Yet another "no spare tyre" sufferer !

[Doug]

I realise that this is a very much debated topic already but wanted to add my own recent ( and ongoing) experiences:

I purchased my 1st ever Nissan vehicle in September 2014: Qashqai 1.5 Dci Acenta Premium. So far, so good. Have been happy with my purchase. Until last Monday.

Hit a pothole or raised drain cover on a minor country road; tyre punctured and visibly non-repairable; drove carefully for just a few extra yards to edge of village; called AA ( as wasn't familiar with how the ( assumed) spare/ jack would work and had passengers with me; they asked " have you got a spare?"; looked first in Owner's Manual which I keep in glove compartment; yep, page 6-3: " A standard wheel and tyre is supplied with your vehicle" so told them "yes" ( although perhaps, given the Reg No; even they should have known that there wasn't actually a spare?); opened boot to retrieve spare for AA man only to find the standard foam repair kit and, how stupid, all within a polystyrene black fake tyre;

AA man came and said " no can do; and tyre cannot possibly be repaired with the foam; you'll need breakdown recovery vehicle " ( but I've since read that the AA now has a universal spare which they can fit to 80% of cars- this wasn't offered); he suggested the car could be taken to my Nissan dealership ( actually only 8 miles from where we were); I had to do a 1 mile round trip walk to get mobile/ wifi reception; phoned the dealership who said there wasn't a single space there where I could park the car (!!!). This is the dealership where I bought the car for part ex + cash; where I have it serviced; where I have a 3 year monthly direct debit servicing contract with all sorts of supposed "bells & whistles" - but obviously not "customer service". Its forecourt is huge and ironically there is a KwikFit outlet only 200 yards away. AA were flabbergasted; as was I.

The wait for the breakdown vehicle was about 4 hours, so early during that period of time, I walked back and rechecked with the dealership whether I could have my car taken to their forecourt. Even was put through to the regional servicing Mgr who said " No, there is not a single space for you". Perversely, at no time during my 2 calls did the dealership ask for any of my details. It felt as if they thought I was just phoning them "randomly" because my car was only 8 miles away.

By the time the breakdown vehicle arrived, it was agreed that even the local KwikFit forecourt would be gated off by our 9pm ETA there so my car would be taken to my house. ( But the car could have been left at the Nissan dealership had they but agreed).

It is now Wednesday afternoon and my car is still on the drive outside my house as I await a "possible" visit from a mobile KwikFit tyre fitter, having ordered via the KwikFit mobile service the specific Continental tyre required ( albeit I was disappointed to learn that it is not exactly a great tyre!!).

I have raised the various issues on email with Nissan GB Customer Services and given explicit details but, such is the "allegedly modern" world we inhabit, this has thus far only generated the bog standard "within 3 working days"/ "case has been escalated" templates- they are simply holding mechanisms as we all know.

I have a huge number of concerns ( as well as being mightily hacked off):
-At no time when purchasing the car was I told there was no spare , hence at no point was I even given the option of having one installed;
-My Owner's Manual says the car does have a full spare;
- The dealership proved to be singularly unhelpful;
- I am now left to my own devices-even Nissan GB Customer Services seem to merely be process/ template-driven rather than "responsive" ( I can say that with relative authority as I used to own my own Ltd Co which won major national Customer Focus Awards);
- Everyone I have since spoken to is utterly amazed and is checking his or her own newish car to see if there is actually a spare installed; as one of many examples, one of our daughters who has a 1- and 3- year old; not great if she suffers our own experience with them in the car;
- Above all, I am hugely angry that at no point was this issue ever mentioned when I purchased the car and that, as is becoming exponentially self evident from my conversations with people over the past 2 days, it is not mentioned to the vast majority of folk who buy a new car.

Apparently, the fuel saving of having no spare is that one would save approx. £12 by driving 10,000miles at 30 mph. Could be my 1st and last romance with Nissan. Am utterly fed up.

[Gel]

I've only heard of RAC having the universal wheel option; as your breakdown cover from Nissan is RAC you should perhaps have used them.
I'd never recommend the foam as if tyre is repairable, it won't be when inside coated with foam gunk. You'll also need new TPMS tyre valve, which aren't cheap.

I think you are confused as there is no fake polystyrene tyre; that is a housing.
If you buy the optional spare & jack, you lose some boot space; you'll also need the polystyrene support
accessory.

