Long-time lurker, first time poster. With the help of this site, I recently scored what I believe to be a decent deal on a new Nissan Murano after my current one came off-lease.
I picked it up 12 days ago from dealership (before long holiday weekend) and drove it home 4 miles, parked it in my driveway and went away for the weekend. 7 days ago, I went back to same dealership (driving the new Murano) and struck another good deal on a new Sentra. Boom. 2 cars leased in 5-day span.
As I’m driving home in car #1 from deal #2, about 1 mile away, notice white smoke coming from front right tire well. Pull over and now white smoke coming out of hood. Let the car cool down and smoke stops —so I call them and say I’m bringing it back right now. Drive back and sure enough notice car is overheating. Dealership gives me loaner, promises speedy diagnostic and repair and sends me on my way.
Today (7 days later) I finally got the car back (delay they said was due to a hose they needed to order) and start driving home and 3 miles out, i lose acceleration. Car is on, engine running, but feels like I’m stuck in 1st gear. I pull over, turn car off, get a Key ID error when attempting to restart. Multiple tries — then it starts. Try to drive again, same acceleration problem but now different dashboard lights coming on at random. Main radio/nav display goes black. Pull over again and key ID error while the analog gauges are literally twitching. Car is 10/10 possessed. Call dealership and tell them to come get this POS and bring me the loaner again. Just left them.
Sorry for long story but now contemplating my next move — bottom line is that I don’t want this car. Not saying I don’t want another Murano — but don’t want that Car/VIN. What do you think my recourse is here? I’m just assuming dealership will put up a hassle to rollback the deal. Best case scenario is they cancel deal, we make a new one on another Murano and bigger discount for the headache. Hit me with the hard truth, boys and girls.
TL,DR: Leased new car. New car broke. Dealership fixed new car. New car broke again. WTF do I do…
I think you’re jumping the gun on lemon here a bit too soon. I get that it’s frustrating having a brand new car in the shop 2x now this early, but they are mechanical and do break sometimes, even new ones.
That said, keep good records. Idk what state you’re in, but each state has their own separate lemon law rules. Most require 3-4 times in the shop for the same issue within a year or 2 to qualify, or x amount of days in the shop without a fix. 7 days isn’t long enough. If your overheating problem and this problem are related, it has 2 strikes. If they are coincidental, it has 1 strike for each. The rules for your state can be found on the internet. I suggest you find them and read up.
I’m not saying you have a lemon or don’t, but it’s probably a bit premature to say either way just yet.
Typically you’ll have the right to return a car if a significant problem can’t be repaired within “X” attempts (numbers vary by state), or the car is in the shop for more than “X” days (numbers vary by state). This right usually needs to be exercised within a set period of time after you bought the car (like 1 year).
Generally doesn’t matter if it’s leased or financed - if the dealer is required by the law to issue a refund, they’ll just issue it to the bank or leasing company that currently owns your car (you’ll usually get back any DAS amount you paid).
Keep careful records of everything especially # of attempts and # days out of service, and don’t have any communications with the dealer that are verbal only - confirm everything with an email or letter.
Thanks guys – I probably should have left the word “lemon” out of the subject line as I kinda knew I wasn’t in lemon law territory yet. I’m keeping it mind in case the saga continues.
I was just more curious if you guys would accept the car given it’s been less than 2 weeks owned with 2 major issues? If yes, is it telling them you want the same make/model/trim but another car or would it be to roll-back the deal/lease entirely (assuming that’s possible or appropriate)
In any event, dealer called today and they fixed it again. They claim that when they fixed the hose from the first repair the tech did not re-attach the alternator which caused the car to run until the battery started to die which they say explains the funky behavior by the car until it couldn’t be turned on entirely. I picked it up and monitoring. As of this post, I made it 2 miles without issue
Seems like incompetent dealer issue for second visit. Find another dealer and live happily after. Murano’s are notoriously reliable. I had one for 2.5 years that i sold recently and never gave any issue. Same for a friend of mine.
What’s the alternative? The dealer isn’t going to get you out of your lease for nothing. That’s why cars have warranties. Nissan corporate could but this doesn’t sound like a very big deal and not close to approaching a lemon. I think you’re overestimating your position a bit. Keep at it with the dealer and keep lots of documentation.
