[dular]

Dear Team BHP,

I am looking for your help and suggestions to the problem I am currently facing regarding the delivery of my car.

I had booked a car and recently done its PDI (10 days ago). Unfortunately, the car was covered in mud and bird poop during the PDI so I could not inspect the paint quality. I could only check the interiors and its functioning. I raised the issue to the sales guy about the paint but I was consoled that there would be no issue. Verbal promises were made. (Big mistake even after being warned so may times on this forum). Since, the delivery was promised before Diwali, I went weak and agreed to move ahead since there was no functional issue with the car.

I made a down payment with 90% of the car's on road price as per the demand of the dealer. The rest 10% was supposed to be paid on delivery.

On the day of delivery before Diwali, when I went for delivery with my family, I found faded paint marks on the bonnet at several places. The marks appeared only when car was under bright light. They seemed to disappear when the car was in shade. I don't know if those spots are due to after effect of bird poop or bad paint job. Since, I am not an expert in car paint, I would like to know opinion from people on this forum whether this is a serious issue or not?

Currently, I have deferred the delivery. The dealer is promising remedy for it like getting it polished again with machine to make those spots go away. Will this be a temporary solution or a permanent one?

I have not signed on any papers except for the booking. Although, the dealer has registered the car in my name by using my aadhar OTP (received on phone) which I was asked to share.

I have asked the dealer to issue me a new/fresh car without any paint defects but the dealer is refusing to go that path since he says that the current car is already registered to me.

What are my options now? Any possible remedies/possible solutions to the above issue are welcome.

[IshaanIan]

Bird poop is slightly acidic and if left on the car to cake up, it can cause stains on the paint like the ones you have described. I would not be comfortable paying 100% of the cost for what is supposed to be a brand new car but does not look like it. If you have only paid the booking amount, and they won't replace the car, then don't bother because factory finish is factory finish and no amount of jugaad at the dealerships end will be able to rectify that. Just forget the booking amount and go for another car from a different dealership and simply chalk it up to a lesson learnt. If you have paid more than just the booking amount then perhaps negotiate a significant discount like atleast 10%. I have honestly never been in such a sticky situation with a car dealer so I cannot comment based on experience, but this is what I would do if I found myself in such a situation.

[anjan_c2007]

As rightly said by Ishaanian, bird poop when left unremoved on the painted surface for a long time, is harmful to the paintwork. The one or more portions where the droppings rest get faded and look different than the rest of the painted surface. Generally, these form small island like spaces that are of some lighter shade than the unaffected surface.

It seems you have paid the dealer, 90% of the on road price for your car. Its OK that you have not as yet taken delivery. However, any amount assurances by the dealer to polish etc won't get you back the factory like finished surface.

Since you have avoided mentioning the make and model of the car and the dealer's name, it would be only guesswork as to how the car maker will respond. But please agitate the matter by submitting relevant documents, with the head office and regional plus local office of your car maker, seeking a new car as a replacement. After all, you were in no way accountable for the fading paint work, and which was solely the dealer's responsibility.

[UD17]

Originally Posted by dular

Dear Team BHP,

What are my options now?

Options in your hands are scarcely limited. The car is already registered in your name, so very little can be done now, to get you a new car.

I would suggest, negotiate hard with the dealership so that you get a good deal for the not so good painted surfaces. Get the car fully polished by dealership. But reality is, although present, these paint spots will not be perceptible after few days (i am assuming these are some intermittent bird poop and not covering full car).

Once my society building was getting painted, the flying paint droplets attracted to my car and showered its love all over car's left doors and left side roof. I got it detailed at 3M (12K hit- reimbursed by society), there are still few smaller island type spots around the roof if i see very carefully, but to the average joe these spots are not perceivable.

[dular]

Dear Team Mates,

First of all a big thank you to all who took the time in replying to my post. It is really helpful for me to take the next steps.

Originally Posted by IshaanIan

If you have only paid the booking amount, and they won't replace the car, then don't bother because factory finish is factory finish and no amount of jugaad at the dealerships end will be able to rectify that. Just forget the booking amount and go for another car from a different dealership and simply chalk it up to a lesson learnt. If you have paid more than just the booking amount then perhaps negotiate a significant discount like atleast 10%.

I have paid more than the booking amount and I am pushing to get a new car delivered and willing to wait for the next batch but the dealer is refusing it since he registered the car.

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

It seems you have paid the dealer, 90% of the on road price for your car. Its OK that you have not as yet taken delivery. However, any amount assurances by the dealer to polish etc won't get you back the factory like finished surface.

But please agitate the matter by submitting relevant documents, with the head office and regional plus local office of your car maker, seeking a new car as a replacement. After all, you were in no way accountable for the fading paint work, and which was solely the dealer's responsibility.

