[Pepe48134]

I purchased a 2022 Sport SE on May 25, 2022. Yesterday June 22 I noticed this spot at the bottom of the passenger front door. Its below the body line and I had never noticed it. It really blends into the shadow of the door until now that I know it's there. It is not something I'm willing to just live with.

You can see something was sanded down and it not enough paint was applied. The finish is smooth and it is definitely under the clear. I'm pretty sure it came from the factory this way because the car showed up at the dealer and I picked it up the next day with 3 miles on it. Besides if someone was being purposeful doing this they would have done a better job.

I got the car from a dealer 3 hours away because
1) They were the first one that got me one
2) They sold it to me under MSRP.
Both are difficult to find right now.

First thing this morning I took it to a local dealer and they basically said I had to go back to the selling dealer, It's their responsibility, blah, blah, blah. Thats a 6 hour round trip. If have to go there for evaluation then 2 cars twice to drop it off and pick it up. It's not going to be worth the trip. I probably should have listened about the Honda customer service issues but I didn't.

I called Honda and got a case number but I feel the finger-pointing game coming on... and I'm gonna get screwed.

I also have major concerns about matching the Pearl White paint if they have to paint the whole door. Ayone deal with a situation like this? any advice?

 

[DARKART]

I wouldn’t like that either. It looks like a bad repair job. I would think a factory repair would have been better to pass QC.

You will have to go to the selling dealer. I don’t know that there is a paint finish warranty however. Maybe a goodwill repair that the dealership will have to eat. Like you said as well, a repair might look worse.

 

[next1cruise]

Honda dealers typically don't have experienced body/paint shop employees. Even if you had the dealer/Honda reimburse you for an experienced paint professional you run the risk of having a bigger problem if the paint match is worse than the initial problem area. Sorry this happened to you.

 

[Pepe48134]

Honda dealers typically don't have experienced body/paint shop employees. Even if you had the dealer/Honda reimburse you for an experienced paint professional you run the risk of having a bigger problem if the paint match is worse than the initial problem area. Sorry this happened to you.

That's what I'm afraid of. The car has 1200 miles on it and I'm sick about it. I did get what would be considered a "good deal" in today's market. I paid cash, and everything OTD (Tax, Title, license) was $33,280.

2021's with 15-20k miles around here are selling for $35k. The local dealer today said he would give me $1,000 more than the total I have in the car. Part of me wants to just dump it but then the search starts again and I need a car. It's a nice car and I like everything about it except this and the fact it doesn't have XM radio as my 2015 Passat did......

 

[Slickpanther]

That's what I'm afraid of. The car has 1200 miles on it and I'm sick about it. I did get what would be considered a "good deal" in today's market. I paid cash, and everything OTD (Tax, Title, license) was $33,280.

2021's with 15-20k miles around here are selling for $35k. The local dealer today said he would give me $1,000 more than the total I have in the car. Part of me wants to just dump it but then the search starts again and I need a car. It's a nice car and I like everything about it except this and the fact it doesn't have XM radio as my 2015 Passat did......

If it were me, I would try to get the dealer to give me more for the trade in and have them lock me in to whatever price they give me. Dealers always lowball first, hoping that you will take the bait. After that I would find out what they have coming in and reserve whatever you’re interested in. I wouldn’t put a deposit on the car if I don’t have to, and you shouldn’t. You could use this as an opportunity to upgrade to the Sport 2.0 or Touring, if that’s something you’d be interested in. When the car arrives at the dealer, and you‘re ready to buy, do a thorough inspection of the car to make sure there’s no damage. Whatever you do, don’t let them wash your car before taking delivery. Sometimes cars get scratched in the process. It happened to me before. Apparently there was debris in the towel they were wiping the car off and they put long scratches on it.

 

[seldomseen]

That's what I'm afraid of. The car has 1200 miles on it and I'm sick about it. I did get what would be considered a "good deal" in today's market. I paid cash, and everything OTD (Tax, Title, license) was $33,280.

2021's with 15-20k miles around here are selling for $35k. The local dealer today said he would give me $1,000 more than the total I have in the car. Part of me wants to just dump it but then the search starts again and I need a car. It's a nice car and I like everything about it except this and the fact it doesn't have XM radio as my 2015 Passat did......

If you can afford any potential losses and it will make you feel better. Trade the car in for something else.

 

[overlord]

If it were me, I would try to get the dealer to give me more for the trade in and have them lock me in to whatever price they give me. Dealers always lowball first, hoping that you will take the bait. After that I would find out what they have coming in and reserve whatever you’re interested in. I wouldn’t put a deposit on the car if I don’t have to, and you shouldn’t. You could use this as an opportunity to upgrade to the Sport 2.0 or Touring, if that’s something you’d be interested in. When the car arrives at the dealer, and you‘re ready to buy, do a thorough inspection of the car to make sure there’s no damage. Whatever you do, don’t let them wash your car before taking delivery. Sometimes cars get scratched in the process. It happened to me before. Apparently there was debris in the towel they were wiping the car off and they put long scratches on it.

