Love my Z but bought a crashed one from a dealer with full factory warranty
 

Hi everybody. I'm a new member on the forum and am developing a issue with my newly purchased -Used- 2016 Base 307Z. I LOVE the car so I in No way want to have it bought back. I got the car with only 6800 miles on it. It was sold as Used but the Dealer sticker on the window had a check mark in the Full Factory Warranty box with approximately 2 years remaining or 29,200 miles left of coverage.. The unchecked box was As Is. During the sale I was assured the car did have the full warranty in effect. The window sticker also advertised a Clean Car Fax record could be verified. This turned out to NOT be true and found that out one day after signing all docs. The Car Fax did indicate the car had been in a minor collision only with cosmetic damage on the front end of the vehicle so I didn't panic over this to much since the car seemed to drive OK. I did notice the Low a Tire Low Pressure Warning Light On and was concerned as to why during the sale and prior to delivery. I was told not to worry. The car was taken and cleaned/prepped/ and the tire pressure issue was supposed to be addressed as well while I finished up with the Finance Dept. loan Docs. I was also supposed to get the Car Fax report for the Z as promised by the finance loan person. He also assured me verbally that the car was "Car Fax Clean". He forgot to get it for me and it got late & I was tired as well. I really believe that he did not purposely lie to me since the car sticker on the window did state the clean car fax in writing.

OK to try and make a long story shorter. The tire issue including new wheel locks with a key since the key was totally missing with the locks that came with the car (that's another story) finally got corrected several days later but not before delivery and much aggravation. All now seemed OK except missing vin tags & tire pressure tags in the drivers pillar due to a now known left side pillar replacement. The Body work & Paint look just fine at this time. I have noticed a slight rattle in the left door panel arm rest area when going over bumps only so it needs to be corrected but no big deal. The Engine/Transmission/Rear End perform flawless.

Now for the problem... After three weeks and a few hundred miles of use, I started to hear a clicking sound when coming to a stop coming from the left front wheel. I thought it was brake related. I dropped the car off at a different Dealer near by my area for a checkup. Bad news. I'm told that my spindle or the part that it mounts to is totally damaged and had obvious signs of a collision which caused a wheel to drag and carve into the suspension part. That part now could NOT be covered under factory warranty replacement since the part was physically damaged and had not failed which is the provision of the Nissan warranty. I had to pay out of pocket within the first month of ownership $885 for this repair including a 4 wheel alignment. The clicking sound turned out to be micro fracturing in the material in several places on the back side of the part that ultimately could have caused the entire spindle to break off and do really bad things.:eek: OK so I got past all of this and paid the $ to replace the bad part. The car was then inspected underneath by this Dealer and no further damage was seen. The warranty was verified to now be fully in effect by this Dealer and all should be well. BUT... After a few more weeks, the left front brake is making noise upon stopping but only sometimes. It also has a very loud tire noise when turning right if going fast enough like a curved freeway off-ramp for instance. I believe this may be a wheel bearing going out but this was supposed to have been checked out as OK during the left front spindle repair. That was only a few hundred miles ago when checked last. Now for my question..... What do you guys think I should do if the Dealer will not fix this issue under warranty? By the way, I am going to go back to the Dealership where I bought the car for the next evaluation. I am hoping they may be more flexible since they sold me the car in the first place.:stirthepot: I was for warned that if something else related to the accident turned up, that may also NOT be covered. I not going back there for the next evaluation because of this.

Unless you have the knowledge and resources to DIY all your repairs, NEVER buy a wrecked/salvaged car.

Ah man I feel for you. The best advice I can give at this point, you may not like. I would definitely force the dealer to take it back for undeclared accident damage. I would not keep the car. There are plenty of '16 Z Base coupes out there. You do not need to settle for a damaged one. I don't know how much you paid for it but I'm willing to bet you didn't save much since the accident damage was not declared.
Where I live in Quebec, this stuff goes on all the time. Our consumber protection laws are almost non-existent when it comes to shady dealers selling cars with undisclosed accident damage. They are not required to take the car back, believe it or not. But in the US, I believe you guys have very good laws against this sort of thing. Use them. Drive your car back to the dealer you bought it from and ask for a complete refund including out-of-pocket expenses. If the dealer refuses, sue them. It's an open and shut case based on your description of the situation.
I would not, under any circumstances, keep an accident damaged '16 Z that I paid full price for. Even at a discounted price, I would not keep it. Good luck!

