Nissan March being sold as a Micra

Berty · 02-09-2009 2:10pm #1

So I saw an ad a month or so ago. I cannot remember but most likely carzone.ie

Anyway it was clearly a Nissan March but it has been re-badged as a Nissan Micra.

I would have to assume the garage did this and are trying to sell it on BUT what legal implications would this have?

Incorrect Insurance for one.

Any others?

plissken · 02-09-2009 2:14pm

How could it possibly have any legal ramifications, their identical cars or am I missing something

EPM · 02-09-2009 2:16pm

plissken wrote: »

How could it possibly have any legal ramifications, their identical cars or am I missing something

*Could* be used by an insurance company as a means of wriggling out of paying out. Probably wouldn't happen but it could. Also it might have a different insurance grouping as a result of a different safety rating as they are designed for different markets

Berty · 02-09-2009 2:18pm

plissken wrote: »

How could it possibly have any legal ramifications, their identical cars or am I missing something

Imported

Oh yeah, the sidelights are different on the front grille. In the Jap version they are blue tinted and here they are amber.

Anan1 · 02-09-2009 2:21pm

There was a court case some years ago where a garage sold a customer a JDM Toyota which had been rebadged as a Lexus. The customer won.

unkel · 02-09-2009 2:30pm

Anan1 wrote: »

There was a court case some years ago where a garage sold a customer a JDM Toyota which had been rebadged as a Lexus. The customer won.

I remember that. This is a similar enough case. An originally Irish / UK Micra is worth more than an originally Japanese March.

alias no.9 · 02-09-2009 2:49pm

Anan1 wrote: »

There was a court case some years ago where a garage sold a customer a JDM Toyota which had been rebadged as a Lexus. The customer won.

I'm open to correction here but I think that was a Toyota Soarer, which was rebadged as a Lexus Soarer. The Toyota Soarer was never sold here new and was never sold anywhere as a Lexus Soarer, it was sold as a Lexus SC300 / SC400 in the US. The substance of the case was that badging it as a Lexus Soarer, something that never existed anywhere, was a deliberate attempt to mislead the customer and extract more money. Since the March is almost identical to the Micra, a model Irish people are familiar with, I doubt the same precedent would apply. If you want deception, there are often adds for Seat Ibiza's placed that describe them as being the same as a VW Golf

.

Berty · 02-09-2009 2:59pm

alias no.9 wrote: »

there are often adds for Seat Ibiza's placed that describe them as being the same as a VW Golf .

Similar to the Volvo salesman who tried to convince me the S40 was in the same league as a 3 Series BMW.

Im still convinced that the overiding factor is that the vehicle is not the same vehicle.

Are the engines the same in the Micra/March?

It will all boil down to the Insurance issue. If the assessor was shrewd enough to spot the difference and its not hard, the shape of the number plate recess, then the insurance would be null and void.

On that, would you like to be hit by a Micra which was actually a march and the driver had no clue?

DaMonk · 02-09-2009 3:12pm

alias no.9 wrote: »

I'm open to correction here but I think that was a Toyota Soarer, which was rebadged as a Lexus Soarer. The Toyota Soarer was never sold here new and was never sold anywhere as a Lexus Soarer, it was sold as a Lexus SC300 / SC400 in the US. The substance of the case was that badging it as a Lexus Soarer, something that never existed anywhere, was a deliberate attempt to mislead the customer and extract more money. Since the March is almost identical to the Micra, a model Irish people are familiar with, I doubt the same precedent would apply. If you want deception, there are often adds for Seat Ibiza's placed that describe them as being the same as a VW Golf .

I thought it was a lexus soarer and then toyota had the chaser?

Tipsy Mac · 02-09-2009 3:56pm

A March can be robbed without the key by a simpleton, a Micra can't, thats the insurance companies point of view.

alias no.9 · 02-09-2009 4:10pm

Berty wrote: »

Similar to the Volvo salesman who tried to convince me the S40 was in the same league as a 3 Series BMW.

Not quite, they're actually trying to claim it is a VW Golf underneath because Seat are part of VAG, conveniently ignoring it's relationship to the Polo.

Del2005 · 02-09-2009 4:13pm

It doesn't really mater what the dealer sells it as. If you buy it the VLC will have March on it and you can inform your insurance company then. And if someone can't spot a JDM car they shouldn't be buying cars on their own, as they won't know what sort of lemon they end up with.

alias no.9 · 02-09-2009 4:18pm

DaMonk wrote: »

I thought it was a lexus soarer and then toyota had the chaser?

Lexus never sold a model called Soarer, Toyota did. Lexus sold a version of the Toyota Soarer in the US called the Lexus SC300 and Lexus SC400 depending on engine size. AFAIK all Lexii use numbers to denote the engine capacity, similar to Mercedes.

Nissan March being sold as a Micra

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