hey guys, need some input here on an epidemic in the jersey area. i am a girl who not only loves her 03 max se, but works as fleet manager in a high volume nissan/infiniti dealership. xenon headlights are getting stolen off the maximas like crazy, and it takes only 12 seconds to get them out. customers have been trading in their 03 maximas after having the headlights stolen sometimes the day after they replaced them. one guy had his car 2 days and he traded it back in and bought an altima. i know from our service department it is a costly job, insurance goes up, and the lights are back ordered so that the wait is over a month to get replacements. is anyone else having this problem, and would appreciate any response. later, jb

 

Do you tell the customers that buy the cars that have had their lights replaced that they were previously stolen?

I'm having a war with my dealer right now for this exact reason, and I have no clue what to do. The dealer won't admit anything and Nissan Corporate says "they're out of the loop". I need some help in finding a paper trail of how my lights were stolen, then replaces and how my hood and fenders were re-painted..

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Nick

 

nic, of course we don't tell them, once a car is brought back and put in our used inventory the only thing we must disclose is frame damage, tmu (true milage unknown) or salvage title. we give car faxes to all our customers and the vehilcle is now considered a pre-owned, even if they only had it a week. they stole my lights once, and the are so good at it there was no bdy damage at all! just a nic in the paint on top of each headlight mount. believe me, i own one and have to worry evey time i'm out whether my headlights will still be there. of course nmac is out of the loop. they need to come up with a modification to prevent this design flaw. if it happens to me one more time, i will trade in the vehicle. our 04's have landed, and our inventory control manager is not ordering the cars with xenon for this reason.jb

 

You're not following me..

I'm saying if lights get stolen from your new vehicle inventory, do you tell the buyer of the vehicle that there's been work done on the car before they buy it? This is what happened to me, I bought an '03 GLE NEW and found out my lights have been replaced and body work had been done to my car. Check the link..

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....hreadid=196251

What do you think I can do to get some kind of compensation for the "not factory" paint that now sits on my hood and front fenders. There is the Unfair Trade Practice Act that states when buying something as "NEW" if 5% of the the retail value has been done in repairs, parts, and/or labor, the buyer must be informed. Well, my car retailed for $29.5, just the lights alone are 5% of the cars retail value, not to mention the body work/paint job that had to be done.. It was probably in the upwards of $4G's.

What cane I do?

Nick

 

nic, sorry about that, yes we will tell a customer on a new vehicle. fortunatley, we have a guard on our lot and our new cars have been unaffected by this. the dealer should have disclosed it to you. how did you find out they had once been stolen?

 

This is a MAJOR problem with most owners of 02/03 Maximas in the NYC/NJ area. There have been many many threads by people who have had their lights stolen, and sometimes had them stolen more than once (i.e. stolen once, repaired, stolen again, etc etc).

One of the members contacted NNA about this issue, but they basically stated that it's not their responsibility. They DO offer the HID Anti theft kit (which you may be already aware of), but so far there haven't been any "tests" of its effectiveness.

The reason why these thefts are so predominant on the Maximas is because of Nissan's carelesness in design and engineering. They have created multiple security breaches which a thief can take advanteage of. Mounting tabs are plastic, so VERY easily broken, hood can be opened without getting inside the car, and windows can be rolled down without using key fob by simply playing with the key lock. On top of that, the OEM alarm is not up to par at all.

Most of these thiefs are only after the bulbs and the ballasts, and could care less about the housing. This way they can put these bulbs and ballasts on any car out there, and the demand for aftermarket HIDs is huge.

 

Look at the thread link below... it tells the whole story if you feel like reading..

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread...threadid=196251

 

Hey bro, have you tried calling NNA about this problem? Sometimes they are more cooperative in things like this than local dealerships. It would definitely be worth it.

You can also threaten the local dealership that sold the car to you by telling them you're going to be calling NNA if they don't resolve this. I doubt the dealership wants trouble with the corporate office, because there are all sorts of incentives to be lost.

 

Read the link to the other thread..

I did all of the above, dealer lied to NNA and now they can't do anything.. I'm "on my own".

Yea.. it sux.. but i'm trying to figure out a few more ways I can find a paper trail of the events..

Thanks,
Nick

 

Yeh, I did read the other thread--must've overlooked you mentioning NNA.

But, what did the dealer tell NNA? I mean you have different wires and paint overspray there, so what's there to deny? If I were you, I'd call them up again (NNA), and ask for an inspector to come out to see for themselves.

I know they have inspectors that come out and look at paint problems, so I'm sure they can send one out that can take a look at what's going on with your case.

Don't give up! Keep calling NNA, and speak to different people there. I was reading some 350Z thread, and some guy was saying how he called once to NNA to complain about something on his 350Z, and the rep just shrugged him off. He called the next day or something, a different rep was on the phone, and this time Nissan went out of its way to resolve the issue. So, point is--talk to different people there, and if rep is giving you a run around or hard time, ask to speak to a supervisor.

Good luck

 

Thanks for the advice..

I'm going to take you up on that one.. I bet if I keep calling I'll have to find someone there that will help me out..

I'll keep you updated..

Later,
Nick

 

private message TimW, he has a kit made for people, and they are basically these bolts that make the headlights harder to steal, although not impossible.

maybe you can put these bolts on your customer's cars when they come in for service?

 

A better question is where are all these stolen HIDs going to?? Overseas? Ebay? disected or modified to fit other cars? And who is buying these stolen parts?

 

Ebay, civics, other maximas (some have been advertised in the "for sale" section here... some have even bought known stolen HIDs), sentras, you name it.... there was a thread here a day or two ago where a sentra guy was saying he was going to "the store" to get some Maxima HIDs "less than cost."

He needs a kick "in the *****."

edit: some maxima owners are even buying them... for instance, floridabornmax is proud to have bought his stolen HIDs...

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....%2A+HID+stolen

 

those are questions i would like answered also. i know they can use the bulbs and socket to be wired to any vehicle. i also heard they were using the components to make stun guns. how crazy is that. it's really a shame. it takes a lot of enjoyment out of driving a car i love so much because of all this.later jb