Between Fredrick, MD and Virginia Beach, Va.; or, Why I Won't Buy a Nissan

Having made the late night trek to Monroeville, PA the night before, Erika, my sister Katie and I, after a nice visit with some friends in Fredrick, MD, made for the final destination of our trip: Virginia Beach, VA, and the Leg 'a Sea house. It was an overcast day, not much to write about really. Even the often hectic trip around DC proved uneventful, with only a few spots that required a slowing of traffic.

Between Washington DC and Richmond, VA, stretches a vast eight-lane superhighway that, at times, has taken travelers more than four hours to cover the 108 mile stretch. During the summer, it is particularly hot and horrible, as the sun can beat down on the concrete baking the cars and drivers below. On Saturday, the road was just such a hot day, which made the only major hitch in our travels that much more annoying.

At mile marker 156, the 2008 Nissan Versa my mother bought stalled. It was as if someone had switched the car into neutral: no matter how much I pushed the gas, the engine continued to slow to idle. While that would have been annoying in any situation, a crowded summer highway makes it down right perilous. As my car slowed to idle, I put the blinkers on, and tried to figure out how to maneuver my tiny Versa through the speeding traffic filled with SUVs and trucks. Blessedly, a long-haul trucker behind me noticed the blinkers, and slowed behind me, creating a passing lane to get at the right-hand shoulder. Had my car stalled a few yards earlier, I would have been able to come to a rest underneath an overpass for Dale Blvd., but as it was, I rolled to a stop in the blazing sun, just shy of mile marker 157.3.

We put our heads together and decided to use the AAA card my mother had to get a tow truck to drag us off the highway. The dispatcher was worried that we were on the highway, and made us a priority emergency. Within a half hour, I was told, a tow truck was coming to get us and take us to a nearby mechanic. Because we had three people and a dog, and because the average tow truck can hold a maximum of two people, a taxi was also sent for us. We piled out of the car to wait by the side of the road in the heat.

In this age of cellphones, I was not too surprised that no one stopped to see if we were okay. I was slightly alarmed at the number of people who used the vacuum our stalled car made to pass trucks and other considerate motorist who pulled to the left seeing a stalled vehicle. What was really surprising was the complete lack of state troopers. In the half hour that we all stood cooking on the highway, not a single officer stopped to make sure we were okay (nor did any drive by). At least in Illinois, that is one thing commonly found at the sites of stalled cars: state troopers ensuring the safety of the stranded motorists.

The taxi arrived first and took Erika, Katie and the dog to the AAA suggested mechanic. Ten to fifteen minutes later, the tow truck came. It was a massive flatbed wrecker with an extended cab. The driver got out and looked incredulous:
"You call AAA?"
"Yeah."
"Can I see your card?"
He examined the card.
"Weren't there three of you?"
"Yeah, but a taxi came to get them."
He stared at me.
"But I have an extended cab. I can take five people. Man...that sucks."
Why was this important? The cab driver may have exploited our out of town status to take a slower route to the mechanic, thus Erika was sidled with a $20 taxi ride. The taxi driver was quite distressed about this and called the AAA people to let them know that Old Dominion towing could take up to five people and he would have been happy to take the dog, too. That was nice of him, and just the first of the several nice things the tow driver did, and several others did.

On the way to the mechanic, the driver talked pleasantly of the surrounding area and his commitment, at times violent, to his children's education. As we were about to pull into one mechanic shop, I got a call saying that Erika and Katie had seen us go by. I was suspicious that the tow driver might have been trying to extend the ride so that he could charge us for some mileage that AAA wouldn't cover (which was three miles). He checked his phone and said that the tow location had been switched and he apologized for the misunderstanding, taking us immediately the Merchant Tire and Auto in Woodbridge, VA. When we got there, I asked how we were going to settle the dispute, ready to call AAA to complain about the roundabout trip. Without prompting, he decided to use the GPS to track the distance from the highway exit to the garage. It came out to 3.1 miles, and he called it even at 3, and the tow was free (thanks to AAA).

Once the truck was off the bed of the wrecker, I located the warranty card. My mother had purchased the extended warranty of the car, so that supposedly the car should have been fixed for free. This is only true, though, if we took it to the Nissan dealer. The garager, Merchants Tire and Auto in Woodbridge, VA, was nice enough to allow us to call Nissan and get things squared away with them. Nissan road side assistance sent another tow truck (which our AAA tow driver balked at; he, for some reason, remained behind to make sure that we made it home, offering us cheap deals for tows and rides places). While I talked with the Nissan people, the mechanics are Merchant checked to see if it was something minor, like a fluid issue (transmission or something similar), but unfortunately, the engine in the Versa is densely packed and no one could tell a thing without taking pieces out (which would have voided our warranty). It was agreed that towing it to Nissan would be the best idea.

During this whole time, the mechanics at Merchants were extremely nice. They suggested that they take a look, and bill Nissan, but, again, that would have voided our warranty. They let Erika, Katie and my dog loiter in their waiting area while I was on and off the phone. The looked up phone numbers and offered helpful advice. Really, for people who were not making any money from us, they were extremely nice. Actually, for anyone, they were extremely nice.

Here, though, the story takes a turn for the annoying. I called the local Nissan dealer to say that our car was coming and to see if they could take a look at the car that day. The service manager acted as if I had asked to sleep with his mother while he video taped. Evidently, they closed at 5:00 that night and could not get to it until Monday. He hung up thereafter. This hangup would become problematic later.

