Nissan Versa S

I am a foreign scientist and was living in the US for only around 2 months when I bought a Nissan Versa from Nalley Nissan, Decatur. The salesman promised me that it was a pre-owned certified car (meaning it was in excellent condition). The salesman promised to clean the interior of the car (for a pre-existing odor) and to fix the dings and scratches (on the exterior) which were the only reported issues. After a test drive he made me put down the entire payment for the car.

Once I made the entire payment, the salesman told me that an engineer would check the car. This surprised me, as they had already promised the car was in good condition. The car was pre-certified. And so I waited that day for over 6 hours at the dealership, following which the salesman came and told me that the car was not going to be ready that day. I was told to come in the following day. This was quite unsettling to me.

The following day, I called up the salesman to check if the car was ready for pick up. At this time, he informed me that the car had emissions trouble, and that this would take one week to fix. I was shocked. He was not even apologetic and furthermore was unwilling to even give me a loaner car.

Finally a week after payment, I received my car. To my dismay the troubles with this car continued for a very long time. Just to list a few of the very many issues that I had. Within the first one month of owning the car, the bad odor inside was still strong, the dings and scratches were not fixed; the car had now transmission trouble as well. Each time I took the car to the dealership they were unable to fix these issues or only fixed them temporarily. Soon the car door handles began to malfunction and there was ignition trouble. In the three months that I owned the car, it was in the car shop for over 29 days for repair. I emailed the dealership for help – however no one contacted me back. So I contacted Nissan North America. They said they did not deal with any Nissan “used car” related issues. I was confused and frustrated with their treatment of me.

Finally I called the dealership again and explained my situation. They told me over the phone that they would change my car. However, when I got to the dealership, they forced me into a “trade-in”, and this meant that I had to pay even more money for a second car. To my utter shock, the second car was a down grade from my first – it had no remote key access and had manual window control, and barely any features I was hoping to get for the amount of money I spent – that too for a second hand car. All in all, I was absolutely mistreated by Nissan, and have been shocked by the quality of their cars and their service. Furthermore as a foreign national, I was taken advantage of because of my situation. I sincerely hope this does not EVER happen to any other person who wishes to purchase a car.