New Car Pickup Drama

[Westheath]

You might be shocked at the volume of new cars that go to the body shop for repainting
straight off the transporter (obvious damage) and after PDI process.
It's normal accepted practise but seems its pot luck as to whether you get "factory" condition paint
or a resprayed one.

 

[mancman]

Ask for your money back its 40k + and go to another dealer, that's shocking to be treated like this from a dealership with regards to a marque car, I bet it's left a real bad taste which should have been a very good experience. Name and shame the dealership.

 

[John Laidlaw]

I would reject the car, wait for anew one- however the dealer should provide you with a loan car for that period due to the inconvenience . I’ve had that twice with new cars- one for damage (which to be fair the dealer, VW in this case- had spotted the damage but a bit late), the other time was on an order late delivery.
You should not have to accept obvious repairs to a new vehicle, however as others have said a huge proportion of damages happen and are fixed before customers pick up cars!

 

[ThinkPad]

I appreciate this could have been picked up and fixed before I arrived and I would never have known. To car dealers, it may not be a big deal to have a new car painted. But the fact I wasted my whole day. I had to arrange for childcare of my one year old overnight on Friday as we had to leave home 6am Saturday morning. The fact that I had been waiting 3 months. The fact that my old car is going back in 3 days and insurance was already changed over. I have spent money, time and energy. To me it is quite a big deal - and I think most of the replies reiterate that I am probably not overreacting here.

And yes I did ask at the showroom for them to give me a courtesy car and let me get back home in it. They refused as they said if the resolution is ordering a new car it will be Feb before it comes and they can't let me have a car that long. I am hoping they come back to me today, as the main bosses who make the decisions were apparently not in on the day. But yes, I am still pretty annoyed by the whole thing. I feel I should give them a fair chance to make it right, hence I will allow them to respond formally before considering naming them.

 

[John Laidlaw]

I appreciate this could have been picked up and fixed before I arrived and I would never have known. To car dealers, it may not be a big deal to have a new car painted. But the fact I wasted my whole day. I had to arrange for childcare of my one year old overnight on Friday as we had to leave home 6am Saturday morning. The fact that I had been waiting 3 months. The fact that my old car is going back in 3 days and insurance was already changed over. I have spent money, time and energy. To me it is quite a big deal - and I think most of the replies reiterate that I am probably not overreacting here.

And yes I did ask at the showroom for them to give me a courtesy car and let me get back home in it. They refused as they said if the resolution is ordering a new car it will be Feb before it comes and they can't let me have a car that long. I am hoping they come back to me today, as the main bosses who make the decisions were apparently not in on the day. But yes, I am still pretty annoyed by the whole thing. I feel I should give them a fair chance to make it right, hence I will allow them to respond formally before considering naming them.

Very sensible, you are right to be annoyed but I like the fact you are giving them the chance, more than fair of you!

 

[umblecumbuz]

I feel I should give them a fair chance to make it right, hence I will allow them to respond formally before considering naming them.

Agree with John, above. A confrontational approach as a first step is nearly always a mistake, so your comment here is right.

People advising the gung-ho approach as a first step are short-sighted. Threatening a supplier makes him defensive, inclined to be close-mouthed and uncooperative, but a rightly aggrieved, determined and reasonable approach often brings out the best in people. You usually win in the end. Hope we hear of a successful outcome here.

 

[peterws1957]

What amazes me is , not that cars get damaged in transit, but that dealers consider that people will be prepared to drive away in a new but damaged car. Exposes what suppliers think of their customers sometimes.

 

[DREAMER NO2]

Stop the cheque , and then you will start smiling .again .

 

[ThinkPad]

Well not a good start so far. Received a very vanilla email from one of the transaction team asking me to write a letter to them so that they can forward to the DVLA to cancel the registration. Nothing about a solution or what happens next. They are just first of all covering themselves to get the car de-registered so that they can resell as brand new.

