I bought (paid cash) a used 1994 C280 Mercedes and was told by the Mercedes dealership that the car was in perfect condition. I checked with Carfax and nothing was reported. I had bought two other cars from this same dealership and had build a good relationship with them (I thought). After a few weeks of owning the vehicle everything started going wrong namely the engine. I asked Mercedes to please stand behind their vehicle and they flatly refused. I then hired an attorney and the dealership threatened me so I backed off. I then hired a Mercedes mechanic to repair the car which cost me around $2,500.00. Within a little over a year the head gasket has an oil lead and the mechanic will not stand behind his work. So, the car sits and is undrivable. I am so angry and frustrated. What can I do?

I would've done the same thing you did; talked to an attorney. What threats did they make that made you back off?

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Originally Posted by nikosmom

I would've done the same thing you did; talked to an attorney. What threats did they make that made you back off??

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Nikosmom - thank you for your response. The dealership told my attorney that I had harassed people at the dealership and that if I pursued a law suit against them they had witnesses who would testify against me. They fabricated a story to scare me and they succeeded.

And what did your attorney have to say about this? More importantly, did you feel like you'd harassed them?

Not sure about your state, but in NC we have what's called the Lemon Law which protects buyers from shady car sales. Check to see if you have something similar in your state. There's usually a small time frame (here I think it's 30 days) but provided that your troubles started within this window of time, I'd think you'd still have a case. Unless the legal fees would outweigh any possible gain given the age/cost of the car. :confused:

About the mechanic, that part would depend, did he replace the head gasket and it failed again a year later? I am guessing no, he probably fixed one problem and a new problem popped up a year later, in that case there is nothing to do here.

It goes back to the dealership, did the engine fail (the first time) within the time alloted to return the car? Also did you harass the dealership? I don't see how a threat to sue you for harrasement made you back off, unless there was a grain of truth to that statement.