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A guy who endured a nightmare of Ferrari ownership is now suffering with a used Aston Martin

Jalopnik's Doug DeMuro has fashioned himself into an automotive guinea pig of sorts, testing out car theories so that the rest of us don't have to.

His latest act of self-sacrifice: buying a second-hand 2007 Aston Martin Vantage for $45,000 and using it as his daily driver.

This follows on the heels of his most recent ordeal: a year-long nightmare of Ferrari ownership.

Oddly enough, the big story here involves the $3,800 unlimited, bumper-to-bumper warranty DeMuro bought along with it. It covers all maintenance, and it does it forever. In the fewer than two months and 900 miles DeMuro has owned his Aston Martin, it has more than paid for itself.

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So far, water has leaked into the cabin from a clogged air conditioning channel, a $738 thermostat has failed, a rock became caught in one of the brake assemblies, and a timing issue required a $4,409 fix.

All were covered by the warranty, and while DeMuro has not seen as much of his new ride as he would have liked, he has not paid a cent for any of this.

Why would Aston Martin offer it then, when they could so quickly loose their shirts?

They probably imagine most of their clients will be using their cars more sparingly — as occasional weekend playthings. Despite delivering unrivaled performance and luxury, most owners treat exotic or high-end cars to pampered lives in cushy garages. Aston also has to appeal to a level of client that expects a care-free ownership experience.

Also, it's important to mention here that not all Aston Martins experience such frequent problems. And that for car companies, bad reputations are sometimes easy to make but hard to loose.

The news of Demuro's exploits is appreciated among the Business Insider transportation team, however. Recently, our own Matt DeBord and Ben Zhang fell so in love with a new Aston Martin DB9 that they considered buying one for themselves.

Luckily, they can thank Doug Demuro and Jalopnik for taking that bullet for them.

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