I bought a 3-year old E320CDI a couple of weeks ago and noticed during the test drive that the leather was looking particularly clean, and that there was a 'Merc Star Guard' case of polish on the back seat.
I was given the usual sales patter for the Merc Star Guard (for only £490!), but politely declined. Come collection the sales person said that the car had already been treated 'by mistake', confirming my suspicions. There's nothing better than a free lunch!
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There are lots of people who swear by Supagard
1) Car Salesman - commission
2) Garage Acct- cash
3) The valet squad - a job
4) Polish distributor - cash
I think that is the whole list!
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It wont have been put on by a mistake, it will have been purposly applied. I used to work in car sales.
As a salesman we were all targeted. Say for example you had a target of 14 cars, 4 of those would have to be Diamond Brite, the other 4 would have to have Gap Insurance sold, and the other 6 would have to have extended warrantys. If you didnt hit your 'add on' target you used to get less of a % of the bottom line (profit) of the car.
So come the end of the month salesmen just write in the diamond brite into the deal and reduce the selling price by £300. You still pay the same and are probably unaware that the order for has been altered. Half the time customers would drive off the forcourt unaware they had Gap or diamond brite until the paperwork came in the post.
Salesmen working on Newcars would not apply Diamond brite etc to black cars as half the time they would look worse due to the swirling marks by using the Diamond brite.
What i would say is DONT buy it. I used to get bottles of the stuff free and wouldnt apply it to my own car. Its a very thin product and wears off quite quickly.
For my own car i use auto glym polish. A great job and you know its done properly.
When i worked for Ford we brought it in at £20.10 a pack and resold it for £300!
I used to get the product free and I wouldnt use it. So it says little about the product.
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When doing a proper job on my gran's car lately it was a simple AG Resin Polish followed by AG Extra Gloss, in my experience that little combo will last about a year with no additional work bar washes with decent shampoo.
Cost for all the stuff (enough to last 4 or 5 years depending on car size) will be about £30.
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I gather Superguard kits contain enough for more than one car, but not two. If you are friendly with staff, they might do your car cheaply on the side. My informant tells me staff regularly do their own cars for nothing.
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When the dealership I was working at was being knocked down i was told to empty the valet bay of all old stock and throw it away. There were about 200 bottles of the stuff, which my manager let me keep instead of going in the bin!
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My local valeter has loads of bottle of the stuff. He gets a kit everytime a mug ticks it on the order form. He uses a bottle until it runs out which can be quite a few cars. I imagine half the stuff on e-bay is from similar sources.
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I used to apply Diamondbrite and can confirm its pretty well useless ( I wont say con for obvious reasons ) - never believe what you are told, its total rubbish and as someone has said, its just a little earner that few people manage to keep up with so warranty is void very quickly.
When I was made redundant and replaced with contract workers where I learnt my trade, we also split a haul of Diamondbrite ( and various other chems ) as you always had too much.
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For what its worth chaps, I get my cleaning stuff from www.cleanyourcar.co.uk. I know its a plug, but I don't have a connection with him, just a happy customer.
You don't have to pay silly money for waxes and sealant, AG do very good stuff, I am using Collinite 845 on my car, I am very fussy on my "detailing" and it cost less than £20.
Its more about preping the paint work, using good quaility MF cloths and putting on 2 or 3 *THIN* layers of wax/sealant. Never put a thick layer on.
I am not a fan of AG SRP cos it can stain trim and is quite chalky, the stuff that I use you can actually apply to black trim and it looks dark and wet.
Enjoy...
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Recently did my car with Turtle Wax Ice, only takes 15 mins, it can go on plastic, paint, wheels, the lot, i was well pleased with the result.
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Supagard - rubbish imo.
My car was done before I bought it - I am still stuck with the swirl marks it left. I just can't be bothered to go to all the effort to get it off.
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classic sales pitch we had to do ...Mr customer it removes 0.2 microns of paint everytime you polish your car, wouldnt it be better to never polish your car again and use Diamond brite'?
it would take about 2 years of polishing to remove 0.2 microns of paint...or there about.
Basically a complete waste of money...AVOID!
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I'm buying a year old used car and my dealer has tried to persuade me to get Supagard & GAP. He was incredibly persuasive, he almost frighted me with all the possible things that could go wrong if I didn't get them both. Oh and he said they were doing a deal 400 quid for both. I agreed then cancelled after a mate said it's all available on-line for less than half the price and some of the dealers don't even put the Supagard stuff on! Plus my insurance company practically said GAP was a con on a used car.
This whole experience has made me lose my excitement about my car.
I understand the work involved with Supagard, but as GAP is only about 130 on-line and a Supagard kit is 30, they wanted 240 quid for a posh wax job that requires maintenance or your guarantee is invalid.
Also the GAP insurance is surely pointless on a used car, the car I'm buying has already depreciated by 35%. If they had been more realistic with the price, say 250 quid all in I'd have been happy!
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Dealer put it on my last car for free as they had some left over from a previous customer. (i`ve bought several new cars from them including two at once and they know better than to try to sell me it )
It seemed gone really after a couple of washes with hot washing up liquid. Just as well seemingly - its easier to keep the paint clean if you can wash it thoroughly. If it seems to not stand up to that - what price a seagull dropping on the roof ?
