One big lemon? Dealer sues Mercedes-Benz over defective $1.7M roadster
Normally, a single owner suing an automaker over a 'lemon' car would hardly qualify as a newsworthy item. But when the person in question is a car dealership owner, and the four-wheeled bit of citrus is one of five Mercedes Benz AMG CLK-GTR Roadsters, well, things get a little more interesting.
Mark Johnston of Grand Prix Motors of Los Angeles, California, is suing DaimlerChrysler and its Mercedes-Benz arm. The plaintiff maintans he bought the uber-Benz to sell in his dealership, but the car had issues beginning with its very first test drive, tripping the oil lamp within ten blocks. Johnston's complaint further alleges assorted transmission problems, hydraulic jack system failure, and 'unglued' windows. The vehicle was later diagnosed with total engine failure, a result of the oil-pressure issue.
Grand Prix Motors alleges that they area aware of other roadsters with similar problems. It has not been repaired.
No word on the damages Johnston seeks to recover, but figure on at least $1.7 million, plus whatever expenses were incurred for the repairs.
[Source: Auto Spectator]
(Top tip, anonymous!)
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Noah 1:30PM (6/15/2006)
This is a good chance for MB to get some good PR in LA. Buy back the car at purchase price plus cost of any repairs, diagnostics etc. And then run an ad about how their always working to satisfy or something.
Personaly I think as is, this is a lot of bad PR. If MB is willing to stick it to a purchaser of a 1.7M car, a dealer none the less imagine how little they will care about you?
And just incase things go sour it's only a short drive down the Santa Monica Freeway and off on the San Diego Freeway to to Santa Monica BMW...
--Noah
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Tyre 1:40PM (6/15/2006)
"Grand Prix Motors alleges that they area aware of other roadsters with similar problems. It has not been repaired."
I think that this needs to be rewritten.
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jl 1:52PM (6/15/2006)
The following is from LA times: According to Donna Boland, a spokesman for Mercedes, "The customer bought the vehicle directly from Germany. He imported it himself. It's not certified for sale here. It's a race car, period. We don't import it and we don'. The suite has no ground what so ever!!!!
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Fabulo 2:12PM (6/15/2006)
Here's a link to the LA times story. It gives more relevant information:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-carwar15jun15,0,4500141.story?coll=la-story-footer
You'd think if it was a 'normal' car, the dealership would do warranty work, MB would pay for it and all would forget about it. If the trouble continue, you can always file a Lemon suit in your friendly hood state court house. It's California, I'm sure there are Lemon laws there.
Now importing a car (that car!) from Germany, is it even street legal? How do you insure it? Doesn't it have to comply to all those fancy California regulations? Well, if not, I'm shipping me a Gold TDI right from germany in a big metal container right now...
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Mark 2:15PM (6/15/2006)
the only reason that car was put on sale was so MB could get it homologated to go racing with, they didnt actaully think anyone would be stupid enough to buy one for use on the road, it's a highly tuned race car, and needs a qualified pit crew to look after it, and the engine failure was his own stupid fault for continuing to drive it after the oil light came on
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VCOUI 2:48PM (6/15/2006)
Posted at 2:15PM on Jun 15th 2006 by Mark 0 stars
"3. the only reason that car was put on sale was so MB could get it homologated to go racing..."
Umm... Wasn't that done about *ten* years ago? The CLK GTR has not been run in competition since the late 90's.
Street legal versions of other GT cars have been made [i.e. Porsche GT1] and they usually take certain precautions such as de-tuning the motor to insure a bit more drivability and reliability.. That car was specifically designed to run 24 hours nonstop at Le Mans under race conditions. Most road cars couldn't last that long. You'd think a de-tuned car of this caliber run at streets speeds and distances should last s bit longer. Then again if you follow F1 you know MBZ doesn’t exactly have the greatest reliability record for their engines. I happen to work in the OE replacement parts industry and MBZ is our #1 product line due to their lack of build quality. It’s a shame since they used to be #1 for the opposite reason since their cars lasted so long.
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Joe 3:07PM (6/15/2006)
As silly as it seems to buy a car like this for the street you would still think the MBZ would fix the problem. After all Mercedes has just lost 1.7 million dollars in bad publicity over this. I was just eating lunch at the local deli and this was broadcast on CNN so lots of people are seeing the story.
