Reason for Visit: Sales (Used)
I recommend this dealer: No
My Review of Santa Monica Nissan:
To: Santa Monica Nissan
VIA HAND DELIVERY (to Eric M. on 4/9/2009)
ORIGINAL PROBLEMS within 30 minutes of leaving dealer on 3/8/2009:
? When driving vehicle over 35mph… vehicle severely shakes when stepping on brake pedal.
? Check Engine Light on
? Wrong Gas Cap (fixed/replaced)
? When stepping on brake pedal the breaks squeak (in the first week this happened randomly, by week two it became a consistent squeak. (The shaking and squeaking of the vehicle seem to be due to rotars, brake pads, and bad alignment verses what S.M. Nissan originally said: “All (shaking & check engine light on) due to the wrong gas cap on the vehicle, which “caused air” into the fuel tank …with apology S.M. Nissan said that as soon as they rectified the gas cap issue and re-set the check engine light, the vehicle would be good and ready to go”
? Registration/Tags
? Check oil light on
? Last and least importantly, however, it was promised that the vehicle would be cleaned/detailed as it was obviously needed, and for us to bring it back the following week, as it was Sunday.
We did try and bring the car right back the very next day, due to the check engine lights and the shaking. We were told by S.M. Nissan Service Dept. that they couldn’t fix because this vehicle is a GMC and not a Nissan. After an hour of missed work, and not successfully dropping off the vehicle, I returned to my place of business and telephoned Tony (finance mgr. of S.M. Nissan). Tony said for us to bring the vehicle back and they’d take care of and give us a loaner. S.M. Nissan kept the vehicle for over 5 days, I called them to be told the car was ready and that I could retrieve it. We picked up the vehicle (The Gas Cap was replaced, The check engine light was not on). However, the vehicle did still appear to have a shake about it when braking, and it was obviously not cleaned/detailed. Nonetheless, unfortunately when we picked up the vehicle it was in the evening after work and we just drove the vehicle straight home (1.5 miles from S.M. Nissan dealer location) So a good test drive did not take place until the following morning. At which point the following occurred and notes were made:
• check engine light came back on
• vehicle severely shakes when stepping on brake pedal
• more brake squeaking
• check oil light appearing randomly off/on
• By mid-day the vehicle started to over heat
• Rear left tire appears to have a slow leak
• Still not given registration & tags
By 2pm this following day we phoned Tony (finance mgr.), and by this time I had personally researched several issues I felt uncomfortable with in this whole sales transaction, 1st being that we were never told nor shown the MSRP, when asked of salesman, as this was not listed on the window. This information was held from us and haggling proceeded. After researching the “certified used vehicle” we just purchased, I realized the MSRP (given on benefit of the doubt, at most) should have by no means been valued at more then $15,000.00 verses the original $17,999.00 it was sold to us for. On top of this Tony (finance mgr.) gave us a Kelly Blue Book print out, which contained more than half of the amenities being falsified, asking us to make sure we told lender these amenities were in the vehicle or we’d have a hard time getting financed with our credit. With that being said and finding out the actual condition of the vehicle, I did not want to proceed with this purchase and was basically laughed at by Tony (finance mgr.) and pretty much told: too bad, too late, cars yours.
Wachovia bank originally approved us, when they made their initial call to us, I was just as honest with them as I was with Santa Monica Nissan, in which my Drivers license at that point was suspended, and that I was currently trying to resolve. Understandably Wachovia Bank did not want to take on the risk and bailed. At this point, March 26, 2009, I received a call from Eric M. of Santa Monica Nissan, making me aware of Wachovia Banks decision. I did not have a problem with this at all, and figured it was really meant to be anyways as we seemed to have gotten the rawest deal ever on a vehicle that we did not feel safe driving our children in. Eric went through options with me and seemed sincere in wanting to make this a deal gone right. He even offered to pay half of the fees I was looking at to re-instate my driver’s license. I asked for a day to put thought into this.
Upon my telephone conversation with Eric on March 28, 2009 at approximately 1:15pm we both agreed upon the following:
? Me proceeding with an attorney I found at the rate of $1,650.00 (who would have all holds on my driver’s license removed before 4/10/2009).
? Santa Monica Nissan would VOID my check (ck#2) that I had previously post dated to them in the amount of $900.00. It was agreed upon both Eric and myself that: this previously agreed upon final down payment obligation/ck amount of $900.00 was no longer my obligation to Santa Monica
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