The Lemon

Canada Nissan Automotive
1

Hey, i havent posted this story in any canadian forums yet, but i should have to begin with.

So i recently purchased the new 2008 Altima Coupe 3.5 SE, it now has 5000km on it.
About 2 months after the purchase my car was sitting outside in a parking lot when the windows rolled down by themselves. It was raining hard that day and i returned to my car with puddles everywhere. I assumed i was an idiot and left the windows down (Both the windows) the night before. So i took out a cloth and wiped everything down best i could. ( Although i know some water was soaked up, but very little b/c everything is leather)
The next day i get a call from the local campus police telling me that my windows are down and that the car is snowed IN. (The first snow storm in toronto) I got to my car, windows were down, EVERYTHING was frozen… Snow was everywhere in the car, below the snow were layers of ice… My seats were all iced… The vents had blocks of ice in them which later melted and probably went down into the A/C unit. Anyways, i couldnt drive the car cuz it was … snowed in. I got it towed to the dealer, had it checked out… They fixed the problem after a week, and did nothing else.
My leather seats are wearing down fast (I had to argue for a week to get one seat replaced, still have it on order from Nissan in Japan… 6 month wait time) and the other seat is looking pretty bad too.
Anyways, i tried to negotiate with the dealer to get something out of it, a trade in or somthing, but i got nothing, predictable. And now, the car has random spasms of problems. IE. sometimes the passenger window will go down but not come back up. If the vehicle happens to stall, it wont start up again for 5 minutes… The intelligent key isnt sensed by the trunk button… and ETC.

My question after this long story is… What would u guys do knowing that the car has sustained quite a bit of water damage to the interior? Im really worried about rusting from the inside out.

2

i don’t think you will have rusting after a couple days of wet stuff. but you can always go into stripping your carpets and stuff then spray some of that krowne rust proofing stuff just in case up to you really. and listening to your story reminds me of the movie christine.

3

there a bureau in canada setup just for customer disputes with car dealerships. i would let them know ASAP. i cant remember what they are called but i always see them helping people out on www.wheels.ca

write to www.wheels.ca about your problem.

4

Alright, i just wrote to a random reporter… I hope he’ll get back to me!

5

^^ look up CPA (Consumer Protection Act) it was updated in 2005 for car dealerships, you now have one year to get your money back from a dealer who sold you the car which has problems or problems like yours that cause more self damage due to the vehicles condition, if they don’t agree, you can look at your contract, if the dealer or you are unable to live up to the contract agreements then the contract can be legally terminated. But if the dealer tries to be a smart a$$, and says the language is ambiguous, Under section 11 of the new CPA, “any ambiguity will be interpreted in favour of the consumer”.

so look back at your contract, it is important that the dealership got its understanding right when they made all the agreements to you, if the contract states a dealer will repair something, they MUST, or you can both agree to get the contract cancelled, or you can initiate an action to force the dealership to fulfill their obligations or you can sue them for damages.

also if you take the dealer to courts the so called "“discussion” can be used for evidence, the judge under section 18 of the new CPA will favour the buyer for anything oral discussion you may had with the dealership about the vehicle as evidence even if the dealer says its false, and the dealer will lie.

before you take the dealer to court, try CAMVAP (Canadian Motor Vehicle Arbitration Plan) once you put in a complaint against the dealership using this CPA plan the dealership has to take everything seriously and will realise at this point that you know your ish, if they don’t respond to this claim to you with in30days, they can be charged $250,000 fine. you can proceed to seek remedies under section 18 of the CPA. Take action promptly, you can complain by telephone.

basically all you have to do to get the contract cancelled, have the dealer give your money back plus damages, or replace what you want is have one word of proof that they did not do when they said they will, even if it was orally promised you are gold, people don’t see that they have so many rights, and now the dealerships don’t want you to know because this is insider information, i.e. people who are in the field, so how the fuk dose it benefit consumers right.lol my point too.

anyway hit up http://www.camvap.ca/eng/consumers_guide.htm

6

The problem with my case is that the damage is done and invisble. After all its just water damage that has dried up. The noticble damage wont be until a few years down the line. As of the random screw ups with the car, i cant prove that they “all ways” happen, and thus they wont repair it. :frowning:

Im in the middle of everything… Dont know what i should do.

7

Dude i don’t mean to be rude, but i just gave you some insider info that most people would die to know, if you want to be half a$$ on it and complain about it and then say it can’t be fixed, then it is what you will, if you want somthing in life to happen you have to make it happen nothing is easy, but rather then waist this thread you should file a complaint, there is no such thing as invisible damage, if they check the seats it will show evidence of damage one way or another. After all it was the windows that caused it, so if you got the windows fixed? or not? the damge cause by it should be covered, i mean if you didn’t know this but since you have a 2008 coupe se 6spd, and have warranty that $3000(financed) you paid in ratio to your final gross total is warranty money. The largest expense that causes dealership owners not to become trillionairs is their insurance and warranty expenses.

Dealerships know no one will take the effort to do anything thats why they always say no in your face untill you say okay, file a complaint, and then their bags are held tight.

thats why i will never buy a new car or finance.

8

I’ve worked in the auto parts industry for 12 years now, and this sounds odd to me.
Did the dealer tell you 6 months for the seats to come from Japan? Or are you just assuming they are coming from Japan based on needing to wait 6 months for them?

Your car was built in Smyrna Tennessee. Seats are one of the worst parts for automakers to transport because they are bulky and very hard to ship efficiently, and because they have to be “sequenced” - delivered to the plant in the same order for colour, power options, etc as the cars are being built down the line, which changes based on orders until the last possible minute - usually when the body hits the paint shop. So seat suppliers usually put their plants right next door to the automaker’s plant to reduce the shipping time and to be able to respond to changes in orders. At the very minimum they need a sequencing plant nearby.

It is possible that Nissan service just doesn’t have seats in stock yet, as the Altima coupe is new and seats aren’t a part which typically needs to be replaced so early, but I’d be surprised if even that’s a 6 month wait.

Regards,
Mike

9

Take some lessons from your asian mother. WHINE BITCH AND COMPLAIN… CONSTANTLY.

10

This is where we failed as asian guys. We just cringed into corners.