Problems with Mog Import.....Need some opinions.

[Mjolnir]

Hello all I am new here.

I live in Canada and have purchased a U1300L Ambulance with OM366 Turbo, fast axles and 36200km, through an importer in the USA. The truck was purchased in May and the importer and I agreed an October delivery would give enough time for transport. It is now May 12th 2012 two years to the day from payment and the truck has still not arrived. To top it off the importer has informed me that the truck is in less than ideal condition now that the shipping company has dropped it while unloading it from the transport truck. He says there is no damage to the front axle, but there is clearly a lot of fresh oil on the axle, the sway bar is bent, the steering is binding, there are scuffs on the bumper and skid plate I am being told that the axle stabilizers will also need replacement as well as the airlines to the slave and shift unit. Apparently the vehicle was dropped 1.2m on to a ramp. the estimated costs are $2900 so far, but an insurance adjuster has not looked at it yet. The Importer is offering me my money back, but I spent two years searching for this truck and two years waiting for it. I am quite sure the money I paid for it is not going to suffice, not to mention that these trucks do not appear to have gotten cheaper over the last couple years.

Does anyone have any opinions as to weather I should be worried about taking this truck on after a fall? Anything I should look for?

I hate litigation, but feel that I have been cheated. Does anyone have any knowledge on the legalities of this situation?

I am not sure if I am posting this in the right place, but I figured people here would be able to help me out with the mechanical side of things any way.

If I take my money back and start over I will be out a few dollars, and will have to start looking for a new mog.

As it has still not arrived my friends have dubbed it the unicorn. Salt in the wound but still funny. My wife and I are planning on building this unimog into an expedition camper for North and South America. I have been buying bits and pieces for the last four years, and am still waiting on the mog. Very frustrating.

Any help or opinions would be appreciated.

Mjolnir

 

[Jolly Roger]

I'd be very concerned if I'd paid for something two years ago and it had not shown up yet. Something smells fishy there. Get your money back and look for a new mog. There are a few nice ones for sale at the moment.

 

[dwh]

Doug Hackney reported that when he shipped his truck RoRo to South America, it was driven onto the ship, but the dock in SA didn't have a RoRo ramp so the truck was lifted off the ship with a sling and crane.

He was there watching, and says it looked like the sling crew were actually competing to see who could do the most damage. They rigged the sling on his truck so that when it tightened up as the crane pulled, the sling cable drug down the side and ripped off the driver's mirror and the first thing he had to do after he got the truck was put it in the body shop to get the broken driver's door fixed.

I can easily believe that your truck was dropped and bent by the dockworkers.


Personally, if I could get the insurance to pay off, and there was no major damage (like a bent frame) I'd probably take the money and the truck and start wrenching off and replacing the bent and broken bits. It's a used Mog - probably needs a good going through in any case. And who's to say the next one will be any better.

 

[Iain_U1250]

Why has it taken two years to get the mog is the first question I'd ask - I know I would not have wait more than two months before complaining. Did you pay in full or just a deposit. If you have paid in full - any refund should include interest on the money as well.

Have you actually seen the truck - if it is still what you want, then I'd also say go for the insurance - get them to pay for all new parts - no second hand ones, including a complete new front axle if you can. Have a proper MB authorised workshop check it out - I'd be very suspect if the front axle took a bit hit and it is now leaking. Get them to do as much replacing of parts as possible - less for you to do.

 

[mogwildRW1]

A professional crew can do it. Mine was shipped on a 20' flat rack, not more than 6" to spare at each end. They lifted it straight up, just enough to slide the flat rack out from underneath with a ginourmous fork lift.

Its a buyers market IMHO, I'd take the cash back, and walk, well, maybe run, just looking at that bar, I just went outside and looked at mine, I can't imagine the force it took to bend that, and where that force was transfered into other parts of the truck before/after it bent.I'd be asking for my cash back, Not just because they dropped it, but because the importer dropped the ball. Plenty of mogs out there, the military is liquidating them in Germany

 

[Mjolnir]

I paid 27K Landed for this Unimog. I am looking at prices of similar vehicles, maybe I am looking in the wrong place. I am going to start looking again to see what is out there. The problem is that this guy will just sell this truck to someone else after repairing it and I am a bit pissed he has wasted my time....2 years of it. There is no bad in this for him at all. I doubt he will give me money back with interest without litigation, so that leaves me in a bad spot.

Mjolnir

 

[mogwildRW1]

What dock is the truck at?

That's a decent price for sure. If it were possible, I'd take the truck to some place like Expedition Imports and have them go though it and let the insurance company know the damages, and have them repair it. That kind of drop there may be hidden damage.

 

[Mjolnir]

The mog is sitting in the transport company's yard in Ottawa. The truck was in the process of being shipped out to B.C. by the importer. The trucking company dropped it when unloading it. I do not think that I can ship it down to Expedition Imports, as the insurance will want it fixed at the closest authorised repair shop. I am definatly not getting the whole story here as there are some big holes as to why it was not shipped back in February when it arrived at the shipping company.

Anyone know of a unimog authorised repair facility near Ottawa?

