Will Nissan North America help?
 

Long story short, I picked up my car in Connecticut on April 2nd at about 2pm. I hopped in and drove about 50-60 miles away to a friends house. I live in Indiana and drove the car home the next day.
As soon as I got out of the car, I was looking back at it and noticed a chip on the rear fender (I will post the pic as soon as I can, using my iPhone to post)
I immediately snapped a pic and emailed the salesman. Well here we are 6 weeks later and after it goes up the chain I am told, that I must have done it because their detailer is the best and would have noticed it.
They told me that my $500- $600 estimates are too much.
The conversation did not end well with the manager basically calling me a liar and that I was "badgering them".

Does anyone have experience dealing with Nissan North America directly?

I am pissed and will take this as far as necessary.

Good luck. If you didn't find it before you 'took delivery' and drove away, you're fighting an uphill battle.

yep, you took ownership of all damages when you drove off the lot. also, if you found an issue on 4/2, why are you posting now? it's almost June...

Took that long to go "up the chain".

I was giving them the time to do the right thing. I know it's an uphill battle but what happened to customer service?

Mate, come on you really can't be serious. First of all you should have checked the car before leaving the dealership and secondly it could have happened on your 50 odd mile journey back. Really! Blame yourself.

yea i doubt you will get anywhere. you shouldn't have let their detailer do the detail anyway. The dealership detailers probably don't care any more about your Z than a versa. But anyway, you have to notice that stuff before you drive off the lot

op- oh i see... yah, that would be more of a dealer courtesy service if they decided to help you out.

Sucks, but very doubtful you can get anybody to help with that....

Not a chance. You will see when I post a pic. It is not a rock chip. It is something that happens by slightly scraping something else.

Please guys, I am not an idiot. It is a small chip and I missed it while I was checking over the car. Yes, that is my fault and I may have to deal with it.

especially if you live too far to have your car serviced there. They MIGHT do it as a courtesy to try and get your business in service, but if they know you are a DIYer or are too far then why would they really care unless they are obligated, and since you drove it off the lot with the chip, they wouldnt be obligated to fix it.

Not ragging you but you should have walked around the car and checked it out before driving off the lot. When i bought my 09 sale person had me do it
for my protection as much as for the dealership.

Hope they repair it out of courtesy, but all the new cars I bought the dealer had me sign a disclaimer that all is good before I could drive out. And I checked it over with a fine tooth comb. Good luck to you.

So how did you not find this very large noticeable chip before you took delivery? I don't blame the dealer for not wanting to repair it.

Huh? And to think I would get help and a little understanding on this site.

I already stated that it isn't a VERY LARGE AND NOTICEABLE chip. It is fairly small and I missed it while walking around the car. I was probably a bit too excited to drive my new car. I did bring another blemish to thier attention and they made it right by me.

All I am asking is wether anyone has had any dealings with NNA and if so how did it go?

Why am I being bashed?? I don't get it. Are you all so perfect?

It's just the nature of internet forums.

Penny Arcade! - Green Blackboards (And Other Anomalies) (caution: vulgarity)

I haven't had dealings with NNA. If so, I'd let you know. Don't let it bother you. I wish you the best of luck with your issue.

I don't think NNA is going to be much of a help. I also don't think you are being bashed or flamed. We're not saying we are perfect and you screwed up. WHat they are trying to say I think I don't throw the dealer under the bus and look at it from their prospective

I do look at it from their perspective. That is why I haven't stated the name of the dealer. I used to work on cars. I was a car audio installer. I NEVER accused a customer of lying even when I knew deep down that they, most likely, were. I always tried to find a solution. Most of the time I did. What frustrates me the most is the way I was talked to. Guess this is what I get for buying out of state. Lesson learned.

LOL, nobody is bashing you and nobody has said they were perfect. We are looking at this from a unbiased, non-emotional point of view. That point of view is that the dealer has no control of the vehicle the second you drive it off the lot. They may be really nice and have it fixed, but if that were my car I'd get over it and certainly not expect the dealer to be responsible for something that I missed.

When you post questions on public message boards you better expect to hear some opinions that differ from yours.

Fair enough.

