CRU Automotive

CRU flat out lied to me. And upcharged me for the privilege. I purchased a 2017 Mercedes SL550 from them. When I was negotiating on it I noticed that the price had jumpe And upcharged me for the privilege. I purchased a 2017 Mercedes SL550 from them. When I was negotiating on it I noticed that the price had jumped up the week before. When I asked why I was told, “Yes, we updated the vehicle's price. When it arrived, we discovered a leak in the right shock that needed to be fixed. Initially, the parts were going to cost $4,000, but we got it for $2,000 and added this amount to the car's price.” (Quoted from the email). I was fine with this as Mercedes parts aren’t cheap, especially on an ABC equipped vehicle (a well known Mercedes issue). Then I was told that shipping was delayed because they had found (apparently another) shock that needed replacing and they were doing that. When it arrived and I took it to my shop for an oil change you can imagine my surprise (and anger) when I learned that no struts/shocks had been replaced as all were still the original factory installed equipment, that one in the front and one in the back were actively leaking, and that they had been for some time. Obviously CRU knew this but did nothing about it despite telling me they had and passing the cost on too me in the price to account for that work. To add insult to injury, the brake pads were gone all the way around and damaging the rotors (necessitating new all around), the timing cover was leaking oil, the cold air intakes were literally falling apart (what I took as high temperature tape from the pictures of one intake was actually literal tin-foil placed on the top of the intake tube and tucked into the split open tube), the center console doors were broken and so was the sunblind shade. A basic inspection would’ve revealed these things and I assumed that a company that had such good reviews in other online places would’ve taken care of that and that I could rely on their transparency and good faith. That wrong assumption on my part earned me a $25,000.00 repair bill for a car that I’ve literally driven less than 15 miles since purchase. Lesson learned. Bottom line- caveat emptor, get a pre-purchase inspection, and do not trust CRU Automotive. More