Mjolnir

 

[charlieaarons]

There are no "official" Unimog repair facilities in North America except for certain Freightliner or Detroit Diesel dealers that will only deal with the U500 because it was "officially" imported 2003-6.
Really, the most competent Unimog repair facilities are either back in Germany (there are many) or a small handful in North America. I believe all the east coast ones are in the US, there may be 1 or 2 outfits in BC/Alberta that know what they are doing.
I'd run this entire question past people on the Benzworld/Unimog forum:
http://www.benzworld.org/forums/unimog/

Charlie

 

[mogwildRW1]

Charlie,

That's not entirely true. The Unimog was imported "officially" several other times other than the U500, And repair facilities exist. Back in the '50's by several company's, one being Curtiss-Wright Corp, for forestry and mining, then in the '70's and 80's by JI Case, and then again by Schmidt. My local Mercedes dealership officially and legally imported Unimogs in the '80's and '90's, I bought a bunch of old brochures from them when they brought in the square cab trucks, and one of there mechnaics is still Mercedes Unimog Certified. As well there is a German Fellow in Edmonton whom is Unimog trained. I've have talked to several mechanic's at CASE that were/are "officially" Mercedes trained, and have bought the official tools from some retired mechanics that had fond memory's or working on the Metric beasts. Most Case dealerships can work on at least the engines as its run in some of there other equipment, and quite a few of the old boys are still around working at the dealerships, so you can get your mog repaired there.

Also, Hans Mross was an offical Mercedes Unimog dealer until at least 1998, maybe later, and brought in several brand new square cab trucks (U2450L/38's) right from Mercedes, and is/was a certified repair facility.

The U500 is only the latest and last "officially" imported Unimog, certainly not the first, only, and my bet, last.

Mjolnir, Call Sean @ Eurotruck Monday, top notch guy, he will know of anyone "certified" to do repairs, or at least, anyone qualified Also, there was a fellow running a mobile European vehicle repair business, highly regarded, used to have a U500 that he pulled a massive trailer with hoist and repair facilities (since sold, but re-started his business a little while back), I'll see if I can dig up his info.

 

[mogwildRW1]

Here he is:

http://www.scuderiablackforest.com/

 

[charlieaarons]

Thanks - I stand corrected. I did remember the Case thing but those were 406 type round cabs. I was unaware that anyone in N. America had legally sold new 435s (at least in quantities greater than one-off at a time), certainly didn't think a MB dealer had sold them.
I hope it's true that we will see new Mogs in the NA or US market again. Euro VI emissions are very close to EPA 2007/10, they are going with the usual EGR/DPF/SCR setup, and they have some new derivatives of the 900 series motors, the 934/936, which are 5.1 and 7.7L. I'm sure the lawsuits related to (mis)use of CTIS weren't encouraging for them...

Charlie

 

[LukeH]

So you have to ask yourself the questions:
How much restoration work can be done on the insurers back?
How comfortable are you about that sort of "line smudging"?
Do you want a damaged/repaired vehicle when you paid for an undropped one? I fail to see how a cab (or its mounts) could be undamaged with such a twisted drop
Could you get the insurer to write it off completely considering a civilian 1980 U1700 costs 8000 euros on Mobile.de
How do you know the chassis is good? Just putting a Mog on a frame jig is going to cost more than 500 dollars.

I personally would NOT accept a damaged/repaired unit when I paid SO MUCH for an undamaged one.

But then I personally CANNOT BEGIN TO COMPREHEND how mog prices in the US can be so high. I mean look at it:

A 1300 ex mil at VEBEG can be had for 6000 euros (7-8000 if you buy on Mobile or other S/H markets)
A container plus clearing from EU to a US port won't double your price that and RoRo is cheaper.
So the importers are taking a huge markup for poor service and really pathetic handling.

Now think about how much a couple of weeks unpaid leave, a return flight to Germany and some hotels and a bit of tourism are going to cost you...

I'm guessing by the rubbish delivery time the importer is not one of the big players who has his own workshop; he's just a chancer hoping to make an easy buck. Once your Mog is delivered you'll never see him again.

Take your money and run, Fly to Germany and choose the unit yourself, then give it to a competent import/clearing specialist. You'll have it a month or so later and have change.
mogwildrw1, did you organise shipping yourself? If so how much was your flatrack?

That's what I'd do, if I really wanted a noisy, thirsty, slow, go anywhere, tough, lightweight Mog; and I lived in the US.

Every time I see the cost of the ex-mil MB trucks in the US I get a step closer to wanting to ship one or two out myself.
One day I'll quit my job and get to follow this overland passion, I really like the idea of doing something that would help others get a truck.
One day...

 

[dhackney]

Doug Hackney reported that when he shipped his truck RoRo to South America, it was driven onto the ship, but the dock in SA didn't have a RoRo ramp so the truck was lifted off the ship with a sling and crane.

He was there watching, and says it looked like the sling crew were actually competing to see who could do the most damage. They rigged the sling on his truck so that when it tightened up as the crane pulled, the sling cable drug down the side and ripped off the driver's mirror and the first thing he had to do after he got the truck was put it in the body shop to get the broken driver's door fixed.

This retelling of our experiences is not accurate. Our cab and camper box were damaged during unloading on the docks in Valparaiso, Chile. The damage was nowhere near as extensive as yours and did not involve the chassis itself.

I can easily believe that your truck was dropped and bent by the dockworkers.

I can too.


In your case, I think you'd be better off to get your refund and start again.

I don't know anything about Mogs, and I don't know if these are the proper model for you, but there are quite a few listed here: http://www.ljacksonandco.com/index.php?option=com_joodb&view=article&joobase=10&id=11533&Itemid=158

 

[dwh]

This retelling of our experiences is not accurate. Our cab and camper box were damaged during unloading on the docks in Valparaiso, Chile.

My bad. Call it "old age memory". It's been a while since I read the report.

"The unload crew here unloaded a new Porche Turbo while we were waiting on customs clearance. They cut it off of the Porsche platform and craned it out the same way they did our truck and damaged the Porsche the same way the did our truck. They laughed about it afterwards." [sic]

http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...tten-Continent-Expedition?p=155325#post155325