This could be a difiicult one to prove. I have deal with Nissan North America and after 4 months they replaced my front bumper. However I don't know about your case.

Post pics!!

I emailed Nissan NA to complain about my Infiniti dealer and the way I was treated by them. Got a return call on my home number that they must have gotten from my previous 2 Infiniti purchases, because I did not provide it to them. I called them back and asked them to call my work number and never heard back from them. Called the lady back 5 more times and left messages asking her to return the call and got nothing.

When I bought my Z, it was purchased on a Sunday and I was told they could not detail it until later in the week. I returned the car that Friday (at their request) and they cleaned it up. When I got home I noticed 2 dents in the hood that I had not noticed before. I called my salesman and told him and asked what he could do. He called me back, said he spoke to the SM and they feel I caused it and they could not have but they would look at it, but don't bring it in tomorrow because it is going to be a big selling day and we will have a lot of customers here!

I called Dent Doctor, paid to have the dents fixed and will never go back to the dealership.

Hate to tell you this, but it is probably going to be easiest on you to just pay to have it fixed and get back to enjoying your car.

E

Thank you. This is exactly the info I was looking for.

You may be on your own here, but try contacting Nissan directly, see if they can help. I took almost an hour inspecting my car for scratches/etc. And I drove away knowing that there were a few minor scratches on the car. Doesn't bug me too much. In 5 years that car is going to look like it went through WW2 and Vietnam.

My opinion is - you shouldve done a very close inspection before you drove off, but good luck trying to get Nissan to fix it for you.

Car dealers will do alot of stuff that other retailers wouldn't do. I bought my 370Z from a Nissan dealer that I previously bought 3 other vehicles from.

I bought my 370Z the first week they came out in January 09. It was not in stock. I traded in a 350Z. I wanted to give them the car when they got the black 370Z. They pulled the ole "we need to keep the car to keep the $$ figures intact" on the deal.

I agreed, but with the caveat that I needed to put the stock wheels on the 350Z and keep my Nismo LMGT4's. They said no problem. In writing.

Well, apparently the used car manager likes Nismo rims, because he refused to give the wheels to me when I brought the stock ones in the next day. Got real ugly and said the trade-in quote included the Nismos. I showed him the written note. He said he did not write that. The salesman did. Said the salesman did not know how these things work.

Straight up dishonesty.

I cursed. Alot. I told them give me back my sizable down payment, give me back my car and I was leaving.

The general manager then entered the picture and "fixed" the deal back to the agreed upon terms.

I bought the car simply because I wanted it. I should have walked away and gone elsewhere, but I know of no really good Nissan dealers in my area.

I think the OP is being unreasonable.

You drove the car away, the dealer has no way to know how that chip happened and whether or not they were responsible. You would have to prove you didn't do it to the car and how are you going to do that? You can't expect the dealer to pay for a chip you have likely caused. Are they supposed to fix paint chips on cars with mileage at the first oil change? LOL they would go BK. It is your resposibility to check the car for that type of damage before taking it off the lot. Blame yourself and leave Nissan alone. They won't, and shouldn't do anything for you. The more I type the angrier I get about this thread. It's this type of entitlement attitude that is costing consumers alot of money in the end, because the cost of handling unreasonable consumers gets passed down to everyone else eventually.

Sorry that you feel this way. There is no sense of entitlement here. I KNOW I didn't cause the damage and if you really read all of my posts you would see that I realize that I screwed by not checking the car well enough. What I am more pissed about is the way it was handled by the dealer.
I was basically called a liar.

So you can be mad all you want but your anger is misdirected.

Thank you all for your input. I know that most of you don't agree with me and that is fine.

You drove the car off the lot and noticed the damage 60 miles later? I would have to say , A. it sucks, B. I don't think you have a leg to stand on.

It's not a question of me calling you a liar. I am not. But you cannot realistically expect someone else to pay for your mistake, which was driving the car off of the lot without a proper inspection. You blew it and you need to man up and accept that. Sorry it is what it is.

I think he noticed the damage 1000+ miles later. A lot can happen between CT and IL. It's only an assumption that the damage existed when he picked it up.....Can't really blame the dealer in this case....Especially goven the $600 estimate.....THAT would be noticeable.

