http://carboncollective.com/product/do-not-wash-pvc-hook/ that is the one that i have and use in my car, i picked it up at a stall selling car cleaning gear at an event a couple of years ago and it was half price so i grabbed a couple the guy that i use for detailing work was telling me a story of a guy that came in asking for his opinion on the state of his new 40K car that he had just picked up from a local dealers, the roof and the bonnet both had long straight scratches the length of the panel, after some investigation it turns out the contract valeting company that the dealers used went to prep the car for delivery it had around nine inches of snow on it and the valeter thought it would be a good idea to remove the snow with a plastic snow shovel that he had just used to clear the entrance to the valeting bay of snow this is the same contract valeting company that was being used by the BMW dealership that i use and they were letting them loose on some very expensive new and used cars, last time i was in the dealers they were in the process of changing valeting contractors but i dont suppose the new company are any better than the old one as they are paid a very low amount per car by the dealers and for the reasons above i will not allow them to clean my car
Hi, wow, not good on a 40k car could he reject the car based on this? I've ordered 2 of the same ones @mach one Kev
this is why he was seeking advice from a pro detailer to see what route to take, the dealer said they would get the body shop that they use to mop the car to see if they could get the scratches out but he was not to keen to go down that route, in the end the place i use for detailing took the car and machine polished it and got all the scratches out as they looked bad bet were all on the surface of the clear cote so could be corrected without the need for paint, the valeting company that did the damage footed the bill i find it amazing that the dealer allowed the car to be delivered to a customer with some very obvious scratch marks on the paint but things were put right for the customer in the end but it did sour the new car experience for the owner of the car
Glad it didn't actually damage the paint, just the clear coat and all was ok. Not an ideal scenario to getting a brand new car though... seems once they have your money, that's it. On a Focus i bought used but with only 17 miles on the clock, the cover that went over the toe hook at the back had a dent in it and had cracked the paint so you saw the white underneath the blue colour. I mentioned this to the guy on day of collecting the car as he was getting it ready etc and I was expecting them to have to get one from the store or order one to collect/fit later, nope he walked over to another car int he car lot same colour, took it off that one and put it on my car and put the dented one on my car back on the other day. Not what i was expecting. Then there was some trim round the windows that were a bit loose, he told me to take it to my dealers dealership and they would do it under warranty as they were only a sales site. So went straight down to my local service lace and they said they could do it but needed a WIP from the other place so cross charge etc, they ended up phoning them up to get it.. not ideal and i'm sure the sales guy knew this but once car was sold and i parted with money you could tell he wasn't interested and wanted to effectively hand me the keys and say goodbye. Kev
That is what i'm hoping. It's just now they plan to have the car for 2-3 days and get the warranty submitted, approved and wheels replaced, I now need to decide if I buy the center caps and hand them to the dealership when i drop the car of, hoping they approve the claim as obviously i wont know the warranty decision. Going to think on it over the tonight/weekend and decide, i'm thinking i might chance it. Kev
@Kev2005 if the wheel centres are showing signs of damage then push to get them changed under warranty as well, @Singvogel has just had a couple of his replaced under warranty when he took his car in for service I wouldnt go spending money up front as you dont even know they are going to approve the claim yet
thanks @mach one - I didn't think of getting those replaced under warranty... i'll have a look tomorrow and see. I was just thinking would look better if nice shiny new ones to go with *hopefully* new wheels Kev
On my X3 after 2 years the centre caps on my vehicle went all milky. They were replaced as soon as I brought it to the dealer's attention.
Kev....when you take it in get the service desk to write in big letters on the job sheet "do not wash or clean this car" And tell them you have just spent a lot of money on having your car properly detailed and have photos of that work. Any damage to the paintwork or interior as a result of them washing /cleaning it and they will be held responsible. I also leave an A4 sized note on the dashboard and on the drivers seat to that effect, then they can't claim to be unaware. Never had a problem, in fact I'm now greeted with " And you don't want us to wash /clean it still is that correct ?
You could send a PM to Slim, he has a template that you can print out and leave in your car for such eventualities. I have laminated mine.
AH Sh*tners. Now it all makes sense! Glad it's finally getting sorted. Ref the washing, you can buy hangers that hang in the cars that say please don't wash this car. I also give the talk VERY CLEARLY to the service staff. Incidentally, the dealers seem swamped at the moment, i think all the recalls are taking a toll. My OH has had awful customer service from Coopers with a routine service, but talking to the service guys, they have stupid amounts of cars booked in. Up to 60 a day booked in for work in a dealer that has about 4/5 service ramps.
Thanks @Ninjagirl yep, i've just bought one of the don't wash hangers I will also be telling it to whoever I see on the day as the guy who is dealing with it isn't in weekends and i'm going to ask them to write it on the paper work Maybe i'm getting paranoid but i'm even thinking of taking pics of the car once I park it up on the day in case the damage it whilst they have it... Kev
Wouldn't do any harm. Oh, and just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get you.....
Both my son and myself always walk round car with the iPhone to take photos when its left at a dealer. Our reason being a few years ago my son left his Freelander in a main dealers for service , collected it at the end of day , drove down to filling station to top up -------------------and noticed a very large gauge out of the passenger's side of car. Back to dealer , service denied they had done it , and said perfect when you picked it up. I had bought a few cars from that dealer so contacted the Dealer Principle who agreed to look into it. Next day he phoned back [this was a few years ago] to say they had gone through the site videos and saw a transporter had contacted the Freelander , agreed to repairs , loan car etc. Unfortunately he left soon after.
