[Mike]

When things get bad and you can't get satisfaction:

I would suggest that people keep their own documentation as a supplement to "Stealership" service documentation. I would send copies of my evaluation of the situation on my Letter Head attached to the dealerships service documentation to the management of the dealership.

Some thoughts about "Lemon Laws":

I was told that very few cases ever get resolved pursuing them through the Georgia Lemon Laws. I was told that the Lemon Law people ultimately accept Service Department documentation as "The Law" and dealerships are just to good at avoiding documenting anything that makes them liable. I hope that the "Lemon Laws" and those enforcing them are more successful in other states than they apparently are here in Georgia but I doubt it.

I hope others here will not do what I did and allow documentation that is not accurate to continue to pile up. I found that Service Departments have learned to use their documentation to create a basic "catch 22" in regard to Lemon Laws. My research indicated that it is more effective and ultimately less expensive to copy a lawyer and at some point have the lawyer write a letter to the dealership. I think dealerships are frequently much more intimidated by well documented information in the hands of a dissatisfied owners attorney than they are by Lemon Laws.

How I came up with the above plan for dealing with tough situations at dealerships:

Ok I had a very bad experience with a Dodge truck that I tried unsuccessfully to get repaired for many years. Without getting up on my soap box I will relate those issues that I hope I have learned from.

The problem I had was my dealership knew they could not fix problems with my truck and told me so. Unfortunately they basically refused/avoided documenting their inability to fix the problems.

My problems were largely electrical, and I must admit they were intermittent. The radio for instance would just stop working and would not work for months then it would start working again and work for months. The radio was replaced several times, new radios did the same thing....... I want go through all that was done what I am documenting here is the tip of the Ice Berg.

The last time I took the truck to another dealership. They saw 5-6 old reports over several years (which was about a third of the times it was worked on) but claimed that the radio needed to be replaced. The service manager said I don't care what the old information says your radio is broken and your only option is to buy a new radio. That was what he wrote on the service report, he would not let me write anything on the report.

A mechanic overheard our conversation and referred to a fix that he had used to fix similar intermittent problems. I knew the fix and had mentioned to the service manager that Dodge had made a recall on the documentation for repair of that year trucks electrical system. I believe that incorrect information on wiring this truck for towing was/is the problem. The manager refused to discuss anything but replacing the radio and he sent the other mechanic packing. He claimed that the electrical documentation change was not relevant. The radio started working again within 15 minuets of leaving the dealership and to this day works intermittently. I realize my problem was with Dodge and now I am dealing with Nissan. I just do not want to go down that same route with Nissan.


So what options do I have when a dealership want document the true problem? I could never get those "Stealers" to write "the truth" on their paper work. My experience in contacting other management at those dealerships was they stood behind whatever the Service Manager said. Dodge also stood behind whatever the dealership said. My big frustration was that dealerships in Georgia seem to know that there is a "Lemon Law".They seem to know exactly how to avoid documenting anything that would give someone the evidence they might need to pursue that law.

The only solution I have come up with is to document on my own letter head any problems that I feel are not being properly repaired or documented. Then submit my document attached to a copy of the service report to the dealerships management, retaining both copies and names and dates in my files. If the situation continues for an unreasonable time, I might then have something to send to the Lemon Law people or a lawyer.