If 2020 has told me anything, it is that the automotive industry itself, taken a huge dump. Its not only just cars, but also tires, roads, you name it. And out of every year since I got my learners license back in 16 and my drivers license back in 17, this year literally killed my maintenance OCD. And that goes to my car that I was literally gifted by my parents (the first vehicle that I have my name on it, unlike my 2016 Rogue), where it went to the shop for a nice 16 times this freaking year ALONE!

And being a huge Honda fanboy, I was disappointed in the MDX, and wished that my 2016 Rogue wasn't totaled and didn't got the Florida Cert of Destruction title. Currently I have 45,1xx miles on her, but within the past 10k miles, I had the following done by Acura under their 4yr/50k mile new car warranty:
1) New battery at 39570 miles
2) Technical Service Bulletin for the god awful ZF 9spd auto for harsh upshifting during normal acceleration (not WOT acceleration)
3) Technical Service Bulletin for the Navigation not showing my correct location
4) Half shaft bearing replaced at 43,548 miles

I also got two new sets of Tires, because the Yokohama YK740 GTX that was recommended to me by an Acura forum member and the local sales guy at Discount TIre, was super loud and made grinding noise. Never in my life have I heard tires that made grinding noise (metal-on-metal contact noise). I just replaced those tires for Goodyear Assurance Maxlife (I was totally against Goodyear, just due to the fact they don't support our hard working police men and police women). And now, I am getting new vibrations from the driver's side footwell.

Moving into the dealership perspective, I have made best-friends with the service Advisors at Honda and Acura, and also made a frieinship with a technician at the Acura dealer, who used to work on our 2005 Odyssey over the Honda dealer. However, the surrounding Acura dealers near my house are less knowledgeable and less giving any (insert words here) about customers. While I still gripe and crap on Nissan for not coming through on their end on warranty work ("designed and working as normal" bs crap), I am blessed that Acura (Honda), honored the new car warranty and came through otherwise I would have been looking at a few thousand dollars worth of work and service. But god, one dealership gave a stupidest and dumbest excuse and reasoning, even the guys over at the Acura forums are scratching their heads and laughing at, which is the microwaves (wave frequency) from my Blackvue DR590W-2CH dash camera that I have placed the main unit directly underneath the auto dimming mirror, would interfere with Acurawatch Camera, located in the same area as my dash camera, would cause the steering wheel to shake.

Unlike my 2016 Rogue, where I replaced the rotors at 107k (ironically my 20th bday, and the week right before my Rogue got folded into a Ford F150), I am literally looking at replacing the rotors on my MDX this early, alongside with the brake pads (that was common with my 2016 Rogue). I am disappointed that Honda's rotors get warped so easily, that I am scratching my head whether or not I should straight up replace those rotors or resurface them, but then to only have the issue pop-up again.

Now, you all might be asking me, where is the 16 times I have taken my MDX to the shop this year. Well, majority of it is for tires:
1) New tires from discount tires
2) Alignment for $75 at Honda dealer
3) Valve stem tightened at Tires Plus
4) One of the tires being patched at Discount tires
5) Right side tires are rotated to "elminiate" OCD killing noise at Discount tires
6) Patched tire replaced at Discount tires
7) All tires replaced at Discount Tires
8) Rebalance tires due to steering wheel shaking between 50-60 MPH at Discount tires

Here is the rest:
1) Oil & Filter change and Tire rotation at Honda dealer
2) Oil & filter change, Tire rotation, brake fluid flush, 4 quarts transmission fluid Drain and Fill at Honda dealer
3) Second opinion from another Acura dealer for first Acura dealer on both TSB jobs
4) Road test with Acura technician to understand where the vibration from drivers footwell was coming from and also identifying front brake rotors are warped.

And to top things off, since this year, I have 2-at fault accidents from late January, it is expected for insurance companies to charge me 5arm^3 * 20leg^3 for a 6 month premium. But on basic coverage, not full mind you just the bare minimums that the State of Florida require for car insurance, some of these greedy companies are asking me $12k for a year. The only company who has been cheap compared to all and giving me better coverage is Geico. I'm paying $4500 for a year with them, which hasn't changed since before the collision. This clearly tells that insurance companies are greedy and should be avoided, especially if you have more than one at-fault incident.

One reason your insurance firm is "greedy" just may be your 2 at fault accidents in 10 months.

Its not my insurance firm... its the other guys. After doing some research and homework for a month for insurance prices, I did find out Geico (who I have been insured with since the start of my DL) is the cheapest for at-fault collisions.

Oh. You're back.

RicerX wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 18, 2020 9:06 am

Oh. You're back.

RicerX wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 18, 2020 9:06 am

Oh. You're back.

Boii, I asked greg before I posted Ofc im back, and its not like we sold the 2019 Rogue either, so I'm here for a while until we get rid of that electrical gremlin! And I got a nice story to add to this thread! Quality overall really dropped in 2020 for some odd reason.

(INSERT WORD HERE) Fountain Acura in Orlando, Florida! Most incompetent dealership I have ever dealt with and they don't even give receipts or any documentation at all and they close the RO because "they can't find anything wrong"! Now I never got my problem resolved with them because all they been doing is finger pointing and not bothering to help me (I'm still under warranty). Goodyear is literally asking documentation from them showing that my MDX is mechanically sound, so they could warranty the tires. Like its one thing with Reed Nissan Orlando with having crappy luck, but holy crap, never expected this from an Acura dealer. Another Acura dealer (Autonation Acura) and a former female SA for Miami Acura (a good friend of mine) got really pissed at this Acura dealer for not helping and being lazy. What added fuel to the fire was that this dealer hired a female SA that know jack about cars (literally, she is on her phone or doing nothing), but gave me a rude attitude when I politely asked them to warranty my struts (she asked me who the heck told you that the struts are leaking?); keep in mind, I only go here for warranty work as they are in the same county as me. And then, I think its the master tech or some tech, but dude rejects on doing a multipoint or checking if my suspension or anything is messed up.

