Tuesday, Feb 04, 2020 at 11:43
Kirk - You will never get results from Nissan or the repairer by
parking outside a dealer with a lemon
sign on the vehicle.
However, you will get a lawyers letter from the dealer demanding you remove the vehicle and signage, because it is adversely affecting the dealers business.
The dealer will claim his operation is an independent business, without any direct ability to fix your problem, and that the problem is between you and the Nissan company. This has happened before.
Some dealers will try to get satisfaction for you by negotiating with the manufacturer, some will merely deflect your problem directly to a manufacturers customer service representative.
After the length of time since the engine rebuild was carried out, you do not have any major grounds for claims, unfortunately.
A vehicle owner can do a lot of kms in 12 months, and virtually all repairers only warranty work for 30 days.
You were lucky to get 12 mths warranty, and it's obvious you got substantially more than 12 mths use out of the repaired engine.
It is obvious your Navara has major design faults - but many Nissan owners put up with them, and many owners wear the losses associated with poor lifespan from the ZD30 engine.
Nissan will always try to say that poor maintenance and abusive operation is the major reason for poor engine life - and that hundreds of thousands of ZD30 owners are satisfied with their engines.
I have a mate who owned a 2009 Patrol ute with a ZD30, it happily did 270,000kms without a problem, before he pranged it, and it was written off.
The engine was still performing quite
well, and he was very happy with it.
But the engines in the Navaras appear to either be built to a different level of quality, or the engine design in the Navara layout has major faults.
Australia is not alone with Navara engine faults, it is common in many other countries, as a Google search for "ZD30 engine failure" shows.
Under Australian Consumer Law, you are entitled to enjoy compensation if a product is "not fit for purpose". An engine that regularly blows up is "not fit for purpose".
But the problem becomes expensive to rectify when you do not get satisfaction from the manufacturer, who merely declines to recompense you.
The only course of action then, is to employ a lawyer to mount a case against the manufacturer, to try to regain your losses or some of your losses.
This is costly, a long and difficult process, and does not always end up in success for you.
However, some people have done this and won serious amounts of compensation.
Their stories are in the Australasian Legal Information Institute site - the site that records nearly every lawsuit and legal decision in Australia.
Your case is complex, because it is divided into numerous factors and incidents. One, you need to prove the engine design is faulty. Nissan will claim the engine design is not faulty if properly maintained.
Two, your engine repair was carried out by someone who was contracted by Nissan to repair it.
You need to prove that there was contributory negligence by the repairer, and that negligence has caused you loss.
The case is complicated by the fact there is a contract between the engine repairer and Nissan, and a contract between you and Nissan, when they agreed to partly fund the engine repair.
You need to have a discussion with a lawyer, and write down the relevant facts that you will need to present to mount a case against Nissan.
IMHO, I believe you have a long hard road in front of you, trying to get anything out of Nissan.
They will argue the vehicle is 8 years old, they have already partly funded one engine repair, and see no reason to fund another engine repair - particularly since considerably more than 12 months has passed, since the last repair was carried out.
Your argument will only succeed if you can prove the engine design is deficient, is prone to an unacceptable lifespan, and that the repairs carried out were deficient.
I wish you luck, you probably have a 50% chance of success.
If you want to try and mount a class action, you will need to contact a large number of Nissan ZD30 owners, seeking their support, and advertise for aggrieved Nissan ZD30 owner support, where you have not been previously able to find them.
Then you will need a law firm with the desire to proceed with a class action against Nissan, who believe they have an arguable case .
Sometimes you can get lucky and find a law firm that will take on a class action on a "no win, no fee" basis. However, be aware that these law firms will take up to 40% of any money won for fees, if they do win.
In the AustLII database is this mind-taxing discussion (link below) of "contract damages and the promisees role in its own loss".
It is a heavy reading article, full of legal jargon, and goes into discussion at great length as to what portion of loss can be attributable to a promisee caused by their own actions, as compared to the responsibility of a promisor to make good any loss.
This is the type of thing you will run up against in your fight to gain compensation - Nissans lawyers will argue you have contributed to your own losses by poor maintenance or possible adverse use of the vehicle, they will argue you have already been able to gain extensive use of the vehicle over X number of years, and that they have already contributed to previous engine repairs.
I would say the simplest claim to follow, is to try and gain some compensation from the last engine repairer, on the basis that their work involved assembly negligence.
But after more than 12 mths of engine use, and
well outside the generous warranty offered, it will be difficult to claim a great deal, unless you have done very few kms in that elapsed period, since the engine was last rebuilt.
Cheers, Ron.
Contract Damages and the Promisee's Role in its Own Loss
(In the above link, you can search for each case, that is referred to in Italics, this will give the case summary and the relevant legal points raised).
FollowupID:
905040