Can dealers hide marks on body work short term...?

[EVV]

Hi guys,

Just wondering if someone could advise me since I tried to google the issue and what came up was essentially 'you'd be surprised at how well dealers can hide damage to paintwork'. Which made me suspicious...

I picked up a new (pre-reg) Honda CRV last night from one of their dealers. 41 miles on the clock when we test drove it (for barely 2 miles, though it read 46 miles when we picked it up two days later, meh...). Both at test drive and at pick up the car was wet on the outside from valeting. Still, the few tiny marks were easy to see then.

Early this morning I noticed a really obvious superficial 5cm scratch on the back right in the middle, which we had not noticed before despite taking a very close look before buying. Okay... presumably some stick fell off a tree, I can live with that.

But a few hours later there's a 25cm area with several rows of tiny dents on the back bumper - and also a bit in a black plastic area so not just the metallic paint. Now I know for certain I haven't reversed into anything as I haven't had to reverse yet (!) and the parking sensors would have picked up on anything too close if I had, so I'm wondering what on earth caused it. The only thing I've done so far is park it on a car park for an hour this morning.

So after googling and reading on how dealers can hide problems, a rather annoying suspicious feeling has arisen... would a dealer really be in a position to hide hat kind of marks for such a short amount of time? Or would it be just dumb luck and has something happened within 20 hours of buying the first ever new car?

In a way I'd be nice if I could ignore the websites that claim dealers can hide all sorts since it would leave me wih a v.e.r.y bad feeling, but if you guys think there's more to it I'd like to know. And if it's dumb luck, what's the best way of hiding these marks (that clay method?) since I never bothered making good dents or scratches before... ;-)

Yours in admiration :-)


Eve

PS: I have no idea how to get rid of that winking smiley in the topic listing...

Edited by EVV on Sunday 29th October 15:35

[steveo3002]

never inspect a wet car - id guess thats how you missed it and dont see how a dealer could hide that

all you can is carefully spot those marks in with paint and a toothpick or stump up for a smart repair

[SamR380]

You can 'hide' swirl marks with a decent polish, that'll last a week or two. I can't think of a way they could hide marks like that, I suppose if it was wet they might be harder to see. Was it dark when you picked it up?

[EVV]

Daylight but car really wet when arriving for test drive, getting darker and car also still wet at pick-up time last night... guess we now know why.

Thanks for the quick replies, guys, much appreciated. Lesson learnt.

I have a car-loving friend whose vehicles are always in pristine condition, he doesn't think much of the state of mine with my gardening / livestock / muddy dog lifestyle :-) I might ask him for help with one of those halford kits, or maybe just live with it. We paid £9k under the list price (it's an April 2017 pre-reg) after some haggling, now we know why this one hadn't sold yet, still, happy with the deal though have learnt something again.

My husband and I were joking that we would try and keep that car clean and scratch free for the first 2 days :-) Guess the dealer beat us to it...

Cheers!

[guitarcarfanatic]

If the marks disappear when wet, they haven't touched the paint just the clear coat. Rub down with 5000 grit wet and dry until they disappear, polish and wax. You will not be able to see them.

Check out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nYF46P7B2c

If you like the car, speak to the dealer and push for a decent valet to correct? Or a bit of cash and do it yourself.

[EVV]

Thanks for the tip, will try that!

[psi310398]

guitarcarfanatic said:

If the marks disappear when wet, they haven't touched the paint just the clear coat. Rub down with 5000 grit wet and dry until they disappear, polish and wax. You will not be able to see them.

Check out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nYF46P7B2c

If you like the car, speak to the dealer and push for a decent valet to correct? Or a bit of cash and do it yourself.

If you value your car's paintwork, keep it well away from the dealer's valet! They damage paint far more than you can imagine with their sloppy practices. Same applies to automatic carwashes and those hand car wash places.

Look up the two bucket method on YouTube and do it yourself. In fact do it before following guitar fanatic's earlier advice so that you are not spreading grit/dirt with the sandpaper.

[EVV]

Thank you, will do!