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Buying from a Nissan dealership


jell36

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Hi Everyone,

Not really sure what section to post this under. Quick question for you all, when you buy a second hand car from a dealer they are legaly obliged to ensure the car is fit for purpose (which isn't exactly definitive). When I went to purchase my Z a couple of weeks ago I noticed there was a large lip on all of the brake discs so I asked them to check if they were ok and if not change them. The salesman took it into the service shop and then came out with the mechanic and they both said they were fine, plenty of life left in them. This weekend I have had a closer look at them and can clearly see they are miles passed the minimum thickness (1 mm wear on each side so 2mm wear in total, handbook says 1.6mm total wear is limit for Brembo's). Do you guy think it is reasonable for me to ask the dealer to pay for replacements or will I need to foot the bill? (looks like around £1000 for the discs and might as well gets pads at the same time and ten theres fitting).

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well of course their own technician was going to say plenty wear left in them!

Go put it through an MOT and see if it fails - if it does go back to them and don't 'ask' - tell them they're paying for them! :)

What dealership was it? Name & shame!!

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I went to the citizens advise bureau to enquire as to what fit for purpose is. Basically it comes to there being a fundamental problem with the car which means it cannot be used.

 

Unfortunately i doubt your case would satisfy the criteria. However i would go back to the dealer make a fuss, while other customers are there if it comes to it and see what they say. Since they said they are ok and they clearly are not then you surely have some grounds for them to fix it.

 

I know i had a problem with my old zed when i bought it. I got back in touch with the garage and they were fantastic and fixed everything as a goodwill gesture.

 

Mention you are a member on here and will post feedback on how they deal with you.

 

Good luck

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Thanks for your responses everyone, I will ring the dealers on Monday and tell them I want them changing if they say they will do it then I'll leave it at that, if they try and argue against it then I will happily tell you all which dealer it is name and shame them but fair to give them a second chance first. I asked about the 'fit for purpose' because with the discs being too thin that means the cars not road worthy (a MOT failure). I would get it MOT'd to prove this but it's not due until August.

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Yeah you were there when I bought it Ken, how are you? Do you remember me saying to you I had asked them to check the discs and they said they were fine? After listening to you about you getting your gearbox and diff oil changed I decided to get mine done today and the gearbox is a lot nicer now. Still trying to get one of the android systems you've got in your car but no luck just yet, hopefully one day. Are you going to any meets anytime soon?

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Yes i remember, the service department at the dealers have been very helpful so hope the sales team are as good.

 

Keep a look out in the meetings section, should be a few local meets coming up soon. Look at the Wales and Lakes meets, large numbers at these great weekends well worth coming along to.

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Speaking as an 'evil car dealer' myself i'd advise you to do the following......

1/ Go back to the dealership and ask to speak to the workshop manager, introduce yourself and ask him for his full name.

2/ Ask him to personally check the discs and if he warrants them 'fit for purpose' would he be kind enough to put it in writing and sign the bottom of the statement.

Do this extremely politely yet firmly, if he's happy with the above then i'd say the discs are fine.

Discs & pads are not expensive and we personally always change them if they are looking thin. Then when a customer tries to haggle over the price we'll offer to replace the old brakes and then discount..........it's an easy way to haggle then as everyone likes new brakes :teeth:

Most car dealers are decent especially a large dealership, they'll have a mark up of around £1500 in your car so don't be afraid to ask for something that possibly should have been done.

Dave.

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Get the car up in the air and check the inside of the disks and pads. My disks and pads looked ok from the outside but when getting serviced and i saw the inside it was alot more worn and they needed replacing soon then i was expecting.

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The car was on a ramp at a garage last Sat getting the gearbox and diff oil changed, that's when I started paying closer attention to the discs as the garage let me look around the underside of the car whilst they change the oils. The inside of the discs is in an appauling state, but regardless is was when I measured the dscs that alarm bells began ringing.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Well it looks like Nissan are trying to mess around. I had to go to the dealership last Saturday so that they could inspect the thickness of the brake discs themselves and they confirmed that all 4 brake discs are below minimum thickness. It has taken their aftersales manager until today to come back to me and they are tryring to refuse to pay for replacement but they have offerd me 50% off a service carried out by them and 20% off any work that subsequently needs carrying out as good will :thumbdown: . They also said that the brakes are safe and so being an mechanical engineer myself I have informed them why having brake discs below minimum thickness is unsafe and dangerous. I'm going to wait for their response to my latest email before I name and shame them to all you guys so you can avoid the trouble I've had and contacting trading standards.

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This is disgusting. On one hand Nissan are admitting that the discs are not fit for purpose due to being below the minimum thickness but on the other they won't offer replacement. Go figure??? I'm not sure if its just Nissan in general but their service and aftersales care is appalling. They are all smiles when taking your money from you but when you want something in return they are nowhere to be seen. It's happening more and more these days too. This country is all messed up :rant:

 

I wish you the best of luck with this one.

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I think it varies from dealer to dealer. Had mine in for p3 and a few other bits and only charged me £190, then 2 days later they called me asking me to come back in because there's a little bit of bubbling on my bonnet and forgot to take pictures to send to HQ for a replacement under warranty. Of course I still have to see if HQ will honour the warranty but I thought it was very good of my local Nissan to first knock £100+ off the bill then phone me to get me back in for a warranty claim.

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