RP car makers have no policies for lemon cars

(Continued from last week)

Makers of motor vehicles being sold in this country appear to have different policies when it comes to replacing so-called lemon cars. For one, nobody in the local automotive industry could remember any instance that a manufacturer has returned the payment of a buyer for a vehicle that failed to perform to popular standards.

But one reader has e-mailed The STAR to announced that he has managed to have his car replaced by the dealer who had sold it to him.

John Adarme, a Quezon City resident, said he bought a raven black Nissan Cefiro from Nissan North Edsa (NNE) in January last year. He said he enjoyed the car so much that he immediately took it to Tagaytay for a break-in. All was fine, he said, except for minor realignments that had to be made on the front tires and on the headlights.

A month later, he took the car to Baguio. Since the break-in period was over, he tried to push it to its limit by flooring the accelerator, driving the vehicle to 170 kph. Although thrilled at the power and speed of his steed, he noticed that the engine or the underchassis emitted a whirring and grinding sound at 120 to 130 kph.

He eased up a little on the accelerator and the sound disappeared at 110 kph only to return when the car reached 120 kph.

"With images of gear teeth chipping and ball bearings flying, I had to discipline myself and keep my driving at the 100 kph mark," he said, noting that the incident took the joy out of his driving.

On his return to Manila, Adarme brought his car to NNE which immediately sent one of its technician with him on a drive down the expressway. The technician took note of the unusual sound and the dealership tried to repair the car but couldn’t find its problem.

NNE officials then brought Adarme’s Cefiro to the Nissan Motors plant in Sta. Rosa, Laguna. They loaned him another Cefiro the same day they got his car. A week passed and they returned Adarme’s unit, fresh from the plant.

It was a Friday when Adarme got back his car. The Sunday thereafter he brought it to Tagaytay but to his utter dismay, he heard the whirring and grinding sound again the moment he hit 130 kph. He called up his sales agent immediately.

The next day, NNE sales manager Vincent Licup and customer relations chief Cristina Cruz met with Adarme. They both noted Adarme’s complaints. Licup then told Adarme something that caught by surprise – he offered to replace the car completely with a brand new one.

"I was so taken aback by their offer that I demurred and said that I will have to think about it," he remembered. On his way home, he called Cruz to accept the offer and he was told that he would have to wait for arrangements to be made.

Adarme got a call from NNE after several days. He was informed that the dealership was just waiting for a black unit. He again got an offer which he found harder to resist – NNE asked him if he was interested in adding a little extra and he’ll get a 2001 Cefiro that is coming out two months later.

"I couldn’t believe my good fortune. These people in NNE really knew and understood what Customer Service means! My brand new Cefiro Elite was delivered to me in May, one of the first units available to the public," Adarme said.

As if the replacement was not enough, NNE even gave Adarme a new comprehensive insurance coverage for his new Cefiro. "All I had to do was add a little bit more for the price difference of the two units and I got a full 12-month coverage," Adarme said.

No official policy

Many car makers might probably raise their eyebrows at Adarme’s good fortune. Too good to be true? Probably.

Even the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines (CAMPI), which groups the 14 manufacturers of motor vehicles in the country, said there is no official policy for refunds or replacements when it comes to suspected lemon cars.

"It’s very hard on the part of a manufacturer to have a clear-cut policy on these things," said Mario de Grano, CAMPI’s secretary general. "There are some who offer a buy-back option, meaning they will buy the vehicle from the customer. But again these happen on a case-to-case basis."

De Grano, who has been with the carmaking business for the past 30 years, said car buyers are protected by the warranty agreement they have with car makers. Normally, he said, the warranty covers all defects that would come up in the first two years or within the first 50,000 to 100,000 kilometers, depending on the car maker. Almost all cars, he noted, even carry a five-year warranty against rust.

"Car buyers now have more protection compared to those in the 1970s or 1980s," he said. "In those days, you’re lucky if you can get a warranty for 20,000 kilometers. There are some who given no more than six months of warranty."

De Grano admitted, however, that there will be always be "one lemon" among the thousands of cars that roll out of car makers’ factories every day. "You need to have perfect quality control to confidently say that there is no lemon among your cars. But no one can say that his quality control is perfect. There will always be one or two that would turn out to be lemons." (Continued next week. For reactions, e-mail [email protected])