If you bought the car at another dealership ?

In other words.. I'm in Jersey.. bought the car in New York.

I obviously don't wanna go to New York everytime I need to service the car in any way. A local dealer has told me that, with the exception of oil changes, they don't work on Z's that weren't purchased there.

Is that legal ? I don't think it is.. anyone know for sure ?

-slay

 

Legal, yes. Practical no. My first action would be to call Nissan directly and inform them of what the dealership is telling you. Most likely, Nissan will not be very happy with the dealership.

 

That's total BS, this should have been explained to you when you took delivery of your car, and the dealership the refused service should be referred to NNA if they continue with this ridiculousness.

It clearly says in your warranty (in fact Page 5 on the downloadable version on the Nissan USA website) that you should / can take your car into any Authorized Nissan Dealership in order to have warranty work done.

There is also a reference to this on the Nissan Warranty FAQ on the Nissan USA website.

Ask to speak to the dealership's customer care representative. If you still get the run around, then call NNA and tell them all.

 

Actually it's not legal. The Nissan warranty is a legally binding agreement between Nissan and you, the consumer.

Refusal of warranty service is, in effect, a breach of contract.

Refer your dealership to the following FAQ...

http://www.nissanusa.com/owning/Warr...,3398,,00.html

FWIW I had warranty work done at a local dealership that was not the one from which I purchased my vehicle just last week. They didn't even ask me if I bought my car at their dealership, which is what I call no-hassle service.

 

Thanks fellas, I appreciate it.

Frankly I don't even wanna go to that place since they're being ****** about it.

There's another dealer nearby - I'll let you know what happens.

 

You should still definitely contact NNA about them. They need to learn, who knows what other Nissan customers they've done this to in the past.

 

Contacted NNA just now (800-NISSAN-1), and spoke to a service representative. Conversation went like this:

- Hi, I bought my 350Z in Queens, NY. I understand I can have it serviced anywhere in my local area ?
- Yes, you can!
- Ok.. well I just spoke to a dealership in my area who told me they won't service any 350z's that weren't purchased from them. Is that legal ?
- Yes they can do that. Since they're independently owned and operated, we can't force them to honor our warranty. But we do pay them for it, so I don't see why they'd deny getting paid.
- Wait a minute, isn't that a breach of contract ?
- No, the contract says your local dealers CAN service the warranty.
- If I read "you can service your car at any local dealer", that implies that they will service it. It doesn't say "may service".
- But it doesn't say WILL service, it says can.
- This is ridiculous. You're telling me that all of my local dealers CAN deny my warranty and you wouldn't be able to do anything about it ?
- We'd have to cross that bridge if we ever got to it. But I don't see why they would.
- Thank you for the information.
- You're welcome.


Interesting, huh ? You guys should feel safe now, knowing that your dealers CAN service your car, if they feel like it.

 

Yeah, after you just told them that there was one that refused to perform warranty work on your car.

Yeah, that's not very impressive. Hopefully you have another local dealer you can try instead.

As I said before, I didn't have any trouble getting warranty work at a different dealer from the one I purchased from even though both were in town. I guess it's a YMMV situation.

IMO it's pretty poor though that Nissan allows someone to buy a franchise but doesn't have to agree to something like like that as part of the franchise agreement. I wonder if that's an industry wide norm.

 

Man that is pretty scary.

I thought that any dealership had to provide warranty work as part of being an authorized dealership. What you learned on that phone call is really crappy.

Of course, going by what is "legal", you COULD paint a message on your windows that says "Dealership X refuses to honor my warranty on this Nissan" and cruise around town for a while.

But seriously, I am worried. Sometimes I want to get my car serviced near work (short jobs) and sometimes near home (multi-day problems). I sure hate to think they would hang me out to dry because of where I bought the car.

 

That's a big load of ********. It is a *factory* warranty, all Nissan certified dealerships should service you. In this case it sounds like the service people are being lazy and are probably over worked from their own customers and don't want to take on a new customer who has not purchased the car from them. Go elsewhere, whether or not their actions are legal or moral.

