On a brand new car...that was thrashed by some moron that worked at said dealership...how do they get the panel to match?

Does it come from GM pre-painted to match?


This is exactly what happened to me on Friday - I told them to buff out the swirl marks their sales people had put in it while it was sitting on the showroom floor, and I got it back with gouges in the passenger door panel and on the A-pillar (discovered this today).

They mentioned they would replace the door, because I wouldnt be happy with anything less than perfection...hwoever, if it comes unpainted, and they have to paint it, I'm wondering how well it's match up. As noted, the car has orange peel to it (product of thin paint), where a door panel that's painted outside of GM's corvette plant, won't.


I know I'm being picky, but should I sell this car at some point in the future, someone who is just as picky as me (or moreso) may be able to tell...and that'll hurt resale value...not that I'm concerned about it...but..my point is quite valid.

So....does anyone know if the panels ordered by a dealer, are pre-painted?

 

All cars have a paint code.Color match should be fine if they are any good at doing what they do.Most dealers have a body shop on or close to premises where this would get done.

 

Hopefully it's not a tint coat.

 

I had a new hood put on my 08 CRM.The match is fine!I wouldn't worry.

 

Paint matching isn't a problem for any competent body shop nowadays. I had just the right side of the fascia on my Torch Red 97 repaired and the dealer's shop got the match so good I couldn't tell where it was painted except the road rash/dings from many road miles were gone in the repaired section and were still on the left side of the fascia.

Bill

 

Here is my thoughts, you may get the color codes to match correctly.

The car will have paint work done. That is a question most buyers will ask, or most pro's will be able to tell. .

I think in the event you pull the gm services records, the repair work order will show up on a service record. .

You may want them buy back the car.

Best of luck, Kevin

 

We'll see how it goes, I guess.

I'll go that route should they not address my concerns - having gone over it with a fine-toothed comb, I've noticed a small, clear-coat paint chip on the fascia, more "buffer incompitence" marks on a headlight.

They may offer to buy-back the car rather than deal with me - I'm pretty hard core about perfection...they might see it as being overzealous, but I paid for one of the most perfectionist-oriented cars on the market...at least, that's how GM portrays corvettes. I might have a bottom-rung 2010 C6...but that doesn't matter to me...I paid for a new car...not a new car with chips, buffer gouges, and scarred headlights...if I wanted that, I'd get a used one.

 

Had a truck back up into my left front fender, CRM. Body shop wanted to blend door, hood and front facia. I said you guys are better than that and I wanted no blending. They did a great job.

 

Nothing comes pre-painted from the factory

 

I'm not quite understanding your post - someone took out your fender, it was replaced and painted - and you opted to not have it blended?

Was it just that it looked that perfect, or did you not want them to touch mroe than the panel they had to?

 

That is what I thought, but thought I'd make sure...I mean it is a corvette, and it is MIA!

 

Reasonable buyers will only ask this to make sure the car hasn't been wrecked. Put it on a lift, inspect it at the dealer, $100 later and it will come up clean. I for one am not afraid of paintwork due to a scratch, but that's just me. Also, a pro cannot always tell paintwork. You can't paint meter a corvette, they're plastic, feeling the edges and them being smooth does not denote no paintwork. A good repainted panel can be just as good, if not better than factory. IMO factory paint is often inferior on most cars and a good body shop can get smoother orange peel than factory.

Sorry if I'm ignorant, but I don't understand the infatuation with a car with no aftermarket paintwork. I'd rather it be done and done right than there be a big *** scratch on the hood of the car.

My advice is, get them to document it for your records and take pictures before and after and most importantly, make sure it does not go through insurance and get reported to carfax, otherwise when a carfax is pulled, it will say it has been in an accident, which is untrue.

Carfaxes are misleading, a car that rammed into a parked car may have the same carfax as one where a guy had a shopping cart scrape the door on his car, there is no way to tell with carfax and its best to play it safe and assume it has been badly wrecked, which will cause a large difference in price when compared to a car with a clean carfax.

 

I have seen good blend jobs and bad. But as others have said it can be done without it by a good painter. They did a great job. And no I did not want they to touch more then they had to.

 

If I see a panel that's a bit "off" - I'd suspect that it was wrecked...and if it doesn't show up on carfax, then I'd probably pass on the vehicle, as the owner could really be hiding something (teh asusmption being that they wrecked it, and paid out of pocket ot havei t repaired.

