Problems Charging at Nissan Dealerships?

[TonyWilliams]

Hey, we called ahead and asked them if we could get a full recharge for our trip back to San Diego...we only had 11 miles of range left. NISSAN MOTOR COMPANY...if you are reading, get control of your dealerships.

It seems pretty bizarro, but now you know. Just a little bit south is old town Clipper Creek chargers that work awesome.

Obviously, Nissan USA doesn't have a lot of control with what a private company (the dealership) does with their private equipment.

 

[girldoc]

I haven't had an issue charging at Nissan Dealerships until recently. Nissan here in san Diego has leased there car dearlers a Leaf and now they seem to be in the charging spots all the time even after the charge is complete using for their personal parking spot. I have been able to charge but have to park and go into the dealership to have one of the cars moved.

2011 Silver Nissan Leaf San Diego Ca

 

[DaveEV]

IMO best not to count on charging at a dealership unless you really need it and then expect to have to ask the dealer to move a car given the very limited infrastructure there.

 

[bsavall]

I think that is the unfortunate truth, that Leaf owners are NOT able to rely on the dealerships as a place to charge. Period. I am not talking free charging, but just charging in general. And quite frankly it is a shame. Take a look at a google map of socal and look where the dealers are located relative to the major freeways...OMG...these guys could be a mecca for charging and use it as a steady revenue stream. In fact just this weekend, I charged across the street from a Nissan dealership at a private station so as to avoid the dealer 'tude. FYI...my father worked as a car salesman for over 20 years and knew how to get and KEEP customers for repeat business. If his lot managers treated ANYONE the way that we have been treated by a few bad dealerships, they would all have been fired.

One poster mentioned that Nissan USA does not control their dealers...but I know Nissan monitors this forum and hopefully a few of the bad apple dealers may not do so well when it comes to certain incentive programs.

 

[surfingslovak]

I know Nissan monitors this forum and hopefully a few of the bad apple dealers may not do so well when it comes to certain incentive programs.

True. How about we start a thread or create a table on the Wiki to keep track of this information? There are a few dealerships I could add in my area. Fortunately, for every dealer that is difficult to deal with, there could be one which is great. It would be good to know that also. To be fair, a lot of this information is likely already on PlugShare.

 

[bsavall]

Yeah, maybe a "bad charge" page or something similar could track it. But on a broader plane, I think this may be another example of being careful of not over promising and under delivering. I give Nissan Motor a HUGE amount of credit for taking a big gamble in the American car market with electric vehicles. But they over-promised on the range and on the ability to charge at Nissan Dealerships. I remember being told by the Nissan dealer where we bought our car as well as the other dealers, and now that I think about it, the Nissan LEAF road show the preceded the LEAF sales that we would be welcome at Nissan Delaerships.

On a side note, I was a participant in a survey by some researchers at UC-Davis. At the end of talking with the researchers they pointed out that NIssan should be the leader in the EV App department. How cool would it be if all the Volt, BMW, Mitsubishi, Ford, Toyota, Fiskar, Tesla and Coda (are they a real company yet?) owners used the Nissan App for finding charging stations? Seriously though, the Plug share UI is darn near perfect IMO. Anyone use the Chargepoint app? They have nowhere to go but up. A bit off topic, but I was too lazy to switch to another post.

 

[DaveEV]

To be fair, a lot of this information is likely already on PlugShare.

PlugShare is the best place to do it - why reinvent the wheel?

The biggest issue is that the dealer acceptance for public charging is not consistent - it all depends on who you happen to talk to...

Frankly, I'd prefer to see the dealers install a Blinks or Chargepoint pay stations for a nominal fee just to prevent leachers from ruining a good thing. It doesn't take much of a fee to keep someone from parking on a charging station all day.

 

[surfingslovak]

It doesn't take much of a fee to keep someone from parking on a charging station all day.

Yes, exactly. I'm starting to resent free charging. :shock:

 

[tethior]

Just to add my $25 here. I sent my EVSE off to be upgraded. 10 days round trip from NJ to CA for Phil to do his thing. I have been nursing my charge and swapping cars as much as possible. I went to charge at my home delaership and found that they were having construction and one EVSE was blocked and the other was for the dealer's use. They let me plug/park there and they swapped me on and off a few times during the day (I received text messages each time). One of the dealer employees uses the EVSE as his primary so I didnt want to put him out too much.

