tomz17

Any of you guys here had an accident? How are warrenty issues handled afterwards?

I was under the impression that the Nissan warrenty (bumper to bumper, powertrain, and corrosion) were void after an accident, however the book is in the car (which is in the shop), so I really can't go read up on that this very moment...

Any thoughts?

-Tom

bert

I do not know if it does or does not void the warranty (base or extended), though it's an excelent question. One that I have also asked myself and have a related question.

Assuming that the warranty is not voided, so long as the work is done by a Nissan shop and original parts are used, given the reputation of insurance companies to use the cheapest parts possible, can we say "I have a warranty, if you have non-OEM parts installed, you (the insuance company) are responsible for the warranty.

tomz17

Well... I am insisting on genuine Nissan Parts...

by first estimates, that will set the insurance company back by 3 grand!!


still uncertain about the warranty issues... does anyone know for sure?

bert

I don't know about you or your policy... but in my neck of the woods you get whatever the insurance comapany has final say.

Now if you get a letter or confirmation from Nissan NA, forget the dealer, regarding this situation and they say "your waranty is valid if the repair is done by Nissan with approved parts" then you have something to hold over the insurance company.

It probably also varies by state, depending on consumer laws.

Axel

iTrader: (3)

I think this depends on where you are but up here in Canada, the warranty remains. I had an accident totalling 6000 CAD (about 4000 USD) and I didn't use a Nissan dealership for the repairs. I did insist on Nissan parts instead of crappy generic parts which cost me a few hundred bucks extra out of my own pocket (State Farm has this thing that states that if the car is 2 years old or older that generic parts can be used to save cost. The owner can pay the difference of the Nissan parts if he wants to.) I didn't want to take a chance of some crappy part failing, causing a bigger failure and having Nissan blame it on a non Nissan part and screwing me over. I could just see it. Small failure causing bigger failure. Insurance company pays for replacement of crappy part that failed under warranty and Nissan not wanting to pay for the bigger failure and the insurance company saying that bigger failure has nothing to do with them and I end up being stuck with the bill.
Good thing I kept my warranty and good thing I got the extended warranty. I just blew my engine last week and I'm getting a new one under warranty. I don't know what I would have done had I had to pay for it myself.

On a side note, I don't know where you live but if you have rust-proofing done to your car (most of us do up here in Canada for obvious reasons), you'll need to get the new parts rust-proofed again (things like hoods, side fenders, etc.). Otherwise, if they end up rusting they won't be covered under a rust-proofing warranty. Obviously, if you don't get rust-proofing, ignore that last bit.

bert

Axel... Did you try the "The car is still under extended warranty and if you don't use Nissan parts you are responsible..." story? I know it's hard to strong-arm the insurance company when you are hat-in-hand.

Which end of the car got the hit?

Does the dealer know your car was in a smash or is it a don't-ask-don't tell sort of thing?

WTF did you do to blow the engine?!?!?!? One of those "I was doing 140 and put in 2nd instead of 4th" things? (I did that once... ONCE. revs hit 8000-8500 (I looked at the tack as soon as I heard the revs go up)) no probs 15K later.)

Axel

iTrader: (3)

To answer your questions in order:

1) Yes I tried to no avail, strong arming insurance companies is basically impossible. You can only decide to switch, which I can't because I got my license suspended once and my insurance company found out (I didn't tell them which I think you're supposed to) and they were nice enough to ignore the whole thing and not raise my premiums, etc. Hence, I'm stuck with them for a while

2) I rear-ended someone who stopped right before an intersection although the light was green (I rear-ended him because I didn't see him slam on the brakes because the driver to my right was changing lanes into my lane (into my car) without looking over. The car in front slammed on the brakes because the truck turning left mis-judged his turn and needed a better angle so slightly went into our lane. If the guy hadn't slammed on the brakes he would have hit the truck. It was a ****ty situation to be in. No way out. Therefore, my front end got all screwed up.

3) My dealer (the one I always go to) knows about the crash and they don't care. The dealership handling the engine replacement doesn't know and I doubt they'd care. As long as Nissan Corporate doesn't know, you're good.

4) I wasn't driving hard when the engine blew. I was in 3rd gear doing 45 mph on the New Jersey Turnpike heading back to Canada.
I guess I just drive the car too hard (racing it doesn't help I guess )

bert

Sounds like a good dealer to me!!! It surprises me that Corporate doesn't send a field **** out for such a large replacement.

Any idea what really blew the engine, what part let go?

I guess this is following the "if you have a good insurance comapny and good dealer" line.

Axel

iTrader: (3)

The service manager at the New Jersey dealership thought they were going to send one of those field **** as well but they didn't. And when I spoke to the manager yesterday I asked him the same question regarding what might have caused the failure and he replied, we don't know and do you really want Nissan Corporate to investigate and risk them finding something that would make the warranty void? I was like..hmm...no..guess not...leave it alone and thank Nissan for replacing it under warranty

TimW

iTrader: (6)

Generally (as Russ found out when he curbed his car), only parts that are directly replaced or affected would have warranty coverage voided. The body shop wont have any entries into your customer record so you wouldn't have problems unless they were able to correlate the problem to the repair/damage.

jamus34

Warrenty n00b here...

So if you get into an accident regardless of fault (gotta love NJ no-fault laws ) you void your warrenty???

So if I get hit by a drunk driver and the car isn't totaled out then I have to keep paying on a warrenty that won't cover crap anymore???





I hate big corporations more and more every day.