So, the car was going to be stranded at the very rude Woodbridge Nissan service station. Next step: get us a car to get to Virginia Beach from Woodbridge. When I called my mother to give her an update about the situation, she suggested calling Nissan to get the free rental that our warranty provides. It was 5:02. Here was a chance for Nissan to show that exceptional customer service that the commercials suggest they have. Unfortunately, the Nissan dealership decided today was not going to be a good customer service day.

The receptionist informed me that the service department was closed, and unfortunately the dealt with the issue of rental cars. There seemed to me to be a solution that I was just not seeing, and which the receptionist was not aware. Trying hard not to explode, I asked if there was someone else I could talk to. She transferred me to the sales manager who gave me a number to call. This number took me back to Nissan Roadside assistance, who told me that the dealership should take care of the rental, and if told to call back, inform the dealer that they, not Roadside Assistance, needed to give me a rental. I was, officially, in a run-around.

I went back into the place to collect my thoughts, and converse with the rest of my traveling party. There, I found a factory-like environment, where several people were on phones, surfing the internet, people milling about: all of them (save Erika, Katie and my dog) strangers; all of them trying to get me to my vacation. Kim, the manager of the mechanic shop was calling rental car places, looking for somewhere near by; one of the mechanics was on the phone with a friend of his who knew someone who operated a taxi service; the tow truck driver was consulting my sister on various options he could provide; and so on. It was sort of amazing. The people of the greater Woodbridge and Dale City area were surprisingly helpful, especially since none of these people owed me or my family anything. I was essentially wasting their time, using their resources and they were not going to get anything from me. Regardless, everyone was really helpful.

Sometimes, too helpful. I told my sister and Erika that it was unlikely that Nissan was going to give us a rental car, thus the previously unplanned Option B was necessary. The tow truck driver (now still with us for about an hour and a half) chimed in.
"Give me the number," he said.
"Thanks, but what we need to now do is figure out how to get a rental car."
He smiled. "Oh. You'll get one."
I was urged my Erika and my sister to give him the number, insisting that he, as a local, might hold more clout.
"Hi," he begins, "I'm a tow trucker and my last drop is stranded and they need to get to their destination and there is no way for them to get home..." He had, essentially, the same conversation I did with the receptionist, though it ends much different when he was transferred to the sales manager.
"This is the worst car company I have ever dealt with, and I am never going to give you my business," he yelled. "Who do I work for?" At that, he hung up the phone, rather proud of himself.
"Those people are rude. But I told them I was never giving them my business and that they were the worst car dealership ever. When he asked who I worked for, I hung up on him."
He acted like he took a punch for us. Certainly, I was grateful for the effort, but really, I worry that he did more harm than good. Our car needs to go to the dealership, and now our car is associated with the crazy out-of-towners who had a tow truck driver call and yell at them.

And still, we had no way to get from Woodbridge to Virginia Beach, a distance of 190 miles or so. It seems while I was dealing with Nissan, Erika reserved a car with Enterprise, who, as the advertisements say, will come and pick us up. This was extremely forward-thinking, and finally we had some direction to move in. Excellent.

Unfortunately, like the Service Center of the Nissan dealership, all (and let me stress this...ALL) of the car rental places were closed. Evidently, in Woodbridge, no one's car broke down or no one needed to rent a car after 5:00 PM. The only place to rent a car was the airport in DC, an hour in the wrong direction from where we needed to go. With a plan set (i.e. get a rental car), the shop burst into action. Mechanics and managers scrambled to get numbers of car dealerships, direct lines to rental places, taxis, and so on. It was determined that, in fact, nothing could be done, and we needed to take a taxi to the Metro station, train it into DC and walk to the Enterprise Rental place at the airport.

Until everyone realized we had a dog. Then there was a brief but unsatisfactory flurry of excitement as people tried to figure out if dogs could ride the DC Metro. Finally, someone confirmed a taxi could be obtained for $65-$70 and they would take us to the airport. Finally, we were on our way.

The taxi driver was extremely nice, sped the whole way there, and had us pay right when we get there so that he could wait for free as the car was pulled up. He even offered to drive us, free of charge to the car in the garage. That wasn't necessary as the Enterprise Rental people picked us up from our location at the front of the garage, no problem (picking us up from Woodbridge, though, was a considerable problem). On the way from Woodbridge to DC, the taxi driver asked where our car was, and we said the Nissan dealership.
"Oh man," he said with a soft, north Indian accent, "that place is no good man. No good."
What does it say about a place when a random taxi driver has nothing good to say, and instead only vehemently bad things to say, about your company? I would guess, your PR department needs to work overtime for a while.

Once at Enterprise, I was immediately offered water, and the young man at the counter promptly and immediately took care of us. He was great. We talked amiably about weather, cars, his uncle that lives not too far from where we are staying and so on. We went to go look at the cars on the lot while I went to unpack the taxi. Erika stood around charging her phone when he came back, and I realized an immediate benefit to having an attractive girlfriend: when I left, I was supposed to get a sedan; when Erika came back, I had a Chevy HHR (which, as the pictures demonstrate, was a great vehicle for the beach). I don't what Erika said, or rather, how she said it, but we got a free upgrade to a cross-over, and we were ready to be on our way.

After a brief detour through the airport because the signage was not clear, we took the first step to finishing our trip. I am not necessarily sure that I would ever buy a Nissan or trust in their warranty (which should read: you can be helped so long as you are stranded at a convenient time), but I cannot say enough nice about the people of Virginia where, as Tennessee Williams wrote, you can always depend on the kindness of strangers (for an excellent Simpsons reference to said Williams play, see the episode where Marge was Blanche DuBois, Ned Flanders was Stanley Kowalski, and they turned the "I can always depend on the kindness of strangers" bit into the final song).