Hi All,
I thought I would share my experience from Canada:
My 98 had rusted through on the driver's side strut tower. I brought it in to the local dealer for assessment after the former owner notified me of the recall (nice thing to do).
A day or two later the dealer told me it wasn't drive-able but repairable. I was put in a rental (Enterprise, Maxima) and told to wait.
A few days later things really turned south. They brought in the local Dept. of Motor Vehicles inspector to consult on the "kit", because technically fibreglass cannot be used as repair on car frame components in Nova Scotia. His job was to sign off on the repair design as OEM and provide me with a letter to prove the repair was road legal. While he was in the shop, he pulled the sticker off of my Pathy (in NS, we have bi-annual inspection stickers), because of the recall issue as well as some brake issues. I had known about the brake issues, and was waiting to fix them myself once I knew the recall issue was going to be fixed.
The dealer then called to say that Nissan had decided to not cover the recall, because the recall only pertained to insured and stickered vehicles. They wanted me to come tow my vehicle off the lot. You wouldn't believe how steamed I was. I called the Nissan Inc call centre, and they said I should sit tight, and they would look into it some more.
Fast forward another week, and I am on vacation with my family. I get calls from the dealer and nissan demanding the rental be returned, and that I would be responsible for paying the rental if it wasn't returned a.s.a.p. I ended up spending an entire day of my vacation on the phone with Nissan and the dealer trying to sort everything out. They "allowed" me to keep the rental until the following Monday, but they weren't going to budge on the recall work. They offered me 1000 bucks and "special" pricing on a brand new nissan. You can roll into any dealership with anything on 4 wheels and get 1000 bucks minimum trade.
Fast forward another week, and I ask for the offer in writing, because I was tired of dealing with the whole mess. I get completely different responses every time I call, from "it was supposed to be emailed yesterday", to "I have no idea what your talking about, there is no offer." (quotes are paraphrased)
Fast forward to this week, when I email the dealer who calls me to inform me that Nissan has hired an appraisal company to value the vehicle.
In the end the appraisal company calls me to say the pathfinder isn't repairable, and they offered me a more than acceptable buy out offer. I signed the truck over yesterday, and I am waiting for the cheque in the mail.
Somehow after almost two months of total bull@!*% and frustration, things worked out ok.
