A consumer has decided to purchase a Nissan passenger car, and as he had found out that the purchase might be cheaper in Italy, he decided to buy it there. Upon purchase he received a five-year-warranty certificate which entitled him to asserting warranty claims at authorised repair service dealers in any EU member state (including Slovenia) in case his car broke down.
However, the warranty certificate also stated that the owner was obliged to take the passenger car to an authorised repair service dealer for a regular check up every 20,000 covered km or once a year. After approximately 3 years a defect was discovered on the vehicle, so the owner took it to a repair service dealer authorised for Nissan vehicles in Slovenia and asked to have it repaired. After having inspected the service booklet, the dealer ascertained that the consumer neglected to comply with the instructions in the warranty certificate and only had the vehicle examined once in 3 years. Hence his claim for a free-of-charge warranty repair was turned down. The consumer contacted the European Consumer Centre and asked for advice and assistance as he believed his claim had been rejected unjustifiably.
After having reviewed all the documents we explained to him that every consumer is obliged to comply with the instructions given in the warranty certificate, otherwise the repair service dealer shall have the right to reject the consumer's warranty claim. Consumers are therefore advised to carefully read general terms and conditions of the warranty upon purchasing goods and to pay special attention to possible restrictions.
