Why "plastic on" is a good idea

T

TwoStroke

New member
I picked up my new Lexus IS 350 today. After getting some good advice on this forum, I instructed the dealer to leave the plastic on. There are several good reasons for this:



1. Belt buckles and rivets in jeans can scratch your paint as the dealer leans over your car to remove your plastic.



2. Plastic off means they can put it on the lot or in the showroom for customers to molest.



3. They WILL swirl your paint if they wash it.



...and the #1 reason to leave the plastic on...



THEY WERE USING AN AUTOMATIC BRUSH WASHER (swirl-o-matic) TO WASH ALL THE CARS! :furious: :nono :furious:



It goes WAY beyond a dirty wash mit. I couldnt believe my eyes! Thank god you all told me to have them leave it on.



The best part is that it took a whole 2 minutes to remove the plastic and the car really wasnt that dirty.



Thanks to all of you for showing me the way and saving my beautiful new car from swirls.
 
Good job on instructing them to leave the plastic on. I will do the same if I ever buy a brand new car. I'm surprised that the Lexus dealer would have a brush wash.
 
Wow! I'm really surprised it took such a short amount of time to remove the Rapgard.



When my mom got her car, it took me about 40 minutes to remove it, take very safe measures. It entailed spraying Valugard New Car Prep on a section at a time, letting it dwell to soften the adhesive,and then gingerly peeling it off. Even with all of that there were still some spots of glue left behind here and there; claying,AIO, the works did remove them.



I'm positive no dealer would've taken care like that and yeah, the notion of jean rivets and worse, that terrifying brush system on the premise is certainly disturbing! :soscared:
 
WOW now thats anal. lol Good idea though. :2thumbs: I personally would rather risk it, dont piss off a dealer or they can really screw you. (brand new engines not broken in properly is a very bad thing that doesn't effect the car right away)

I love the people who leave the interior plastic covering the carpets on for years and it ends up ruining the carpet. :chuckle:
 
Well, that is in a manufacturer TSB so it's not like I'm the only loony in the world who has thought of and has done it. It's an admitted extreme case of "playing by the book" to the tee.



As for any concern of a dealer "screwing you" there really should be none,otherwise, you're doing business with the wrong one. You, as the customer, should have total say about the condition of the car. Whether that means swirl the paint up to hell upon delivery or leaving ever last piece of shipping material intact, that is the customer's call and the dealer should cheerfully work to accommodate your request. That's my take on it any way.
 
I did exactly the same thing with my Grand Prix 5 years ago....



Plastic on carpets stayed there through the entire first winter.



I specifically told them... "Leave all protective plastic on... and NO DEALER PREP!"



Of course, they argued with me. But that's an easy problem to fix. Just say another dealership's name and that gets their attention..... Can't stomach car salesmen.
 
may i ask what color you got? What was the price you talked them down to before tax tag title etc? Did you get the 2.5 liter engine or step up to the 3.5 liter? where are the pics!!
 
I personally would rather risk it, dont piss off a dealer or they can really screw you. (brand new engines not broken in properly is a very bad thing that doesn't effect the car right away)
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I'm suprised that this could be considered anal on this forum. Especially when you all gave me the advice, and many of you spend 40+ hours on a single detail. :chuckle:



Personally, I don't think it's anal at all. After watching them send several cars through their brushed car wash, I'm thrilled that I had them leave it on.



Sure, the dealer could have pounded on my engine in the 25 miles it had at delivery, but I somehow doubt it, regardless of the fact that I was a pain in the ***. Even if he had, most people don't break their vehicles in and the results arent typically bad. Sure, I'm going to be very careful as I break in my motor, and I do think about those 25 miles and how they were driven, but it's not something I have control over.



What I can say is that my pain is absolutely flawless.





