Fighting the Good Fight

I shared a little bit here about how dramatic our car buying experience was. What I haven't told you is how SOUL CRUSHING it has been owning that Murano we purchased 5 months ago.

If I had to guess how many days I've actually driven the car versus it's been in shop it's probably somewhere around 30 to 40. During these weeks spans of time that it's been sitting at Texas Nissan and not in my driveway we've only been given a rental car once. This last time marks the fourth major instance that we've had to bring the car in for some kind of repair. FOUR... in FIVE months of owning it. That's four times I've screamed out a stream of explicatives because the check engine light had come on.

Twice the cars catalytic converters had gone bad and needed to be repaired but were (thankfully) covered under warranty. Trying to schedule in a time to take your car in to be seen is as nervewracking as it is when you're taking a child in to see a doctor. Not to brag or toot my own horn, but we're really busy people. Two fulltime jobs, two kids, community service work, social responsibilities, and the general hub-bub of the holidays don't make it easy to slip in and out with the car keys. It requires major rearranging of pick ups and meetings and a very messy desk calendar. I don't think businesses appreciate enough how much work is required of customers to patronize their establishment. Again though, no rental car so we made due with both of our commutes and two car seats as best we could.

SURELY. SURELY. Nothing else could go wrong with the Murano, right? I mean it IS a 2009 from a reputable dealership. Nissans are supposed to be good cars.

The following week (Dec. 3) we took the car to Walmart for an oil change. We had entrusted them many, many, many times because they are quick, efficient, and professionals. It's really nice to be able to bring your car in for that service while you grab diapers and wine I mean, groceries. A few days after this service was done the check engine light comes back on the Murano AGAIN. I'm not going to lie, I think I might have wept right into the steering wheel when that happened. I called Texas Nissan again and spoke with Eli to schedule a time to come in which was just a day or two later. I picked up the kids early from daycare that day and brought the car by to read the codes which indicated that it was something related to the oil chamber. Which they looked at and advised that the oil in the Murano was overfilled and would need to be drained. Eli told us to take the Murano BACK to Walmart ourselves and have them drain off the oil and have the light reset. So my husband took it in the next day and had oil drained at Walmart.

But that dang light wouldn't stay off. The next day it came back again. So I took it back over to Texas Nissan again after cutting my workday short AGAIN. AGAIN. AGAIN. AGAIN. ( You see how annoying this is getting?)

This time we leave the car and are given a rental, a small Sentra, but I'm not complaining because atleast my Murano is getting fixed (I think, at least at the time). Days are passing and each time I follow up with Eli at Texas Nissan he says that they are still working on the car. Six days pass before it's the 23rd of December and I receive a call from Eli that the part needed is not covered and that we will need to pay over $1,000 for repairs. I am absolutely livid to the point that I have to pull over from driving to stay in control. Our family was leaving for vacation that day and this is dumped in my lap to deal with six hours before we are supposed to leave. Oh, and we can't get our car back from the dealership because the damage done has made it unsafe to drive.

After a brief encounter with Jessie, the service manager at Texas Nissan, he received the documentation and sees that the fault for the repairs actually fell on Walmart and their responsibility to cover the damages. We, however, are given the greenlight to go on our vacation while this is sorted out between the dealership and Walmart. We provided both parties with the information they needed and stayed in contact during our trip to ensure that the communication lines were open.

Everytime it seemed like things were going well they ended up getting worse. Today (Jan. 5th) Walmart's claims department has now said that they will not cover the repairs because there is insufficient proof that the damage was done by Walmart's auto department. The store that the repairs were done in were not equipped to record the work being done, so the burden to prove that they caused the damage falls on us who were not allowed to be in the bay at the time the work was done. Fun, huh? At this point it looks pretty bleak and we'll have to come up with the money to pay for the damages done by Walmart on a car that has had repeated problems that I've owned for a mere five months.

I'm mad at Walmart for causing the damage, but with the burden of proof on the customer there isn't much more we can do pursuing them. I'm angry that Texas Nissan is in the business of selling faulty cars. There's no reason that they should be putting families in vehicles that are unsafe or damaged. You don't make a major purchase like a car and expect to have it break so often in such a short period. It seems like they've built a business by hustling people and haven't put their value on cultivating good relationships with their customers. I'm sad, too, that this hasn't been a good experience. I LOVE my Murano... when it's not broken. I hate that we're tied to this establishment that has such poor service and defective goods.

I'm exhausted from being worried about this and dealing with the stress. My stomach has been in a habitual knot since we started having problems with the Murano. Each month we're paying for a vehicle that we can't trust will be drivable. I feel like at this point our best option might be to just drive it into traffic and start over! Okay, not really... mostly, not really.

Right now all I have is a broken heart, crushed spirit, and a wallet that's about to be empty.