Wrapped Car Woes - Opinions Please

[TooMany2cvs]

Toilet Duck said:

berlintaxi said:

It's £6,000 dearer than a brand new one without the hideous wrap.

Are Kumho tyres really OE fitment on this £90k piece of st luxury SUV?

<shrug> The ad says "M-B Oxford demo vehicle", so can't imagine they've been changed on the cheap in 2,700 miles...

I'd imagine it's very easy to bump the list WAAAAAY up with a few options, too.

[Onemcs]

Al U said:

OP, can you tell me which county they are in? I have had some spray work done FOC through someone I know and the quality was quite appalling. The person I know reassured me that they work on a lot of high end cars and do wraps for celebrities etc. and I just want to know if it's the same person I'm dealing with.

PM Sent

[Funk]

Onemcs - I'm sure this will be done, but worth recommending that the company removing the wrap FILM it for evidence. That way it can't be alleged that the damage was done by someone other than the wrapping company. When damage is found, I'd also take pictures of it immediately with a decent DSLR to ensure accurate documentation.

With the quality of digital video cameras etc and the cheap cost of storage, it'll be well worth having to hand to support your claim.

[magnitude12]

Onemcs said:

PM Sent

PM me too! The company name please, or just county if you want. Need to avoid them!

[daveofedinburgh]

randy said:

I'm not sure what your expectations were but that to me looks about as good as you can expect from a wrap (I'm in the trade). If you want a flat colour; paint it. If you want a complex race car style graphics scheme then wrap it. Doing a wrap that's 100% perfect without a join, a wrinkle or a bubble is damn near impossible which is why big areas of flat colour don't work well with wraps.

I've always suspected this was the case with wraps.

I'd imagine that it's more or less impossible to achieve a 'perfect' finish, particularly around panel edges/ gaps, around trim parts etc. I guess it's up to the garage doing the wrap to manage the customers expectations beforehand.

Not so much of an issue on an old, used car where the paint is less than perfect. On a new motor like this I'd be seriously concerned about the paint condition when the wrap eventually comes off.

Does seem odd to me to wrap a new car- couldn't you have spent a bit extra on your desired paint option?

The finish looks ropey to me, even with my low expectations.

[EAndy]

HannsG said:

Why anyone wraps cars is beyond me.

Some people want a bright unusual colour such as pink, green, yellow on average daily cars which come resale will take a massive hit in value + have a very small potential market of buyers a wrap is perfect for those people in mind.

I wrapped mine as when I got the car I spent around £1,400 having the front end all put back to showroom standard, I then did a few airfield days, high speed runs, 30-130 days and track days and the front was shot again. Paid back in September 2011 for my wrap £1,600 and other than 1 or 2 marks from Nurburgring trip where bits of car hit me it's done great.

Easy to clean, I don't bother polishing it and even if the paint underneath has damage which I doubt I'd probably saved enough in upkeep and use for a respray.

On the whole car I have 1 join, where an extra piece was needed to be put in on a complex curve on the front bumper, my wrapper made me well aware of this beforehand and explained the reasoning. It's just there are lots and lots of cowboys in the industry and paying a premium doesn't guarantee a decent job.

[Onemcs]

Tomorrow will be 6 weeks since I first picked up my car and having been back twice since.

Letter 1 with 14 days notice was entirely ignored.

After some more legal advice I sent another letter on Monday with a final 7 days. (Letter #2)

Following the second letter on Monday, I received a response the next day from a business partner of the guy I've been dealing with. Starting "Without Prejudice" he promised to notify his insurance company of the claim, then advise me of who to contact so I can pursue them.

I put another letter back confirming I want contact before the final 7 days are up. Haven't heard anything since and doubt I'll ever get anything back. I've had the court forms drafted and literally just waiting for the time to expire.

Will keep you posted

[k-ink]

Stop messing about and pay for a decent solicitor. You have been mugged off and they are laughing at you. Like many others no doubt.