Neothin said:
may i ask what color you got? What was the price you talked them down to before tax tag title etc? Did you get the 2.5 liter engine or step up to the 3.5 liter? where are the pics!!
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I got Tungsten Pearl (silver) with a black interior. There is no talking down on the IS right now, so I got it for MSRP. It was $49K OTD, $43,600 before tax and license. I got the IS 350. I'll post pics as soon as I get time to detail it; probably saturday. :2thumbs:
 
I bought a brand new Hyundai New Spec Getz for my wife last thursday (exactly 1 week ago)

It is a "deep black metallic" as they call it. I told the suckers not to wash or wipe it. Imagine what ? They delivered the pocket rocket with several swirls for a bonus !! :angry



I asked them to get rid of the swirls. They drove the car into the service station only to "enhance" the swirls and make them look even worse !!! :hairpull



They used a pneumatic rotary with some 25000 rpms or so from what I guess against the sharp shreik of the machine. I am sure lucky that I did not find the paint deep blueishly burnt all over...



I had one helluva time trying to get rid of them with my rotary and orbital Now the pocket rocket is just fine but the approx 250 bucks I had cut off from the money of the car payment is just not enough to pay for the efforts I spent...
 
Hey TwoStroke - are you over on my.is or clublexus.com by any chance? I've had the "don't get prep" conversation with a couple guys over there. Definitely a good idea, imo. Enjoy that IS. :)
 
TwoStroke- Glad to hear you got the car the way you wanted it and that everything went well. Now remember to *not* let them do courtesy washes when they service it ;)



As far as not angering a dealership, I'm with Bill D- they do things my way or I take my business elsewhere. That's how I found my current Audi dealer- I was up front about why I wasn't gonna do business with my local dealers and why I sold off all our Benzes: poor treatment by the other dealerships. I met with everyone from the owner to the techs and set up ground rules. They understood what I was like up front and liked the idea of being "good enough" for me. And FWIW, they are *insisting* that I take my next new car "in the plastic". They don't even want to *think* about being responsible for it :D



Oh, and I just got Accumulatorette's A8 back from being serviced. The service manager called me up to make sure everything was fine "he didn't touch the paint did he? I didn't see anything but I wanted to make sure you were happy..." And Stoddard has a new car jockey guy named Rudy who does the pickup/delivery of my cars. *VERY* careful guy, he can drive any of my cars any time :xyxthumbs They're scheduling my service appointments around the days he works so that he, the one senior tech, and the service manager are the only people who'll ever touch my cars. It pays to find the right dealership/service place and to let them know what you expect. Just gotta be nice and polite about it, and work a little at not coming across like a [jerk].
 
Picus said:
Hey TwoStroke - are you over on my.is or clublexus.com by any chance? I've had the "don't get prep" conversation with a couple guys over there. Definitely a good idea, imo. Enjoy that IS. :)
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Absolutely. I'm your biggest fan. Your G35 thread is what inspired me to take good care of my car. I think your new IS pics were the first I had seen. Beautiful car. I had been waiting for mine since early summer, when I first dropped down a deposit. It has been a loooong wait, but well worth it.



I had created an account at home (TwoStroke) and one at work (OneHump) because I had some logon issues. I have since squared that away and now I'm just TwoStroke. I don't post on CL, though I do read it. My.is seems to be a bit more serious to me while CL seems to be a few serious posters muddled amongst tons of people passing through.
 
Ah, ok I thought maybe that was you. :)



I agree on CL, there are some good members in "Car Chat" but it seems a bit juvenile outside that particular area of the forum. I actually don't have an IS... yet. Still kind of on the fence about it to be honest. I had a deposit in on one before they were released then spent 3 days driving an IS350, but I'm just hung up on a couple things. I ended up having my deposit refunded so I'm still looking. Part of the reason I didn't buy one right away was the allocation here in the Great White North was really messed up (we have 90% base IS250 AWDs). We still have 4 months until the warranty on warranty on my wifes 330i is up, so hopefully by then Lexus dealers will have more allocation and will be making deals.



Anyway, enjoy that car and I'm looking forward to seeing your pictures!
 
