4HG4JB9BL032799" previously registered by Ms. Tang, but the corresponding VIN means chassis number in Chinese.

On this matter, we asked the sales staff of the relevant 4S store: "the chassis number is the frame number, and the first item of the PDI inspection list produced by Huamei Mercedes-Benz is to check the frame number."

Many luxury brand dealers on this matter said that it was difficult to understand that Hunan Huamei Mercedes-Benz did not check the frame number and did not know that the frame number had been tampered with when accepting and selling new cars.

Ms. Tang has submitted an application for retrial to the Hunan High Court, which was accepted by the Hunan High Court on May 15 and issued a letter of notification to the members of the collegial panel. It is an unusual case that the frame number of Ms. Tang's Mercedes-Benz E200L was tampered with.

Mercedes-Benz's recent complaints range from vehicle quality problems to sales services, and Ms. Tang's problem is just one of many. A brand billed as the inventor of the car has created so many problems in China that it is difficult to convince the public. If Mercedes-Benz just continues to restore consumer confidence through public relations, I am afraid it will only have little effect. We will continue to pay attention to the case of Ms. Tang.

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