Help! Extensive Paint Damage From The Dealer

[Engi_Nerd]

Hey all! Just took delivery of a beautiful GT1 in Ceramic Silver this morning at a local dealer in Buffalo, NY. It was raining when I picked the car up, and it looked pretty clean, as silver cars do. When I got it home, and the rain dried, we noticed the car was absolutely covered in scratches and swirl marks. While I've bought enough cars to know to expect a few dealer swirl marks, these are far worse than anything I've ever seen. I wouldn't accept this on my Optima, much less a 48K car. The pictures show the types of damage, however they cover literally the entire car. Am I in the right to ask for a new car? I mean, this is crazy, right? How could a dealer do this to such an expensive car? Thanks in advance!

 

[A Member Who Left]

Take it back and have it fixed. Period. Looks like they ran it through a bad car wash with crap in whatever those things are that rotate and drag over the car. They never should have let it go like this.

 

[MerlintheMad]

That scratched black panel looks especially egregious. Either they buff them out totally, as if they had never been there, or they replace the car.

 

[DiabloStinger]

100% take that one back

 

[MerlintheMad]

Speaking of bad car washes. The scratches across the left side of my "spoiler" panel had me wondering if that could have happened? It would have been over two weeks ago, so too late to address now that I've rendered said-scratches almost invisible. I really enjoy taking my Stinger to Magic Clean. But how is the best way to bring up my concerns with them that nothing like this should happen? I really don't relish washing this car by hand very often. Not as often as it will need a bath, anyway. But now I am paranoid that the next car wash is going to mark my car up somewhere. If this is at all a common risk, what do the rest of you do about eliminating the chance of a scuffed or scratched car?

 

[DCBStingerGT]

Speaking of bad car washes. The scratches across the left side of my "spoiler" panel had me wondering if that could have happened? It would have been over two weeks ago, so too late to address now that I've rendered said-scratches almost invisible. I really enjoy taking my Stinger to Magic Clean. But how is the best way to bring up my concerns with them that nothing like this should happen? I really don't relish washing this car by hand very often. Not as often as it will need a bath, anyway. But now I am paranoid that the next car wash is going to mark my car up somewhere. If this is at all a common risk, what do the rest of you do about eliminating the chance of a scuffed or scratched car?

Hi, is this Magic Clean a car wash with brushes, or do you clean it by hand, then use a pressure washer, a touchless car wash is the safest way, but then you still need to dry the car, of course, or try a waterless wash maybe, but i guess if the car is not too dirty, i am going to try a Meguiars Waterless Wash and Wax, as i am trying to avoid using water unless absolutely necessary, and invest in some premuim microfibre towels, they are so soft on car surfaces, better than a chamois.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Silly, but I have never looked at the conveyor "tunnel" to see how my car gets washed. I guess I need to exercise a bit more interest in how it is done. Until the unexplained scratches the thought never occurred to me to enquire. The car goes in, I see it coming out at the blow drier end through the waitingroom window. The guys who dry the cars use very good towels and I would really be surprised if anything they use could leave scratches. The towels would have to have had grit imbedded in them to produce the kinds of scratches I saw.

 

[Stinger GT SS]

Like the rest have stated, take it back immediately & tell them to fix it, looks like they detailed it with sandpaper for goodness sake, not good enough for a dealer.

 

[stinger1168]

Take it back and demand a new one! As soon as possible! The longer you wait, the more difficult it will be. You paid for a new car with a new paint job so you get a new car with a new paint job! The problem with taking the car back and telling them to fix it is that you don't know HOW they're going to fix it. A shady dealership that plays games like this.... are you really going to trust them to do the right thing? I wouldn't. They could use fillers to fill in the scratches and then in 6 months to a year later you'll be right where you started and then they will play the, "you must have done something wrong when you washed it" card. Document everything. Who you spoke to and when. If they really play hard ball, see a lawyer and pay him/her $300 to write a legal letter to the dealership to scare them. Stuff like this is totally inexcusable and really makes me angry. If they fix it by polishing out the scratches, they are going to have to remove a lot of the clearcoat to make it an even layer. And that's if the clearcoat is repairable. I think what happened was, someone who has absolutely no idea how to clean a car tried to clean your car and the dealership didn't want to be stuck with the cost of repair or replacement and they saw a golden opportunity to put this giant turd in your lap and try to have you be responsible. I'm sorry you have to go through this and I wish you the best of luck.

The one thing I learned from this that I never thought of before is NEVER accept ANY new car when it's wet. Inspect it at the dealership when the car is dry and in good lighting.

