Five In Two
Have you ever driven five different cars in about two weeks? I have! All because of our brand new Rogue. Greg drove six cars in those two weeks!
Of course I drove my Santa Fe (car #1), that we traded in for the Rogue. Got to drive the Rogue (car #2) for about a week and then Greg dropped it off at the Nissan dealer when the car was exactly one week old, to get some scratches fixed that were on the front bumper when we bought it, and to get a rear bumper protector put on. In the week that we had it, we noticed that the outside temperature display was off by quite a bit, and the gas gauge was going a little crazy. It would show a full tank of gas one time, then I would park it in front of my house, and next time I started it up, it would show 3/4 tank and slowly move up to full. It would go back and forth, depending on which way the car was facing when it was parked in front of the house. Greg asked the mechanics to check those things out when he dropped off the car. I drove Greg’s shoebox (car #3) that day and Greg got to drive a Nissan Frontier, that he got as a rental/loaner. We picked up the Rogue that evening… you’d never know there were any scratches, and the bumper guard looked great. The temperature display? NOT fixed! On the sheet of paper they give you, it said that they had to special order the part, but nothing about when it was expected in. They never did find a problem with the gas gauge (doubtful they really checked). Our salesman said he would have the mechanic, who had already gone home, call us the next day. Did he? Nope. Greg called and left messages, never heard back, and he never called back on Monday either. Tuesday Greg was getting a little pissed, called and left another message, and then called the service manager and gave him a piece of his mind. Said that if we don’t get that car fixed, they will be replacing it for us. And wouldn’t you know it, not 30 minutes later, the mechanic calls back and tells us that we could drop the car off the next day and they would try to figure out what was wrong with the gas gauge while they waited on the part for the temperature display. Meanwhile we had driven about 85 miles since the last fill-up and the gas gauge still showed a full tank! Yeah…. wouldn’t it be nice if it got that kind of gas mileage? Something was obviously not right! So Greg dropped it off Wednesday morning before he went to work and got a piece of crap Nissan Sentra as a rental/loaner. Car #4 that I got to drive. The temperature gauge part was in Thursday, and by Friday they had the gas gauge fixed and we picked it up that evening. They even sent us home with a full tank of gas (or at least that’s what it looked like). Everything seemed fine… temperature seemed about right, and the gas gauge wasn’t going crazy either. Same on Saturday morning when we went grocery shopping. Then we put it to the real test and parked it facing the other direction (east) when we got home. A couple of hours later we had to run another errand, and… we’re at 3/4 tank! No, there’s no gas leak anywhere, and we parked it facing west, and when we left to go to Sara’s soccer game, we had a full tank of gas again… and the temperature display was off again, too! It showed 73 degrees, when it was really about 85. Greg had made some phone calls to the service department and never got a call back. Then he tried the service manager again, who told him that we would have to set it up for Monday because he didn’t have a loaner for us, but Greg told him that we would be dropping the car off that afternoon and he would just have to give us a rental. And he would have to pay for the gas, too! We went right after Sara’s game and dropped the car off. Greg made it clear that he expects the problem to be fixed this time. If they think they have it fixed, check again and make sure it’s fixed. And if we have to bring the car back a fourth time, they will be replacing it with a new one! The rental this time? A Nissan Quest (car #5). Hopefully this will be the last rental/loaner for a while!
To be continued…….
So odd! I hope they get it fixed. Mechanics can either be the greatest finds or the biggest PITAs. We have had our fair share of issues, one of which ended up in a lemon law case (which we won). Keep at it (I know you will)!
6. October, 2008 at 07:13
I hope they get it fixed, too!! If not, we’re going to go the lemon law route. I mean, the temperature being off isn’t such a big deal to ME (is to Greg) but the unreliable gas gauge is pretty major in my opinion.
6. October, 2008 at 07:39
oh boy… wishing you luck.. like Amy said.. mechanics are either great or sucky.. Hopefully they will fix it this time or yes, go the lemon law route and get a new car. BTW, although the temp. thing being off isn’t a major issue like you said.. it would bother the crap out of me…I am a weather girl and always like to know the temp! Keep us posted!
6. October, 2008 at 08:31
Ya know, I hate this. I bet these people were your best friend when buying the car and right after you sign on the dotted line, what’s your name again? That sucks. I’m sorry this happening. I hate run arounds. I hate having to get loud and demanding for people to pay attention. I could go on and on………..I think I might have to start an I hate it when blog, lol!
Good luck!
6. October, 2008 at 09:20
Cheryl, I like to know what the temp is, too, but if they can only fix ONE thing, I’d rather it be the gas gauge. Of course I would prefer that both get fixed.
Doreen, yup, sucking up until they got us to sign the papers and shove us out the door, keys in hand. We’re not giving up until they fix the car, or give us a new one. We didn’t buy a new car just to keep it in the shop and let the mechanics “play” with it.
Oh, and the funny thing… the salesman we dealt with (very nice guy!) is no longer with the dealership.
6. October, 2008 at 11:40
Wow! That’s just crazy. Remember to tell me the name of the dealership so I never go there! 🙂
6. October, 2008 at 19:10
Good Lord what a pain in the ass!!!
6. October, 2008 at 19:43
any word yet?
6. October, 2008 at 21:33
Greg got a hold of them yesterday afternoon, and so far there’s no progress. They had called tech support to ask what it could be. Guess the mechanics are convinced it’s the instument cluster and they don’t seem to think it could be the connector or the wires. (Umm, hello?? That would be the next logical thing to check!! Idiots!)
7. October, 2008 at 05:50
Oh wow. What a pain in the butt!!! Hope they’re able to fix it or I would demand a new one.
9. October, 2008 at 07:43