Fight tooth and nails to take it back...

I second that motion.
Keep all documentation for the issues that you've had. You'll need it for proof.

I wouldn't care if I had gotten the car for free. I would not keep it.

Very Sorry to hear this as well. Dealerships will tell you everything and things you want to hear and make promises, but once the papers are signed and the car is driven off the lot, all promises are out the window. Always
get things in writing if you can. Like others have said take the car back to the dealership and get them to make it Right. Hope things get better for ya with the car.

This. If you get nowhere with the GM of the dealer, lawyer up. Make them take it back. Get a sport model for a replacement.

That is really sad that a dealership would function like that. If you have the physical proof (window stickers) that say a clear car fax, get a lawyer. I would say that's why they didn't produce the car fax. That is fraud.
Best of luck!

I did get the car for a really good price of $24,000 They wanted $26,100.
It would be hard to unwind the car since I traded in a 2014 Scion FRS lease car that turned to be $8000 upside down. My trade in quote from Toyota a few months back was not upside down but I didn't understand about how leases work & my quote was based upon an upgrade from the same dealer that originally leased. The buy out amount from any other dealer would be way more as I found out when negotiating the Z trade. I ending up adding that on into the financing minus the $5 grand I put down on the Z. The bottom line is I owe more on the car than I paid the Dealer for it so A buy back would not be possible unless the dealer did pay all extra costs involved.

I did get a chance to unwind after I discovered the accident information but choose not to based upon how the car performed & looked as well. I really didn't want that FRS back at all. I guess I took a chance on this but later on was assured no further accident damage was present from Nissan when the front end part was replaced. That most likely will not help if the wheel bearing on the same area (left front wheel) is now starting to fail possibly due to the impact from the collision. The actual assembly bearing/hub Assy. is not a real expensive part. It's listed at $169.00. I figure this would be about 1 to 1 1/2 hours of labor to install. Hopefully next week I will get this looked at & if all goes well, the dealer where I bought the car will replace this under warranty. If not, I will have to lay out the cash & get it done. Then as it has been stated, I will use my Legal Shield team to attempt to recover my cash for both repairs from the selling dealership. I am going to keep it as it does run so well other wise. The car fax report only indicates very minor cosmetic damage reported on the front of the car. Not totally true but no impact to the car value based upon the report. This Z is Not a salvaged car at all. It has a completely clean title. I still do agree though, who wants to buy a damaged car when there are so many out there that are not. This was not my intention at all. But this is kind of complicated due to my circumstances.

Thanks for your opinion along with the other members who have responded as well. I do value it. It does appear to be an open & shut case almost.... But I did refuse an Un-Wind option at one point but I was already funded & insurance was also changed over. Plus The car was running just fine without any obvious front end issue from the previous collision for the first couple of weeks of ownership. I will post after I get to the dealer with hopefully good news. I really don't want to "lawyer up" if at all possible. Believe it or not, I bought this car to help me un-stress over a family Trust issue after my parents both passed away. Sometimes it is hard to win with so many curves thrown at us all the time.

Take it back. Not worth the eternal worrying. Buy a new sport model.

So sorry to hear about your bad experience with this dealer.

I can only wish you the best in whatever direction you decide to move forward with both of which will be a pia sooner or later.

Should be Finished
 

Sounds like you have fixed just about everything associated with wreck, so the dealer came down 2,200 off their asking price, that should cover these unfinished mistakes and you got a car thats only a year old

Take it back bro, they lied

This is exactly why I am not wanting to return the car because at this point, it looks and runs so well. It's fully aligned and is very tight down the road. The tracking is excellent as well. The remaining issue is really very minor I truly believe except the fact I know I was lied too. Other members advise to fight the dealership for the fraud they pulled on me. Maybe my best compromise is to fight down the road for the added cost of repairs and not give up a what feels like could now be a solid car. This is my 4th Z and every one of them had issues I had to tweak out since they were all bought used. You are also right BlueMax. The car was discounted enough to cover the cost of getting the car into shape for sure. Originally had a sticker price of $32.900 when brand new. It's going to be very interesting to see how the service department where I bought the car handles this next week. And Thanks for your view on this!!!!