 

[AV8R]

Hey all! Just took delivery of a beautiful GT1 in Ceramic Silver this morning at a local dealer in Buffalo, NY. It was raining when I picked the car up, and it looked pretty clean, as silver cars do. When I got it home, and the rain dried, we noticed the car was absolutely covered in scratches and swirl marks. While I've bought enough cars to know to expect a few dealer swirl marks, these are far worse than anything I've ever seen. I wouldn't accept this on my Optima, much less a 48K car. The pictures show the types of damage, however they cover literally the entire car. Am I in the right to ask for a new car? I mean, this is crazy, right? How could a dealer do this to such an expensive car? Thanks in advance!

Yup it’s been through a car wash! Take it back ASAP and get a new one or they fix it and give you cash back.

 

[bumble bee]

That is flat out brutal. I would return that one. See what you can do fill us in.

Wish ya luck,
John

 

[Johnny]

Man that sucks. Hope it gets sorted for you quickly. I’ve never used a car wash, always done by hand with 2 buckets and find it rather therapeutic listening to some tunes. Take me a full day though to do car properly.

 

[MerlintheMad]

@Johnny: I have never done a car "properly". And this car has too many angles, edges and crannies to be "therapeutic". I must have a carwash. But now I am afraid of them.

 

[Tonkabob]

I bought a damaged new mustang and they tried to blame it on me but eventually gave me a different car.

 

[Engi_Nerd]

Thank you all for the helpful replies. The dealer has been pretty good to deal with, so hopefully they make me whole come Monday morning.

 

[Joseph Spiegel]

I think in the US you have 3 days to back out of the deal. Go quick. I bought a damaged new mustang and they tried to blame it on me but eventually gave me a different car.

You have no days. There is no cooling off period. But that said, they ruined the cars finish. They are liable but you can’t wait a moment. The OP should be at the dealer as we speak.

 

[Engi_Nerd]

Agreed. It was very unfortunate that I took delivery 2 hours before they closed for the weekend. I emailed the manager pictures probably 3 hours after I took delivery so that there was a record of the events and that they couldn't claim I inflicted the damage. The dealer is 100 miles away so I am awaiting their response before I add more miles to a car I should not accept.

 

[Engi_Nerd]

The dealer finally got around to calling me and said they would be happy to "clay bar" the scratches out. I tried to be polite when replying a clay bar does not remove scratches and that they would need to cut and polish half the clear coat off the car to make it look remotely as it did from the factory. Given the extent of the damage, I am going to insist that they either replace it or let me out of my lease. I opened a case with Kia, who escalated me and did say the damage was pretty bad. Was originally going to lease an Audi A4 but picked the Stinger because it was more interesting, and currently way more rare. While the car is amazing, I definitely would not be having these issues at an Audi dealership. Meanwhile, I continue paying for a car I can't drive...

 

[KiaofMuncie]

Hey all! Just took delivery of a beautiful GT1 in Ceramic Silver this morning at a local dealer in Buffalo, NY. It was raining when I picked the car up, and it looked pretty clean, as silver cars do. When I got it home, and the rain dried, we noticed the car was absolutely covered in scratches and swirl marks. While I've bought enough cars to know to expect a few dealer swirl marks, these are far worse than anything I've ever seen. I wouldn't accept this on my Optima, much less a 48K car. The pictures show the types of damage, however they cover literally the entire car. Am I in the right to ask for a new car? I mean, this is crazy, right? How could a dealer do this to such an expensive car? Thanks in advance!

Did they hire Wolverine to wash cars?

 

[stinger1168]

The dealer finally got around to calling me and said they would be happy to "clay bar" the scratches out. I tried to be polite when replying a clay bar does not remove scratches and that they would need to cut and polish half the clear coat off the car to make it look remotely as it did from the factory. Given the extent of the damage, I am going to insist that they either replace it or let me out of my lease. I opened a case with Kia, who escalated me and did say the damage was pretty bad. Was originally going to lease an Audi A4 but picked the Stinger because it was more interesting, and currently way more rare. While the car is amazing, I definitely would not be having these issues at an Audi dealership. Meanwhile, I continue paying for a car I can't drive...

A clay bar... LMAO... That's pretty funny! You are correct, a clay bar cleans paint, it doesn't repair scratches. Looks like they're fishing to see how much you know about cars and then they're hoping you don't know anything and then they'll play off ignorance. Not gonna happen in this case. You are correct that, to repair it, they will have to compound off AT LEAST half the clear coat to get a smooth layer. But some of those scratches are really deep. I think what they're trying/hoping to do is give the car to a detailer and they will wash, use some kind of scratch filler (that will probably last 6 months or so), wax it and then give it back to you only to have to go through this again in about a year. Then they're probably just hoping you stick it out for the rest of your lease. Did you call that Stinger customer service number?