You are right. The dealer is only offering polishing on the surface (bonnet) to remove the decoloring but I am afraid whether it is just a temporary solution. Maybe after a few weeks/month the decoloring will appear again when the polish wears out. The experts can chime in their opinion on this matter.

As you have pointed, I have already raised a complaint with the OEM. However, there has been no resolution from their side on this. They have asked me to wait another day. I will be checking with them again tomorrow.

Originally Posted by UD17

Options in your hands are scarcely limited. The car is already registered in your name, so very little can be done now, to get you a new car.

I would suggest, negotiate hard with the dealership so that you get a good deal for the not so good painted surfaces. Get the car fully polished by dealership. But reality is, although present, these paint spots will not be perceptible after few days (i am assuming these are some intermittent bird poop and not covering full car).

Car registration is the bottleneck which the dealership is raising again and again. So far, he has not offered any compensation and is still insisting on taking the delivery after the polishing. It is however some consolation to hear that the marks will eventually become less perceivable. But, still I am disappointed that the OEM and dealer do not take care of the car before delivery and just shove it on gullible buyers.

From my experience since last year to buy a car has been really bad. The dealers are the biggest fraudsters I have met in my life and some OEMs are colluding with them by giving them their support. This is not the best time to buy a car in India.

[ajayc123]

It is a good battle to fight as you are paying for a new car, and you may squeeze out something.

But the real battle ends right after taking the delivery. Before you know, some stray animal/bird, some neighbourhood kid, driving incident, or some unknown incident in public parking would result in all kinds of marks, sooner than later. At least, I have failed to keep my new car scratch / mark free more than a month. I have given up on such matters long long back.

[IshaanIan]

As anjan pointed out, since you have failed to mention the brand or dealer, it would be best to take relevant documents (please make sure to photograph the stains on every single body panel) and mail them to higher ups as well as have a talk with the owner of the dealership or the manager and explain to them that such preposterous storage in stockyard is not acceptable and since the car's paint was damaged in their possession, it would be fair for them to do their best to resolve the matter and that a simple polish will not do. Tell them you know that this is permanently damaged and that even if they offer to do a 1.5 lac paint job, it simply won't be the same (let them know that you are well informed enough). Tell them the only way they can sort this out is to pay whatever a reputable detailer in your city charges to correct the paint (send photos to the detailer as well to get a quote) and offer atleast an extended warranty to make up for the fact that they have damaged the factory paint finish.

Doubt getting a new car will be easy given our consumer rights situation in India, but be assured that if anything can be done to rectify it, a) the dealership will not be capable enough and b) if an experienced and well reputed detailer in your region can help you out, then don't worry it is not the type of thing that will show up again as such so just try to resolve the matter asap with the dealer (discount, extended warranty and payment to detailer) before things turn sour.

[vedirah]

Take a chill pill, these things can never be avoided. For peace of mind, just take the car to a good detailer and get the spots buffed out. Like ajayc123 mentioned, scratches, marks, etc will come up sooner than later. My Polo which was only a few days old was a victim of vandalism - someone keyed their way through the entire car.

Of course, I'm assuming the spots are merely due to the bird droppings. If it is actually a paint defect, some pictures might help. But if they are just small spots, and don't affect the integrity of the paint, it will be very hard to get the car replaced. You can however get the panel repainted if you cannot live with it. And don't worry, repainting is okay. You can't always baby your car forever - you'll end up repainting a panel or two over its course of life anyway. So just go easy on yourself.

[Joeboy]

I have worked for a dealer of a reputed car manufacturer a long time back and have come across these situations faced by the customers. As long as the car is not registered in customer's name it could be changed but once it is registered then nothing can be done. In these kind of situation what really happens is after the customer raises a complaint the zonal manger of the manufacturer would meet the customer and tries to convince himthat they would polish that particular portion of the car or do a full repainting job. Also they would offer some more accessories to the customer. Many of the customers would accept it but some still make an issue and sometimes do go to consumer courts though it is a long drawn legal fight.

[pavi]

Could you please update on the below things. The brand you are referring here as OEM, the car you booked, the colour you opted for and better would be some sample pictures. Unless we are able to see the pictures, anyone's guess work won't be of any help as noone has seen the level of damage you are referring here. If it is just a fade usually associated with bird poops, a good amount of polishing and waxing should make it vanish in a good way.

Also I don't think it would be possible to get a new car as this car is already registered in your name, and you did not raise any concern while doing so. Scratches and bird poops are part of a car ownership, it should not be a big deal if they can be arrested through some detailing session.

