Manufacturer warranty on an imported vehicle

makeorbrake

I imported a car from the UK last year (Nissan). I recently claimed on the manufacturers warranty and had a warranty repair carried out. All was good with one minor dispute which has arisen with regard to the scope of the warranty repair.

In the dialogue that has followed, I am being told this;

"In the event that you decide to progress any legal action it should be noted that there is no contract between Nissan_Ireland or any of our dealer network in relation to the vehicle. Any action you may take will need to be against the supplying dealer and or original importer of the vehicle."

What is the situation here? Who are the actual parties to the 'contract' (i.e. manufacturers warranty) in this instance? Does it exist between me as current owner and Nissan UK OR Nissan Europe/Corporate?

I was the importer of the vehicle. I'm hardly going to turn around and sue myself!
The vehicle was bought in the UK from an independent car sales business/garage - not a Nissan dealership (nor were they a dealership for any other marque).

Toyotafanboi

I think you need to put a bit more context around your quote.

What year of the warranty did you claim in? Would the claim have been within 24 months of the cars date of first reg in the UK or after that?

makeorbrake

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

I think you need to put a bit more context around your quote.

What year of the warranty did you claim in? Would the claim have been within 24 months of the cars date of first reg in the UK or after that?

The claim was made just inside the manufacturers warranty period. i.e. 3 years/60,000 miles.

goochy

no the importer is the Nissan distributor not you.

makeorbrake

goochy wrote: »

no the importer is the Nissan distributor not you.

So Nissan_Ireland?

R.O.R

Do Nissan provide all 3 years warranty or is it 2 years and Nissan UK provide the 3rd year?

makeorbrake

R.O.R wrote: »

Do Nissan provide all 3 years warranty or is it 2 years and Nissan UK provide the 3rd year?

The warranty is 3 years / 60,000 miles. My understanding is that the warranty travels regardless of where in Europe the car ends up. They checked the mileage, they checked that the vehicle had been serviced (as it would need to have been for the warranty to remain valid) and they checked the date of first registration before they came back and carried out the warranty repair.

That's the main bulk and more expensive element of the overall issue. The dispute is over a sundry item - but I'm not going to let it slide.

On the basis that they checked all of that, I assume they would have turned around to me and told me from the get go if I was out of warranty....?

goochy

no if its an import , how could it be Nissan Ireland ?

goochy

sorry wasn't being smart !!

Toyotafanboi

You may not want to but why don't you tell us the exact issue at hand and we can advise?

makeorbrake

goochy wrote:

no if its an import , how could it be Nissan Ireland ?...sorry wasn't being smart !!

That's no problem at all, Goochy. That said, who's responsibility is it then? Nissan Ireland are Nissan's distributor and representative in Ireland. The car may have been imported but it's within this jurisdiction. I have no issue whatsoever in dealing with Nissan UK - but on other matters in the past, I've been referred by them to contact Nissan Ireland. They also took responsibility for carrying out the warranty work ....up until this impasse. Couldn't care less if it's N. UK/N. IRL - or if there's a Nissan Europe (?) or Nissan Corporate...all the one to me - I'll deal whichever of them is the relevant party.

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

You may not want to but why don't you tell us the exact issue at hand and we can advise?

Jurisdiction is the only issue :-)

It (the warranty) has to be in someones jurisdiction. It doesn't really matter what the dispute is over. Someone has to be responsible for the warranty. I thought folks here might have a definitive answer but no matter. I've asked them to confirm which Nissan entity is responsible - so I'll await their response (and update the thread when I get that).

Toyotafanboi

makeorbrake wrote: »

Jurisdiction is the only issue :-)

Indeed. Just jurisdiction, nothing more.

makeorbrake wrote: »

All was good with one minor dispute which has arisen with regard to the scope of the warranty repair.

makeorbrake wrote: »

The dispute is over a sundry item

Tell the story. There's no point in smoke and mirrorsing us too. If you want a meaningful response then give us the scenario and we can advise.

robtri

my understanding is that the warranty still resides with Nissan UK..
it would only transfer to Nissan Ireland if Nissan Ireland or one of its agents imported the car.



Nissan Corporate offices in different countries will out of goodwill and customer service help out and carry out repairs on behalf of the warranties owner (Nissan UK)

https://www.nissan.co.uk/ownership/nissan-car-warranties.html

CeilingFly

Jurisdiction is either the dealer you bought the car from or Nissan UK. You would need to issue instructions to a uk solicitor and have it heard in a UK court.

Simply not possible for Nissan Ireland to have jurisdiction.

They may have carried out warranty work, but it would have been on behalf of Nissan UK.

4odh4n

we had to get warranty work carried out on a 2.5 year old VW imported (by myself) from the uk, only 2 yr warranty offered in Irl so they would not touch it, took the van to NI VW dealer and no problem. they just asked for the original uk reg details.

goochy

hard to get paid for warranty work at best of times.
People going to have to accept if you buy import - you cant have your cake and eat it.
Might seem harsh but you know it makes sense.

bazz26

goochy wrote: »

hard to get paid for warranty work at best of times.
People going to have to accept if you buy import - you cant have your cake and eat it.
Might seem harsh but you know it makes sense.

Yet some main dealers didn't have a problem selling imports either when it suited them financially, seems they want their cake and eat it too at times.

goochy

I am sure you will be covered by them then , cant blame them .

goochy

cant blame them

makeorbrake

goochy wrote: »

hard to get paid for warranty work at best of times.
People going to have to accept if you buy import - you cant have your cake and eat it.
Might seem harsh but you know it makes sense.

It doesnt make sense and its inaccurate. Anyone contemplating importing, dont be put off by this.


The warranty was honoured. A minor dispute arose. I challenged it - they came back with rubbish. I held my ground and as a consequence, theres a cheque in the post. Issue resolved.

Thanks all for your input.

CeilingFly

bazz26 wrote: »

Yet some main dealers didn't have a problem selling imports either when it suited them financially, seems they want their cake and eat it too at times.

Your contrat is ALWAYS with the retailer - so if you buy an imported vehicle from a dealer here, you are 100% covered under the sale of good act.

If you import yourself, your contract is with the place in the UK and they may arrange work to be carried out locally where you are - but whoever carries out the work is doing so on behalf of garage you bought from and are not directly answerable to you.

makeorbrake

CeilingFly wrote: »

If you import yourself, your contract is with the place in the UK and they may arrange work to be carried out locally where you are - but whoever carries out the work is doing so on behalf of garage you bought from and are not directly answerable to you.

Effectively it sounds like ultimately (if the shtf) then legal recourse would be with Nissan UK (if things went legal). As they committed to cutting me a cheque, I never got a definitive answer to that question.


Either way, nobody here should feel that they are in any way disadvantaged by imiporting a car with a manufacturers warranty.