My brand new Versa got hit !

[Junipers68]

Well, last week - August 12 to be exact some girl did not look before backing out of her parking spot and smashed into the right front end of my Versa.

After having lived 2 weeks (vacation as well) from hell .. she was lucky I didn't rip her head off LOL. Especially since she kept saying "it's just your bumper .. it's just your bumper". Then she wined about the crack in her 1999 Honda Civic bumper and should she declare it to her insurance .. yada yada yada ..

Well, my damages came to $1600. Front bumper, side bumper (for lack of knowledge on what to call it in english) that goes over the right wheel, windshield washer fluid bottle, pins and brackets and front light.

Drove around in a Hyundai Accent for a week .. that car is SMALL inside - compared to the Versa.

Got my V back last night. All excited, washed inside out - new parts ..woohooo ..

.. till my brother in law showed up and said ..um, Lori .. your side bumper is not the same white .. and what is this pin hole in the paint job ??

Crap !!!

Nobody was at Nissan to inspect the car with me when I picked it up .. just the receptionist.

I got up this a.m. at 7:00 to check the car in the sun. The white is NOT the same .. it's very white .. too white. There is a slight contrast with the door .. although the front bumper is painted the same, that bothers me less.

Now this being my first accident (not responsible and nothing to pay) .. do I contact Nissan first or my insurance first ?

Am I making a mountain out of a mole hill .. in the sense that we will never be able to match the color ??

That pin hole of nonpainted area has to be fixed or it will rust out .. and inside the door area there are spots too that are not painted.

Grrrr ..

Sorry to vent .. but I am truly frusturated !!!

[Slither]

This is why I always lease, thankfully your accident doesn't sound serious enough to effect residual value or cause reliability issues. Have to be careful with rental - don't opt for additional insurance as your insurance company won't cover it.

Talk to the dealer about the paint. As its a dealer shop repair I'd think the proper paint was used. It may have to fade a little..?

[frankoV]

Dealer. Show 'em the paint in the sun and say [nicely] that you think it should match.

Unfortunately, when my V was hit [4 months in] the paint didn't match either . . . but because my insurance company doesn't work with the dealer [who knew?] "a perfect match isn't possible"

Bah.

[Versa Madness]

"a perfect match isn't possible" Bah.

Our bumper's paint does not "perfectly" match the body from the factory.

[Junipers68]

So .. I am kinda gathering that I may be SOL on this one.

I am going to contact both the insurance company and the dealer Monday.

If anything, they need to fix up the little points that are not painted - I do not need it to rust.

How wonderful to have a new car that is only 3 months old and doesn't match now

When I had my Focus for 4 years, NOBODY hit me .. lol. The thing was rusting and making noise - but nobody ever backed up into me.

Had to have a sweet white V to have someone make my day

If anyone else has any comments to share .. please do. I am just curious as to whether or not this is fixable ..

Lori

[longo]

I don't know why but new Versa's seem to be accident magnets..if you check eBay items you will see many 'Salvage' Versas on sad display...usually the entire front end is knocked off, but if you inspect the other photos you usually find that the front doors would still open and close and the driver side air bag has deployed....if that's any consolation.[IMG][/IMG]

[sooner4x4]

The paint should definitely match. If the car was 5 or 6 years old and hasn't been taken care of, then the original paint may have faded making a match more difficult. But that of course is not the case here. Matching paint on a new car should be very easy, and is totally expected.

A few years ago, our white Odyssey was rear ended by a young driver in a civic. When we got it back, the paint didn't match between the rear bumper and the rest of the car. This was unacceptable to us. The first response from the shop was, you can't match paint between the plastic bumper and the metal body, because they require different primer. Their answer didn't matter, I told them to do whatever they need to, to get the vehicle the same color (repainting the entire van was not acceptable). The shop had the van a few more days and the paint matched when we got it back. It can be done and should be done.

The shop we were dealing with was a "preferred body shop" as designated by the insurance company and was therefore motivated to do the job right.

Good luck. You never come out even in a wreck.

[Junipers68]

I am off to Nissan at noon. They gave me a really hard time yesterday on the phone - and the insurance company wants me to deal with Nissan first.

Upon further inspection, we noticed (guys from work who were thrilled to get their 2 cents in !) that may places were "dinged" and not painted. That the paint did not match AND!! they used TOUCH UP on one spot they dinged on the brand new piece (side bumper).

To me - this is unacceptable.

The Nissan guy raised his voice to me and said "we had an expert check your car so I don't understand what you are complaining about". Luckily for him, I kept my cool but I was so itching to say "then you better hire a new expert".

To top it all off, in 2006 I had a motorcycle accident (had a gorgeous little CBR 600) and have ankle problems. Today, it feels like my achilles tendon is about to snap (not good) so I am walking in there with crutches. Much to my dismay

But a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

I am just amazed at the shoddy workmanship. There is even paint splatters all inside the hood of my car !

I shall come back and post after I visit these wonderful folks from Nissan

[frankoV]

I'd stay clear of that dealership for routine maintenance or even warranty work then. Too bad you're on that side of the river . . . if you wanted a bit of a drive you could get your work done in Hawkesbury @ RendezVous.

[Junipers68]

I just may change dealers .. the reception today was less than jovial .. and I know they were trying to give me a hard time .. perhaps because I am a woman ..

The guy inspected the car .. noticed the little "dings" and the touch up paint. Then I continued to show him the color difference.

