Love my Z but bought a crashed one from a dealer with full factory warranty

BlackCherry Z

Hi everybody. I'm a new member on the forum and am developing a issue with my newly purchased -Used- 2016 Base 307Z. I LOVE the car so I in No way want to have it bought back. I got the car with only 6800 miles on it. It was sold as Used but the Dealer sticker on the window had a check mark in the Full Factory Warranty box with approximately 2 years remaining or 29,200 miles left of coverage.. The unchecked box was As Is. During the sale I was assured the car did have the full warranty in effect. The window sticker also advertised a Clean Car Fax record could be verified. This turned out to NOT be true and found that out one day after signing all docs. The Car Fax did indicate the car had been in a minor collision only with cosmetic damage on the front end of the vehicle so I didn't panic over this to much since the car seemed to drive OK. I did notice the Low a Tire Low Pressure Warning Light On and was concerned as to why during the sale and prior to delivery. I was told not to worry. The car was taken and cleaned/prepped/ and the tire pressure issue was supposed to be addressed as well while I finished up with the Finance Dept. loan Docs. I was also supposed to get the Car Fax report for the Z as promised by the finance loan person. He also assured me verbally that the car was "Car Fax Clean". He forgot to get it for me and it got late & I was tired as well. I really believe that he did not purposely lie to me since the car sticker on the window did state the clean car fax in writing.

OK to try and make a long story shorter. The tire issue including new wheel locks with a key since the key was totally missing with the locks that came with the car (that's another story) finally got corrected several days later but not before delivery and much aggravation. All now seemed OK except missing vin tags & tire pressure tags in the drivers pillar due to a now known left side pillar replacement. The Body work & Paint look just fine at this time. I have noticed a slight rattle in the left door panel arm rest area when going over bumps only so it needs to be corrected but no big deal. The Engine/Transmission/Rear End perform flawless.

Now for the problem... After three weeks and a few hundred miles of use, I started to hear a clicking sound when coming to a stop coming from the left front wheel. I thought it was brake related. I dropped the car off at a different Dealer near by my area for a checkup. Bad news. I'm told that my spindle or the part that it mounts to is totally damaged and had obvious signs of a collision which caused a wheel to drag and carve into the suspension part. That part now could NOT be covered under factory warranty replacement since the part was physically damaged and had not failed which is the provision of the Nissan warranty. I had to pay out of pocket within the first month of ownership $885 for this repair including a 4 wheel alignment. The clicking sound turned out to be micro fracturing in the material in several places on the back side of the part that ultimately could have caused the entire spindle to break off and do really bad things. OK so I got past all of this and paid the $ to replace the bad part. The car was then inspected underneath by this Dealer and no further damage was seen. The warranty was verified to now be fully in effect by this Dealer and all should be well. BUT... After a few more weeks, the left front brake is making noise upon stopping but only sometimes. It also has a very loud tire noise when turning right if going fast enough like a curved freeway off-ramp for instance. I believe this may be a wheel bearing going out but this was supposed to have been checked out as OK during the left front spindle repair. That was only a few hundred miles ago when checked last. Now for my question..... What do you guys think I should do if the Dealer will not fix this issue under warranty? By the way, I am going to go back to the Dealership where I bought the car for the next evaluation. I am hoping they may be more flexible since they sold me the car in the first place. I was for warned that if something else related to the accident turned up, that may also NOT be covered. I not going back there for the next evaluation because of this.

SouthArk370Z

Unless you have the knowledge and resources to DIY all your repairs, NEVER buy a wrecked/salvaged car.

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Cyber370

Ah man I feel for you. The best advice I can give at this point, you may not like. I would definitely force the dealer to take it back for undeclared accident damage. I would not keep the car. There are plenty of '16 Z Base coupes out there. You do not need to settle for a damaged one. I don't know how much you paid for it but I'm willing to bet you didn't save much since the accident damage was not declared.
Where I live in Quebec, this stuff goes on all the time. Our consumber protection laws are almost non-existent when it comes to shady dealers selling cars with undisclosed accident damage. They are not required to take the car back, believe it or not. But in the US, I believe you guys have very good laws against this sort of thing. Use them. Drive your car back to the dealer you bought it from and ask for a complete refund including out-of-pocket expenses. If the dealer refuses, sue them. It's an open and shut case based on your description of the situation.
I would not, under any circumstances, keep an accident damaged '16 Z that I paid full price for. Even at a discounted price, I would not keep it. Good luck!

Z-Girl 12

Fight tooth and nails to take it back...

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TreeSemdyZee

I second that motion.
Keep all documentation for the issues that you've had. You'll need it for proof.

I wouldn't care if I had gotten the car for free. I would not keep it.

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God-Speed

Very Sorry to hear this as well. Dealerships will tell you everything and things you want to hear and make promises, but once the papers are signed and the car is driven off the lot, all promises are out the window. Always
get things in writing if you can. Like others have said take the car back to the dealership and get them to make it Right. Hope things get better for ya with the car.

