DO NOT BUY A NISSAN – Negligence and Zero Accountability - 90 days and counting

I am sharing my ongoing nightmare with Nissan South Africa to highlight their severe negligence, incompetence, and disregard for customer care. Here are the facts:

1. A Recurring Problem with a brand new vehicle still under warranty I purchased a 2022 Nissan Magnite, brand new off the Nissan Milnerton Dealership floor, expecting reliability and quality. Instead, I’ve experienced repeated failures and gross negligence:

April 2024: After a routinely bad service at Milnerton Nissan, the car broke down with acceleration issues a week later. They refused to take it back and even denied doing the service, despite their stamp being in the book. Nissan Tokai took the vehicle in and kept the car for two weeks, only resolving the issue after I threatened legal action.

October 16, 2024: The same acceleration issue occurred, once again a week after another Milnerton Nissan service. The car was towed to Nissan Tokai on October 17 and has been there ever since—90 days and counting.

2. *********** Diagnosis and Delays Car Service City diagnosed the catalytic converter as the likely issue within hours. However, Nissan Tokai took 50 DAYS to confirm this due to a lack of tools and expertise—unacceptable for an authorized dealership.

On December 12, 2024 after emailing almost every single manager at Nissan, I received an update from Jessica Richardson, Service Manager at Nissan Tokai, that was both misleading and deeply frustrating. She stated: "We have managed to now get assistance from our field support representative from Nissan S.A. With his help, we have made progress on the findings which has led us to find the catalytic converter is at fault. We will need to strip and test the unit to see if it may be blocked up and, once fault is confirmed, we will then have to replace the complete unit."

Jessica framed this as a new development, yet the exact same issue—the catalytic converter—was flagged 50 days earlier, on October 24, 2024, when Michelle Koekemoer from Jessica’s team stated: "We had the Nissan specialist with us today. We are going to remove the catalytic converter and check to see if it is not breaking up."

When confronted about this glaring contradiction, Jessica responded: "When that was said, we had removed the sensors from each end of the catalytic converter as it was the starting fault factor and test drove it like that... There is a special tool to be used to assess the blockage of the catalytic converter, which we’ve managed to source to proceed with."

This explanation raises serious concerns: Negligence and Delay: If the catalytic converter was identified as the likely issue in October, why did it take 50 days to procure the necessary tool and confirm the diagnosis?

Misleading Updates: Jessica’s attempt to present this as new progress disregards the fact that no meaningful action was taken for weeks, despite the issue being flagged early on.

Zero Action on Courtesy Vehicle: Jessica claimed to have requested Nissan South Africa’s assistance in providing a courtesy vehicle due to the length and complexity of the case, but no vehicle was provided. Nissan South Africa was made aware and kept in the loop of this situation from day 1.

And to top it all off: This conversation occurred on 12 December 2024, more than a month ago, and I have received no further updates from Nissan Tokai or Nissan South Africa.

Nissan South Africa acknowledged my previous HelloPeter complaint and even called to confirm they were aware of my situation. Yet, despite knowing about my case, they have taken zero action and offered no assistance—no courtesy vehicle, no progress updates, and no timeline for repair.

This is a textbook example of how a major brand fails its customers, with no regard for accountability or customer care.

3. Courtesy Vehicle Denied – A Policy Loophole Despite Nissan’s customer promise, I was denied a courtesy vehicle due to a policy loophole: Courtesy vehicles are only offered if parts are on backorder, allowing Nissan to avoid accountability while dragging out repairs indefinitely. This deliberate loophole has forced me to shoulder R44,100 in rental vehicle costs over the past 90 days to sustain my business and livelihood.

4. Financial and Emotional Impact I continue to pay monthly car installments to Nedbank MFC and insurance premiums to Naked, despite the vehicle being unusable, despite asking them for assistance.

The combined financial strain of rentals and payments has been devastating, and Nissan’s inaction has exacerbated the emotional toll.

5. Every Avenue for Help Has Failed I have tried every possible channel to resolve this issue: -MIOSA: I filed a formal complaint on November 18, 2024, but the case has stalled due to their festive season closure. -Nissan South Africa: Repeated calls and emails to senior management have resulted in verbal acknowledgments but zero action. -Legal Action: My attorneys sent a letter of demand to Nissan in November 2024, which has also been blatantly ignored by Nissan.

I have since reached out to a well known investigative journalist for assistance.

Zero Accountability from Nissan Nissan South Africa has failed me at every turn. Their dealerships have shown gross incompetence in diagnosing and repairing their own vehicles, their customer service is non-existent, and their policies are designed to avoid accountability, as is evident by their 2.4 index trust rating and 1000 poor reviews left on this platform and others.

Conclusion After 90 days without my car, R44,100 in rental costs, and zero meaningful assistance, I urge anyone considering purchasing a Nissan to think twice!

The brand’s negligence, lack of accountability, and refusal to uphold customer promises have left me financially drained and emotionally exhausted.

This experience is a cautionary tale of how a supposedly reputable brand can fail its customers on every level.

I will not stop until Nissan is held accountable for this disaster!!! I will continue to share my story across platforms to warn others and seek justice for the immense financial and emotional toll this has taken on me.