ANY MANUFACTURER - THE GREAT PAINT CON!!!! | Motoring discussion | Back Room Forum

Mon 9 Mar 2015 13:10

ANY MANUFACTURER - THE GREAT PAINT CON!!!! - conman

I HAVE A REAL GRIPE WITH CAR MANUFACTURERS. AS IF CARS ARN'T EXPENSIVE ENOUGH, WHEN CHOOSING A COLOUR FOR YOUR CAR, WHY DO YOU HAVE TO PAY A REDICULOUS AMOUNT OF MONEY TO HAVE A COLOURED CAR. I REMEMBER THE DAYS WHEN METALLIC WAS AN EXTRA, BUT YOU STILL HAD A CHOICE OF EITHER RED, WHITE OR BLUE SOLID COLOURS. THIS IS PURELY A CON ON THE MANUFACTURERS SIDE TO GET MORE MONEY, IT'S NOT AS IF WHEN YOU COME TO SELL IT YOU GET MORE FOR THE CAR, IT IS AN EXTRA SO NOT TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT BY THE CAR SALESMAN. I CANNOT SEE IT COST MORE, AS TODAYS PAINTS ARE WATER BASED AND EVEN THE SOLIDS HAVE TO BE LACQUERED. TODAY MOST MANUFACTURERS GIVE YOU A CHOICE OF WHITE!!

WHAT PEOPLE SHOULD START DOING IS ASKING FOR SAY RED, BLUE ETC. AND WHEN THEY SAY THATS METALLIC SO ITS EXTRA. WE ALL SAY I WANT A THE CAR BUT I AM NOT WILLING TO SPEND ANOTHER £500 (OR THEREABOUTS) TO HAVE A METALLIC CAR IT IS THE MANUFACTURERS FAULT THERE IS NO CHOICE SO I'M NOT PAYING. AND SEE WHERE THAT GETS US.

A FRIEND OF MINE DID THIS AND THEY REDUCED THE PRICE OF PAINT BY 50%. ON MOTABILITY CARS THERE IS NO CHARGE FOR METALLIC PAINT, SO IT CAN BE DONE.

BRING BACK THE SOLID COLOUR RANGE RED, WHITE AND BLUE, NO CHARGE!!!!

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Mon 9 Mar 2015 13:16

ANY MANUFACTURER - THE GREAT PAINT CON!!!! - daveyK_UK

I think it's Vauxhall who offer the biggest selection of solid colours.

I much prefer a solid colour, easier to repair

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Mon 9 Mar 2015 14:22

ANY MANUFACTURER - THE GREAT PAINT CON!!!! - martint123

I've always had solid coloured cars and will continue. As said, easy and cheap touchups and repairs.

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Mon 9 Mar 2015 14:39

ANY MANUFACTURER - THE GREAT PAINT CON!!!! - Andrew-T

In simple terms, because enough customers pay the extra without too much grumble - it has always cost extra. I don't believe there is much extra cost at the factory for non-solid colours - maybe an extra lacquer coat?

The typical range used to be red, white or black, didn't it? And if it was a VW the red dulled or faded .....

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Mon 9 Mar 2015 15:03

ANY MANUFACTURER - THE GREAT PAINT CON!!!! - Wackyracer

For me this is a non starter, Most manufacturers offer at least one colour for free.

If you don't want to pay extra for a colour or finish of your choice, Have the free colour.

maybe the OP thinks that the paint cost nothing as we all know that water is free, Remind me again why I pay for water? lol.

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Mon 9 Mar 2015 15:18

ANY MANUFACTURER - THE GREAT PAINT CON!!!! - skidpan

For me this is a non starter, Most manufacturers offer at least one colour for free.

If you don't want to pay extra for a colour or finish of your choice, Have the free colour.

Agreed.

Metallics have been an extra cost for as long as I have been buying cars (40+ years) but charging extra for solid white is a recent change. Guess its because its popular.

If the OP is not happy look at different makes, some offer metallics FOC on special editions.

At the end of the day you don't have to buy a new car.

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Mon 9 Mar 2015 15:28

ANY MANUFACTURER - THE GREAT PAINT CON!!!! - oldroverboy.

With Kia and Dacia solid white is the free option then exta for colors and then more for metallic.

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Mon 9 Mar 2015 16:38

ANY MANUFACTURER - THE GREAT PAINT CON!!!! - Brian Tryzers

It's a price on a list, and like every other price it's negotiable. So negotiate. Preferably not in upper case.

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Mon 9 Mar 2015 17:34

ANY MANUFACTURER - THE GREAT PAINT CON!!!! - Andrew-T

With Kia and Dacia solid white is the free option then exta for colors and then more for metallic.

White has recently become the 'silver' of 10 years back. Many of those looked as if the car had left the factory unpainted. Perhaps one could order one like that and avoid the colour charge altogether?

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Mon 9 Mar 2015 17:50

ANY MANUFACTURER - THE GREAT PAINT CON!!!! - gordonbennet

White has recently become the 'silver' of 10 years back. Many of those looked as if the car had left the factory unpainted. Perhaps one could order one like that and avoid the colour charge altogether?