Chuck33079

This. If you get nowhere with the GM of the dealer, lawyer up. Make them take it back. Get a sport model for a replacement.

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OldGuyFla

That is really sad that a dealership would function like that. If you have the physical proof (window stickers) that say a clear car fax, get a lawyer. I would say that's why they didn't produce the car fax. That is fraud.
Best of luck!

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BlackCherry Z

I did get the car for a really good price of $24,000 They wanted $26,100.
It would be hard to unwind the car since I traded in a 2014 Scion FRS lease car that turned to be $8000 upside down. My trade in quote from Toyota a few months back was not upside down but I didn't understand about how leases work & my quote was based upon an upgrade from the same dealer that originally leased. The buy out amount from any other dealer would be way more as I found out when negotiating the Z trade. I ending up adding that on into the financing minus the $5 grand I put down on the Z. The bottom line is I owe more on the car than I paid the Dealer for it so A buy back would not be possible unless the dealer did pay all extra costs involved.

I did get a chance to unwind after I discovered the accident information but choose not to based upon how the car performed & looked as well. I really didn't want that FRS back at all. I guess I took a chance on this but later on was assured no further accident damage was present from Nissan when the front end part was replaced. That most likely will not help if the wheel bearing on the same area (left front wheel) is now starting to fail possibly due to the impact from the collision. The actual assembly bearing/hub Assy. is not a real expensive part. It's listed at $169.00. I figure this would be about 1 to 1 1/2 hours of labor to install. Hopefully next week I will get this looked at & if all goes well, the dealer where I bought the car will replace this under warranty. If not, I will have to lay out the cash & get it done. Then as it has been stated, I will use my Legal Shield team to attempt to recover my cash for both repairs from the selling dealership. I am going to keep it as it does run so well other wise. The car fax report only indicates very minor cosmetic damage reported on the front of the car. Not totally true but no impact to the car value based upon the report. This Z is Not a salvaged car at all. It has a completely clean title. I still do agree though, who wants to buy a damaged car when there are so many out there that are not. This was not my intention at all. But this is kind of complicated due to my circumstances.

Thanks for your opinion along with the other members who have responded as well. I do value it. It does appear to be an open & shut case almost.... But I did refuse an Un-Wind option at one point but I was already funded & insurance was also changed over. Plus The car was running just fine without any obvious front end issue from the previous collision for the first couple of weeks of ownership. I will post after I get to the dealer with hopefully good news. I really don't want to "lawyer up" if at all possible. Believe it or not, I bought this car to help me un-stress over a family Trust issue after my parents both passed away. Sometimes it is hard to win with so many curves thrown at us all the time.

MagmaRed370z

Take it back. Not worth the eternal worrying. Buy a new sport model.

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Trips

So sorry to hear about your bad experience with this dealer.

I can only wish you the best in whatever direction you decide to move forward with both of which will be a pia sooner or later.

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The BlueMax

Sounds like you have fixed just about everything associated with wreck, so the dealer came down 2,200 off their asking price, that should cover these unfinished mistakes and you got a car thats only a year old

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JerryDeluxe

Take it back bro, they lied

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BlackCherry Z

This is exactly why I am not wanting to return the car because at this point, it looks and runs so well. It's fully aligned and is very tight down the road. The tracking is excellent as well. The remaining issue is really very minor I truly believe except the fact I know I was lied too. Other members advise to fight the dealership for the fraud they pulled on me. Maybe my best compromise is to fight down the road for the added cost of repairs and not give up a what feels like could now be a solid car. This is my 4th Z and every one of them had issues I had to tweak out since they were all bought used. You are also right BlueMax. The car was discounted enough to cover the cost of getting the car into shape for sure. Originally had a sticker price of $32.900 when brand new. It's going to be very interesting to see how the service department where I bought the car handles this next week. And Thanks for your view on this!!!!

BlackCherry Z

Thanks a lot. My next move will be to get the wheel bearing/hub replaced assuming the dealer where I bought the car agrees with that under warranty. That should help finish up with this PIA issue I have already spent a lot of time on. The door panel rattle should be covered without any grief under the factory warranty also. And.... If all goes as planed, I will then just try and recover the $885 I spent on the damaged front end part. If I don't succeed with this, as long as the car is fixed, I'll be OK. I'll get to the dealer within the week where I bought the car but it's 25 miles from my home. That is a PIA for me!
AND If they won't fix it under warranty, I'll go back to the dealer close to home that repaired the last part and have them install the bearing at my cost. Then I'll go after the dealer that sold me the car for both repairs costs along with other out of pocket expenses.

OK here's the unofficial results at the dealership where I bought the car from. They did diagnose and repair/replace under warranty my front left wheel bearing/hub Assy. They got the factory to pay for it. I have not picked up the car yet but they claim all of the weird tire roar is now gone. They are currently looking into a left door rattle that happens when the window is rolled all the way up. This seems common as I have read on the forum. They gave me a loaner to drive during this visit and I won't see my car till Monday. It looks like my PIA issues may be coming to a welcome end and I finally may be just driving and having fun as originally planned!