I found out I have leaking front struts, and his explanation is someone wiped the dust off. Again, this fumed my friend who is the former Acura SA and fumed AutoNation Acura. Add fire to flame, I'm finding all these issues just because my steering wheel is shaking at highway speeds after rebalancing, probably it takes like a minimum of 100 miles for the symptoms to show up again (Discount Tires does match mounting and road force balancing, done 3 times and a rotation after 1500 miles).

Now, Acura corporate has escalated my case due to this dealership incompetence. I personally never seen other dealers pissed at one dealer for not doing their job at all. A tire guy well known in the CFL car community said he wants to check out my tires and suspension before I head over to AutoNation on Saturday. And, just to make this all interesting, all of this is under warranty, and I haven't paid anything yet (will be paying tolls and $66 for AutoNation to do road force balancing again to get data).

datechboss101 wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 19, 2020 8:54 am

Acura Acura Acura Acura Acura

Didn't know NICO stood for "Not Infiniti Car Owners".

RicerX wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 19, 2020 9:37 am

datechboss101 wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 19, 2020 8:54 am

Acura Acura Acura Acura Acura

Didn't know NICO stood for "Not Infiniti Car Owners".

Wonder why there's threads for other brands in the general chat section

Either way, my point was Nissan sucks at making good with their new car warranty, and the term stealerships no longer exist, as a new term "scammerships" has been coined.

At some point, after having repeated bad experiences with dealers, I'd wonder if all the different dealers were the option, or if maybe there is a common denominator there somewhere.

IanS wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 19, 2020 4:59 pm

At some point, after having repeated bad experiences with dealers, I'd wonder if all the different dealers were the option, or if maybe there is a common denominator there somewhere.

Different dealers, and I know why I am saying it. If one cannot even give a simple receipt saying you have came to the dealer with at least the multipoint.

datechboss101 wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 11, 2020 8:55 am

And to top things off, since this year, I have 2-at fault accidents from late January, it is expected for insurance companies to charge me 5arm^3 * 20leg^3 for a 6 month premium. But on basic coverage, not full mind you just the bare minimums that the State of Florida require for car insurance, some of these greedy companies are asking me $12k for a year. The only company who has been cheap compared to all and giving me better coverage is Geico. I'm paying $4500 for a year with them, which hasn't changed since before the collision. This clearly tells that insurance companies are greedy and should be avoided, especially if you have more than one at-fault incident.

In that wall of drivel up there, I missed this gem. I remember you folding the Rogue into an F-150. How much damage did you do to the Ford? And since the Rogue was totaled, we know it was $15k or so in loss on that side (give or take a couple grand).

So let's say that Florida didn't have insurance requirements. What would you do then?

Not even when I was 16 did I ever pay $4500 a year for car insurance. Did you set a speed camera record in FL or something?

$4500 would buy me nearly 4 years worth of car insurance..... And I have 3 cars on full coverage.

RicerX wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 24, 2020 6:37 am

datechboss101 wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 11, 2020 8:55 am

And to top things off, since this year, I have 2-at fault accidents from late January, it is expected for insurance companies to charge me 5arm^3 * 20leg^3 for a 6 month premium. But on basic coverage, not full mind you just the bare minimums that the State of Florida require for car insurance, some of these greedy companies are asking me $12k for a year. The only company who has been cheap compared to all and giving me better coverage is Geico. I'm paying $4500 for a year with them, which hasn't changed since before the collision. This clearly tells that insurance companies are greedy and should be avoided, especially if you have more than one at-fault incident.

In that wall of drivel up there, I missed this gem. I remember you folding the Rogue into an F-150. How much damage did you do to the Ford? And since the Rogue was totaled, we know it was $15k or so in loss on that side (give or take a couple grand).

So let's say that Florida didn't have insurance requirements. What would you do then?

Not even when I was 16 did I ever pay $4500 a year for car insurance. Did you set a speed camera record in FL or something?

I got no clue... Dude still hasn't closed the claim yet according to my dad and Geico. As far as physical damage, there was barely none on that F150 other than a dented plastic chrome looking bumper (not sure the proper truck term). It has a repair cost around $11k, which just straight up totaled the Rogue completely.

Regardless if Florida does or doesn't require bare minimum, I'm still broke as heck and not stupid enough to drive without insurance, because I know the consequences of not having insurance. Glad I do have insurance.

And lets add accident #3 onto this mess shall we, for 2020. What a great year for me (sarcasm, lol). I got rear ended while waiting for a left turn light to turn green. And would you know, it was a god dang Toyota Tacoma, whose driver said he literally lifted his foot a bit and that pos rolled and hit my MDX, which moved it a few feet from a standstill. Progressive, is covering everything (collision repairs and rental), so I happily dropped the MDX off at the local Acura dealership, who like Reed Nissan, has an OEM approved body shop onsite. Got a quote of $2950, which includes replacing the tailgate (not rear windshield), exterior trim pieces, repairing the rear bumper, and paint.

In terms of police, Local PD showed up, unlike FHP who was a no show (I called FHP btw, not the sheriff or the local PD).

$4500 is because I'm a young minority male, and I drive moderately priced SUVs (original MSRP range from $30k for the Rogue to $52k for the MDX). If speed camera was a thing in Florida, I bet you, I would have set the fastest speed in an econobox family SUV on the Florida Turnpike.

The dashcam footage (had to remove audio due to the type of words used in the music):
https://youtu.be/Zv9A1yY-Upw