Allegedly its in the `nice little earner` category.... or a case of `Emperors new clothes` seemingly (yes of course its still there..it has to be;) if purchased at great expense.
(Don`t bother)
Edited by oilrag on 13/12/2008 at 18:16
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Return to Invoice GAP is definitely worth getting at the online price - and is as useful on a new or a used car, or have you bought the one and only car that wont ever depreciate?
Edited by J500ANT on 13/12/2008 at 19:15
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It seemed gone really after a couple of washes with hot washing up liquid.
You are joking ... aren't you?
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I was given a pack of this stuff or its main competitor, and applied it as per instructions on the new pick up, which is now 15 months old, how time flies.
Matter of weeks later after a few washes with proper car wash/wax (washing up liquid, really OR) it no longer had any water displacement properties at all.
Glad i hadn't paid through the nose for it, or at all seeing as how it was next to useless.
Its just the icing on the cake for the salesperson.
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As I noted in an earlier thread, it seems that the materials are supplied in kits more than enough for one car, though not enough for two. I knew someone who had a mate who was a Superguard operative and who did his car for £15. The mate said he and his fellow operatives do their own cars over regularly for nothing.
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you should not use an abrasive car wash or washing up liquid on your car.
The salseman should have told you.
Just wash it with water.
No one should ever ever use washing up liquid...its the best way to destroy your car.
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I`ve been using washing up liquid on our cars for over 40 years - including a Polo we had for 17 years.
It didn`t destroy any...
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You can do a better job yourself with Simoniz wax or Autoglym. Supagard comes out of the same cupboard as fuel line magnets and other such snares and delusions!
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HOW CAN YOU TELL IT HAS ACTUALLY BEEN CARRIED OUT, BECAUSE I'M SURE I'VE JUST BEEN DONE???!!!!
I am ashamed to say I got talked into this scam for the princely sum of, are you ready.....£299!! When I gasped the other day when it was first mentioned, the sales guy said it had just been reduced in price! and I was fed all the sales waffle which helped convince me it would give my vehicle a showroom finish that would last at least 3yrs minimum and therefore was well worth it.
Well today I picked my 'new' motor up (4yrs old) and to say the whole thing has taken the 'shine' off the whole exprience, no pun intended, is an absolute understatement.
As soon as I picked the vehicle up and was handed the keys, I sat in the drivers seat and queried with the salesman whether they had forgotten to do the supagard as there was no visible difference to the interior, I could still see a lot of the dust that had been lying around when I test drove it, twice and the seat were marked?!!
To top it all my daughter and a close friend of mine who had accompanied me on a test drive earlier in the week, this afternoon have each independently got into the vehicle and their first words were "I thought they were going to clean it?!!" and "Did you decide not to have that cleaning protection thing done then?"...... How embarrassed and angry do I feel right now?!!!!!!!!!!
How would I ever go about proving it hasn't been done although every intuitive nerve in my body tells me it hasn't, they have told me they have. I was not given a complimentary supagard pack on departure (which in my mind is a further indictment that it has not even been touched with the stuff) and there is white stuff like the residue of a quick T-cut all over the car's exterior paintwork.
In my view, this car has had nothing done to it except a quick T-cut type polish and they have stung me for a £1 short of £300.........I feel sick and could cry right now?!!!!!
What would you do in this situation?
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Has anyone ever watched the film Fargo. Is this all similar to the car treatment scam being sold at the dealership in that movie.
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My Golf GTi was given the "treatment" I knocked them down to a £150.00. After 2 years ownership the car keeps far cleaner than any other black car I've owned and I've never polished it. In fairness its OK. I had a stack of Autoglym kit from them in the boot as well.
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My Golf GTi was given the "treatment" I knocked them down to a £150.00. After 2 years ownership the car keeps far cleaner than any other black car I've owned and I've never polished it. In fairness its OK. I had a stack of Autoglym kit from them in the boot as well.
My black car was not treated. It stays cleaner than any other car I have seen. I washed it yesterday, the first time since I drove it over the Alps last October. At times it got really filthy, but the next rain shower just washed it all off
I think its just down to the quality of VAG black paint PU.
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I think its just down to the quality of VAG black paint PU.
Are you saying it's good or bad?
Daughter has a SEAT Ibiza in VAG Magic Black and it's absolutely horrendous to get clean and it shows every little scratch and mark.
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Would Sir like a straw??
MD
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Really sorry to hear of your situation, Foxy. I hope you can put it down to experience and not let it spoil the enjoyment of your car.
All the best
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We were offered, and accepted, Supergard when we bought 2 cars from Nissan. We were offered it for one for £180, which we turned down. We were then offered it for both cars for the same price, so said yes.
Don't know about anyone else, but we could smell that the interior had been done - although it had only just been completed when we collected the cars. It also left a little beading on the instrument panel.
We got two very fancy kits of cleaning materials, clothes and so on including fabric cleaner in one kit and leather cleaner in the other one. Also included was a key fob for each key, offering a reward for anyone handing the keys into a Police Station or ringing the number on the fob.
