Rejecting a 18 month old car after 3 gearbox changes?

Rejecting a 18 month old car after 3 gearbox changes?

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CarbonV12V

Original Poster:

1,155 posts

184 months

Sunday 17th September 2017
quotequote all
One for the more legally minded...

Clearly there have been some daft requests for rejection and I am borderline on this but it's for my dad and I do have some sympathy with his position.

Bought a brand new diesel Nissan Qashqai (yes I know I should have stopped him!) around Xmas 2015. He only tootles around the local village so has no end of DPF filter/sensor issues but all dealt with under warranty. Annoyingly the service manager told him he should have not bought a diesel and I agree but hindsight is a wonderful thing. He was probably mis-sold given his mileage and driving style but no proper evidence on that.

Now over Summer this year the car developed a judder in the transmission - it has only done 12k miles in 18 months and most of those have been back and forth to the dealer for the DPF issues. The dealer agrees and replaces the gearbox. Fault still present.

They order and replace another gearbox - a second new box together with some hardware/software module - fault still present and now actual loss of speed - car undriveable.

Nissan approve a third gearbox which was fitted this week but no change - car still undriveable. Nissan have now said they will send one of their Technicians to help install the fourth gearbox but this will take a few weeks to organise. They have now had the car for over a month with a further 2 weeks at least with no guarantee of resolution.

Nissan corporate has offered a Family discount off a new car but with the poor dealer PX it's still almost £10k to swap in a new petrol Qashqai - I don't mind trading up but we do object to having to shell out £10k for the pleasure. It's an automatic and they cannot find any used models where to cost to change would be lower.

Now to be fair they have provided him with a decent courtesy car over this extended period but at what point to we say enough is enough and what options does he have in terms of bringing the situation to a conclusion.

Thanks in advance.

CarbonV12V

Original Poster:

1,155 posts

184 months

Sunday 17th September 2017
quotequote all
Sa Calobra said:
With respect what is your father's driving style? Has it deteriorated over time? How old is he?

Abit of a coincidence that three new gearboxes fail.

Get him to drive you round his normal route. Is the cars size causing him to fluster?

Is a Micra automatic or Jazz automatic a better choice?

A salesman can't tell someone to buy a car. If a customer wants diesel he/she will have a diesel so you can't blame dpf clogging on them.
He is currently driving around quite comfortably in a Navara having downsized from a X-Trail to get the Qashqai. Don't think the size of the car is really relevant to the discussion - maybe you would feel more comfortable in a Micra or Jazz but not him. He just doesn't do many dual carriageway/motorway miles. Given the size of the local roads he is more experienced to drive a larger car than most!

All very interesting but the point is the gearbox issues and the inability of Nissan to repair and whether that is cause for rejection or what other route can be taken.

CarbonV12V

Original Poster:

1,155 posts

184 months

Monday 18th September 2017
quotequote all
Thanks all - some great feedback.

I obviously agree that replacing the gearbox 3 times suggests the fault is elsewhere and thanks jjth for your insight. You should be able to rely on Nissan to have the technical expertise to resolve the issue so I will update in due course.

The PX option was my suggestion to get my father out of the lemon he has bought. As for the PX value/cost to change - yes the PX value we have been told is the top value assuming no workshop time is required to prepare the car so again fair. We have no issue with how the amount has been calculated and fully understand the depreciation curve.

My (Yorkshire) father just objects to being asked to pay it when he already has a reasonably new/high spec. car albeit not on the road! He also has a load of extras covering a 3 year period which will be lost such as the invoice value and tyre insurances and Winter/service packs. Even thought there is still 18 months left on these the dealer is not interested and wants full value to replace them.

The dealer principal has not been helpful at all - the service guys are fine (but being paid quite nicely for the warranty work) and only Nissan head office seem to trying to help resolve the situation.

I have made a formal complaint and will have another discussion with Nissan HQ and see if I can get the cost of change down to a level we can all agree on whilst at the same time seeing if or how quickly they can actually repair his current car.

CarbonV12V

Original Poster:

1,155 posts

184 months

Saturday 23rd September 2017
quotequote all
Final update.

Well Nissan have accepted rejection of the car. They have offered a new top of the range replacement (Petrol/Automatic Techna+). They will pay for private plate transfer and transfer the service pack and put 12 months RFL on the car.

Our contribution is now significantly reduced to £4k which I find more than fair and have obviously accepted. Father clearly delighted and gets a brand new car for his inconvenience at an acceptable cash cost. Faith restored in the Nissan brand and hopefully when the new car is delivered I can go back to a peaceful life....until the next fault!