In short, avoid Auburn Nissan of Califonia - just up highway 80 from Sacramento, California.

Middle of last year, I special ordered a brand new Nissan Murano from Auburn Nissan. The sales person, Wendy, is very nice, very helpful, and generally kept on top of things. If a car dealer is ever looking for a new sales lady, she is your gal. After I order my Murano, my blazer started to get pretty sick. I ended up working out a solution with Auburn Nissan: They would put me in a budget loaner car for a few weeks until the Murano arrived.

A few months later, I got the call that my Murano was here. A friend took me to pick up my new toy at the dealer. I looked it over, it's in great shape, clean. While I'm signing the pickup paperwork, my buddy notices some dents/depressions on the roof. The owner of the dealership, the sales lady, and I all go outside to check it out.

Sure enough, there's some dents on the roof. "No problem" the owner proclaims. He proceeds to tell me that it's a minor thing and can be easily fixed. He proceeds to write up a "We Owe" paper as he continues to assure me that they would take care of everything and that it would be "just like new". He even goes on to say how they could probably put me in another Murano while they are fixing mine. After spending this amount of money, the car better look new. It only had 8 miles on it.

Fast forward a few weeks, just before my trip to Asia. I call the service guy and schedule another appointment. Just a reminder, the Auburn Nissan car dealership is just under an hour drive from where I work/live. I manage to get the car up there on an extended lunch. He takes the car in, and reluctantly puts me in a CHEAP rental car. Something 1/4 the price of what I paid for my car. Just before getting off work, I finally call them to check the status. Apparently, their auto body guy can't do it and that I'll have to schedule another appointment so that they can have the car looked at by some one else. Another two hours to return the rental and get my car.

I managed to schedule another appointment while I'm away in Asia. My friends Adam and Travis were nice enough to take my car up there so they could have plenty of time to work on it (a couple of weeks). I told the dealership, specifically, the repair shop manager, that I'll be out of the country, and that my friends will be handling the pickup and drop off. I gave them their names and phone number. He assured me that everything will be fine. A week or so into my trip, I get an email from Adam saying they dropped off the car without any problems.

A few days before returning home, I called Adam to see how things were going and check on the car. Apparently, they were not able to get any information from the dealer, and weren't able to pick up the car. So now, when I get home from Asia (thanks goes to Don for picking me up at SFO) on Saturday, I'd be car less for the weekend. When I get home, sure enough, there were voice mails from the repair manager, saying the car was ready to be picked up, although they couldn't repair the roof.

I called them that day, Saturday, however no one that knew anything was around. I ring them up Monday, and they gave me the line of "Repairing the roof would cause more damage than it would fix." They also told me "Every Murano has those dents on the roof from shipping." I guess they think I'm a moron, telling me two lies. First, it has to be repairable - it probably cost more than they were expecting. Second, if every Murano had roof damage, they should disclaim that during the sales contract or Nissan should change how they ship car.

Instead of getting the roof repaired, they offered me $400 and lifetime oil changes. Great, now I have $400, a dented roof, and a 3 hour free oil change....that costs me more in gas than it does to go to the local quickie lube.

Not having much alternative, I accept the offer. I talk to the shop manager, and he said he'll leave the keys with the sales people since I can't get there until 7pm that night. They assure me that it'll be ready for pickup. Don takes me up there after work - only to find out that we can't pickup the car. Apparently, the shop manager has locked the car in the back repair lot and no one has a way of getting it out - despite me bringing my second set of keys because I'm starting to believe the place is ran by monkeys. We found the car - all dusty and dirty. I just had the car washed the day before I left for my trip - and it's been parked in my garage.

I call them up Tuesday morning around 8am, and told them they had better deliver my car because I'm not spending another 2 hours of my time driving up there, much less, my friends time who has already been so kind. They assure me the car will be here by 10am. By 11:45, I call them in sheer panic because I have to report for jury duty by 1pm downtown. They said the car will be there any minute. It's now 12:15, and i'm sitting on the curb waiting for my car so that I can get to the courthouse by 1. On the plus side, they did wash the outside of the car since it was sitting in their dusty parking lot for 2 weeks.

Things I've learned:
1) Don't refer anyone to Auburn Nissan of California.
2) Never trust the owner Auburn Nissan of California.
3) Never trust the repair manager either.
4) Having jury duty the week after a 23 day vacation sucks. What makes it even worse is having to call in after 11am to find out if you have to report for a "possible" 1pm appearance.

As many of you know, I have long since stopped driving my green blazer. Love the green beast as I did, it was time for something new.

Last Friday, I drove a Nissan Murano right off the lot. The dealer had custom ordered for it for me, and I picked it up they day they recieved it off the truck. Since, the Muranos are one of the few cars made in Japan, I suppose that makes my car a FOB (fresh of the boat). However, it's navigation system tells me what streets to turn on in English.

The first weekend I had it, Albert and I drove down to half moon bay, where we had a wonderful (overpriced) lunch right on the ocean. It was really nice. We wanted to escape the 114 degree heat in Sacramento - so instead we enjoyed a nice 75 sunny day with a light breeze on the ocean.

That's all the pictures I have for now, more soon!