I agree with you on having it on a lift and checked out by a mechanic...but, even then some types of accidents a mechanic won't notice.

It's kind of the same thing as a diminished value claim with insurance on car accidents. Even though the vehicle is repaired and the owner is happy, a diminished value claim is paid so that the owner is compensated for the liklihood that the value of the car will be less when he/she goes to sell it.

 

Thank you for the clarification.

I had a 370z that had chips in the paint on the hood...I had the dealer repair that the next day, as I didn't notice them prior to driving off the lot.

I always could tell that the hood had been reshot when in sunlight...it had a different look to it. In the garage, looked flawless, same at night and on cloudy days...but get it under direct sunlight, I could find the repairs (even though they were feathed in really well), and that it had been reshot...

 

That's a different subject though to talk about the owner not disclosing something. I absolutely 100% believe in full disclosure. When I buy a car, I already know what I am willing to pay for it and before we agree to a price, I want to know EVERYTHING wrong with the car. I know dents cost $100 to fix (for the whole car), a front bumper costs $200, tires cost $xxxx, wheel rash costs $150, etc, so we aren't talking a lot of money here if there are things wrong. I just hate when I go to pick up a car I agreed to buy sight unseen and it comes time for the transaction and I find out theres a big *** scratch on the side skirt or door he never told me about, even after flying out there and taking my time to buy his car...etc.

Some accidents you honestly can't tell about, but is it really that bad for you to not buy the car if you can take the whole car apart and not find any evidence? If that's the case, it was so minor not to even worry about, probably didn't even mess up alignment...

And that's right, some buyers do want no paintwork at all, no accidents, and it doesn't matter how minor it was, they're just that picky with their vehicles...

My personal Duramax truck has a bad carfax because I smashed the hell out of a Dodge Charger at a green light and I'm honestly more comfortable driving it now than before because I'm not all worried about "what if someone hits me, I'll have to deal with it being worth less..." Then again I'm probably going to keep the thing until it costs more to keep it on the road than its worth.

 

you have me on this one. if it was a new car in the showroom and you want EVERYTHING perfect why did you buy it? without having any and all issues addressed BEFORE paying for it you are not going to be happy with anything that they do short of replacing the car which they most definately WON'T do.

 

In my eyes it was perfect when I was signing the papers. I can back to give it a once over, and that's when I noticed all the swirl marks, that didn't show up on the showroom floor prior to my second test drive - but because I left the car outside in the sun, they were plain as day to me then. The sales guy gave me a bit of flack over it, actaully the sales guy overall was a douchebag, and it was the guy over him that more or less was the one I was dealing with most of the time - kind of like the douchebag was his slave more than an actual sales guy. I dunno...that's another story.

I asked them to polish them out, they brought it back damaged. They said they'll take care of it and wrote up a "we owe" ticket on it, and assured my over and over that they will take care of it...just it'll be Tuesday before they'll know something since their people are off until then.

I felt cornered because I'd already signed everything, so it was my car. =/

I've noticed a few more things since then, that I missed simply because I crossed the event-horizon of a black hole with the gouge marks...there's at least two other chips (passenger mirror riser, front fascia), and 4 buffer scars (brake light "spoiler" piece, passenger A-Pillar plastic bit, passenger door, passenger headlight lense/cover)

Given the ticket was written up for the door only...I'm a bit nervous that they'll cut me off at some point and say "that wasn't noted before you drove off the lot". For me that would be worst-case, and really would make me quite unhappy.



That said, you mentioned that you can have a panel repainted for how much? I asked a place around here and they said around $400-600/panel

Maybe I can have the place hit it with 20 layers of clear - lol.

 

I know what you mean! Even things that come TO the factory pre-painted don't come from the parts group pre-painted...like mirrors

 

i feel your pain. HOWEVER, i have purchased well over 50 new cars in the 40 years since the first one. i have NEVER paid for a car before i go over EVERY nook and cranny (or anything that would concern me). it's difficult not to get caught up in the moment but if you are that fussy (i am the worst when it comes to that) you MUST go slow and be sure that it is EXACTLY the way you want it prior to paying (or signing the papers). what works for me is; 1) never do your final "go over" of the car unless its sunny and done outside in daylight - period, no exceptions. 2) never take delivery when it is raining. 3) never take delivery after dusk. i understand that these comments don't help you now...save for the next time. good luck in getting your issues resolved.