Scratches on new 2018 F80 at dealer delivery

[SMGCFP]

OP, sorry that happened to you. It's tough to think "on the spot" of the best remedy. You did the best you could while still mentally trying to digest that your new car was scratched before you even could go scratch it yourself. Hopefully they can re-paint the trunk and it will look as good as new.

Do you like the Tanz Blue? I know the pics on here aren't the same as the real thing up close. Thinking I may do that color when my SMB goes back next May.

[RickFLM4]

Wow no lack of drama is this thread. I suggest telling them you want it resprayed now, expect it to match and if it they don’t do it correctly, you’ll want them to pay for someone else to re-do it. Hopefully you already got their acknowledgement of the scratch and offer to respray in writing before leaving with the car. It is a bad scratch and should not have happened but at the end of the day, it is a scratch. Not much you can do to undo what already happened. Keep it in perspective.

[FirstF80InSpace]

Don't worry. A reputable body shop will easily be able to colour match the paint. Keep in mind that cars get damaged all the time during the shipping process and they fix it without the end customer ever knowing what happened.

Don't know what the hell the dealership was thinking with regards to wet sanding. It's obvious the scratch went right through the clearcoat and into the paint.

[AIRHEIR]

Get Corporate BMW involved. Don't let the dealer off the hook.

If my car had to resprayed due to their incompetence you can bet your ass they are going to make some financial concessions to me.

As for MPE or some of their parts for $0 for their screw up.

[HPIA4v2]

Hard to say, but don't repaint yet.
I'd let professional detailer take a jab at it first.

https://thewikihow.com/video_2GlNYNp-nzQ

check this one out, that same guy Paul Dalton did wet-sanding once on even worst Jaguar XKR (everyone saw the car expect repainting was the only way first).


GL

[alex2364]

Waiting til 1200 service? Hell no. I would never take delivery of the car like that. If I'm going to take delivery of a new car, I'd expect it to be in new condition. It's too late now but I would never have signed papers for that car in that condition.

[clutchdj]

Have a pro Detailer look at it before repaint. No paint is like factory paint.

[boss2k]

Originally Posted by clutchdj

Have a pro Detailer look at it before repaint. No paint is like factory paint.

+1 may be the detailer can do their magic and fix it 90% and you can live with it , no reason to get it repainted unless u absolutely have to.

[IDBGOD]

Unfortunate, but things happen. We don’t really know the full story, if the dealer really was trying to “conceal” it from you etc, or if the car wash guy was just tying to cover his own ass.

In whatever case, I would at least give the opportunity for the dealer to fix and resolve this for you before you start barking to BMW NA, filing a corporate complaint, etc. Acting entitled and demanding things and compensation won’t get you far and they will be less likely to want to help you or get it resolved quickly. Once you physically take delivery of the car the ball isn’t really in your court anymore.

That doesn’t mean you just accept it on a new car either, it’s your dream car and you worked hard for it and had your excitement quickly turn to disappointment. I’d suggest giving them time to remedy this issue for you. I do find the dealership recommending you waiting till the 1200 mile service a bit odd, it should be something you’d think can be dealt with fairly quickly.

Keep us posted on what happens. At the end of the day the dealer has offered to fix it for you so there really is no reason to get upset until you see the finished result. If it isn’t up to your expectations afterwards, you can go from there on how you want to proceed.

[Hachima]

Hmm so no pictures showing the scratch at the actual dealership during delivery? The wait until 1200 mile service seems more like a CYA for them so by that time they can have forgotten about the whole thing. At a minimum is the GM at the dealership aware of the situation? I'm sure they'd want to know what happened too.

[kurosagi1]

Felt your pain buddy! Similar thing happened to me with scrapped paint near the driver door and yellow stains beneath in clear coat on the front bumper.... they said they will repaint the full door but still awaiting answers from BMW about the stains.

[Aaaaaaaaa]

Should have asked for huge discount or refuse delivery. It's hard to do but unless you really needed a car it's not worth settling and regretting it forever.

Edit: Reread post. Wow 6th car from them and they treated you like that? I woulda walked away. Too late now just give them zeros on the survey.

[Draper]

Originally Posted by clutchdj

Have a pro Detailer look at it before repaint. No paint is like factory paint.

1000% this.

You'd be amazed at what a competent detailer can do with scratches like that.

[Bch53211]

Originally Posted by pheerIx

Should have asked for huge discount or refuse delivery. It's hard to do but unless you really needed a car it's not worth settling and regretting it forever.

Edit: Reread post. Wow 6th car from them and they treated you like that? I woulda walked away. Too late now just give them zeros on the survey.

This - minimum additional 1 k off and fixed to your satisfaction. A little late now but I would have told them I’m walking from deal and going to another dealership. I’m sure it will be repaired so that no one can notice but that is not the point. You bought a new car which obviously means no scratches of any kind. They need to compensate you beyond just fixing. I’m sure someone else will say this is an overreaction, that this mentality is what’s wrong with society, or that it’s not worth getting worked up over... very easy to say when it’s someone else’s car. I’d be pissed as hell and you have every right to demand this major inconvenience requires equitable compensation. Sorry to hear, good luck.

[maniz]

Originally Posted by HPIA4v2

Hard to say, but don't repaint yet.
I'd let professional detailer take a jab at it first.

https://thewikihow.com/video_2GlNYNp-nzQ

check this one out, that same guy Paul Dalton did wet-sanding once on even worst Jaguar XKR (everyone saw the car expect repainting was the only way first).


GL

I am an intermediate/advanced hobbyist detailer myself and have done dozens of paint corrections on mine and family's cars over the years. I can see why a non-detailer would watch that video, look at OP's pics, and think "I bet this detailer can fix it". He can't. No one can without using paint. Reason? The damage to that Jaguar is only superficial and limited to the clear coat while OP's scratches go down to the primer and you can clearly see it showing through against the dark paint. Any scratch or chip you can dig a fingernail into (as OP says he can), is too deep to be polished out.