[Kedrock]

Hi,

I would recommend you getting in touch with the area manager of the manufacturer handling the dealer. Make the area manager certify if the damages really are from bird shit or something else. This would erase doubts (if any) of mishap. Area managers tend to keep an honest eye and won't hide/ take side of dealer in case of any wrongdoing.
If it really is bird shit, get the car ceramic coated by the dealer. The defects should go away.

[AJ56]

Without pictures it’s difficult to say anything, but I’d try this-

As you said the bird poo stains are on the bonnet, simply request the dealer to change the entire panel (they will most likely take it from another model of the same colour). Do not ask or let them do any repainting or order a fresh panel and paint at the dealership as that finish will be terrible (applies to all brands).

Contrary to what others have said, please do not let the dealer buff or polish the panel, take delivery and take it to the best detailer in your city. The reason is, new cars come with wafer thin clearcoat from the factory and dealer staff is far from properly trained in paint correction, most don’t even have a DFT gauge for measuring how many microns they’ve shaved off.

The last thing you want is someone going to town on your bonnet with a heavy wool pad or worse, sandpaper and removing more clearcoat than absolutely necessary, it may look fine on delivery but it won’t hold up to UV and other elements the car will be exposed to and may fail prematurely a few years down the line.

Rule of thumb with any detailer: make sure they have a DFT (dry film thickness) gauge to measure paint thickness before starting machine polishing. Tell them they are to remove no more than 7-8 microns from the original readings.

Going forward, always remember bird poo and tree sap are acidic and will eat into your car paint if left for any amount of time, generally if removed within 12-24 hours it’s not a major issue as light machine work takes care of it. But if left for a couple of days on unprotected paint, sometimes even wetsanding isn’t enough to fully remove it and a repaint is the only option.

[tc89]

Originally Posted by dular

Dear Team BHP,

I am looking for your help and suggestions to the problem I am currently facing regarding the delivery of my car.

I had booked a car and recently done its PDI (10 days ago). Unfortunately, the car was covered in mud and bird poop during the PDI so I could not inspect the paint quality. I could only check the interiors and its functioning. I raised the issue to the sales guy about the paint but I was consoled that there would be no issue. Verbal promises were made. (Big mistake even after being warned so may times on this forum). Since, the delivery was promised before Diwali, I went weak and agreed to move ahead since there was no functional issue with the car.

I made a down payment with 90% of the car's on road price as per the demand of the dealer. The rest 10% was supposed to be paid on delivery.

On the day of delivery before Diwali, when I went for delivery with my family, I found faded paint marks on the bonnet at several places. The marks appeared only when car was under bright light. They seemed to disappear when the car was in shade. I don't know if those spots are due to after effect of bird poop or bad paint job. Since, I am not an expert in car paint, I would like to know opinion from people on this forum whether this is a serious issue or not?

Currently, I have deferred the delivery. The dealer is promising remedy for it like getting it polished again with machine to make those spots go away. Will this be a temporary solution or a permanent one?

I have not signed on any papers except for the booking. Although, the dealer has registered the car in my name by using my aadhar OTP (received on phone) which I was asked to share.

I have asked the dealer to issue me a new/fresh car without any paint defects but the dealer is refusing to go that path since he says that the current car is already registered to me.

What are my options now? Any possible remedies/possible solutions to the above issue are welcome.

Being a recent car owner I'm not sure if this is possible but why not ask for a new bonnet freshly painted ?
If the vehicle is functional and you have no other complaint against it, then perhaps your dealer might agree to it. Even if the dealer cannot commit ask him to connect you to the manufacturer and propose this as a solution which is mutually beneficial to both. They may come around to it. In any case it's not your fault that the paint went bad due to the dealer. It's clearly the dealer here at fault. Good Luck !!

[sagarpadaki]

Originally Posted by AJ56

As you said the bird poo stains are on the bonnet, simply request the dealer to change the entire panel (they will most likely take it from another model of the same colour). Do not ask or let them do any repainting or order a fresh panel and paint at the dealership as that finish will be terrible (applies to all brands).

This is the best option IMO.

And asking the dealer to do paint correction is akin to giving sandpaper to a kid. You cannot guarantee the outcome.

[123.rishabh]

Since the car is registered in your name, it will be difficult to change it and get a new one now.

Suggestion 1 - Getting the bonnet polished : as already mentioned by other bhpians it will be difficult to get the factory finish back hence avoid it.

Suggestion 2 - Ask the dealer to replace the bonnet with another new car of the same color. It will be a win win situation for both if you as you will get the factory finished part and the dealer will also have no issues since he will not have to do anything with the registered car.
A friend did this during the delivery of his Fiat Punto and got a door replaced before delivery.