Service After The Sale

In 2004, Mark Johnston (owner of an exotic car dealership in Los Angeles) purchased a Mercedes-Benz AMG CLK-GTR Limited Edition Roadster (to sell), one of only six ever made. With a 1.7 million dollar price tag, one would only think that the manufacturer would take every precaution necessary to ensure the owner was happy. Well, Mr. Johnston is not very happy at all. In fact he is suing Mercedes-Benz, its parent company Daimler Chrysler, and other affiliates because none of the above listed organizations will assume the costs of warranty repairs to the sports car that won't even go ten blocks without breaking down. So far, the car's transmission has failed to shift properly, the hydraulic jack system has failed and the car's windows came unglued. Upon Mr. Johnston's complaint, Mercedes did an inspection and ultimately determined that the car did suffer from an oil pressure-related engine failure ... but refuses to make any repairs. See, it does pay to drive cheap cars such as a Geo Metro or Yugo ... sure they have about as much structural integrity as a soda can, but when it dies you really don't feel too bad when you have to throw in the towel and junk it.