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Mercedes c240

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Michelle of Los Angeles (2/20/04):
I was pulling away from the curb in front of my home and realized I had a flat tire on the rear wheel. I initially tried to temporarily repair the tire with "fix-a-flat" so that I could drive it to my local tire shop for repair. When the "fix-a-flat" did not work, my boyfriend rolled up his sleeves and replaced the flat tire with the spare tire.

Stored along side the spare tire in a neat little package was supposedly everything we would need to change the tire (jack, white cotton gloves, etc.). Nowhere in the neat little package were there additional "special" lug nuts that were supposed to be used with the spare tire. In addition, the spare tire repair kit was completely devoid of any instructions or any warning regarding the use of "special" lug nuts when using the spare tire. Accordingly, my boyfried proceeded to change the tire and replace the lug nuts used with the original tire to secure the spare. Well, as it turns out, the original lug nuts (which have the same shape and head size as the mysterious "special" nuts) are too long to use with the spare tire and if used to affix the spare will result in severe damage to the wheel hub and other allegedly vital wheel accessories.

Long story short, the car would not move so we called Mercedes Road Side Assistance where we learned, for the first time, about the "special" nuts. Let me emphasize that the nuts were not with the rest of the spare tire repair kit, but in fact were rolling around loose in a completely separate compartment of the car, and there was absolutely NO WARNING or any other precaution (i.e., making it impossible to use the original nuts on the spare tire) taken to insure that someone who is not a certified Mercedes mechanic could perform the simple task of changing a flat tire without causing serious damage to VERY EXPENSIVE car parts.

I am now told it will cost $1600 to repair the damage done by the simple installation of a spare tire. That's on top of the $100 they are charging me to tow the car to the dealership which is approximately 3 miles from my house and the $235 they charged me to "diagnose" the problems with the car. RIDICULOUS!!!! When I complained about the absurd concept apparently created for the C240, I was told I was not the first person to make this mistake. HMMMM. That lead me to believe that Mercedes is well aware of this scam and uses it to further rip off those of us who are paying too much for our cars as it is. When my lease expires with Mercedes on this car, they can rest assured that I will be taking my business elsewhere.

Bertha of Newton MA (10/29/03):
I bought the "best engineered car of my dreams" a C240 Mercedes-Benz. it is the most expensive car I've ever purchased and the first non-American model. it is the car of my nightmares. In 2 years I've had over 22 repairs (shocks, gas tank cap, fuel indicator, heating system, roof leak, computer data system, cracked wood trim). Every time I get in the car, I wonder what will go wrong next. I do not trust the car for travel beyond a 75-mile radius from the house. It is the worst car I've ever owned and by comparison, American cars are bedrocks of engineering and reliability.

Visits to repair shop every 1-3 months for the past two years - loss of time, loss of patience and loss of faith in Mercedes salesman who claimed that these are the best engineered cars in the world.

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