In March, New Jersey resident John Carr was driving his nearly new SUV when he got into a fender bender. While the police report stated that his 2023 Nissan Rogue was driveable, the repair facility kept the car for months. During that time, Carr was forced to make both his lease payments and cover the rental car fees.

A wiring harness was on backorder for weeks on end, preventing repair completion.

It turns out that a single back-ordered Nissan part held up the job so long that Carr became suspicious of the narrative. He contacted NBC 5 Responds, a local news outlet that looks into consumer issues.

“I can understand if it was a 1963-whatever and we can’t get parts, but a brand-new car? I’m sure they’re continuing to make these cars on a daily basis,” Carr said.

NBC 5 contacted Nissan North America, which confirmed the parts shortage on this particular component. The rep said the company expected the part to arrive stateside from Japan in July. However, the month passed without the part.

Paul McCarthy is the president of MEMA Aftermarket Suppliers. He’s very familiar with parts shortage problems since the pandemic hit.

Things have settled down significantly over time, he says. Still, though, he finds “spot shortages” in seemingly random, unexpected places, like in Carr’s case. 

What’s more, new vehicle technology adds to the complexity of the global automotive market. “There’s 40,000 parts in a car,” he said, emphasizing that when hyper-specific components are needed after a collision, it can be difficult to provide them in an individual-need-based situation. It’s just not a scenario all automakers are prepared for so soon after a new year-model production run.

Carr could have been paying upward of $2,361 a month in overhead for a vehicle sitting at a shop.

Considering state averages, Carr’s overhead likely added up quickly. According to Edmunds, a 2023 Nissan Rogue leases in New Jersey for between $334 and $452 per month. Per various other sources, full coverage car insurance runs the average driver $2,458 per year or $204 per month. The average rental car in the state costs around $58 per day or $1,764 per month. It’s more if you rent a larger vehicle, like an SUV or van.

Carr finally picked up his Nissan in mid-August, more than four months after starting the repair process.

Most car insurance policies that pay for rental car expenses, which is often an optional coverage policyholders must add, include a set limit in the form of a dollar max for a certain number of days.

This limit is what likely left Carr ultimately paying out of pocket to rent a vehicle while he waited for the Rogue part to arrive from Japan. In the meantime, of course, he was expected to make his lease payments, too. “It’s been a pretty long process,” he said of the ordeal.

What can drivers do?

Having worked at a repair facility for many years myself, there are a few things many drivers can do to avoid this predicament.

You can always ask for the part number on backorder and attempt to find an alternate supplier. This might include going with a used or aftermarket component. Depending on the situation, the insurance company may happily agree to use an alternative parts source in order to move on from the open claim.

Sometimes, however, the part is simply not available used or aftermarket yet…this is often the case for newer vehicles. I would have looked into where the Nissan harness was located and whether the vehicle was safe to drive while we waited. Sure, it’s possible the shop had the vehicle torn down and didn’t want to redo the labor, or the harness impacted safety or actual driveability. 

Overall, it’s a shame to hear stories like this after being in the industry for 20-plus years. Leaving the consumer in such a prickly situation is just bad news for the car business in general.