Comments on: Burien Nissan Loses Entire Stock, Now An Empty Lot

By: kenny

kenny — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 02:59:19 +0000

I heard that the car pros guy is reopening it sometime this month. Not sure if its true, but its what I heard.

By: Jen

Jen — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 05:27:16 +0000

It looks like Burien Nissan is re-opening in some form. Over the last week or so the lights have been on, the lot has been cleaned, weeds pulled and they have been cleaning inside. Anyone have any info?

By: Seana Barker

Seana Barker — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 17:50:27 +0000

Hey Bruce, Bob or Butch – Can anyone who use to work at this dealership tell me how I can get electronic or hard copies of my service records. I am having problems with my Murano and need to get ahold of them for use in procing to Nissan I maintained my car with this now closed dealership.
Any help would be appreciated – Seana Barker

seanabarker@clear.net

By: 50

50 — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:28:37 +0000

Burien Nissan not alone,
Lawsuit Accuses Nissan of “Destroying” One of its Top Dealers
01/5/2010
One of Nissan’s largest and most successful dealers from 2001-2008 today filed a $250 million fraud and breach of contract lawsuit against Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., Nissan North America, Inc. and Nissan Motor Acceptance Corporation. The lawsuit filed by Orange County businessman Michael A. Kahn and Superior Automotive Group, LLC (SAG) charges Nissan with destroying his business, which by 2007 had become the 73rd largest auto dealership group in the United States generating more than $500 million in revenues and employing approximately 800 people. According to the lawsuit, “Kahn was Nissan’s ‘go-to’ dealer in California. At the behest of Nissan, he acquired troubled or underperforming dealerships and turned them around. When a large automotive company sought to buy out Kahn in 2004 and again in late 2006 Nissan insisted that he not sell and told Kahn he was a key component of Nissan’s future plans in California.” The lawsuit points out that Kahn’s “dealerships were consistently awarded Nissan North America’s Circle of Excellence Award, handed out to the nation’s top dealers; they won Nissan’s “Global Achievement Award,” given to the Top 40 Nissan dealers worldwide (out of approximately 10 000 dealers). Kahn was flown to Tokyo, honored by Nissan and met with its top executives. The Global Achievement Award was approved by and presented by Nissan’s President and CEO Carlos Ghosn and other top Nissan executives. The lawsuit goes on, “Because of their prior strong relationship, and because of Nissan’s representations and agreements, Kahn .followed Nissan’s instructions to curtail his dealership operations in order to weather the economic storm. Kahn sold one of his Dealerships in order to pay down millions to Nissan, closed his Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge dealership, negotiated rent concessions on two dealerships, borrowed money from Nissan at higher interest rates in order to, among other things, complete the construction of the Oakland Dealership, pledged additional collateral on his and his family’s personal properties, signed multiple forbearance agreements and poured millions of dollars of personal funds into the Dealerships. In spite of all the foregoing, Nissan reneged on its promises and breached its contracts with Plaintiffs. Rather than support Plaintiffs through 2009 as promised, Nissan unfairly and unnecessarily caused their demise. Nissan sandbagged Kahn and squeezed him for more collateral, millions in cash payments and other valuable consideration before putting him out of business. Nissan induced Kahn at the optimal time when Nissan could ‘default’ him and go after his and his family’s personal assets. Nissan’s deceit left Kahn and his entities maximally exposed to personal liability. After years of rewarding Kahn as a star dealer and inducing him to take numerous actions to his detriment to keep his Dealerships open, Nissan terminated Plaintiffs’ financing for doing what Nissan had encouraged and rewarded. Nissan did so because of its own financial problems and selfish, dishonest and dishonorable desire to protect itself and its own finances during the economic crisis.” The lawsuit outlines what it terms “a pattern of dishonesty and deceit” carried out by the Nissan Defendants.

By: Bob Breice

Bob Breice — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 21:16:13 +0000

I worked at Burien Nissan for over 33 years. David Gjeree was my first boss and now has passed away. Butch Whitehead was my last owner and he has been screwed by Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp.badley!

By: Seana Barker

Seana Barker — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 15:12:37 +0000

Bruce – can you tell me where you are working now? I would love a recommendation on where to get my car serviced. Send me an email when you get a chance.
Thanks much,
Seana
seanabarker@usfamily.net

By: mrk

mrk — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:17:42 +0000

I find it absurd that banks that received TARP funds (Banc of America, Citigroup and HSBC) are now underwriting the financing arms of the auto manufacturers like NMAC and GMAC who received TALF funds because they were already in financial trouble. This is like the guy in a poker game that just lost $1,000 to the guy on his right asking the guy on his left to spot him another $1,000. As long as the banks are playing with my money they'll keep making bad bets. Nissan officials had pledged on a May 12 conference call to continue to "take full advantage" of TALF, and they said they planned to raise at least an additional $3 billion by way of the program

By: Laura

Laura — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 17:41:41 +0000

I've had all my service done at Burien Nissan since buying my 2002 Altima and have no complaints. Bruce and others have always been polite and professional. I hope they can weather this economic storm and remain in business. Good luck.

By: Wanker

Wanker — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:16:18 +0000

I think 6 years, and 8 vehicles being serviced is enough chances. And yes I brought it to management both in the form of phone calls, and surveys from Nissan. The only response was indifference.

Just recently I cancelled the 15K mile service on my car and rescheduled it at Greggs Japanese Auto for half price. I know I will lose the lifetime oil changes, but are they really going to be around for the length of time I own the car?

You notice that in the orignal article, it said they should have financing in a couple weeks. Two and a half weeks later it is still 3 weeks down the road. They are done. I feel bad for the decent employees who lost their jobs, but this could have been prevented with proper management, and training.

By: Seana

Seana — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 01:28:40 +0000

WOW really I have never had a bad experience with the service department there – they have always been the most consumate professionals – especially Bruce (who posted above). They have always gotten me in for service on short notice, taken excellent care of my Nisssan vehicles and are the main reason I return for service there. I hope you talked to the service dept. manager and have voiced your concerns about the problems you have had there and hope you will give them another chance.