Hi Nissan owners, I would like to know if I am being reasonable or unreasonable to ask for my money back or get a replacement vehicle.
I live in Canada, and recently purchased my very first Nissan. A brand new 2007 Altmima SE from a Nissan dealer in town. I was quite happy and impressed with the vehicle and after spending many hours reading through consuper reports like reviews from many sources, I decided to go with the Altima vs Accord or Camry. My issues with the vehicle started the second day of ownership.
- Horn not functioning at all. The second day of driving the vehicle, I needed to use the horn to avoid a potential hazardous incident, and guess what, horn did not work at all. Took the car to the dealership, later that day, I got it back. Case closed, or so I thought.
- The first week of ownership, I noticed I was getting a lot of paint chips considering how new the car is, how slow I drive ( due to the break in period ) and how i work my hardest to avoid driving behind big trucks.. I got a total of 8 paint chips, that goes directly to the bare metal!. I called Nissan and I was advised that it was wear and tear and to expect such road damages. I chocked on the answer, since I questioned my friends and relatives whom own new vehicles from other manufacturer, and none of them have or come close to having the amount of chips my car has!. I bought a nose bra for the car at a cost of 145.00 + 12.00 for the touch up paint ( new car, less than 1200KM trust me, touch up looks just aweful. )
But heres the worst of all.
at 3 weeks of ownership, I hear a ticking sound coming from the engine, specially at idle. I took it back to the dealership. After three days of them going back and forth with Nissan Canada tech / mechanical engineers, they came to the conclusion that the car needs to have the engine replaced. The service manager told me that its an internal engine issue, and without ripping the engine apart, theres no way of telling. They are willing to replace it with another new engine.
The car now is 4 weeks old with 2500KM approx 1600 Miles?
Am I being unreasonable to expect to have the car replaced or have the dealership buy back the car? to me its a psychological thing. I havent even made a single payment to the bank, and already the car needs a new engine! I paid full ticket price for the car 26,500 CAD + taxes etc... car is like 30,000CAD. I can even think about making payment for a car that so far has been nothing but problems. BIG problems such as needed a whole new engine.
What do you guys think? or I should do. I have already called Nissan Customer Line as that what the dealer advised me to do.. but of course, I can see this case being drag on for who knows how long.. I can also see nissan shruggin it off, and have me stuck with the vehicle.