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Richard Warren 3:15PM (6/15/2006)
Laughable, Grand Prix Motors has been around at that location for a long time, they sell USED cars. I knew several of the mechanics (not called techs back then)and the service manager. The place would sell anything then and will sell anything now. Fact is they bought this car from someone else, it's used and who knows what was done prior to them buying it.
Like I said at the start laughable.
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Richard Warren 3:22PM (6/15/2006)
Laughable, Grand Prix Motors has been around at that
location for a long time, they sell USED cars. I knew several of the mechanics (not called techs back then)and the service manager. The place would sell
anything then and will sell anything now. Fact is they bought a car considered used and not an export model(black/grey market)car , it's used and who knows what was done prior to them trying to sell it.
MB America has lost nothing by taking this stance and owes nothing to the owner as it's a car not covered under the North American division.
Like I said at the start, laughable
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Gamer90 3:25PM (6/15/2006)
#3 You can't exactly use that as an argument seeing as MB made 5 of these exclusive roadsters. Another thing is if the car's oil lamp came on only a few minutes into a test drive, obviously the car was defective before hand. Even if a pit crew was around it would still be a defective vehicle to begin with that would require repairs from a shop or even a qualified pit crew. The dealers argument is the car was defective either way.
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hhsohn 4:15PM (6/15/2006)
Man, that dealership has one sharp marketing guy...
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PJ 4:29PM (6/15/2006)
Hmm. I have a hard time believing that M-B officials weren't cautioning this guy every step of the way about what he was getting himself into. This was one of FIVE homologation specials produced to allow a very similar racing version to compete. It's not a hot-rodded CLK. It's clearly the kind of car one buys, trucks into an air-conditioned garage, and sells thirty years later for an exorbitant sum. Next to this, a Porsche Carrera GT is more analogous to a Corvette.
The bit about having the car trucked to Florida, only to have the mechanic leave the country before the job was completed, does seem a bit crass. But if I remember correctly, these five cars were made at least a few years ago. Are replacement parts even available? The article doesn't say whether the mechanic left to source the required parts, or if such parts would have to be specially fabricated.
Either way, I'm not sure how the dealership involved expected to be taking this thing out on miles-long test drives to begin with. Further evidence that common sense isn't so common...
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Steve 4:38PM (6/15/2006)
The buyer did see the latest JD Powers reliability report on MB, right? :P
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TJ 4:59PM (6/15/2006)
This reminds me of a movie from the 80s, I'm sure someone here on autoblog can remember the name. There was a guy about to get married and before he did, he decided to travel across the country to buy this fancy sports car. On his way home with the car, it begins falling apart. I think he had some fling with the sales lady and they may have been the two that ended up happily ever after. Anyone remember this movie?
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rip 5:32PM (6/15/2006)
huh? This car isn't even street legal. I'm not sure how the dealership thinks it's going to sell it along side a e-class.
And anyone that buys it is either going to park it somewhere or have a pit crew.
btw, I live in L.A. and I've never heard of Grand Prix Motors. Sounds like a leasing outfit or a used car dealer...
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Mal Fuller 6:07PM (6/15/2006)
#2Tyre,
You must be new to Autoblog, where typos, misspellings and ambiguous wording are a way of life! I hear that aspiring editors taking courses in journalism use this site as a training ground!
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Dude 6:26PM (6/15/2006)
#13. What are you talked about? Thiss intarweb teh home of write damaged english.
Breaking language is go for all!
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Richard Owen 9:26PM (6/15/2006)
This car was not made by Mercedes, and that's were most people have the story wrong. It is the product of HWA Motorsports who initially prepared the CLK GTR for racing. They made several road cars and 5 of these roadsters.
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Chosen1 12:02PM (6/16/2006)
That movie was "It Takes Two" where he bought the Countach lookalike called a Trovare. I love that movie. Went on a hunt and found it on VHS on ebay a few years ago. Classic.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095384/
-Chosen1
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John Wyman 3:26PM (6/16/2006)
Mercedes Benz is clearly in the wrong here. They need to take the citrus back! Three cheers for Mark Johnston for taking them on.
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