[DaveBerlin]

Doug, indeed a Bad experience and yes this subject has been covered before and as Gel has mentioned the "Gunk" is a disaster as no Tyre Fitter wants to clean the mesh up after it's use. To be fair this Lack of Spare Wheel was mentioned in the Brochure we had and highlighted when we looked at the Spec and then asked our Dealer. At that time there was no "J11 Kit" available but it is the same as the J10. Having this Kit which does cost just gives you piece of mind even if not used. The Service Backup you appear to have not received would also worry me - Dave

[sunnydelightimy]

hi fella

i honestly feel your pain...as ironically it also happened to me

i had slow puncture on front drivers side, rang aa to find no spare, which i thought i had,

AA did have the universal spare but couldnt fit to the front, so advised they put on the back and put the back tyre on the front
....sounded good at the time but straight away became a nightmare

tyre sensors started going crazy and all system alerts started popping up on dash....took car with spare to kwik fit, had tyre changed but they couldnt remove the alerts....so low and behold i had to ring dealership and take to them to reset

set off for work at 7am...got to work at 4pm

gutted

[Doug]

Thanks for replies, chaps. In no particular order:

Finally, 48 hours after the incident, I am mobile. Had had to cancel/ defer numerous appointments/ commitments. KwikFit mobile tyre fitting guy was great. But I still feel bruised by the "map" of the events.

Yes, the dealership does cause me great concern. precisely why, as soon as we got home late Monday evening, I contacted Nissan GB. That said, I am now being bombarded with emails from Nissan GB which are quintessentially template replies. Time will tell.

I have been driving for 50 years and had never ever had a car with no spare. Over those years, even though the number of punctures has not been excessive it has been a conventional wisdom assumption on my part that my car would have a spare, a jack ,etc. Even the Peugeot which was 3 years old when I part-exed for the Qashqai did have a bad puncture in its 1st year and , lo and behold, in the boot there was a brand new tyre/ wheel + kit wherein the tyre matched the 4 already on the car. Probably why, when purchasing the Qashqai I made that 50 years old assumption?! And it was, in my view , very naughty that the salesman/dealership didn't tell me- hence affording me no options whatsoever ; and that the Owner's Manual states an untruth - probably lazy on the dealership's part but that is now, in legal terms, their problem. I ain't going to go away.

As you can imagine, I think that the real exacerbation of the whole episode was being twice refused even a spot to park overnight at the dealership, i.e. drop my car off there from the breakdown vehicle and pop keys through letterbox with a note, their having already agreed and expected this. Fix wheel next day; move on. I think they totally blew the concept of "customer relationship" . To boot, after a second 1 mile walk for wifi/mobile reception, I did not welcome being given a lecture about the emissions benefits of no spare tyre , as if from a script, by the mgr who was refusing to give me an overnight parking space.

As for the repair kit container being in a tyre shape; no, I didn't remotely think it was a tyre- it was just so annoying that I'd only just told the AA that I did have a spare because the manual told me that I did and then, a bit like Basil Fawlty frantically searching for the Duck a L'Orange(!!), the first view of the kit is the black tyre-shaped container when one is logically anticipating a spare..

The main reason I called the AA was that after some surgery on my foot, whilst I am able to drive ok I am not quite ready for any manoeuvres which involve bending/ flexing/ squatting too much. Normally, I've changed wheels myself. We phoned the AA as we've been joint members for decades and, in spite of the offers of an alternative emergency service each time we enact the 3 year new car purchase cycle we stick with the AA. Their own universal wheel is well described and illustrated on one of their websites- ours was a rear wheel puncture so it could well have worked.

[Gel]

I am getting on (mid 60's) and found removing the 19" Teknas a real effort, and even more so lifting back.
Will leave to tyre monkeys or rescue service in future.

[Richo]

Welcome to the helpful world of the Nissan dealership. You have served your purpose and parted with your hard earned cash. Unfortunately this is where the friendly contract ends. If you want to maintain the friendly contract then you have to continue to pay. It a bit like demanding money by Menace's. All must be ancestors of Dick Turpin. Waste of space the lot of them. Unfortunately the product doesn't fair much better as the faults will increase when the poor quality parts start to fail. Get rid of it before its out of warranty or start stashing cash to pay the bills.

[Gel]

I'm seriously considering taking up an extended insurance warranty when my 3 years guarantee expire; parts failing, especially the gizmos on the Tekna are exceedingly dear we see on hear!!

[298]

In the UK, isn't it the Driver's responsibility to ensure that their vehicle is roadworthy (anyone who hires a car or van take note), which extends to cover the condition and pressure of all of the tyres-including the spare. I can fully accept that a significant proportion of drivers would call a breakdown service rather than try to change a wheel themselves but not knowing if your car even has a spare on a car you've owned for nearly two years...?

As for the atitude of the dealer, if it was a lease car I'd be chucking the keys back forthwith, or would have blocked their forecourt exit with it at 23:59pm last night with a big sign on it to show all of the happy people waiting to drive off in their new 66 reg cars exactly the level of customer service they're going to get in the future...

[jstallan]

I'm seriously considering taking up an extended insurance warranty when my 3 years guarantee expire; parts failing, especially the gizmos on the Tekna are exceedingly dear we see on hear!!

Got any links to preferred insurers Gel ?