Never trust the dealership....

Go to a detailer and have him write his profesional opinion on how this happened and an estimate. Take the dealer to court, and either do it yourself and give the detailer a fee or have the detailer fix it. Don't let the dealer get away with that cr**, because they'll do it again and again unless you hold them responsible. I cannot tell you how many dealerships or professional establishments damage brand new cars with terrible swirl marks, it just aint right. If anybody should know better, it should be a dealership, but they try to save money instead of having high quality car washing.

I've posted a similar heartbreaking story but in that case it was a "profesional" car wash. I also had a dummy wipe my black truck after an oil change with a garage towel some years back and got straight scratches, genius! A pro would charge you from 250 to 400 to fix that and seal it, assuming they can. I can't see the picture for some reason, but if it's just bad swirls/webs you should be alright. The other consideration is the damage they caused will shorten the life expectancy of your paint, because to fix it you will lose a percentage of clear coat.



I also like menzerna twins, if you decide on this polish do a search there are some good posts. IP by orange then FPII with white or finishing pad. You can also use IP with white pad but with extensive damage go orange. Just make sure you work the polish until it breaks down.
 
I feel your pain...I just bought a black 2005 Acura RSX-S in October, and the dealer distroyed the paint...I was a little P.O.'ed to say the least. I took me about 12 hours using the Menzerna twins to get it up to par. I'm going to put my new PC to it in the spring to get rid of the rest of the swirls.

On a side note, before I purchased the car, I parked my 1992 Red Integra (186K, with FMJ)) next to the owner's 1992 NSX, and it shined just as much! Needless to say they gave me me most for my trade-in. ;)
 
WOW!!! I would refuse to take the car back. I think you should demand they buy the car from you. I don't know what kind of car that is but is un acceptable.

David
 
Bill D said:
If it is deemed within the rules, I hope maybe we could get a list going, ever short as it may be, of dealers in the US, Canada and elsewhere that are ( even somewhat) Autopian friendly or where Autopians had a positive experience



Of course it would probably be impossible to list one for every make but for starters, the one I hear consistently about from Accumulator is Stoddard Imported Cars,an Audi/ Porsche dealers in Wiloughby, OH.



Any others?
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The two good dealerships in the Dallas area are Park Place and Sewell...at least their luxury dealerships are good.



The absolute worst are Don Davis Lincoln and Moritz BMW. If I bought a car there, I would have it written into the contract that if they make any attempt to wax, polish or even wash it, I will refuse the vehicle. John Roberts BMW isn't that great either.
 
Steve9185 said:
I feel your pain...I just bought a black 2005 Acura RSX-S in October, and the dealer distroyed the paint...I was a little P.O.'ed to say the least. I took me about 12 hours using the Menzerna twins to get it up to par. I'm going to put my new PC to it in the spring to get rid of the rest of the swirls.
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Steve, which Acura dealer was that?
 
Bill D said:
...I hear consistently about from Accumulator is Stoddard Imported Cars,an Audi/ Porsche dealers in Wiloughby, OH.
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The owner of Stoddard recently sold the dealership....I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the people who do right by me aren't replaced (or don't quit). I'm gonna miss Hans though, he was a truly honerable gentleman who always went above and beyond to ensure our complete satisfaction. Bought back an A6 4.2 with 12K miles on it because they couldn't fix the drive-by-wire to my satisfaction. Credited me for tax, title, the whole thing (towards my S8, which they didn't mark up either).



This whole "finding a decent dealership" thing is very frustrating...I honestly don't know what I'll do if Stoddard goes downhill :(
 
Never let a dealer touch it. Many times the dealer outsources detailing work so you never know who is working on your car
 
jlfrogy said:
I'd make the stealership fix it, no matter what!
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Well. sometimes when you know the entity that ruined it in the first place will be unlikely to fix it you have to take other measures.



In the case of my new Jag, I spent 12 hours with both a rotary buffer and a PC to take care of the mess.



I used Meg's #2 Fine Cut with the rotary, #83 with the PC, #80 with the PC, then #7 showcar glaze and finally NXT tech wax.



The car came out beautiful and I know that all the complaining and "expecting" would not get a finer result at the dealer.



Believe me, they will feel the pain because I've filled out 4 surveys already. One from Jaguar, two from JD Powers and one other from a marketing research firm I'm not familiar with.



Since Jaguar just tied for first place in the JD Powers ratings, I'm sure Jaguar is looking very closely at all complaints.



Keep in mind they only sell about 3,500 cars a month in the US. So they should know where each and every complaint comes from.
 
"Oh yeah, I wouldn't trust a whole lot of body shops either when it comes to buffing."



I work fairly closely with the auto body across the street. For the most part they do great work. But , time is money for them and they might skip a step to get it done faster.



Example, a guy down the street from my house had his older Cobra repainted at his expence, (black). Well they had me clean it up after the paint job, this is when i met him. He watched me wash and clean the car and i sold him a synthetic chamois (water sprite), before i know about MF. I still always use a Water Sprite, with no problems, ie. new black paint. Anyways i had him talked into some paint protection, but for various reasons it never got done.



Then winter came and he stores the car under a cover in a fabric garage, well wind would blow in(under the door) and flap the cover. When he uncovered the car in spring, he found paint marring. So he took the car back to the body shop and had them buff out the car. So a little time later he brings the car by my shop and we are making arrangements for a sealant when i see buffer swirls all over the car. I show him this and he says they are from the Water Sprite that i sold him. I showed him that they are all uniform and then he told me about the car cover problem. They must have used a filler product because he never seen them after they were done. I told him i would buff it, but he wanted to show them, and for them to fix it.