So the next time I needed to charge I went to a different local dealer. They were GRACIOUS enough to charge me a $25 fee to charge my car there. I was NOT pleased. That dealership is Hilltop Nissan in East Hanover NJ on Rt 10 West.

My lesson here. (1) call first because you cannot rely up on it. (2) in order to create the change we want we need to be vocal - polite - but vocal.

 

[jopickens]

Are you serious??? Twenty five dollars???

$25 fee

 

[garygid]

If you do not give the "difficult" dealer's name and location,
it is not helping us very much to avoid the "difficult" dealer.

I try to call ahead first to get permission, and to make
arrangements (a "reservation, if possible) to charge upon arrival.

 

[Nubo]

So the next time I needed to charge I went to a different local dealer. They were GRACIOUS enough to charge me a $25 fee to charge my car there. I was NOT pleased.

Would that be Potter Nissan? :|

 

[RonDawg]

I try to call ahead first to get permission, and to make
arrangements (a "reservation, if possible) to charge upon arrival.

That's what I do if I have not charged there before. If I will be walking away from the vehicle (say to go to a restaurant) I offer to leave my key and/or provide my cell number to reach me, in case it needs to be moved.

While I would never pay $25 to charge unless I have absolutely no other choice, while I'm there I will buy a drink or a snack out of the vending machine. I figured it's the least I can offer for use of their EVSE.

 

[EVerlasting]

I just visited Route 46 Nissan in Totowa, NJ. I am happy to inform that they had two out of three charging spots available. The third spot had, what looked like their Demo Leaf parked there so its forgivable. They even have Orange cones in the vacant charging spots to prevent ICE car customers from parking there. I nominate Route 46 Nissan of Totowa, NJ and Rockland Nissan of Blauvelt, NY for the most EV-Friendly Dealership award. This is a big deal for us on the East Coast because as of July 2013, we have very very few L2 charging locations, mostly at Nissan dealerships, which are mostly deliberately blocked, and ZERO L3 QC stations in the entire North East region except a few in NYC.

 

[cgaydos]

Charged a LEAF on Sunday at Larry Miller Nissan in Highlands Ranch, CO. This was a different experience than I've had at Nissan dealerships before, possibly because the dealership moved to this new location at the start of the year - that is, this location was designed *after* Nissan had introduced the LEAF and the requirements for exterior charging stations.

There was only one Aerovironment EVSE outside the buildings, but it was prominently available in the front of the dealership. The location was far enough away from the pedestrian doorways so that this spot is unlikely to get ICE'd. I'd called the day before and they assured me that the lot was open and the charging station turned on even during non-business hours (dealers are required by law to be closed on Sunday in Colorado), and that was indeed the case.

Hopefully this model will ultimately be adopted by all Nissan dealers - well, except I'd like to see more than one EVSE.

 

[rickbecker]

I used the DCFC at Mossy Nissan, Oceanside, CA on Saturday. Very friendly staff who offered help as necessary. They deserve the highest praise for providing this service :!:

 

[LeftieBiker]

I just did a short charge on my way home from work, in the wee hours - about 4:45AM. It was at literally the last place I expected: Nemith Nissan in Latham NY, on Route 9. I've had trouble with Nemith Volvo in past years, and when I asked their Nissan staff via email about a lease, I got illiterate gibberish - the guy said (I think) that there is only one actual Nissan lease, and that is $199 for 36 months, all others being "third party leases" that they didn't offer. So imagine my astonishment in finding a GE EVSE right out front by the office, in a reasonably well-lit area. And it was on! I didn't really need it, but I added 4% so if they keep records they will see it was used. Hopefully they meant to leave it on.

 

[ksnogas2112]

Just a positive note...charged at Briggs Nissan in Lawrence, they were more than happy to see me use it. I even answered questions for their mechanic who was thinking about getting one for his commute from Topeka to Lawrence.

 

[V7i7c]

How about my dealer insisting they hook up the charger.... and then doing it incorrectly so when I returned the car hadn't charged?

 

[z0ner]

How about my dealer insisting they hook up the charger.... and then doing it incorrectly so when I returned the car hadn't charged?

While that is unfortunate, I would've stuck around to make SURE they hooked it up properly. Hell, you even have Carwings at your disposal. Frustration could easily have been abated here.