Polishing is nothing more than a combination of abrasive liquid (compound) with an abrasive surface (polisher pad) and heat (friction from the moving pad) to remove the factory clear coat in small increments until it is all level again and no/few scratches are visible. A good detailer will know when the clear is getting too thin so he can stop before removing all of it and exposing the paint. Hence, sometimes even a clear coat scratch is too deep to fully remove. You will see an example of one at approx. 2:50 mark in the video where he shows a side-by-side comparison of the trunk lid. There is a clear coat scratch right at the border that's still there after the polishing pass. He might have noticed it was too deep to safely remove without leaving the color coat with barely any clear over it in that area. It is always the right thing to do. Perfection is unrealistic and impractical for daily drivers.

Polish can't add anything, only remove it. These scratches need paint added.

OP's options are:

- Have a good shop fill the scratch with a thin layer of OEM TB touch-up paint, then polish it to somewhat level it against the surrounding paint. It will take the eyes off the scratch but will look like crap especially since the surface is parallel to the ground and will reflect everything. Not a good choice.

- Have a good shop prep and repaint the trunk lid, matching it perfectly against the fenders and bumper.

I would go with the latter. And I would make sure the dealer compensates me beyond paying for the work at the shop of my choosing.

Crap happens. How it is handled is what matters.

[eRocks]

You have just convinced me to call my SA now and tell them to not remove the shipping covers and to not wash the vehicle. I'll do all that myself.

[maniz]

I just realized something I had overlooked in my haste. I am sure a body shop would immediately notice and say the same: complete respray of the entire trunk lid isn't even needed. The shop would scuff the clear coat on the entire lid but only refill and repaint the damaged area, carefully blending it with the surrounding paint on the lid, then re-clear the entire lid. This would leave approx. 40-50% of the factory paint on the top portion of the lid untouched. There would be no question of a mismatch against paint on fenders and bumper because luckily, the scratches are far from those panels and the sections of the trunk closest to them won't be repainted.

Best of luck OP. As a long time M-enthusiast who finally got his first M 10 months ago, only to dent the rear bumper in a mindless reverse-park hack job with <500 miles on the car, I can feel your anguish. Let us know how it goes.

[Spiff7]

First off I just want to thank all of you for your support and advice. It is really appreciated!

I knew sharing the experience here I would get the feedback and empathy from car enthusiasts like myself that I was looking for. I obviously have shared my pain with my wife and other family members, and of course they feel bad, but unless you have a passion for cars like we do, I don't think they truly understand or get it.

I'm trying to take in all of your comments to figure out my next steps. Of course, with work and two young children at home, it's not always the easiest to find time to deal with something like this as quickly as I would like but I will make the time.

For those of you wondering why I accepted delivery, it was a very tough position for me to be in personally. I think we all handle things differently. Like I mentioned in my OP, acquiring this car was a long thing in the making for me personally over many years, and then waiting the 4 months after I placed the order to build the car to my liking felt like an eternity. In my head at that particular moment I still really wanted the car, I knew there were no more allocations left for me to build another one (plus I would have a very difficult time waiting another several months to get it), and felt if I did not take it they would probably cover up the issue and easily sell it to someone else. Then I would be back at square one trying to find a dealer who might have the exact build I wanted or something close enough that I would be willing to accept. Then I would have to start negotiations all over. Plus I was locked in with the April rates with the higher residuals and lower MF. I felt like I was in a tough position.

I did ask to be compensated and to have money taken off the price of the car but they would not budge and said it will be corrected/fixed to look like new. It's this piece about not adjusting the price or accepting my coupon, which I still don't understand why it was rejected, that I am considering calling BMW NA for their input. I also think the GM should have made it a point to come out to me personally. Perhaps, my fault for not requesting to speak with him directly.

Lessons learned all around for me. As another member posted, I recommend to all of you getting a new car that you consider having them leave as much of the protection on for you and to skip the car wash.

I will keep you all posted on what steps I take and the end result.

In the meantime, I'm going to try my best not to let this issue take away from what 30 miles of driving so far feels like an amazing piece of machinery! So happy to be part of the M Family...finally!

[Spiff7]

To add more positivity to this post...here she is at her first day at the office parking lot...tried to very carefully get as close to the post as possible thus leaving plenty of space for someone to park next to me and have no chance of their car door reaching mine haha...from the distance she looks perfect!

[alex2364]

I hope you have it in writing that they will repair the scratch to your satisfaction and prepared to play hardball with the dealer if they don't cooperate. If you paid for any part of the car with a credit card, you can dispute the charge with your credit card company if you're not satisfied at the end, especially if you have it in writing.

So at this point I see you have 2 options:

1. Have the dealer pay for the repairs at a body shop of your choice.
2. Have the dealer fix it at their in house shop.

If there is high end body shop that you trust I would personally go there and have them take care of it.

[Thescout13]

Also, put that dealer on blast so no one on here will have to deal with the same BS.

[OF Hero]

Originally Posted by clutchdj

Have a pro Detailer look at it before repaint. No paint is like factory paint.

This x 1000.

You'd be surprised what they can do. They might not even get it back to 100%, but it may be damn close and enough to give you peace of mind.

And sorry about your delivery experience. Literally a couple of days after I took delivery of my M3 last September, some lady in a parking garage backed into me as I was sitting in my car. Left a bunch of scratches along the rear bumper that while not deep, definitely felt very rough and I was uncertain if I needed a respray or a new bumper altogether. My detailer was able to get about 99% of it out.





Obviously your experience may vary....but definitely worth a look!