Should I let the dealer wash my new car before delivery?

Well, this is all moot now.

After numerous times of telling them not to, and confirming with the salesman that they had noted it and even put up on the "cars to detail today" board (i.e. DONT DETAIL THE ATOMIC SILVER ES), they went ahead and washed/waxed it anyway.

Got a chance to talk to their detailers and they seemed to know what they are doing. The "dealer installed" wax was already on the car by the time I got to it (literally 2 hours went by between when the salesman said the car was in and when I got there.....they couldnt leave it alone for 2 lousy hours), and its still in their bay so I couldnt see it under sunlight yet.

I explained to them why I was so adamant about them not touching it, so tomorrow should be interesting if I find anything (supposed to be sunny, luckily). Obviously the real proof wont come until all the crap they apply is removed to really see whats under there.
 
Lesson learned:
"Do not wash/do not detail/ do not touch" needs to be in writing on your state's legal vehicle purchase contract in the "other agreements/additional terms" category AND initialed and dated by both you and the dealership representative/sales person. You also need to specify what would be the result or conditions IF these terms are not meet, like "dealer to pay for professional detailer of buyer's choice or preference not to exceed $XXX.xx (USA)OR dealer to pay buyer $XXX.xx (USA) for such failure to meet terms and conditions agreed upon." (No, I am not a lawyer, but I have been accused of being one for even suggesting this!)

GOOD LUCK WITH THAT! There is not a dealer who will agree to this, UNLESS they are desperate to sell the vehicle. You may also have to sign a waiver voiding your (new) vehicle warranty (including mechanical engine and drivetrain, which has NOTHING to do with the exterior care) because you are forcing the dealer to not follow manufacturer's customer pre-delivery protocol and procedures. It's up to you.

I think you could ask the dealer to see their vehicle delivery prep area and watch their associates/detailers/lot-persons do what they are suppose to do to a new vehicle for customer delivery and pickup . If they cannot agree to do this (and they may not for business insurance and liability reasons), NO, I would not let them touch my new car. But that's my personal take on things.
 
In one instance I simply refused delivery and in another I received adequate compensation, but in those cases the dealership wanted to retain my patronage and understood that [ticking] me off wasn't in their best interest. Other than those two times (and I've bought a lot of new cars), I've never had a problem with the "no cosmetic prep" stipulation. Eh, just one of those YMMV things as there are a lot of variables.

chris03tl- If their prep marred up the paint, well...I think you can guess what *I* would do, but you gotta do what's right for *YOU* and maybe you lucked out anyhow and it didn't get damaged. I'll be interested to hear how it turns out and I'm hoping for the best.
 
Thanks everyone.

I talked to the salesman today in person, we went to go look at the car and he at least acted like it wasnt supposed to be washed. He did note on the board it SHOULDNT have been washed, but when they are basically an assembly line of washing/waxing cars, they probably dont pay much attention.

I did explain to him why I was adamant about them not touching the car. If you've seen the pic I posted, that was my Opti-coated G37 after the dealer ignored my DO NOT WASH note. I actually got them to pay to fix it, so its definitely possible to get compensation. Hopefully none will be necessary in this case (I wanted to get the car Opti-coated anyway, but if the detailers prep reveals swirling, etc, Im going to note it and go after the dealer at least for the $$$ for paint correction time)

We're picking up the car tomorrow, but since its already "waxed" I wont see much. Im not going to strip the LSP on purpose, so the truth wont really be revealed until I can get a detailer on it.
 
photo (3) by Thomas Dekany, on Flickr

This is how I picked up our new car. In your case, being that it is silver, chances are that you will be ok, but ask the "detailer" (I guess this one can't even read) if he used a polisher on the paint. This is important. If he used a rotary, you will have a mess on your hands. I would refuse it. On another note, I doubt that they actually used a "WAX" - most likely a glaze. I am surprised that with your previous experience, you are ok with this. May I sell you the Brooklyn bridge? :)
 
Thomas Dekany said:
photo (3) by Thomas Dekany, on Flickr

This is how I picked up our new car. In your case, being that it is silver, chances are that you will be ok, but ask the "detailer" (I guess this one can't even read) if he used a polisher on the paint. This is important. If he used a rotary, you will have a mess on your hands. I would refuse it. On another note, I doubt that they actually used a "WAX" - most likely a glaze. I am surprised that with your previous experience, you are ok with this. May I sell you the Brooklyn bridge? :)
Click to expand...
Why would you be surprised? Where I work they use clay, polishes, DAs, wax, etc.
 
Because of what I have seen personally. And I mean brand new cars, "prepped" by the dealer's detail department that needed 20-30 hours of correction work. It is usually wash, rotary with glaze. NEXT! It isn't like dealerships have stellar reputation or am I in the twilight zone? I am surprised that you would question me questioning a dealer who would use an actual wax. Most don't. It is so common, that the OP himself ran into this. Did you not see his picture of his previous car?