This happened to me. Porter was "prepping" the car for delivery and wiped the plexiglass covering gauges with a dirty rag and put several scratches on it. I specifically told them not to do ANYTHING with the car yet they did. Few months later I bought a replacement and changed it out myself. They offered to do it and I took a hard pass.

 

[visionguru]

...
You can see something was sanded down and it not enough paint was applied.
....
I also have major concerns about matching the Pearl White paint if they have to paint the whole door. Ayone deal with a situation like this? any advice?

I think someone forgot to re-apply primer prior to the base coat and clear.
It should be an easy fix for a body shop, and shouldn't need a whole door repaint, given the location and body line. Not as a big deal as you think.

Just insisting on Honda repairs it under warranty. To dump a car only because of that is silly, because you can easily get a scratch/dent in a grocery store parking lot at any time, the solution is paint repair, not trade-in the car.

 

[Pepe48134]

You are right trading a car in because of a small paint issue is silly. I was just pretty upset at the way the local dealer treated me. It made no sense to me that I had to drive 3 hours to have warranty work done on my paint.

I did get a call back from Honda customer service and they agreed I could take it to any Honda dealer for any warranty work (Including a paint defect that was missed at the time of delivery). I have a picture of the car the day I picked it up that if you zoom into the spot on the door you can see it, proving it was there when I picked it up. The customer service agent said they should have taken pictures and submitted a claim for me no matter where I bought the car. She said "you have a brand new Honda that was delivered to you with an obvious defect, Honda will make it right at any dealer, that's why they call it a dealer network" I was pleased with the response, and if they follow through I'm sure I will end up happy.

They are sending a letter to the local dealer that they are to process the warranty claim and once approved I can have them fix it or take it to another shop. I am just not sure I want to deal with this particular dealer for the actual repairs after my experience and I had to "Go tell Dad on them"

 

[Ronch]

@Pepe48134 - Sounds like Honda is stepping up...

The local Honda dealer is not going to fix this themselves. They'll farm it out to some fly-by-night bodyshop that's offering the lowest price and who-knows-what level of experience and attention to quality, or the lack thereof...

If Honda says it's ok, do some homework and find a reputable/quality body shop in your area. Get a written quote from them and present it to the local Honda dealer and/or directly to Honda and get approval for the estimated cost before you have it fixed. Get the approval in writing so there are no arguments after the repair that the shop you used charged too much.

Keep us posted...

EDIT: BTW: see if you can get Honda to include the cost of a rental car for however many days your car is in the shop...

 

[Pepe48134]

Yep, I'm happy Honda is stepping up, I was pleasantly surprised by how accommodating they were.

I'm sure the dealership will want to farm it out as you said, but I have an alternate plan.

I've already got the estimate from a body shop that also does custom/classic cars that I trust and sent it to Honda. I will get written approval before proceeding. This shop knows all about the 3 stage pearl paint and how it needs to be blended. (they do a lot of high-end cars (Audi, BMW, Cadillac, etc. and have been around for 50+ years).

The one local honda shop gave me a verbal number of $600 this shop is $1,200 because they say they have to blend into the fender and rear door so you cannot tell just the one door was painted. I just need the dealer to get the claim going.

I will also push for a rental, but that isn't a deal-breaker since I haven't sold my old car yet.

I will update as this progresses.

 

[markayash]

I don't think thats a big project for a good shop.Your car is so new matching the paint shouldn't be a big deal. They will probably repaint the whole door

I am glad they are making it right, you would have never been happy

 

[AlanTheBeastV2]

Sucky situation. I suspect the dealer noticed the issue and attempted to fix it themselves (or had a local expert do it).

Good that corporate is backing you up. Keep us appraised please.

 

[Pepe48134]

I don't think the dealer did it because they called me the day the car came in and I picked it up the next day with 3 miles on it. I saw the dated delivery paperwork, its the correct VIN that I had my name and deposit in for a while.

I wasn't expecting the car to show up for a few more weeks so they didn't need to call me early and unless they completely lied to me and changed paperwork date I don't see how they could have done this in the time frame.

Everything dealing Ive had with the selling dealer was very good, Its just that they are 3 hours away.

I will let you know how it turns out.

 

[SuperSport]

I have a 2021 hybrid. Somebody put a dent in the door a couple of months ago, so I went to several body shops. One shop in particular does a lot of the Honda work in town. In talking with that estimator he said that I would be surprised at how many new Hondas get damaged during transit that they end up having to work on.

Even though my car was essentially brand new (2500 miles) all of the body shops said they would have to blend the paint across two doors in order to match. Yours won’t be as bad.

Also, one estimator immediately pointed out that my finish had orange peel. Sure enough, when I actually looked for it,I saw it. So that and a couple of other factory imperfections is what I have to live with, plus a door with a little bondo in it.

Be more worried about door dings/dents.