One of our forum members getting screwed over by a dealership

[DeliriousClam]

Originally Posted by 2011 Nismo#91

Wow what a terrible situation. I hope it all works out for the best.
I do find it hard to believe a dealership would intentional set fire to anyone's car "They set my car on fire". There's no upside for them. There are three types of cars I have seen catch fire on their own, old poorly maintained cars, Ferrari's, and highly modified cars. I think we do not enough info here to say what happened.

He has a 2009 (I believe) 370 Nismo with ~6,000 miles on it. It is turbocharged but the service manager told him he was lucky it didn't catch on fire on the way there (so they knew there was a fire hazard) because of a brake fluid leak which is the reason he brought it there in the first place.

they drove it two miles and, if I recall correctly, It was a 0.1 mile drive from where he parked it to the service center.

[cigarclifford]

All USA Nissan dealership's report directly to Nissan Corporate in the end

I would reach out and contact Nissan USA to make them aware of a terrible situation.

USA Nissan North America phone 615-725-1000


Hope that it works out for you

-Clifford

[2011 Nismo#91]

Originally Posted by DeliriousClam

He has a 2009 (I believe) 370 Nismo with ~6,000 miles on it. It is turbocharged but the service manager told him he was lucky it didn't catch on fire on the way there (so they knew there was a fire hazard) because of a brake fluid leak which is the reason he brought it there in the first place.

they drove it two miles and, if I recall correctly, It was a 0.1 mile drive from where he parked it to the service center.

My mistake, I though they told him he was lucky after it caught fire on them. Yeah their fault for not cleaning up the engine bay covered with brake fluid.

[wanker]

Why doesn't this guy make a claim to his insurer under his comprehensive coverage?

He will never be able to prove liability by the dealer. Sorry, but once you add FI to your car, the dealer and manufacturers can wipe their hands clean of any responsibility.

[VABAM]

Originally Posted by cigarclifford

All USA Nissan dealership's report directly to Nissan Corporate in the end

I would reach out and contact Nissan USA to make them aware of a terrible situation.

USA Nissan North America phone 615-725-1000


Hope that it works out for you

-Clifford

Actually Nissan Corporate is aware of the fire and wanted to send out an inspection team to check for possible defective parts. I'm not sure if Nisan got a look at it before it left the dealer.

Edit: Nissan did inspect the car. It was only to cover their asses.

[VABAM]

Originally Posted by wanker

Why doesn't this guy make a claim to his insurer under his comprehensive coverage?

He will never be able to prove liability by the dealer. Sorry, but once you add FI to your car, the dealer and manufacturers can wipe their hands clean of any responsibility.

The last I heard his insurance company is involved and is going after the dealer. You are correct about them not being liable for damage due to after market parts but knowing about a brake fluid leak near a turbo manifold then driving it 2 miles is negligence. Regardless of how the leak was caused it should have never have been started after being dropped off.

[VABAM]

If any one wants to jump in on the dealer's FB page a review has been posted.

Edit: Look for a review from a guy named Jeff.

[09 Nismo#400]

Man this sucks to hear, I will be staying away from them from now. Why did it even get driven two miles if it was dropped off at the service center when they stated it was already hazardous to drive in its current state? Someone at the dealership need to explain that one.

[Ghostvette]

Originally Posted by VABAM

If any one wants to jump in on the dealer's FB page a review has been posted.

Edit: Look for a review from a guy named Jeff.

[JARblue]

Fuckin dealershits

On the plus side, I know for a fact that Tim likes taking it up the butt

[DeliriousClam]

Originally Posted by 09 Nismo#400

Man this sucks to hear, I will be staying away from them from now. Why did it even get driven two miles if it was dropped off at the service center when they stated it was already hazardous to drive in its current state? Someone at the dealership need to explain that one.

We've been trying to figure that one out

[ZHighlander]

Originally Posted by Sean1125R

He needs to contact the BBB and file a claim, it doesn't matter if the dealership is a member of the BBB or not.

FYI, reporting anything to the BBB does practically nothing, unless all you want is just some record (if they even decide to keep it). They are not a government entity, just a private company. In fact, people have tried to file complaints about BBB themselves for a useless service.

What it comes down to is this. Any complaints filed to BBB, just gets the targeted company a notification of the complaint. The target company has a chance to respond. After an exchange of info between the customer and business, the claim is closed with either "Satisfactory" or "Unsatisfactory". Their "BBB rating" might be affected at some point from too many complaints, but that's assuming anyone cares about that rating. There is no enforcement... it's really just an oldschool Yelp. In fact, I think Yelp may be more effective nowadays.

Companies who wish to be featured with BBB, pays an annual fee so they can use the BBB logo on their website and say they're accredited. This may be useful for small businesses that aren't really known yet, but big businesses that's already established themselves really don't worry much about that. A bad rating once in a while really doesn't do much... just like Yelp... all it does is give people some rating info to base a decision on.

There have also been occasions where the BBB will ignore some complaints if the targeted company threatens to cancel out of their BBB membership.

Having a small business, I've been approached by BBB and even tried their service for a year. I found it pretty pointless and canceled it. They continued to call and sell me on their services like bad telemarketers. I found more value from word of mouth, social media, and yelp ratings than BBB.

But by all means, file a BBB complaint if you wish. If they aren't already signed on with them, they won't give a damn. If they are signed on, they still probably won't give a damn, if their reported attitude is any indication.

You're better off making Yelp entry. Or better yet, expose them to a Local News service... if they aren't already in the same pockets as the dealership.

[ChaseZ]

Originally Posted by VABAM

Actually Nissan Corporate is aware of the fire and wanted to send out an inspection team to check for possible defective parts. I'm not sure if Nisan got a look at it before it left the dealer.

Edit: Nissan did inspect the car. It was only to cover their asses.

Nissan Corporate owns 50% of the service centre of each dealership. It's their way of controlling/recouping costs for warranty work. Or that's how it was explained to me just a few weeks ago anyways.

Regardless of fault, though it was clearly theirs, they have insurance to cover this stuff anyhow. Sure they might take a little premium hit but it's peanuts in the whole midst of things. Not like they guys insurance isn't going to go after them anyhow. It will cost them more in legal fees than giving the guy a brand new car for free.

Shortsighted. Corrupt. Self serving ********. Those are the kind of guys that give car dealers a bad name.

Wish him well.


Edit: and yeah BBB does do squat.

[old guy]

If I read this correctly, then my thought is,these guys took this car for a hot joy ride heated up the turbo which caused the brake fluid ( leak ) to ignite.
Explains the miles and fluid fire! The fluid doesn't spontaneously combust!
Make an insurance claim/ let them fight it out!

[DeliriousClam]

Originally Posted by old guy

If I read this correctly, then my thought is,these guys took this car for a hot joy ride heated up the turbo which caused the brake fluid ( leak ) to ignite.
Explains the miles and fluid fire! The fluid doesn't spontaneously combust!
Make an insurance claim/ let them fight it out!

That's basically what happened. I've already contacted a CBS affiliate and yahoo news with the story on Isamu's behalf (I got his okay to)