I just found out that the drivers side handle is broken. Do you think my car was vandalized? I did not park the car anywhere bad and nothing was taken from the car (there were rolls of quarters, CDs and radar detector). Also do you think this will be covered by the warranty?

 

well ive heard you can gain acess to the car by breaking one of the door handles maybe they tried to do that but didn't know how, as far as warranty claim i highly doubt it.

 

Does anyone know how much this will cost to fix?

 

damn, that sucks man.

 

Next time, hide your valuables! Not covered under warranty BTW!

 

for sure someone tryed to break in your car....sucks, man

 

take it to an automatic car wash recently? I do rarely, but the one I went to actually put tape of the door handles b/c, as they stated, the spinning brushes would catch in the handles. That would suck. Good luck.

 

I agree, looks like someone vandalized or tried to break in. Sorry to see that bro, just get it fixed and you'll feel good again.

 

yea someone tried to break the door handle off.
you can even see the mark on the paint where they forced the screw driver in.

but you can try going to the dealer and acting stupid, just say you friend was opening the door and it just popped out. who knows, maybe you'll get lucky and they fix it.

 

You can try, but I don't think Nissan dealers are that stupid.

 

What about insurance? It might be less to repair than you deductible, but it would probably be covered under 'theft'

 

Thanks everyone for the comments. I guess I will know more once I take to the dealer for an estimate.

 

Its either theft or vandalism. Either way its an insurance claim.

 

yeah its not worth 500 bucks full coverage fee though...

 

Sorry to hear that bro, someone definitely tried to break into your car. Looks like you're taking it quite well at least. From the pictures, it looks like a little bit of paint came off in the process on the door itself. Don't know if that would warrant a paint job or not; guess it's up to you depending on how bad it is.

 

Act stupid at the dealership...they may fix.

 

HI I have a 04 touring. your picture of the handle looks exactly like mine did. To the best of my knowledge no one tried to break into my car. no scratches or anything else around the handle. Even the dealer agreed and since I was still under warranty, they repaired it as best they could. NOTE: the bottom of the handle is held to the door be a "clip" on the back of the handle that hooks over a very thin sheet of metal in the door. there is also a very thin bracket in the door about half way up from the bottom of the handle that a bolt goes through into the handle.. both the bracket and the bottom attaching point for the handle clip are very thin and bend easily. I think what happend is I know many times I have gone to open my door and not remembering it was locked, pulled hard on the door handle. After looking at the way the handle is attached to the car on the bottom and center of the handle, I bet that it pulls against the attaching points and finally the bottoe clip slips over the lip of the thin sheet metal it clips to. Once that happens, there is little to prevent the handle from pulling out from the door at the bottom of the handle. BTW ---the top attaching point for the handle is a bolt into a strong, rigid price of sheet metal.

 

That sucks. I would try and get Nissan to fix it. I don't think it will be to much to repair if they don't, come out of pocket if nissan doesn't do it. I figure it will be under 500.

 

When I saw the pics, I guessed you lived in Jersey without even looking. Everything I have heard and seen on the boards I frequent says this was a break in attempt.

I just wish somebody in the aftermarket would design and sell a decent backing plate for this handle so we can all sleep better at night. I recommend you get yourself a decent aftermarket alarm because if they get in through here, the factory alarm will not go off.

Next time, try using a more descriptive subject line like "driver door handle broken", it will not only help get you answerers but will help when people scan through search results as well.

Chris

 

I thought the same thing at first, or maybe that white spot is residual car polish?