Look under the bonnet of some and you'll find unpainted in all its glory, why it bothers me i don't know but it does...bit like the lack of any paint whatsoever on some suspension and transmission parts, look under the car 12 months later (or even before delivery) to see all that lovely rust establishing itself.

I used to like white but now its back in fashion no thanks.

Edited by gordonbennet on 09/03/2015 at 17:51

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Mon 9 Mar 2015 19:57

ANY MANUFACTURER - THE GREAT PAINT CON!!!! - Leif

My VW Up is white, the colour was free. Now the same paint is an option for a higher price. They want to maximise sales and profit, so umpopular colours are free to draw in tight wads, popular colours are an extra, to get extra profit. It's not rocket science. It suits me, because my car will be a bit more saleable in 5 years time, when I trade up.

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Mon 9 Mar 2015 20:05

ANY MANUFACTURER - THE GREAT PAINT CON!!!! - jamie745

You have a VW Up?

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Mon 9 Mar 2015 20:36

ANY MANUFACTURER - THE GREAT PAINT CON!!!! - alan1302

You have a VW Up?

That's what he said

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Mon 9 Mar 2015 20:53

ANY MANUFACTURER - THE GREAT PAINT CON!!!! - focussed

I don't have a gripe with the available colours-you pays your money and you takes your pick as they say-I do, however, have a problem with the b***** awful paint quality of the current water-based, planet-saving paint, generally it's rubbish.

Comparing the paint coating on my UK produced 07 Honda and my Thailand produced L200 05 pickup it's like chalk and cheese, the L200 paint is a dense lustrous finish that is metallic black with a hard clearcoat on top-scratches and hedgerow rash just polish out with no problems.

The Honda on the other hand I don't like to polish, the paint is so soft that I risk going through the clearcoat even by hand so it just gets washed and a drop of demon shine now and again-mostly again.

The two motorcycles are the same - The Yamaha is Japan made - lovely hard shiny paint- the BMW is produced somewhere in europe, same soft paint.

Well done EU-thanks a bunch, whatever works properly you always interfere with and manage to bu**er up!

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Tue 10 Mar 2015 06:20

ANY MANUFACTURER - THE GREAT PAINT CON!!!! - madf

As I buy cars secondhand, I don't care.. And if the OP really cared,he/she would buy barely used and pay for the extra costs that way.

As it is, he/she uses capital letters.. which says a lot about them.

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Tue 10 Mar 2015 09:11

ANY MANUFACTURER - THE GREAT PAINT CON!!!! - slkfanboy

The price of new car is such the £500 seams the least of your worries. The 20% loss of value day one seams a bigger worrie to me.

I am more than happy buying a 3 year old car with full service history. Someone mostly would pay £18,000 for a ford focus that I could get for around £10,000 after 3 years.

So maybe the real con is buying a new car in the first place, for sure your loosing far more money than £500!

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Tue 10 Mar 2015 10:17

ANY MANUFACTURER - THE GREAT PAINT CON!!!! - Leif

Assuming you buy for £10,000, how long do you keep it and what do you sell it for?

For small city cars, I found savings buying used were small, since my last car only lasted 10 years from new, and servicing costs were quite high after ~8 years. I did ~15,000 miles per year. I suspect the equation is different for bigger cars.

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Tue 10 Mar 2015 11:06

ANY MANUFACTURER - THE GREAT PAINT CON!!!! - TedCrilly

Lets go back in time.....say 25 years ago. How many mid range cars included the following as standard equipment?

Air con

leccy windows

remote central locking

ABS & ESP

CD player

Air bags.

These days you would be hard pressed to find even an entry level model that didnt include these features!!

Car buyers have never had it so good........and you are complaining about the cost of the paint??

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Tue 10 Mar 2015 11:14

ANY MANUFACTURER - THE GREAT PAINT CON!!!! - skidpan

Lets add the following to the above list:

6 (or perhaps even a 5) speed gearbox

Power steering

Alloy wheels

But in our excitement lets remember all the features we have lost:

A spare wheel

Severe corrosion

Poor quality paint

Poor reliability that was generally accepted

Lets not forget that choosing the correct colour can actually help when you come to sell. I accept that you will never recoup the £500 metallic costs but given the choice of bright yellow for free or a nice silver for £500 I know which I would prefer.

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Tue 10 Mar 2015 13:01

ANY MANUFACTURER - THE GREAT PAINT CON!!!! - slkfanboy

Depends on conditions and miles on the clock. I often keep for another 3 years and would expect to get £5.5k based on have less then 75K on the clock. Servicing is done by my local garage at around half dealer costs.

If you keep a car 10 years and do 15K a year thats 150k on the clock, a very hard sell. You would be lucky to get 1K for the car and therefore loose 17K. I would try and sell before 100K so before 6/7 years.

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Tue 10 Mar 2015 13:23

ANY MANUFACTURER - THE GREAT PAINT CON!!!! - Leif

So even taking into account increased servicing bills, you are saving a good whack over 3 years i.e. ~3.5K.

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