Dealership Recommendations/Experiences
 

Just hoping to start a thread to track experiences with southern California dealerships. I just had a very unsatisfying experience with Fontana Nissan and wished there are more reviews on dealerships from 370z owners out there. I know dealerships are not the best solution when it comes to issues with our cars, but in regards to warranty repair I just hope we can identify at least one that we can all feel comfortable going to.

Just to start it off,

Last week, my z died on me (luckily close by my house) and was unable to start. Got it towed to Fontana Nissan where it was eventually diagnosed that one of my cam sprockets needed replacement.

My issues with Fontana Nissan is two parts. First, the service adviser, Ric Del Rosario, essentially made me feel as an encumbrance and got annoyed at me when I tried to press for further analysis/diagnosis in regards to my car. Considering the issues I've had on my engine (short blocked replaced for oil consumption and upper oil pan leak), I was trying to understand or get further detail on what the root cause of the failure was. I was scared that the engine is still consuming oil and hoping that with all the issues I've had Nissan would replace the engine completely. Instead of trying to understand my concern, he simply insinuated that if there are any issues it would have been my fault. He started making statements like oil consumption was probably occurring because I use nissan esther oil, which he claims to be easily burned by the engine. He further insinuate blame towards me by saying oil consumption occurs when you ran your car hard or that perhaps when I changed the oil I didn't put enough oil in it.

With all of that, I started a claim with Nissan Consumer Affairs in hoping that my issues and concerns would get further attention. But, this would not be the case because NCA simply relies on the dealership to make technical judgement/recommendations on the car. And essentially, Fontana holds on to their initial and ostensible recommendation that the car doesn't need further evaluation because the only issue is the cam sprocket.

In any case, I got the car back last Saturday, and appeared to be running fine. Before exiting the dealership, I noticed that the car has develop an exhaust rattle. So, I immediately returned my car back to the service area to get it look at. The rattle comes in after reving the engine pass 3K rpms and specifically coming from inside the invidia gemini's resonator. During this whole time, Ric is essentially is not taking responsibility on the damage and making statements that they can't do anything about it since it's an aftermarket part. Although my car did get towed to the dealership dead and that the cam sprocket work would be away from the resonators, the rattle is so noticeable that I am confident that the damage occurred after it got to Fontana. Unfortunately, I did not log/take a picture of my mileage before my z got there, so I can't even prove if the car was taken out for extended "test drives" which I think would be the only possible cause of the resonator being damaged. We ended the issue with Ric talking to the Service Dept Manager to see if they can do anything, which I just found out did not happen after just calling and asking for Service Dept Manager directly.

Just to summarize, LOL, I would not recommend going to Fontana Nissan; and in the case that you have to, definitely either work directly with Paul Haley, the service director, or another service adviser.

What a sh1tty experience, sorry to hear. Isn't Fontana Nissan a vendor here?

Dealerships = :facepalm:

Sorry about your experience. A lot of people recommended them but like you, my experience there was not very good to say the least. My Z ended up needing body work and a full bumper re-spray after my car was dropped off for a simple diagnostic. It's sad but I don't even trust any Nissan dealership around for any type of service. If you love your car, take it to an outside professional.

Isn't the nissan ester oil is what's recommended by nissan? What an effing tard!

San Marco Nissan has been great to me and my wife's Nissans and I highly recommend them for service. My Z just went out of warranty last week so I will see if the honeymoon ended with them as there is usually a change of tune if and when you have a problem.

So far so good with minimal issues with my Z.

Sorry to hear about your issues with Fontana.

That service advisor sounds like an a$$hole as well as an idiot. PM Juan@Fontana here on the forum. I don't think he's in the service department, but I bet he could step and help you get some answers.

I'm fine with dealerships. Nothing wrong with them IMO. I know what I need and so do they. They have the equipment to know what's needed and what's coming up. I've only had oil changes done so far and I've stuck with the same oil that the car originally came with.

I've gone to Puente Hills Nissan, they're pretty cool, clean and very professional. Very honest (my experiences). The waiting room is big and has private rooms if you gotta work or talk on the phone. One TV, coffee, popcorn, no computers.

Cerritos Nissan, they got coupons for service online and there's always a line out to the street. Service guy wasn't straight forward on the oil "needed" (upsell) but was very polite/professional. Waiting room is tiny (like a tire store's waiting room) where people waiting is spilling outside. Coffee, busted donuts, one small TV. Probably wont go to again.

Not always... :shakes head:

I went to dealership for a light that came on my dash. They gave me a brake fluid flush without my permission and then tried to charge me for it. The brake fluid I put in there was Motul RBF600 and only 3 months old at the time. So not only did I have to argue at length with them about whether I should have to pay them for it, I had to replace the crappy Nissan fluid with another round of Motul. Oh and the fix for the light that came on? Topping off the brake fluid. Fvck dealershits :twocents:

Metro Nissan in Montclair

Had problem starting the car (they could not replicate the problem so they sent me home; found out I was driving with out the clutch fluid reservoir cap for a month because the mechanic decided to just leave the cap under the hood; soon my csc gave out; quoted me $2400 just to fix the csc; went to a local shop & got it fixed for less than $1k)

So my conclusion is "don't go to Metro Nissan of Montclair" :)

Dealerships I've had bad experiences with:
Mission Hills, Glendale, Universal City.

When I had clutch issues, all 3 of the above dealerships denied me service under my CPO warranty. Not only that, they were pricks about it.

Only Nissan of Van Nuys told me to come on in and they'd do any repairs under warranty, which they did. They made me feel like a valued customer.

As it turned out, they only replaced the clutch fluid w/ the GTR stuff.
That was about 4 mos ago and i've not had any further problems

Every service department will have a customer waiting room with a tv, magazines, coffee, popcorn, child playroom, etc. to keep the customers busy and not complaining about wait time, so it's really nothing special. The last thing they want is service customers loitering the dealership with nothing to do.

If you're just coming in for a fluid change, most likely you won't have an issue. When warranty work pop up, that's when they will **** you around and dig into your pockets. Nissan dealershits have the worst customer service I've experienced. Been to OC Nissan, Cerritos Nissan, Buenna Park Nissan, all quack jobs. Each of the service techs acknowledged my car had an issue BUT they refused to do a damn thing about it. Finally drove it an hour away to Fuking Fontana and they fuked my car up, twice. So good luck to anyone taking their chances with them. I'm of the opinion that Nissan corp & dealershits don't give a flying fuk for existing customers so I no longer bring my business to them, found a local shop to get work done on my cars.

:iagree:

Couldn't have said it better. I have tried getting powertrain warranty coverage on multiple items at all three dealershits local to me. Only successful claim was for slightly drooping headliner I had replaced two days before I hit 36K miles. Thankfully, I found a Z/G specialist in my neighborhood for anything I'm not comfortable doing myself.

stupid question, but can we take nissan vehicles to infiniti dealership for warranty services?

That is true, but this is a "dealership experience/recommendation" thread. I just gave a brief statement of what they had if anyone was thinking about going there. I wasn't in shock or awe of it. The TV's weren't anything to write home about. But Puente Hills have individual rooms to do work in or have a conference call. That's a plus for me. Didnt see any magazines though.

My Honda dealership has the best stuff. Super clean lounge, giant tv, quiet play room for kids, Ms. Pacman!!!, keurig, popcorn, and imacs. I really dont mind when its time for service. They sometimes have a hot dog grill outside. All they need is a bar. :p

Buena Park Nissan was tiny and didn't have anything either. Small garage, didn't have time for my car when I arrived. They never answer their phones either.

Anybody have any experiences with Stadium Nissan?