so i've had my car for a little over a month and a half now. when i picked it up from the dealership, there were a few marks at the bottom of the hood and on the front bumper, but i didn't have a chance to take it back to the dealership until last weekend. but before that weekend, my girlfriend and i took a 300 mile road trip, and by the end of the trip when i inspected my bumper... there were hairline cracks running through and through, which made me really really pissed. I took it back to the dealership and my service manager told me that because the weather was cold and because of a few rock chips, it was evident that the bumper had been re-painted prior to me buying the vehicle (keep in mind i got the car at 230 miles, which were from the car being brought over by another dealership)

It turns out that the stains on the hood were overspray from the paint, which is pretty much all over the front end of the car. My car has been garaged every night and washed almost twice a week, but after that road trip everything started to show up. My car's been gone for a week now... and its pissing me off! The dealership is covering all the costs (not like they have a choice)

what the heck is that all about?

 

i caught an audi dealer selling an A4 that had been badly rear ended as brand new. I own an A4 so i spotted it right away, the lower valence on the rear was painted. I questioned them about it and they were like oooh yea that car it was umm rear ended. You just gotta be careful when these days.

 

Someone I work with bought a Mercedes and about 6 months later went to a different dealer to trade it in for a higher class. The dealer said "We can't give you full value for the car. It's been in an accident." Turns out the dealer they bought it from had some trouble getting it off the truck and smashed in part of the rear bumper. Sold it to them as brand new. The dealer claimed that as long as the damage was under a certain about ($3,000 comes to mind) they could still sell it as new. I'd have to raise the BS flag on the dealership for that one, though.

 

It's not all that uncommon for cars to be damaged during shipping. I think the most damage occurs being loaded onto a ship and unloaded from the ship. I have no idea what the disclosure laws are, or if they vary from state to state. I do know that when I recently traded in cars in North Carolina I had to sign a disclosure statement that stated that the car had not received repairs that exceeded 40% of it's value. It's amazing that when there is damage that it is repaired in such a shoddy fashion (overspray from the painting, improper preparation of the surface). When the repairs are done properly, the only way to tell may be with a paint gauge as the repainted areas have thicker paint on them than the factory painted areas. As far as trade in values are concerned, dealers always come up with some BS as to why they are giving you less for your car. Has anyone been to a dealership where the stated "yada yada yada" so we'll give you and extra $5000 for your car or, this used car is priced $5000 less than it's value because yada yada yada.

 

lol it just really pissed me off that on top of what happened the dealership tried to tell me that they didn't have a "we owe" on the paint job and thus tried to get me to pay them for it...

i talked to the service manager i dealt with when buying the car and he remembered me so he had my back on it. im gonna go look at the car today and if im unsatisfied, im asking for a new Z! lol

 

Good luck. Let us know how it turns out.

 

When I bought my Roadster the dealer pointed out a scratch in the paint on the bottom of the lip up front. I would of never noticed it if they had not pointed it out. They said that happened when they were loading or unloading the car. Nissan paid to have the front bumper repainted. It looks great now, still holding up.

 

i picked up my car today.... well actually i fought with them to give it back to me because supposedly it wasn't "ready" for the third day in a row...

anyways, the bumper looks fine now but the fender on one side has a lot of overspray on it... to the point where you can see it without even looking close up on the car. Horrible quality in workmanship, and they want me to bring the car back again to have it rebuffed.

the damn car has been buffed so many times that there are scratches in the paint now this is getting to me :-/