He responds "Well m'am, you know that it is hard to match the same paint - as your car was "baked" at the same color .. yada yada yada .. and that sometimes your white will come out with a yellowish tint"

I looked at him and smiled ..

Then I responded "Really - then explain why the rest of my car looks yellowish compared to the new right bumper that is a gleaming ARCTIC white ??"

He looked again .. about 5 times from different angles .. only to give in that the bumper was indeed too white for the rest of the car.

Then he proceeds to tell me that if it were HIS car, he would just have the touch ups done and leave the right bumper as is (the front bumper doesn't bother me).

Again, I smiled .. and said "Well, I am ME and I want my car to look like it did when I bought it here 3 months ago - not like it just came out of the body shop - so I want the piece re-done !"

After all that - he will be calling me this week to take an appointment to have the piece changed. It will take another 2 weeks to get an appointment - perhaps their stall tactic - but that's ok - the car is in perfect running order and I prefer it to the Accent rental I had

I also have to show him that his twit mechanic stripped all the bolts too .. what a mess.

I am disappointed .. luckily I love my V

[Junipers68]

I'd stay clear of that dealership for routine maintenance or even warranty work then. Too bad you're on that side of the river . . . if you wanted a bit of a drive you could get your work done in Hawkesbury @ RendezVous.

LOL .. THAT side !

Right now I will get my V fixed properly and then I may take it to another dealer close to my work for maintenance.

I just hope that the crappy customer service isn't at that dealer

[frankoV]

Better that side of the river than the wrong side of the tracks

[frankoV]

btw, I meant the St. Lawrence side! But you may take it as you wish . . .

[Slither]

My 2 cents on my accident experience a few years back.

Going into work one Monday morning I was t-boned hard by someone who ran a red light. They were distracted by the menus on their cell and hadn't quote 'noticed the approaching red light.'

My car was bent like a banana and had to go to 'the rack' to be straightened out. It required $10,500 (about the value of the car) in parts.The parts the dealer body shop used were a hodge-podge of OEM and non-OEM. This fact was to later void the extended manufacturers warranty I had purchased with the car when new.

Over the course of the following year the reliable pre-accident car proved to be an unreliable rebuild. I wanted to get rid of it. Because of the accident and the extensive repairs, I had to take a major hit on trade-in. Who wants a used accident car?

I don't do a high mileage and If I had leased instead of buying this car I could have just handed it back and walked away and let the leasing company take the hit on residual instead of me.

Also with the rental - I had a rental for about 6 weeks while the car was in the shop - watch out with the insurance options. I opted (in my ignorance) for the extra zero deductible collision insurance. Turned out this my own insurance company would not cover stating that my own car insurance covered the rentals. I was left short about $600.

Happy safe motoring all.

[Diznum]

Hi! I'd like to put my 2 cents in as well, I was a body man for 8 years and I used to restore classic cars like Roll-Royce's, Ferrari's, Porche's etc. I can't believe what I had read! White is a somewhat easy color to match, especially a 3 months old in a cool climate. What happened as far as the match is that the place where they got the paint did not mix it properly, paint does not come pre-mixed usually (sometimes it is but mostly not) Sounds to me like they just used a white base not adding enough or any yellow to get that light tint. I had a problem once on a white '84 Trans-Am, the paint did not match, too White! So I had the girl at the paint store re-mix and same thing, turned out the Formula was off and she ended up doing a custom match for me which came out perfect. The pin holes you see a called "Fisheyes" this is caused by not cleaning the area to be painted and high humidity is also a cause. The paint guy should have his gun taken away!!! When I finished a car it was perfect and you could not tell where it was hit at all. So get them to fix it right!

Good Luck! and hope this helps!

[Junipers68]

Thanks for the info

I have yet to hear back about my appt from them .. I will call them Friday at the latest.

They said they will repaint the side bumper .. the one that is too white .. does this sound feasible ? They said in doing that I am allowing the bumper to become more fragile - easy marked by rocks etc ...

Part of me is confused - and didn't dare ask them anymore questions for fear of them taking me for a bigger ride .. but I am not sure what they are getting at with the bumper thing .. is it because they are simply repainting over the piece ?

I think another call to the insurance company is in order tomorrow ..

[Junipers68]

And the saga continues !!

I love my car but sooooo regretting my choice of dealers ..

As you all remember, I had issues with the body work done on my V. Went back, got them to agree to fix it .. altho they gave me lots of attitude.

September 15 the car goes back in.

Well, 2 days ago I am walking to my car and it looks like I got hit again .. so upon inspection I do NOT see any hit marks ..

.. but my bumper is moving and lifting off my car !!!! I can try to post pics later .. just not sure how to do it.

And on the bumper .. near the right bumper over the wheel .. i see more paint issues and touch up.

I think I am going to write a letter to Nissan directly .. this is gonna have to stop.

And since I got the car back, there is a new rattle in the console - just below theradio, etc ...

Will this ever end ?

[frankoV]

Seriously . . . after this work is done [complain to your insurance company] find another dealer! It'll be worth the drive to end the aggravation.

[Junipers68]

Seriously . . . after this work is done [complain to your insurance company] find another dealer! It'll be worth the drive to end the aggravation.

I believe that is what I am going to do .. I guess I just thought by bringing the car to them (Nissan) that I would get the professional service they seem to think they give.

Just very annoying .. and now my car looks like it has been hit again LOL !!

[bigdog]

did your dealership refer the bodyshop or was it your insuranse company? either way i would say not happy w/paint & want it redone.