 

[LostKiwi]

Well not a good start so far. Received a very vanilla email from one of the transaction team asking me to write a letter to them so that they can forward to the DVLA to cancel the registration. Nothing about a solution or what happens next. They are just first of all covering themselves to get the car de-registered so that they can resell as brand new.

Note down the VIN number on that car. Just in case they patch it up and 'find another' in your spec for you.....

 

[JBell]

Reject it and go find another

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

Sorry to hear this especially in view of the fact that to get to this point you have invested a lot of time and energy in choosing the car and waiting for it to be made/delivered. Assuming it left the factory A1 which it no doubt did your experience points to the fact that a lot more care needs to be made in delivering the vehicle and prep at the franchised dealer. If I were the dealer principal I would be hopping mad about this and on the phone to you to try and sort this out which unfortunately doesn’t appear to be the case.

In view of the fact that the damage is minimal I’d be very tempted to accept the car providing the dealer can match the existing paintwork when the bonnet is resprayed and to sweeten the deal either an extra years warranty or a couple of years free servicing you deserve at least that for the disappointment caused.

Either way I hope you get the resolution you want but bearing in mind sometimes better the devil you know than wait another six months and a similar thing happen again.

 

[ThinkPad]

Either way I hope you get the resolution you want but bearing in mind sometimes better the devil you know than wait another six months and a similar thing happen again.

To update this thread, the above is what I went with in the end. They were pretty fair in offering to order a new bonnet from MB and exchanging. I did not like that idea so much, after all it will never be as well bolted together as from factory (maybe I am being pedantic). THe other option was to order a new one, but 3.5 more months I did not fancy (it is quite a specific spec). I have asked them to leave it as it is, and they have given me an additional £1,000 discount.

Now I have the car, and have digested the fact that there is a small mark on the bonnet - it is barely visible - only from certain angles and lighting - they have done a good job to buff out. I will probably ask a detailer to machine it and it may well disappear. Anyway after a couple of years of stone chips - probably will be a good time to get a bonnet respray and make use of the £1,000 saving at this point.

Thanks all for your comments and advice, it was helpful in allowing me to gather my thoughts.

 

[Tony MB]

Well a result that your happy with is what counts, well done now go and enjoy yourself

 

[CJD]

The only important thing here is that you are happy with the outcome. £1000 is not an insignificant amount, and as I said earlier, given time you will forget there was ever an issue with your car, pleased you got a satisfactory solution.
How do you like the car ?

 

[Westheath]

I give up worrying about damage whilst driving, its impossible to avoid if your doing the mileage.
But if whilst hand washing (rare) I see road rash on the bumper or stone chips on the bonnet
I treat what I can with touch up and DA polishing and then promise to respray the front end when it gets worse.

The last one I had resprayed was damaged on the M25 a month later
when a large stone/rock hit the bonnet and windscreen putting 2 dents in the bonnet
and a group of chips in the screen.

My current mileage muncher needs a front end respray, bonnet dent and chips front bumper has rash
all over it, the screen is Ok one small mark but when washed and polished none of it hardly notices.
My neighbour, who usually buys my cars, didn't even see what I pointed out to him on a S Class with road rash
he recently bought, thought I was OCD, probably right.

So long as your happy with the end result

 

[John Laidlaw]

Excellent, time to move on and enjoy the car as you should. The £1k will certainly cover a good detail and some change left over!

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

Glad you’ve moved on and are happy with the resolution I would have done same and kept the car

 

[Frosty149]

Have a little holiday on the car...

 

[rf065]

Not very often the case with MB. Most are built to order.

Except for when the Mercedes dealers orders them to get their sales figures up. My SLC300 was registered in March 2017 only after I bought it did I find out it was imported to the UK in April 2016. I did wonder why it was so cheap with only 100 miles on the clock.
As for damage to a 40K car, I would walk away, you will always know in the back of your mind as long as you own it.

Russ