That type of damage doesn't come from using proper detailing techniques.

PS: I know lots of "pro detailers" around Portland who "use" the same as your dealership and I wouldn't let them near my cars for anything.

SYMAWD said:
Why would you be surprised? Where I work they use clay, polishes, DAs, wax, etc.
Click to expand...
 
They told me they didn't polish it. They did clay, so I guess there could be some marring from that, but they were quick to point out no polishing.

So hopefully the marring is minimal.

And no I'm not ok with it but what can I do? There are 4 of this specific car, option, color combo east of the Mississippi....cant exactly go pick another one off the lot
 
Thomas Dekany said:
Because of what I have seen personally. And I mean brand new cars, "prepped" by the dealer's detail department that needed 20-30 hours of correction work. It is usually wash, rotary with glaze. NEXT! It isn't like dealerships have stellar reputation or am I in the twilight zone? I am surprised that you would question me questioning a dealer who would use an actual wax. Most don't. It is so common, that the OP himself ran into this. Did you not see his picture of his previous car?

That type of damage doesn't come from using proper detailing techniques.

PS: I know lots of "pro detailers" around Portland who "use" the same as your dealership and I wouldn't let them near my cars for anything.
Click to expand...
Ok, we have different first hand experiences.
 
Refuse it and order another one.

chris03tl said:
They told me they didn't polish it. They did clay, so I guess there could be some marring from that, but they were quick to point out no polishing.

So hopefully the marring is minimal.

And no I'm not ok with it but what can I do? There are 4 of this specific car, option, color combo east of the Mississippi....cant exactly go pick another one off the lot
Click to expand...
 
That explains your lack of experience - did you notice that the answer to the original question was NO from every reply? Do you wonder why?
 
Thomas Dekany said:
That explains your lack of experience - did you notice that the answer to the original question was NO from every reply? Do you wonder why?
Click to expand...
I know that some dealers do not know anything about detailing a car, but no one on this forum has ever seen the detail department at the dealership the OP is buying the car from. Everyone is just giving him an uninformed answer with no actual facts to back it up. This is why I suggested the OP visits his dealership and asks to see the detail department so that he can make an informed decision on whether or not he wants the dealership to detail his car. As I have posted earlier in this thread with pictures, some dealerships do know how to detail a car properly. It's as simple as dealership ≠ hacks in every case.
 
We do not need to see the detail department in order to make a suggestion. Never ever let any dealership touch the paint - before or after the sale. It is that simple really. Especially the one the op is working with. They can't even read
 
I have visited the detailer department at a dealership. When we purchased my wife's car, I asked for it to be washed and then we would inspect it. This car had been sitting on the lot for 6 months so I knew one more wash was not going to change anything.

His "shop" seemed to be mostly a wash bay in the garage. I am not sure if he did any polishing. They may have had it done elsewhere since this was a well known dealer name that sold virtually every brand.

I did check it over and it looked very good but we did see a very slight scratch (over 1 ft long) in the hood. What did the detailer do when I pointed it out? He took an rag that had seen better days and applied a wax to it and yes it did disappear. I knew I could buff it out so we took the car.

Now, the Chrysler place would take new cars to a local car wash to prep for sales and delivery on Saturdays.
 
chris03tl- You sound pretty determined to take delivery so fingers crossed that it's not too messed up.

Some sorta-random thoughts:

-Dealer using clay instead of chemical decontamination sounds wrong to me (what automaker specifies clay? Many specify "ABC")
-I did New Car Prep at a dealership (way back in the '70s) and I DID NOT mess anything up, not once
-My Audi dealer once had a New Car Prep guy who was great, did some new cars for my family with zero issues
-Those last two points having been said, I can count on one hand the new cars I've seen in the last decade that looked OK to me; while "all generalizations are false" comes to mind, it'd take some convincing for me to let *anybody* touch any of my cars. Heh heh, if I could find a local detailer who was good enough I'd probably quit doing this stuff and just let him handle it
 
Picked up the car....looks fine, for now. Cant find any swirls, but if they used a glaze then all will be hidden for now.

On the bright side, it should be easy to hide stuff in this paint....its not as light as silver, but its definitely not dark by any means.

Ive learned for the future....put it in the sales order. I cant see walking away from a car because of something that *might* be under there, but best make sure they don't touch it at all so there is no question that everything is "out in the open" so to speak. I pays my price and I learns my lessons. Worst case is I let a pro at it, Im going to attempt it myself first (want to get a clear bra installed so I figured Id work the front end of the car first to see whats really under whatever the dealer applied)
 
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