An arbitrator has told a Fort Lauderdale car dealer to take back a used car from a woman and pay her, but the dealer has yet to pay up.
Kim Muratori said her 2018 Mercedes E-400 has sat in her parking lot for about a year.
She told CBS News Miami that a mechanic deemed it unsafe to drive. “I was advised not to drive it more than a yard or two,” Muratori said.
This is just one of the issues she’s run into since she first bought it as a certified pre-owned car in November of 2022 from Mercedes-Benz of Fort Lauderdale.
She said about six months after buying it, she saw its bumper had fallen off with a zip tie holding it to the frame.
“I was in shock,” Muratori said. “When you buy a certified Mercedes-Benz, you expect to be in not just good mechanical shape but the body structure all those things.”
She said the dealer fixed the bumper at no cost. But then she said the car started running rough, so she had an independent Mercedes technician run tests and found in a diagnostic report that the car had been driven 114,688 kilometers, or about 71,000 miles, which was much higher than the 39,000 miles shown on the dashboard odometer.
“It’s almost double the mileage,” Muratori said.
After another independent mechanic determined the car shouldn’t be on the road due to damaged suspension components, she hired a lawyer and went to arbitration with the dealer and won.
Mercedes-Benz’s website says certified pre-owned cars must pass a 165-point inspection. An arbitrator said that the dealer couldn’t produce a completed Mercedes-Benz certified pre-owned checklist during the hearings. Muratori said she never received one either.
“I felt like the arbitrator was knowledgeable about this process,” Muratori said. “He knew the internal paperwork of Mercedes-Benz better than I think they did.”
Because of that, the arbitrator ruled the dealer violated the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.
“I find that the dealership violated 501.976 (3) of the FDUTPA,” The arbitrator wrote in his ruling.
The arbitrator added that “No reason has been given for the absence of the CPO checklist.”
Arbitration victory, but no resolution
The arbitrator awarded Muratori more than $66,000 in total damages and told the dealer to take the car back and cover her attorney fees. The arbitrator also ruled that the dealer must pay Muratori back for every car payment she’s made and continues to make since April 25 of this year, when the arbitration hearings began.
The dealer appealed with the American Arbitration Association. The attorney for Muratori listed the denial of the appeal by the AAA in a court filing.
“I was grateful for the arbitration award. But right after that, their attorney, who is in Fort Lauderdale, basically just blew us off,” Muratori said.
But Muratori told CBS News Miami that she hasn’t gotten anything yet. So, she’s going to court to get the ruling enforced.
“We’ve made every attempt to notify them,” Muratori said. “Reach out to their attorney. Their attorney says he’s too busy. Maybe next week. So he’s avoiding bringing this to closure.”
When reached for comment, the dealer’s general manager referred CBS News Miami to the dealer’s parent company, AutoNation, who declined to comment, citing the pending legal battle.
CBS News Miami reached out to the dealer’s attorney four different days this week and has not received a response. Mercedes-Benz USA said it would get back to CBS News Miami but has not.
Muratori told CBS News Miami she will have to keep paying her lawyer to go to court.
“I keep pouring money out, money out, money out,” Muratori said.