Three years on, the cars, one dark green (Nissan Racing Green??) and one dark blue both seem to keep reasonably clean and the rural mud coating comes off easily.
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Sorry to hear your sad tale. I would complain to the garage (sales manager or better still dealer principal) who should get the car back in and have it properly done. Better still get your money back. You should be able tell if its done as the scotch guard sprayed on the seats smells like nail varnish remover.
When I worked in the used car trade this kind of thing happened all the time. Salesmen would forget about a car that was going out and in the end the Diamond Brite would never get put on. I worked on used cars, but the salesmen in new cars refused to apply it to black cars, even if the customer had paid for it as the valeters always seemed to make a mess of the paintwork with swirling marks, probably from the dirty old rags they applied it with!
Ive said it before on this forum and il say it again - the contents can be brought on ebay for around £10. The treatment is not worth £300 and the guys applying it at the dealership are normally 16- 20 year old kids, not highly trained valeters as the salesman will have you beleieve.
We used to have a Diamon Brite/Superguard salesman that visited the dealership couple times a year for training and we used to joke what a load of pap this stuff was.
The classic line they would try to get you to use on a customer was 'everytime you polish your car you remove 0.2 microns of paint, destroying the surface'.
In reality it would take months of constant polishing to remove the paint.
Load of old cobblers. Avoid like the plague. I had about 10 bottles of the stuff from the old job in the garage which ive just chucked. Use Autoglym and save yourself any hassle.
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Take your complaint straight to trading standards and let them follow it up. Why waste your own time arguing the toss with con men ?
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i was at a garage closing down sale the other month and there was boxes of this type of stuff,it was held in such high regard it wasnt even in the sale,i considered leaving an after sales bid on it but decided not to bother
thing is with scotchguard it can make seat material harder anyway and if you think in the bigger picture how many times have you really ruined an interior that cant be valeted in the normal way ,its ciggys that kill interiors
as for the exterior just give it the full monty in the auto car wash once a month,much more fun watching all the brushes and squirty things doing their jobs
its just a sales add on in my opinion
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>>Why waste your own time arguing the toss with con men ?
Because he has absolutely no proof whatsoever. Only way is to charm the salesman.
What sort of car do you drive, Mr Cross?
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Its a case of do we see more value in doing it ourselves with products that don't guarantee any protection to the paint other than produce a shiny finish for a while and pay what we think is a reasonable price for the polish etc or have an understanding of what this product actually does in its protection, application and guarantee.
I have bought a new car and had it explained fully what it does and how it will protect my car and was shown the differences between a brand new car in metallic black and a 4 year old car in the same metallic black but not protected with Supagard. It had been regularly polished and its surprisng how the paint looked faded and not as intense and vibrant as the new car finish.
He showed me a Red car that was 5yrs old in the service department that had been Supagarded and it looked as Vibrant as the new one in the showroom.
I made the decision to have my car Supagarded with the Gold Pack I paid £349 and the results initially was that it didn't look any different but after 3 years now the paint looks as good as the cars in the showroom, and others don't.
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Its a case of do we see more value in doing it ourselves with products that don't guarantee any protection to the paint other than produce a shiny finish for a while and pay what we think is a reasonable price for the polish etc or have an understanding of what this product actually does in its protection, application and guarantee.
I have bought a new car and had it explained fully what it does and how it will protect my car and was shown the differences between a brand new car in metallic black and a 4 year old car in the same metallic black but not protected with Supagard. It had been regularly polished and its surprisng how the paint looked faded and not as intense and vibrant as the new car finish.
He showed me a Red car that was 5yrs old in the service department that had been Supagarded and it looked as Vibrant as the new one in the showroom.
I made the decision to have my car Supagarded with the Gold Pack I paid £349 and the results initially was that it didn't look any different but after 3 years now the paint looks as good as the cars in the showroom, and others don't.
Similar experience to mine.
My girlfriend had Supagard applied to her car. The shine is as good as any Autoglym/Meguiars product I have used in my experience of detailing and the products seem nice to use. Earlier this year I also made contact with my local Supagard rep independently (of the dealership) in an effort to understand who is available to support should we require assistance within the period of her lifetime guarantee. The Supagard customer services team were very helpful in answering my skeptical questions over email.
Unfortunately, within 24 hours of collection of her new car, I removed a bird deposit from her paintwork - the Supagard spray product of which was effortless in removing it, but a white burn mark remains. I am pretty disappointed/shocked to see this so soon after collection and have emailed my local Supagard rep for assistance.
It will be interesting to see what the rep says and, specifically, how their customer service fares up now I have an issue (so soon!):: I am awaiting delivery of a car of my own (separately to my gf’s) which I ordered earlier this year, so should Supagard suddenly ‘switch’ from helpful to unhelpful(!), I will not hesitate to cancel the product for my car and look into alternatives like ceramic coating.
To be continued… I’ll let you know whether they are helpful or not.
Edited by DavidFlies on 12/09/2022 at 00:22
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Update:
I can’t fault the customer service received from SG and feel totally assured they can be relied upon should any issues occur - in line with the majority of their positive reviews.
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