Thanks a lot. My next move will be to get the wheel bearing/hub replaced assuming the dealer where I bought the car agrees with that under warranty. That should help finish up with this PIA issue I have already spent a lot of time on. The door panel rattle should be covered without any grief under the factory warranty also. And.... If all goes as planed, I will then just try and recover the $885 I spent on the damaged front end part. If I don't succeed with this, as long as the car is fixed, I'll be OK. I'll get to the dealer within the week where I bought the car but it's 25 miles from my home. That is a PIA for me!
AND If they won't fix it under warranty, I'll go back to the dealer close to home that repaired the last part and have them install the bearing at my cost. Then I'll go after the dealer that sold me the car for both repairs costs along with other out of pocket expenses.

OK here's the unofficial results at the dealership where I bought the car from. They did diagnose and repair/replace under warranty my front left wheel bearing/hub Assy. They got the factory to pay for it. I have not picked up the car yet but they claim all of the weird tire roar is now gone. They are currently looking into a left door rattle that happens when the window is rolled all the way up. This seems common as I have read on the forum. They gave me a loaner to drive during this visit and I won't see my car till Monday. It looks like my PIA issues may be coming to a welcome end and I finally may be just driving and having fun as originally planned!

I did get that choice at the time but my finances were just not quite there due to being so upside down with the Lease car I traded in. BUT ... I do appreciate the suggestion though.

This might be true, but now the onus would be on OP to prove they lied, and that might not be as easy as it sounds.

Who knows, maybe the dealership will play nice, but if they were hiding stuff like this from the get go, he may have a very hard time getting rectification.

I don't know where you live, OP, but here, the law states "buyer beware". If you signed, you're essentially SOL unless you can without a doubt prove they knew about the accident and you can prove they were covering it up.

I live in Las Vegas, NV. Prior to the sale, there was a sticker on the window that indicated the car was accident free per Car Fax. The sticker was destroyed while I was in the finance office so it was not presented during delivery. Apparently this is a very dirty dealer as I had discovered along the way. I did manage to have another copy printed out for my records about one week later. The dealer tried to cover that writing about Car fax up with red ink on the replacement window sticker but it is so transparent you can see the Car Fax information very clearly still so I do have the proof of the deception. I also have a Car Fax report provided by that dealer one day after I took delivery and it is in contradiction to what was published on the window sticker. I hope I'm not SOL but at this point, the car actually is almost completely satisfactory. A very slight brake noise upon stopping only in that one wheel in question but very intermittent. Also when turning sharp under a lot of speed I hear a slight groan (could be tire roar) and that is what is leading me to believe it is the wheel bearing on the wheel that got hit in the collision. I think this is causing the brake pads to miss-align at times creating the tiny noise upon stopping. Question for you guys.. When turning sharp say going 35-40 around a turn like a freeway off-ramp, is there a point where the tires get louder due to the grabbing of the road. I do not here any tire squeal like an alignment issue is present under those conditions. If so, I may not have a problem at all. I don't recall my 350 acting like that. If this noise is normal, I'll probably feel as stupid as when I bought the car with issues I really should have noticed. And as crazy as this sounds, I love this car still and hope to put all of this behind real soon. I just went for a ride and man the car runs GREAT!:superghey:

If they play nice, all should be well. I won't even go after them for the other $885.00 I had to spend. I met the sales director during all of this BS & he actually was a nice person who helped along the way with the tire lock and low tire pressure indication issues that got resolved. The sales people under him were the scammers who would try and get a sales commission at all costs including lying to their potential new customers. I will NEVER refer anybody to them but it's better to keep them as a "friend" in their eyes for future issues if needed. And as I said, if all goes wrong & require repairs not covered, I'll go for their throats and see what that gets me later on!

Sucks to hear you go through all that trouble. Basically, I refuse to do used car purchases from dealers. One really tried me when I found out bit by bit how s****y of an example of a Z they had. That patent "guilt trip" out the door and all.

