Repairer Driven News
« Back « PREV Article  |  NEXT Article »

Nissan plugs certified auto body repair network in effective new video

By on
Business Practices | Market Trends | Repair Operations
Share This:

Nissan on Wednesday posted a YouTube plug for its certified collision repair centers, and it hits all the right notes from the perspective of a network shop.

The ad features a young mother on the phone, recommending the Nissan-certified auto body network she’d used after an earlier crash to someone else who’d just been in a collision.

“I felt so much better knowing I had it repaired right,” the mother states.

She notes that her Nissan dealer was the one to clue her in to the existence of certified shops with free towing (within 50 miles). That jives with what Nissan has said is a policy of having dealerships plug the certified collision repair network.

“I was happy my Nissan dealer told me about it,” she says.

The woman also describes some of the conditions Nissan expects from its shops — the shop’s interior was “really nice,” and the staff “very professional.”

“They were great about keeping me in the loop throughout the whole process,” she continues — a factor CCC research first published in Property Casualty 360 suggests matters more than a speedy cycle time.

But while some of these terms of professionalism, cleanliness, and customer service might resemble a DRP contract, Nissan’s prime concern is getting a customer’s vehicle fixed correctly to prevent the owner from switching brands. A DRP shop, on the other hand, is supposed to fix the car right but is also contractually tasked with saving the insurer as much money as possible, creating the potential for a conflict of interest. Nissan alludes to this here and also stresses the vehicle owner’s right in many states to choose a shop.

(Of course, “certification” doesn’t actually verify work output, as Collision Hub illustrated with a “Repair University” that found a Nissan- and European OEM-certified shop botched the repair of a 2011 Nissan Armada. But in conflict-of-interest terms, an OEM network seems like a better bet to a consumer than an insurer’s.)

“Cars are so complex, especially with the new safety systems they use,” the woman states. “You need experts with Nissan training to fix it right. Your insurance company might tell you to go to a certain shop, but it’s really your choice which one you end up using.”

It’s a little unclear from Nissan’s certification requirements what “Nissan training” would mean, since the OEM doesn’t appear to require make- or model-specific courses, only more macro-level I-CAR classes and credentials.

The woman signs off to pick up her kids from school — a subtle reminder of what’s at stake by picking the wrong shop.

The video was posted Wednesday. As of about 11:15 a.m. Friday, it had gathered 961 views (a few of which were us replaying it to prepare this article) and 29 thumbs-ups. It seems like it’d be a great marketing tool for a certified shop, as are Nissan’s other collision repair-related films.

“I should get Nissan certified location phone numbers,” one comment from a poster named Christopher Hernandez states. (Christopher, if somehow you read this, they can be found here.)

More information:

“The Nissan Certified Collision Experience”

Nissan YouTube channel, June 14, 2017

Nissan collision repair page

Featured image: Nissan on June 14 posted a new YouTube plug for its certified collision repair centers. (Screenshot from Nissan video on YouTube)

Share This:

1 Comment