The Lemon Lamborghini


5
Ed ShullAugust 20th, 2009

The Lamborghini Gallardo was a lemon!

Most would consider Lamborghini (I’ve always preferred Ferrari) to be a dream car.  But to at least one man, the bull emblem may now represent a nightmare.

Ralph Gertz of Scottsdale, AZ has owned 2 Lamborghini’s, the latest a 2008 Lamborhini Gallardo Spider, which cost him nearly $250,000.  But the bright orange Gallardo is, according to Gertz, and a judge, is a lemon.

According to Gertz, the problem started immediatly, the breaks were squeaking.  He took the car back to the dealership where they told him that the brakes just needed time to “break-in”.  After months of the squeaking, Ralph Gertz took his Lamborghini Gallardo back to the dealer several times, all with no help.

Eventually Gertz, a real estate investor, brought the car to his home in Scottsdale where he had the local dealer check out the car.  He had the brakes completely replaced, but still the problems persisted.

After that Gertz says Lamborghini officials became unresponsive, no longer taking his calls, and blowing off meetings.  Not the behavior one would expect from a company selling $300k cars.  So Gertz filed a complaint with the Washington State Attorney General’s Office.

Gertz won, and a judge declared the 2008 Lamborghini Gallardo a lemon.  One has to wonder why Lamborghini didn’t just replace the damn car instead of being labeled a maker of lemon cars by a Washington state judge.  Lamborghini is now required to provide a complete refund to Ralph Gertz.

Ralph said he hadn’t decided on what car to buy next.  Ralph, could I recommend the Tesla?  It’s fast, sporty, American made and good for the environment.  Plus, I think it looks cooler.  If you’re reading this Ralph, let us know what you end up buying.


I'm the editor of Filthy Lucre, and the CEO of USWeb. I write about things I find interesting in the financial and business space, and often gadgets. I'm an unapologetic Apple fanboy I spend most of my waking day near an iMac, iPhone or iPad. I split my time between my beach condo in Baja, and my home in Las Vegas.
 

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  • dan kresha

    uh, "brakes".

  • e-man

    Most likely, the car just had ceramic brakes. They stop VERY fast, but always make noise because the ceramic is harder than the steel rotors. They also chew up the rotors faster than lesser brake pads, requiring more frequent brake service.

    Every high-end European "super" car could be considered a lemon. They are race cars, not really designed or intended for use on city street. There simply isn't any 600+ horsepower car that DOESN'T need frequent repairs just to keep it in tune. Then, all that power is very destructive to the drive train, steering components, brakes, etc…

    I don't know why people buy race cars and expect them to behave like luxury cars…or people who buy Jeep Wranglers and expect them to go fast around corners without rolling.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/bobjr94 bobjr94

    This is complete abuse of the lemon law but a slimy want to be high roller who knows how to use the system. He basically rented a car to show off for a year and then got his money back.
    They need to change the lemon law to not apply to limited production vehicles, have a cut off of 60,000$ or not apply to non-essential items (squeaks, rattles etc).

    Now the car is seriously devalued, being used and branded "lemon law" on the title. If he drove it to his winter home, the I assume he has owned it for a year. He brought it back right before the cut off date for the lemon law.

    The design of the brakes is geared to top performance and not quite cruising around town. The compounds the pads are made will cause noise like he is getting. The only fix would be to get some brake pads custom made, with a lower performance friction material.

    He should have bought a BMW,Benz, Lexus or something else if he wanted quite.

    I see he also got a traffic ticket on 4/2/2009 in Arizona, maybe thats when he decided he had to find a way to get rid of the car.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/filthylucre filthylucre

    bobjr94 – I'm not sure I agree with the idea that lemon law should have a cap, especially on $60k. That seems a bit crazy. Why do you think this guy scammed the system?

  • ralph gertz

    Hi; I immediately bought a 2008-Lamborghini Superleggera in October 2009. I sold that car in June of 2011. I just bought another brand new 2011- Orange Superleggera in November of this year. They are in my opinion fabulous cars!! None of the cars mentioned had or have ceramic brakes. Ralph G


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