Accumulator said:
......As far as not angering a dealership, I'm with Bill D- they do things my way or I take my business elsewhere. That's how I found my current Audi dealer- I was up front about why I wasn't gonna do business with my local dealers and why I sold off all our Benzes: poor treatment by the other dealerships. I met with everyone from the owner to the techs and set up ground rules. They understood what I was like up front and liked the idea of being "good enough" for me. And FWIW, they are *insisting* that I take my next new car "in the plastic". They don't even want to *think* about being responsible for it :D



Oh, and I just got Accumulatorette's A8 back from being serviced. The service manager called me up to make sure everything was fine "he didn't touch the paint did he? I didn't see anything but I wanted to make sure you were happy..." And Stoddard has a new car jockey guy named Rudy who does the pickup/delivery of my cars. *VERY* careful guy, he can drive any of my cars any time :xyxthumbs They're scheduling my service appointments around the days he works so that he, the one senior tech, and the service manager are the only people who'll ever touch my cars. It pays to find the right dealership/service place and to let them know what you expect. Just gotta be nice and polite about it, and work a little at not coming across like a [jerk].
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Everything Accumulator says here is right on the money. Unfortunately, I've heard an increase in the amount of dissatisfaction with Mercedes dealers: Accumulator's, a long time customer in NJ, and another from AZ. I feel fortunate the FL dealer, who got to know me the most, and it's not even my car , :chuckle: was very accommodating. So was my Audi dealer back in NJ. I also passed a few closer options because of what I witnessed on the premises and the overall attitude of another.



It's true, being up front about what you expect, starting with the initial purchase experience throughout servicing, and being polite about it will wind up with good results if the dealer understands your passion and takes great pride in customer service. As with all things, I'll return to those who offer me that time and again.
 
See, I just bought a new truck a week ago. Bought it off the lot-not sure how long it had been sitting there, but only had 4 miles on it, so probably not long.



I did a close inspection prior to taking delivery (they backed it up under a lighted awning for me-probably better than daylight). I did find one small scratch under a door handle (easy to take out) and a couple spots of residue from the wrap on one door, but other than that, perfect.



Last weekend I clayed in prep for zaino, so I saw every inch up close and not a swirl on it. I dont' know who they washed it or anything, but however they did it, there was no damage.



Oh yeah-and even my salesman was great-two e-mails to agree on a price, 45 minutes to appraise my car / do paperwork, and I was out of there.
 
White95Max said:
Good job on instructing them to leave the plastic on. I will do the same if I ever buy a brand new car. I'm surprised that the Lexus dealer would have a brush wash.
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Lexus?? My Audi Dealer also sells Porsche, Infiniti, Cadillac, Rover, Benz, Lexus, and BMW. They wash ALL new and serviced cars in their Swirl-O-Matic Brush tunnel. It is a PITA to tell them everytime I have my car in to not wash, but they do listen, and I've had no problems. I can't imagine buying the $461,000 Black Carerra GT in the showroom, only to have it f@*%ed up by their car wash!! They even have "DO NOT TOUCH" signs on the car, but will wash it in a brush wash!! :think: :grinno:
 
The dealer I go to, who has treated me very well, has the most horrific wash bay I've ever seen. They sell Infiniti's only (with the occassional off-brand pre-owned) - and watching them go to work on M45's with brushes that aren't fit to clean a sidewalk is infuriating. They know never to wash my car. :)
 
Bill D said:
Well, that is in a manufacturer TSB so it's not like I'm the only loony in the world who has thought of and has done it. It's an admitted extreme case of "playing by the book" to the tee.



As for any concern of a dealer "screwing you" there really should be none,otherwise, you're doing business with the wrong one. You, as the customer, should have total say about the condition of the car. Whether that means swirl the paint up to hell upon delivery or leaving ever last piece of shipping material intact, that is the customer's call and the dealer should cheerfully work to accommodate your request. That's my take on it any way.
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I think as long as your nice about it you should be fine. Its just when you demand that they keep it on so they dont screw up your paint, basically saying they dont know what they're doing (even if they really dont) thats when you might make them angry. I know this first hand, because I work with people like this at my shop.
 
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