Well we played phone tag for a while, and then i had problems with a Zaino order ( my fault, not Zaino) and still haven't got to seal the paint. So i do not know how well they fixed the problem.



I know the body shop does good work, as i've done work for them for over 10 years. But sometimes "time is money" and i think alot of bigger shops, be it dealership or auto body personal, just feel like a number, and see the guy next to him push out a job in an hour, and do the same. Good or bad and hope nobody notices.
 
One more thing. I bet if you asked to see the person, face to face, you will get a better job. I meet 99% of my customers and know i would find it hard to look them in the eye, if i was not giving them more than they ask.
 
I feel your pain.



I had the dealer do a number on my 2004 Anthracite Acura TL a month and a half ago when they did the courtesy car wash. Their washmitt must have had tons of debris in it (it was washed towards the end of the day - go figure) and they scratched the entire clear coat.



The service director would not do anything for me so I wrote a 3 page complaint letter and sent it to Acura Client Services, the dealership's GM, and the dealership's owner group (Hendrick's) in North Carolina. Needless to say, the General Manager called me up right away and offered to pay for a professional detail. I found someone locally on my own and had him do the work instead of the body shop the dealer was recommending.



Looks fantastic now, but took a little bit of legwork to get the dealer to fork over the cash. Cost: $325 + 8 hours.
 
You'd think at least the luxury brand dealers would start to think twice and invest in better or at least more washing materials to avoid a situation just like yours. It's a very sour experience for both customer and dealer. The customer remembers this experience, probably reconsiders buying/leasing another car or further servicing there in the future and lets this be known to others through word of mouth. As a result, the potential could exist for the dealer to lose further or future business or promotional status awarded by the the car manufacturer's headquarters. Sometimes (what others would perceive as) the "little things" do really make a significant difference.
 
Bill D said:
You'd think at least the luxury brand dealers would start to think twice and invest in better or at least more washing materials to avoid a situation just like yours. It's a very sour experience for both customer and dealer. The customer remembers this experience, probably reconsiders buying/leasing another car or further servicing there in the future and lets this be known to others through word of mouth. As a result, the potential could exist for the dealer to lose further or future business or promotional status awarded by the the car manufacturer's headquarters. Sometimes (what others would perceive as) the "little things" do really make a significant difference.
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I know this kind of analysis is your line of work, Bill, but do you think the average customer, even for those luxury brands, really gives a frog's butt about it? As was discussed in another post (I think showing one of the exotics that Anthony Orosco detailed), it isn't really about the price of the car, but about how the owner feels about cars. A Lexus is just a rich guy's Chevy...a Ferrari a REALLY rich guy's Chevy (no offense intended to Lexus, Chevy, or Ferrari owners)...if the owner isn't really a car guy, it's just a transportation device, no matter how much it costs, and when it gets old or crummy looking, they get another one.
 
Bill D said:
You'd think at least the luxury brand dealers would start to think twice and invest in better or at least more washing materials to avoid a situation just like yours. It's a very sour experience for both customer and dealer. The customer remembers this experience, probably reconsiders buying/leasing another car or further servicing there in the future and lets this be known to others through word of mouth. As a result, the potential could exist for the dealer to lose further or future business or promotional status awarded by the the car manufacturer's headquarters. Sometimes (what others would perceive as) the "little things" do really make a significant difference.
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The dealer uses a touchless machine do all of spraying and rinsing and then has some people wipe down the car afterwards. This is likely where it happened.



The worst part of the experience for me was the service director's firm denial that this happened at his dealership. (The sad thing is, this guy had only been working there for about a month. He did not know my history with the dealership). He wanted HIS guys to do the detail, which I found hilarious since they were the same ones that put the scratches in to begin with.



I don't care which sort of car I have -- even if it was a cheap Geo Metro -- I expect the car to come back from a service in as good or better condition (in the case of a repair). Anything worse and the dealership will need to make good.



For the OP - I would have written a letter and had the dealership foot the bill for a professional detail. I just bought a bunch of equipment for myself so I can do minor details on the side, but if this were to happen again, I'd still ask them to pay for it. (And it won't happen again since I'm not letting ANY dealer wash the car again!)
 
Setec Astronomy said:
I know this kind of analysis is your line of work, Bill, but do you think the average customer, even for those luxury brands, really gives a frog's butt about it? As was discussed in another post (I think showing one of the exotics that Anthony Orosco detailed), it isn't really about the price of the car, but about how the owner feels about cars. A Lexus is just a rich guy's Chevy...a Ferrari a REALLY rich guy's Chevy (no offense intended to Lexus, Chevy, or Ferrari owners)...if the owner isn't really a car guy, it's just a transportation device, no matter how much it costs, and when it gets old or crummy looking, they get another one.
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Every Autopian knows quite a few non-Autopians. Correct? I'm just pointing out how word of mouth is still the most powerful form of advertising. If enough people are told about a negative experience with any dealer--and this goes for any consumer product or service--they may begin to think twice about purchasing/patronizing. That's all. Take Fram oil filters ( unjustly criticized or not) or, for a period there recently, Firestone tires. After a while, the reason ( minutia to the overwhelming majority of motorists as you point out) the individual deemed the experience or product to be negative doesn't really matter, the reputation of the product, service or individual can still be hurt.
 
I'm not arguing your point Bill, I just think the majority of customers don't notice/care. If they did, the dealers would HAVE to operate differently, which they don't.
 
Dang, that how they delivered my new car to me, man was I pissed ...LoL, Iwanted them to refund me $300 for that stupid transport and preparation(cobwebbing) tax !
 
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