Nice new shiny car.........

Honest John Back Room » The Back Room Archive
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Tue 10 Jul 2001 09:38
Nice new shiny car......... - Phil C
.....not as shiny as before.

I have just washed my new car (00W preowned Ford Fiesta Zetec in Radiant Red) for the second time in the month I have now owned the car and have now got myself a dilemma.

I had found a light scratch across the roof when I washed the car for the first time which I thought I'd sort out when I eventually polish the car for the first time (still very shiny).

I also found some damage on the upper grey plastic lip of the front bumper.

On washing the car for the second time last night the roof scratch became more apparent. The damage to the bumper lip became more obvious and now I have found light scratch marks on the nearside corner of the bonnet.

I made sure I was extremely careful in washing the car taking the advice I was given in my earlier thread (Simple but perplexing) and know I wasn't the cause of the damage, especially on the bumper.

I am now wondering whether I have any recourse with the dealer who sold me the car. The car was preowned and I fear that the dealer has painted (or should I say polished!) over a multitude of sins. I inspected the car closely on collection and none of these faults were apparent at that time.

Should I go back and have a word with them?

Or do I have to go our and buy some colour polish and grin and bear it?
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Tue 10 Jul 2001 09:45
Ah that first wash. - David Woollard
Phil,

I often find the first wash of a newly aquired car finds all the blemishes you might not have noticed in the excitement of the purchase. You could use a car wash the next few times and batter all the paintwork to the same finish!

Perhaps HJ should add to his buying guide "ask the seller if you can wash the car for him".

Serious advice. Go to a local smaller body shop and ask for a price to deal with these faults. In any case you have little recourse to the dealer now.

David
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Tue 10 Jul 2001 12:43
Re: Nice new shiny car......... - Ian Cook
I had this sort of thing on a couple of cars, notably a black ZX TD estate that turned out to have severe bird s**t marks on it. I never saw them when I inspected the car at the dealer - only after I washed and waxed it.

They presumably have a very cunning method of valetting them.
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Tue 10 Jul 2001 20:17
Nice new shiny car......... - David Lacey
We can't be held responsible for every nick/scratch/ding/scrape that your car unfortunately suffers from the neglect of others! I quite often see shopping bags/handbags placed on the bonnets and roofs of neighbouring cars whilst madam retrieves her car keys....
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