New car horror stories...

[rstype]

Does anyone here have a "new-car horror" story?



Mine, was with our new Passat. On the third day after purchasing our car, some idiot decided to back into it. Luckily, VWs have really good 5-mph bumpers, but still, there were a few chips and scratches in the paint. The scratches were taken care of by some Finesse-It and a PC. The rest remain.



Then came the fragile B-pillar paint. The B-pillar swirls seemed to be a standard feature on every VW they sell… I hate that.



And now, my wigfe drove it to the grocery store this morning for about 40 minutes. It came back with some bird droppings; I noticed that an hour later. I quickly flooded it with rubbing alcohol and removed it with a lot of QD and MTs. Despite the alcohol to neutralize the acids, it seemed to have already eaten the clear. It’s really minor (I couldn’t even take a pic of it) and you can’t see it unless you look very carefully at the right spot… but still. Finesse-It by hand did nothing... any suggestions???!



The thing I really hate most is that all 3 things happened in less than a week after or while purchasing the car… the effect would have hit me less with the older Bimmer. I think this really proves how dangerous birds are- if there are droppings on the paint, get whatever you can to remove it, even if you think Z, K, BF, or P will protect against it. Swirls can be fixed, etching usually cannot.



[rant] end of rant [/rant]



~bw

[rstype]

Bumper picture...

[rstype]

Sorry, the car was dirty when I took the picture...

[imported_BretFraz]

bw, ol buddy, all`s I can say is one thing....................



time to trade it.



seriously, i`m sorry all this has happened to the new dub. but look on the bright side - - you have used up your annual allotment of bad luck in less than a week.



btw, have you tried a plastic polish or something like Plexus on the b-pillars?

[samiam513]

brand new 2002 mustang gt. Mineral grey. Washed it and found a scratch on the bumper. Took a yard tool out and scratched the side. badddd.

[cpaddock]

Started today. Bought my 02 GTI 1.8t on April 4 and now I believe my MAF is going bad at only 2000 miles .



I was only the highway cruising in 5th when I decided to go faster. All of the sudden my car starts bucking and surging like crazy. The gas pedal felt like it was stuck in molasses and the car did not respond at all. Next thing I know the engine and trubo go to limp mode at 90 mph. I have no power so I pull over to restart the car. Starts up OK but later down the road I try the same thing, same problem.



Well I will have to wait until the holiday is over.

[jkochis]

A friend of mine keyed his truck, on purpose, on delivery day. He said he wanted to get over worrying about scratches very quickly. No joke.

[rtsiv]

Keying your own car is a bit extreme, but I understand the logic. I don`t know if I`ll buy another new car, because there`s no way to keep a daily driver perfect, and I`m so anal about it that it drives me nuts, and of course I drive my wife nuts in the process. At least with used cars, there are already some flaws, so I`m not quite as bad.



Bretfraz - The reason it took me a year to buy a car was because I was looking for a perfect used car. I finally finally found a price good enough that I could settle for less than perfect, but it still bugs me.



Quentin

[hook]

Not my story, but a close friend...wife just bought a BMW Z-3, great car. it`s maybe a month old, he`s driving it in an ....ahhh...spirited fashion, and it shudders hard, like he hit something. And quits. Coasts to the side of the interstate, won`t start. Calls the BMW roadside help (says they were grreat, btw) and they tow it to the dealership.



been there 2 weeks now. They don`t know what happened. He and I are both telling her to tell them if they can`t give her a written explanation of what`s wrong with it, and when it will be fixed, she should make them give her a new one.



Side notes...they gave her a 325i loaner, she hates it. They told her she didn`thave to call every day anymore, they`ll let her know as soon as they know anything (fat chance). I have this feeling that by the end of it some engineer in Germany will be *very* tired of answering phone calls from this nice, but persistent (and rightfully disgruntled) person...





Blue skies,

Andy

[m5m3]

Not that lucky with new cars....



New Merc SLK - First day back from the dealer the gearbox failed.

New Landrover Discovery (wife`s) one month old, had every panel (ex roof) keyed - £3,800 labour to respray (took them two goes before I would accept it - some dealers are realy crap, think customers are totaly blind (maybe I am just a bit paint finish fanatical Hum...)

996 (911) Porsche - 6 months ago, drivingback from the dealer (in germany), got to within 1hr of my house and hit a curb (they are wider than they look - realy). Anyway a hollow spoke 10 inch is close to £1,000 in the Uk to replace.

[ALAN81]

my father had a 225 park ave NOTHING but bad luck with it was in the service dept more than he had it. One day he says to me I wish this car was stolen so I can get a new car that I can use Within 2 WEEKS the car was stolen(NOT ME PROMISE)I never seen my father so happy!NEVER RETURNED

[medic]

Originally posted by RH

A friend of mine keyed his truck, on purpose, on delivery day. He said he wanted to get over worrying about scratches very quickly. No joke.

that`s like saying I`m going to get dents anyway and taking a hammer to the hood...why not just buy a used/leased car then. it`s already been worn down.



just can`t understand

[2wheelsx2]

This is just one of those 4 wheel drive things. Lots of the guys I knew when I lived up North would buy new 4 wheel drives and on the first day, find the gnarliest road and bash the daylights out of the truck on it. They liked to "break it in". I`ll never understand that. As you said, why not buy a used one?:nixweiss

[shaf]

Why??? That is so illogical and backwards I can`t even fathom it. Why not keep it nice for as long as you can and let what happens, happen naturally?!? I take it these guys also wash their trucks with laundry detergent and smoke at the gas pump.

[BradE]

Back in 1997 when the Explorer was only a month old a huge hail storm hit Cincy, did $2800 damage. The car had less than 1500 miles at the time.