Billydsz, I am not saying that you called me a liar. The dealer did.

Modshack, Thanks for the confidence. If that were the case I'd want them to fix the rock chips that I got while driving back to Indiana. Or the mark that happened when a rake fell over in my garage and hit the car. Why is it so hard to give me the benefit of the doubt? The estimates are to remove the bumper cover, paint and blend the area that was chipped, re-clear and reinstall. Obviously I should have noticed it but I didn't. My bad.

But I'm going to concede here. I guess I am wrong in my thinking that it should have been taken care of.

Guys, I will put this to bed.

I F'ed up and will take the responsibility.

Man, I know the frustration, though. Hopefully, all goes smoothly from here on out. In my first car (Mazda6), I replaced 6 tires in the first 18 months. I had horrendous luck. I caught nails in the sidewalls, pothole-bourne impact marks... It was bad. But she's been a solid daily driver ever since, 7 years later.

Yup you screwed up, just like every other person on this board has at one point or another. Enjoy your car and contribute to the community here, there is a wealth of knowledge that you can benefit from.

Life must be really uneventful for you to get this upset over this thread... are you a salesman? Or maybe both???
The OP doesn't have much experience and he's looking for answers. He's hoping the dealer would go by the honor system. Something you don't find these days. Yes he's expecting too much for the situation but your comments are type overboard. Chill out bro... lol

OP
A few scratches give a car character. No worries. Life is all bout learning from mistakes. You won't make that mistake again. :)

It's a pet peave of mine sorry for the over the top response. No offense intended but the honor system died with George Washington. Now we have infomercials about how to pay ten cents on the dollar for back taxes.

You aren't being "bashed" when people point out that you have no rights on this matter since you ACCEPTED DELIVERY of the vehicle. You should have been more careful. That is not bashing, that is people with common sense telling you that you screwed up by not checking the car.

And no, nobody is perfect on this site, except the Admin. I like to butter up the Admin, so he's perfect. Why, he is even f-l-a-w-l-e-s-s. :tup:

I think it is bashing when the tone that has been implied in many of these posts is used. In his excitement he made a mistake. Everybody has done it.

The internet has no method for expressing emotion and simply putting a smiley at the end of a sentence does not remove the harshness of a statement.

E

This is why I feel like I was being bashed. You assume that I have no common sense because I made a mistake.

My biggest flaw has always been that I take people at their word. I guess I am just too trusting of people. It really didn't cross my mind that I should have to inspect a brand new car. I just trusted that if there were a problem that it wouldve been brought to my attention.

As I have said MANY TIMES here. I have learned a valueable lesson from all of this.

glad you learned something from the situation. you might have had a better chance getting a complimentary bottle of touch-up paint (a $10-$15 value) for the chip. asking them to remove and repaint the entire part is a bit overkill.

i don't blame you for missing the chip. i've bought several cars in my life and i always prepare to look at every millimeter of the car. i usually end up rushing the inspection from the excitement. but at the end of the day, you have to put yourself in their shoes. i wouldn't give you $600 after coming back to me with several miles. i might throw in the touch-up paint as a courtesy, but that's it. there's no way to prove it was there while it was in their possession.

if it was so small that you didn't notice it when you took delivery, no one but you will know it's there with a good chip repair.

I hear your pain Dembfyr. Unfortunately, you missed it and now you are just going to have to deal with it and fix it on your dime/time. If the dealer was cool they would just take care of you, but since this is kind of a pricy fix (paint work I assume?) they don't want to mess with it, especially since you noticed it after it left their lot. But I hear your pain and I would be pissed at them too. I would just get PDR on it if you can. Is there paint damage? Chock this up to a learning experience. This will not happen again, right?

A similar story I had and the outcome was positive:

Years ago took my Civic to Sears to get a battery replaced. My car was mint with no dings. Went got the battery installed, drive home and when I parked I saw a nickel size ding in the fender! That was not there before. Was on the same side as the bettery. I was convinced they did it when putting in the battery. Drove there the next day and complained. Manager looks at it and agrees to have it fixed. They could of said the same thing your dealer said but they were great about it. If they didn't I would of been SOL as I did not notice it before I left their store! I now check over the car everytime before I leave!!!