8 dealer add ons to avoid

They forgot undercoating. When I was a flat rate tech for Ford, they were making us to that for a while. Then we would wipe all the overspray off every car in the shop with this nasty Ardex solvent. I remember wiping whole cars down with it like a waterless wash. Horrible.

Then we sold these non-Ford "after-market" warranties. It was fine until the warranty company went out of business and the contract wasn't worth the paper it was written on.

Also, I remember spraying this upswell "sealant / rustproofing" inside the drain holes at the bottom of the door. It was like snot. Never understood that one.
 
I don't know, I've always been a fan of undercoating. We would always get it done and had good results with it when I lived up North. After a couple of years you could tell the difference. Fact, I bought a whole case of it to do my truck for when I move it North. Being a Louisianian truck, its got nothing on it.
 
Nizmo said:
I don't know, I've always been a fan of undercoating. We would always get it done and had good results with it when I lived up North. After a couple of years you could tell the difference. Fact, I bought a whole case of it to do my truck for when I move it North. Being a Louisianian truck, its got nothing on it.
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Maybe I'm biased because I had to apply it for a short period of time and have had to work on cars where it has been applied. People spray it all over exhaust, control arms, oil and transmission pans, and all over the subframe. These are parts that are not going to rust through in any reasonable amount of time and have no business being coated. It may have had a place 30 years ago, but I think the materials manufacturers are using from the factory hold up to the normal life span of the vehicle today.
 
Interesting article...

I once was looking at a Toyota FJ Cruiser and they had something like 2800 in extra charges they refused to remove. I went with a Speed3 and couldn't be happier.
 
Swanicyouth said:
Maybe I'm biased because I had to apply it for a short period of time and have had to work on cars where it has been applied. People spray it all over exhaust, control arms, oil and transmission pans, and all over the subframe. These are parts that are not going to rust through in any reasonable amount of time and have no business being coated. It may have had a place 30 years ago, but I think the materials manufacturers are using from the factory hold up to the normal life span of the vehicle today.
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I've seen vehicles as new as 2005 rust really bad on the rockers and fender-wells after maybe a couple of years. Really the metal on vehicle production now-adays are cheaper and thinner. I do agree some coaters do not know what they are doing and make a mess out of it. We would always go for the grease rust proof coating bi-yearly. Yes, it was an absolute mess, but saved the vehicle.
 
Todd Helme said:
Interesting article...

I once was looking at a Toyota FJ Cruiser and they had something like 2800 in extra charges they refused to remove. I went with a Speed3 and couldn't be happier.
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The number one turn off for a dealer is to see a sticker next to the mfg's one with add ons. The Southeastern Toyota distributor was doing this on all card which such items like polygypcoat.
 
Dealer did the same thing to me last spring on my ride. They tried selling me a coating that would protect the body panels inside and out. It was like $800 but would have to make an appointment at another time because it was an outside vendor that did it and it took a whole day because they had to take interior paneling off and coat everything on the inside and they also put another clear coat on it. Supposedly added 7 years to the paint and body panels. Of course the usual extended warranty. I said no to both maybe later on the coating. They were even proud to give me a coupon book that was worth $500. It had various coupons in it and some I thought were a good value such as the one for GM accessories until you read the fine print. It was a $50 coupon, I was going to call them up and order some stuff and have it shipped to me until I read the fine print that I needed to spend $500 to get the deal so ordering $200 didn't cut it. Oil change coupons and basically the whole book was a joke so I threw it when I got home. Couldn't use half of them anyway since the dealer was 400 miles away. If they would have sprang anything like the alarm thing during the signing I would have said we are settled on a price for the car it is included or I am walking.

Dean.:cool:
 
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