I ultimately went through a semi-private sale to get my Z. Basically the package was very telling about the owner before I could see his docs, the sales agency's mechanic nailed everything that could be predictably wrong with the car. When I saw docs and logs, very fortunate to find this guy went the extra mile in taking care of the car sans knowing to get an HD CSC. Basically, seems like he planned to dump it the second warranty was up. That being said, bone stock car. That was a bit of a gamble, and next time around I'd either get a brand new car, or go through a forum member.

But anyway, welcome to the Black Cherry club.

Thanks a lot and best of luck with your Z. I hope to be here for quite some time. Some members thought I should just try and return the car at all costs after the discovery of the previous accident. I Hated being lied too but it was minor and only minimal cosmetic repairs were needed. The Z is now back at the selling dealership today as planned. They gave me a free car for the day while checking out the car. I was just going to wait there and was really glad to make it to work instead.

So far so good I hope. I am awaiting some news tomorrow. Of course the clicking brake noise disappeared yesterday in the problem brake/wheel but I gave them some other things to check out that should help find the issue. The car has really already come along way since delivery and got nothing but complements today for it's appearance. I'm really trying to put this all behind me and just enjoy the Z. My last Z, a 2003 Touring 350 took about 90 days after a dealer purchase to get it into shape as well so I really agree with your dealership comments. That car had 33K on it when I bought it though and 2 1/2 years old. I was hoping to avoid all of that with such a low mileage purchase of the 2016 370 I bought this time around.:rolleyes:

Good news for me today
 

OK so the dealership where I bought the car did diagnose and replace a bad wheel bearing/hub assembly on the suspect left front wheel and under warranty. They claim my front end tire roar issue is now gone and no brake clicking can be heard as well. I pick up the car on Monday. They are looking into my door rattle this weekend. They also provided me a loaner car which I did not expect. At this point, all sounds like I just may have a really good Z car real soon. I'll just have fun with the car and forget I got lied too since this dealer is trying to be nice and seem remorseful of their sales Dept. deception at this time. Final comments will be added after I get it back for a day or two.:eekdance:

In reference to TreeSemdySZee door rattle. you're right so far. Today, a few days after getting the car back the frickin speaker rattle was really bad along with that tiny rattle/window up only issue. The dealer where I bought the car said I have after market speakers in the car which explains why it sounds really good with the pioneer I added. I figured I'd get it back to my stereo shop ASAP. The dealer claimed that my currently installed speakers are too large for panels causing the issue. I really didn't buy that since the RH door is OK along with the sound. BUT.... Just for the heck of it I rapped on the bottom of the LH door and low and behold I hear a object of some type bouncing around inside the bottom of the door. I now believe I have 2 small issues to once again deal with not caught by the dealership. Most likely, a mounting screw came out of the speaker hardware and now is rolling around inside the door due to a bad stereo speaker install from the original owners shop. That may explain the weird speaker distortion at times. Oh well, the car is running so well mechanically now that this is just trivial stuff at this point. It's a never ending battle but I will get there.:)

Nice that you are getting some satisfaction.
As far as the door rattle. You may not get that fixed. These cars are notorious for a driver's door rattle. Mine has rattled off and on for 7 years. Yours could be different.

Thanks a lot. My 350 also had a bad rattle also in the drivers door that couldn't be found for some time. That turned out to be the 2 piece panel (bottom half as I recall) that was creaking against the mated top piece. The solution was felt between the section that tied them together. 6 years later, that issue never returned. Hope to get this fixed on the 370 but it's really not that big of a deal. I should get the car back on Monday afternoon. I'll drive it for a couple of days and hopefully just post final comments.:eekdance:

Final Thoughts
 

I picked up the car today and all I can say is WoW. The car now seems perfect at the moment. The car no longer has that tire roar sound even around bends going 1 Billion MPH. Well slightly slower but I'm so glad this PITA car crash issue may now be finally over. As for the dealership, they have done as best as possible to correct their Sale Department's BS. I have a new Service Writer friend that will help out in the future if needed. All the Service Department personnel were very nice to deal with. SO..................

