Frontier Purchase, Cali, Colombia

[peterdexter]

I did not find my Nissan purchasing experience very pleasant in Cali, Colombia unlike my purchases of a new Mazda and Mitsubishi. First of all the dealership in the north end of the city is just a big fancy showroom. I assumed there was a service area in back but ha ha, no. All Nissan service is carried out at a centralized Nissan Service facility in mid town. When I was about to take delivery the sales girl said all new Nissans are prepped and delivered at the dealership in the south end of the city (45 minutes in taxi from where I bought it). You have to go there to pick it up. I said no way! I bought it here and if you don’t deliver it here I’m going to raise holy hell with your bosses in Bogotá. The dealer manager gave in and flat bedded it up town. No doubt it cost them something other wise I wouldn’t have had to fight for what would have been routine “customer service” in the US. The sales girl was good about going over every detail with me (though she didn’t know how to operate the radio?) She also went over the warranty/maintenance program and explained the first check at 1000 kilometers was completely free. I ran by the Central Nissan Service Center to make an appointment for the 1000 kilometer service and asked the manager so is this first check completely free? Yes she answered the only exception is we change the oil at this check and you will pay for oil and filter. (An oil change at this mileage is not listed in my warranty/maintenance manual.) Ok cool so what does a Nissan oil filter and a little over four quarts of oil run? Seventy five dollars US… I said what??? Is this a special oil with a gold dust additive or something? And she said ha ha no but your vehicle takes seven quarts. I thought whoa that’s a lot of oil for a little 2.4 liter engine but I’ll go home and check my manual. I do and it turns out the Service Manager doesn’t know the difference between the gas and diesel motors!!! Apart from personnel who don’t even know their own product the whole warranty/service program looks like a giant rip off. Unlike both Mazda and Mitsubishi Nissan wants the vehicle in every 5000 kilometers (about 3000 miles) and charge between $80 and $150 a visit. That’s not counting the timing belt change for about $550 at about 40,000 miles. The vehicles do have a reputation here for being durable but I don’t think I can handle $75 oil changes.