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Bought a lemon, dealer avoid my phone calls.. please help...

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shawnito

Junior Member
I purchased a used 2009 Infiniti sedan at a local independent auto dealer in Queens, New
York on July 23rd of 2013. At that time, the odometer read 28,050 of mileage. Within a
few weeks, I started to notice heavy white smoke blowing out from the exhaust pipe. I
was worried so I took it to the nearest mechanic and they said the car had no problem. So
I did not make any attempt to reach out to the dealer. Shortly after, on September 6th as I
was driving on the highway to visit my family in Connecticut, the car began to misfire
and rattle rapidly (odometer read 29,800 at that time). It was so extreme I thought the car
might break down on me, so I got off the nearest exit to the mechanic I used to see when
I lived in Connecticut. He inspected the car and turned out that the engine coil and spark
plugs were all burnt out and needed immediate replacement. (This happened on 9/21/13)
I had no choice but to repair the car on the spot to get back to
New York . I did not call the dealer simply because I did not have a clue I had an statutory
new york state Warranty. Also, I did not expect problems will persist because the car had a such a low
mileage. (This is my biggest mistake and I am aware of it.)Moving forward, on
November 9th as I was driving to Connecticut, the car started to misfire and rattle again
but this time violently. So I checked the warranty status of engine of the car and realized
the Infiniti was up to 6 years (70,000 miles). So I scheduled an appointment to have it
checked out at the Infiniti of Manhasset the following week. Surprisingly, the mechanic
from the service center told me the car had the same issue from another Infinity
dealer.(where the previous owner had a record of poor maintenance). Therefore the
warranty was already void standing for my car. The mechanic found lots of sludge in the
engine due to inconsistency of oil changes. He stated that the engine was internally
damaged and my next scheduled engine oil change has 1,500miles, but there was only
1qt of engine oil left from the 5qts that was inside. The mechanic announced of its
indication that my car had serious problems. I finally called the dealer to inform him of
all the issues about the car, and that I had many attempts to resolve them but there was
absolutely no answer. I called and visited them numerous of times but all I got was "Let
me get back to you tomorrow." Of course I didn’t receive a response. I spent nearly
$1,000.00 on fixing this car that I thought was almost brand new according to the dealer.
I truly feel that I was conned and mistreated from my dealer when I purchased the car.
There is no way that he could not have known the severe internal issues before selling.
That is the dealer’s job to investigate before selling to a consumer. That is fraudulent
behavior. Please let me know if I have a case and thank you all for reading.

P.S I have not contacted attorney general's office yet.
 


Proserpina

Senior Member
I purchased a used 2009 Infiniti sedan at a local independent auto dealer in Queens, New
York on July 23rd of 2013. At that time, the odometer read 28,050 of mileage. Within a
few weeks, I started to notice heavy white smoke blowing out from the exhaust pipe. I
was worried so I took it to the nearest mechanic and they said the car had no problem. So
I did not make any attempt to reach out to the dealer. Shortly after, on September 6th as I
was driving on the highway to visit my family in Connecticut, the car began to misfire
and rattle rapidly (odometer read 29,800 at that time). It was so extreme I thought the car
might break down on me, so I got off the nearest exit to the mechanic I used to see when
I lived in Connecticut. He inspected the car and turned out that the engine coil and spark
plugs were all burnt out and needed immediate replacement. (This happened on 9/21/13)
I had no choice but to repair the car on the spot to get back to
New York . I did not call the dealer simply because I did not have a clue I had an statutory
new york state Warranty. Also, I did not expect problems will persist because the car had a such a low
mileage. (This is my biggest mistake and I am aware of it.)Moving forward, on
November 9th as I was driving to Connecticut, the car started to misfire and rattle again
but this time violently. So I checked the warranty status of engine of the car and realized
the Infiniti was up to 6 years (70,000 miles). So I scheduled an appointment to have it
checked out at the Infiniti of Manhasset the following week. Surprisingly, the mechanic
from the service center told me the car had the same issue from another Infinity
dealer.(where the previous owner had a record of poor maintenance). Therefore the
warranty was already void standing for my car. The mechanic found lots of sludge in the
engine due to inconsistency of oil changes. He stated that the engine was internally
damaged and my next scheduled engine oil change has 1,500miles, but there was only
1qt of engine oil left from the 5qts that was inside. The mechanic announced of its
indication that my car had serious problems. I finally called the dealer to inform him of
all the issues about the car, and that I had many attempts to resolve them but there was
absolutely no answer. I called and visited them numerous of times but all I got was "Let
me get back to you tomorrow." Of course I didn’t receive a response. I spent nearly
$1,000.00 on fixing this car that I thought was almost brand new according to the dealer.
I truly feel that I was conned and mistreated from my dealer when I purchased the car.
There is no way that he could not have known the severe internal issues before selling.
That is the dealer’s job to investigate before selling to a consumer. That is fraudulent
behavior. Please let me know if I have a case and thank you all for reading.