 

Yeah I think it's a load of **** to be honest.

I'm going to call NNA back and speak to a manager... this has got to be a load of utter ****. I think the silly woman on the line was just clueless. Will update thread when I do that.

EDIT: Just called another dealership in my area... almost as close as the first one.. conversation went:

- Hi, is this the service dept ?
- No they're closed, maybe I can help you.
- Yeah I just have a certain RPM issue with my Nissan 350z. I did not buy the car at your place, though.
- Yeah, we'll be happy to help you.
- Wow, thank you. I should just call back when they're open then ?
- Yeah, they're here from 7am tomorrow.
- Thanks alot.
- No problem.


Guess not all dealership are created equal, huh ? I WILL STILL CALL NNA about the BS they've fed me before.

-slay

 

Yeah, please do! You might be helping out the next guy who needs warranty work.

Also, it would be nice if NNA put them back on the straight and narrow.

 

Hmmm, I definitely would avoid having my baby serviced at a $tealer with that kind of attitude.

Depending upon how much time you have, the following might be an interesting exercise.

Call the local tv stations and report to them that the local Nissan dealer won't service cars unless you buy from them. Even better, go check out the prices at the dealership first. If they sell everything at or ABOVE msrp, you can add "at their inflated prices". If it's a slow news day, your local news just might be interested and run the story.

Send this information to the "consumer advocate" depts of the radio/tv/newspapers too.

If you really have a lot of time, you could always parade up and down the sidewalk in front of the dealership with a sandwich board stating "this dealership will not service your car unless you buy it from them at their price". If you don't have the time to do it, you can always hire a kid for min wage and have them do it

 

In the latest news, I spoke to Cyrus @ Nissan (800-NISSAN-1, x8409), who promised to get back to me on the issue.

After speaking with his colleagues, he told me that the dealer cannot deny warranty "unless the customer is abusive to them." I said, so they can't deny it unless you scream at them or **** them off ? He replied, "yes."

A day later I received a phone call from him, stating that he has spoken with this particular dealership in my area, and that they will have no problem accepting a 350z that was not purchased there.

Funny, huh?

-slay

 

I still wouldn't take my car there. They might put sugar in your gas tank or something when they "work" on your car, just for making the complaint.



-- Mark

 

Gotta love the legal twists you find thanks to the legal system. My father is an attorney and has explained a lot to me over the years but it still is unsettling!

Definately don't take your car back to the first one, it's not worth it. They can cause you a world of discomfort with continued lack of decent service. Go with the folks who care at the other one! Good luck!

R

 

Don't forget that while Nissan reimburses the dealerships for warranty service, they do it at a fraction of the cost. Thus the dealerships have to pay much of the labor costs out of their pocket.

 

I do not believe that. I believe that Nissan may reimburse at a fraction of the retail repair rate, but not a fraction of the dealer's cost.

-- Mark

 

Wish that were the case. For example on the tire/feathering issue TSB - Nissan North America will only pay for ONE alignment, no matter how many alignments the dealer has to do.

I can understand this policy if the problem was due to workmanship, techician did not get it right.....but when the problem is that Nissan North America changes the specs .... Still only one payment.

Now if you change dealers, guess what, the second dealer does not get paid for bad workmanship of the first dealer!

I spent a week calling NNA when one dealer messed-up on a TSB and damaged wheels. NNA would not pay second dealer for redoing TSB that first dealer messed-up. After week of phone calls and explanations, NNA finally agreed to pay second dealer for TSB work.

Again you can understand some of the controls, NNA does not want to pay multiple times for same TSB work but on the other hand dealers should be paid if problem is with specs provided to dealership by NNA.

 

OK, so they have some controls in place to prevent multiple rebilling for the same work without special approval.

However, I was speaking of the *labor rate* which is not relevant to what you described.

-- Mark