McGrath Nissan

My wife had an accident January 28, 2014 and the insurer of the other car unfortunately has a second rate insurance company called Safeway. Her insurer provided us with their garage list of auto body shops which we researched and found that all the body shops in our area had poor reviews from other customers. We decided to take our 2013 Nissan Rogue to McGrath Nissan in Elgin, IL. You may not know this, but you have the right by law to take your vehicle to any body shop. We selected McGrath Nissan of Elgin because of the work they did from a previous accident and we were very satisfied, unfortunately this time it turned out to be the worst experience I have ever dealt with in my life. I hope this article will inform other potential customers to stay far away from this dealer on all fronts – Sales, Repairs and especially the body shop. We called McGrath Nissan in Elgin and spoke to Charles the manager of the body shop. Charles informed us that they were extremely backed up due to the winter we had and wouldn’t be able to start the body repairs until February 24th. That’s almost 4 weeks from the date of the accident. The time finally arrived and we received no call from Charles at McGrath Nissan in Elgin. We called Charles and he just gave us the run around for more than a week. Finally we escalated this to upper management and spoke to Keith and then Michael. We were informed that Charles was fired because of work that was left untouched such as estimates not completed, work assigned never started, etc. Michael said he would take care of us but we would have to wait until April 10th. We were just beside ourselves that we had to wait another 3 weeks to get our 2013 Nissan Rogue repaired. The accident occurred on January 28th and it just doesn’t get better. I called the body shop the first week of April to see how they were progressing and Michael at mcgrath-nissan-body-shopMcGrath Nissan in Elgin informed me that they would be ready to take the car on April 7th. We dropped the car off with the check we received from Safeway Auto Insurance. Here’s where McGrath fails miserably. We were told that the repair would take up to 6 days if the original estimate was correct. Unfortunately the duration was much longer because Safeway under estimated the cost of repairs. Michael informed us he would handle everything with Safeway Auto Insurance on getting additional money to correct the body work needed for our 2013 Nissan Rogue. On Tuesday, April 22nd almost 2 weeks later I called Michael for an update and he said he is trying to get everything completed by Thursday, but it could take until Friday, April 25th. I called Friday and Michael informed me that the car was all painted and they only needed to buff it and detail the entire car as promised, but it would not be ready until Monday, April 28th. I called Monday and left two messages with no call back until 1:20 PM which was more than 2 hours later. I finally had enough and drove down to McGrath Nissan in Elgin to check things out for myself. I arrived at McGrath Nissan in Elgin at 1:45 PM CDT and ask to see my car and Michael informed me that customers are not allowed in the body shop. I was persistent and he finally walked me to where my car was parked. The body shop was an absolute mess and it looked like something from the TV show Sanford & Sons Garage. Our 2013 Nissan Rogue was not ready for buff and a full detail, in fact the bumper was still off the car, there was a new scratch in the left rear quarter panel and the car was outside and had bird droppings on it. I was just at a loss for scratchwords and couldn’t believe that Michael was dishonest after all we went through with Charles. If Nissan Corporation doesn’t react and do something to correct this business, it would be very shocking from one of the best automobile manufacturers we know today. McGrath Nissan in Elgin failed on all points and as a longtime customer at McGrath Honda I couldn’t believe that this brand had an ugly side. I called Keith the manager and or GM at McGrath Nissan in Elgin. I left a message Monday late afternoon and he did call me on Tuesday at 9:20 AM. I told Keith in detail everything I stated in this article and how disappointed I was for being misled about the status of the car from Michael the manager of the body shop. Keith said he would talk to Michael to get his side of the story and then call me back. Keith called and explained much of the delay was the negotiation with Safeway Auto Insurance which I already knew but that doesn’t explain why Michael over promised and under delivered. I am sure this is not McGrath’s first rodeo with second rate insurance companies. Keith informed us that our 2013 Nissan Rogue would be completed today (Tuesday) at 3:00 PM which includes fully assembled rear bumper, buff, scratch removed form left quarter panel and fully detailed. I advised Keith not to rush and that we would pick the car up on Wednesday. The wife and I arrived at 3:20 PM CDT. No Michael, No Keith. I wasn’t surprised by their absence; it’s an admission of guilt. The lady who was there to fill in had no clue. I noticed the buffed out scratch on the left quarter panel was visible. After all we went thought you would think they would have made sure this minor issue was fixed. I gave them an extra day to do the job right! McGrath Nissan of Elgin is NOT A BODY SHOP! They put parts together and that’s pretty much it. Any top notch body shop wouldn’t blink an eye at a minor imperfection. The lady at McGrath Nissan of Elgin (and I promise to get her name) told us that Michael was at a funeral. Sorry for your loss but where I come from a funeral is the final day of rest so what does that have to do with why we waited over 2 months to get our vehicle in YOUR SHOP and waited over 3 weeks for a rear bumper repair? Keith you called me and said that you do not blame Michael for what happened, of course not, why would you? The customer should wait over 2 months and wait another 3 weeks because that’s what you think is good customer service. We also had to pay over $570 for car rental though we will get most of that back, but not all of it. You are killing the McGrath Brand. McGrath Nissan in Elgin, IL…YOU FAILED!