P.S I have not contacted attorney general's office yet.

I think your best bet is to read this and then contact the AG's office. It won't cost you a thing to find out your options:

http://www.ag.ny.gov/consumer-frauds/used-car-lemon-law-fact-sheet
 

swalsh411

Senior Member
The dealer will likely argue you failed to mitigate your damages by having the white smoke issue diagnosed. What did the mechanic you took the vehicle to say was causing that? It is not normal, especially in a practically brand new car.
 

shawnito

Junior Member
The dealer will likely argue you failed to mitigate your damages by having the white smoke issue diagnosed. What did the mechanic you took the vehicle to say was causing that? It is not normal, especially in a practically brand new car.
Two mechanics who diagnosed my car both confirmed the engine oil is burning inside and the mechanic from infiniti serive center told me the car had same whie smoke issue when first owner(he was leasing the car) returned the car.
 

swalsh411

Senior Member
Oil burning is a not uncommon issue with VQ series engines which are in many infiniti models. Have you contacted nissan/infiniti customer service to see if it's covered under the manufacturer warranty?
 

shawnito

Junior Member
Oil burning is a not uncommon issue with VQ series engines which are in many infiniti models. Have you contacted nissan/infiniti customer service to see if it's covered under the manufacturer warranty?
People at the service center told me the warranty is void because of lack of maintenancce by first owner. It was all in the computer.
 

swalsh411

Senior Member
So you purchased an expensive car without verifying performing a secondary inspection and confirming all required maintenance had been done? Whose fault is that?

Having all service records is not necessary when you're buying a 10 year old civic with 150,000 miles, but it certainly is when buying a low-mileage car that is still under factory warranty.

Again, contact Nissan/Infiniti directly. I see that as your only recourse.
 

shawnito

Junior Member
So you purchased an expensive car without verifying performing a secondary inspection and confirming all required maintenance had been done? Whose fault is that?

Having all service records is not necessary when you're buying a 10 year old civic with 150,000 miles, but it certainly is when buying a low-mileage car that is still under factory warranty.

Again, contact Nissan/Infiniti directly. I see that as your only recourse.
Actually I have the car inspected by mechanic I have known for a while and was told the car is fine. I guess he is incompetent mechanic not being able to detect problems in the car. I did not know buying used car require searching for the service records and that is my fault not knowing that but I did checked the histroy of car via carfax and it was clean. Anyway, I got hold of service record of the vehicle from employee at infiniti service center and it shows all the issues I am having now with car was preexisted. (On 12/19/12 Misc-Engine Mechanical C/S Engine seem to blow white smoke, confirm customer concern check for codes using consult no codes stored, found oil low 1/2 quart check found sludge. No service history would need to perform oil consumption test then contacct infiniti may not be covered based on lack of maintance) My speculation is that the infiniti dealer was not able to sell the car with certified pre-owned tag attatched at their yard because of car's internal issue and they sold it to the small independent dealer where I bought the car from. I am aware the New York state's 90 days statutory warranty is expired and I don't have much option left. I have already mailed out new york state consumer fraud protection form but if it fails what else there is left for me to do? I am afraid hiring a lawyer will cost me a lot more money than any possible compensation i might receive. Do you think I have a case with the service records on my hand?
Again, Thanks for your help.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
Your failure to monitor the engine oil level is neglectful. You should have caught the oil loss long before it got to the point of having only 1 quart of oil remaining. Your neglect likely contributed to the problem.
 

shawnito

Junior Member
Your failure to monitor the engine oil level is neglectful. You should have caught the oil loss long before it got to the point of having only 1 quart of oil remaining. Your neglect likely contributed to the problem.
I did oil change back in september and I drove little over 1500 miles when I found out about a engine oil low issue. Given the car only has mileage of 28000 when I bought it, I did not know I should check the engine oil level every once in a while.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
I did oil change back in september and I drove little over 1500 miles when I found out about a engine oil low issue. Given the car only has mileage of 28000 when I bought it, I did not know I should check the engine oil level every once in a while.
The owners manual will advise you to check the oil. That is why I said you were neglectful. You are not following the manufacturer recommendations.
 

TheGeekess

Keeper of the Kraken
I did oil change back in september and I drove little over 1500 miles when I found out about a engine oil low issue. Given the car only has mileage of 28000 when I bought it, I did not know I should check the engine oil level every once in a while.
Where did you think those oil slicks you kept parking over came from? Or that smoke pouring out of the tailpipe? Or the greasy film on the back of your car? :cool:
 

swalsh411

Senior Member
I would venture that less than half of car owners even know how to check their oil level (properly) and amoung those, only a small fraction do it on a regular basis.
 

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