Am I glad I kept the car............ You Bet. I ended up with a car that now any Z owner would be happy to drive. Mechanically and cosmetically problem free "for now" and 2years/28/000 miles of factory warranty remaining.

and "lawyering" up is NEVER as easy as it may sound. My advise is to watch out for shady dealerships and always CYA if you are buying a New or Used vehicle from them. I got tired and didn't cover mine as intended.:eek: Still, no regrets at this point other that that $885 could have paid for my paddle shifting upgrade and my K&N drop-ins had the car not had issues.:rolleyes:

Well here is a little more added information on the door rattle. It's still there. AND... If I crack the window a tiny amount it goes away. Also at this point, the speaker in the door was just replaced due to a tear in the woofer cone. It was not a loose mounting screw like I guessed causing the distortion/cracking sound. The loose part floating in the bottom of the door was a door panel clip. That must have happened at the dealership when they checked out the rattle and blew it off due to the after market speakers being used as an excuse to ignore the real issue. I will just go back to my dealer near my home & revisit that soon but otherwise, the Z is now got that new car feel and an excellent pioneer sound system with full steering wheel/blue tooth support I also had upgraded with using an additional wiring harness adaptor.

I hope the last door rattle issue doesn't turn out to be off & on like you have experienced. I hope to get that nailed ASAP as well.:excited:

Rattle gone
 

Well I finally went to the dealership to take a look at the left door rattle which happens only when the window is fully rolled up.

It was related to a loose regulator as others have also reported here on the forum. I'm glad I found this solution here on the Z forum before I went to the dealer. I was fully prepared for some BS since the dealership where I bought the car from had previously looked at this & thought it was caused by an after market door speaker upgrade being too large/deep & causing panel interference. I never really believed that explanation since my right door did not have any issues with the same size speaker inside.

I had replaced the speakers after being told this but one was torn anyways. My Pioneer HU really sounds great and is so much better sounding than the factory stereo that comes with the Base Z. I bought 6 & 1/2s but slight lower profile (TS-A1675R Pioneers) that fit just fine.:happydance:

Window Rattle again.. Problem solved
 

Well as it has been mentioned, the window rattle on the drivers door can return and has been an ongoing issue for some. This typically happens when the window is fully in the up position and disappears when slightly cracked.

The dealership was as frustrated as I was with this problem returning so quickly so a new regulator was ordered after several more attempts to stop the noise were unsuccessful. Long story short, the new regulator would have also rattled away & it has to do with the way it has been designed in it's mounting points. It is secured with one mounting screw but the other mounting point is done by using a rivet. This is where the problem arises. SO... with a bit of creative thought, some foam was placed in between that area to prevent that noise created due to the weak contact point using a rivet that can not be properly tightened. This was the explanation I got today and it seems to be correct. The rattle is totally gone and I don't believe it will ever return now. Such a PITA noise for such a simple cure! Anyways, I hope this information will help others that may run into this issue. :tup:

Next up... Time for my first oil change........... First one is Free at the dealership where I bought the Z. I also have now ordered my rear sport Factory Spoiler I have wanted to add to my base model. It's on back order though since the color I need is Black Cherry. Oh well, I can wait. After that, it's my paddle shifters.

UPDATE.... Well it's been a while and still no rear Spoiler in stock as of yet. I guess my color takes quite some time to prepare from the factory. In the mean time, my Paddle shifter parts have all arrived so I think I will get them both installed at the same time. I can go a few more miles before my oil change is actually due so I have not got that done yet. I did visit a body shop in Vegas & got some needed cosmetic things done that existed prior to my purchase.

Also, for those who use the dealership for warranty work, OMG it took around 6 tries to totally correct one issue without the technician creating another new problem. From mis-aligned window driver glass to warn out door panel clips to misaligned door seals. This is what happens when repeated tries are done to correct one issue. All is well now but not without removing a damaged part (inner side view mirror plastic piece would no longer stay in place & was taped) and replacing it from a brand new Z as opposed to waiting again for more parts after the final attempt to satisfy me & my very picky "Z".

Boy this car has really come a long way. It's really 99.9% flawless right now. I don't think that will last since no matter how far away I park from others, there is ALWAYS one wise A$$ that has the need to pull up next to me. So far, so good "knocking on wood" as I t ype!. See.... type-O:bowrofl: