Another reason to avoid the Nissan

By the way, the part to fix my car still hasn't come in.

So, I've not had my car since late January. I was assured that the part was coming April 1. Round about April 1, I get a call saying the part has been "released". Now I thought that meant that they were shipping it immediately.

Nope. Having your part released means at least three more weeks of waiting.

I get the feeling that they're just trying to run out the clock on the lease. Of course, that's another 12 months away, but the way it's been going, it wouldn't surprise me if it took another year to get the part.

Just something to think about when looking to buy a car.

I guess "just in time" inventory has morphed into "Just Three or Four Months From Now" inventory at Nissan North America.

 

Nissan has known for some time now that the part was on backorder. It hasn't made it get here any faster (and the customer service rep from Nissan North America was the one who lied about the part being available at another dealership in order to get out of providing a rental car as I requested).

Personally, I kind of think the transmission isn't a little-used part. They should probably have more of those around.

Nissan should be required to keep parts that make the thing run. Or at least provide them within a reasonable time period. Say 30 days at the most. The fact that Nissan is allowed to operate as a going concern while also not suppling the parts that make their cars run for months at a time is atrocious. If I were in charge, they wouldn't be allowed to sell cars in this state unless they had an adequate supply of parts on hand. And if anyone's car waited longer than 30 days for a repair, they'd have to shut every dealership in the state down until they made the part available.

And my personal opinion, the loaner car should be comparable to the car the person has purchased. If it's going to take three or four months to fix the car, the owner shouldn't notice the difference to any great degree.

I also think the dealership is at fault for giving me a loaner car with temporary tags which were set to expire on March 15th, but not saying anything about the metal tags being in until Friday (essentially they let me drive around with expired plates for a month).

Oh, and the dealership did provide me with a loaner car the day after I first asked for one. It originally didn't come up because it was only going to be five days, according to the lady at Nissan North America. So, since I had access to a friend's truck at the time, I didn't ask for a loaner.

After a month, I was going to have to give the truck back. At that time, the April 1st date became the drop-dead-it'll-definitely-be-there date. The dealership then told me to call Nissan and ask about a rental car. I did that. They gave me the run-around (and eventually lied and said the part was on it's way and would be there that week even though they had to know that wasn't true).

It was during the time that Nissan North America was giving me the run-around that I first asked the dealership for a loaner car. I included within that initial request all the threats I had just doled out to Nissan North America, but it was really the first time I had requested a loaner car.

Now, the dealership probably should've asked from the get-go if I needed a loaner (and I would've taken one then had it come up), and they probably should've offered one instead of telling me to call Nissan to get them to approve a rental car. BUT, the first time I asked them for a loaner, they did get me one.

It's Nissan that lied to get out of providing alternate transportation, and it's Nissan that isn't stocking transmission parts in the United States and cannot provide them for several months at a time.

So, I essentially overpay for a low-end Sentra because Nissan can't provide a part.

 

And I really can't believe that a buyer has no recourse against a company not providing parts.

If Nissan wanted to, it would apparently be perfectly within their rights to never import the parts I need again. They could simply run out the clock on all their warranties. They could certainly avoid Lemon Law replacements by running out the clock.

I can't believe there's no "reasonable time" requirement on parts availability. As far as I know, it's only sheer goodwill from the manufacturer that any parts are ever made available (and if it becomes too big of a problem, sales can be affected).

The law has no problem with a car company selling a $25K paper weight and doing nothing to allow it to be fixed.

That amazes me.

 

From reading Nissan-related message boards, I know the wait for parts is not isolated. While I've not found anyone who needed the same specific part, I saw many others who waited months at a time for various parts to come in.

 

Well, I've now contacted the local television stations and filed a complaint with the State of Texas and with the BBB in Gardena, CA (where Nissan is headquartered).

I also wrote to my elected representatives noting that a law requiring parts be provided within a reasonable time frame would be a good idea, especially in this election year when cozying up to consumers can't possibly be a bad idea.

I doubt anything will become of it, but at least I've put it out there and made the attempt to embarrass Nissan into actually fixing my car.

If the part doesn't arrive this week, I'm calling Nissan HQ and will try to get a settlement of some sort (even if it's just canceling the remaining lease and walking away without penalty). Three months is long enough to wait for a part.

 

Audi was worse because everything was a major pain. It took weeks just to get into the dealership to have the car looked at. And there were so few dealerships that going to any one was a pain where I lived. And once at the dealership, it might wait for weeks before anyone even looked at it. And the people at the dealership were always very rude.