Hello, took my car to the dealership for an oil change and the service advisor asked me if I wanted a complementary car wash. I inspected the vehicle before I pulled up to the service department. After they were done I went straight home. Car looked good so I started taking photos and noticed 2 huge scratch marks on the right side door and right side under the brake lights...called the service department right away, and said to come in the morning. I am worried this scratch is too deep to buff out and them blaming me for this... I went straight home after and didn’t do anything else.. Any help is appreciated feeling demoralized.

 

Well, first off, wait to see if they deny they caused the issue and decline to do anything about it. They might actually take responsibility, which makes your plea for help a non issue.

Assuming they deny they caused the issue however, your remedies are pretty limited. If you are prepared to prove they were the cause, you can take it to a body shop and get it fixed on your own, and the file a small claims suit against the dealership to get reimbursed for the cost of repairs. You'll just need your proof they caused the scratches and not you.

Of course the bottom line is always decline the dealership wash. Those guys do not care about your car at all, and will cause all sorts of swirl marks if not outright scratching like you see. Lesson learned.

 

I don't even let the dealership wash my F150, let alone my RCF.

I worked at car dealerships for over 20 years. I have seen all kinds of damage done to cars by the detail-wash department. We had one guy who knew what he was doing, but most of the time it was a kid fresh out of high school with pressure washer and a dirt impregnated brush.

I would wait for the dealership to respond. Then go from there. The above advice is spot on.

 

Update: The scratch is too deep, service manager agreed to repaint the door side.

 

I let my dealership do a detail and so far they do a great job (knock on wood). Yeah, the scratch is way too deep for it to be sanded/polished/compounded out. Good thing they agreed to fix it for you. Hopefully, they will match the paint correctly.

 

Thank you, praying they do a good job on it. Then after I can go with the invidia exhaust just like urs

 

That looks deep, that really can happen with a carwash? Looks more like someone keyed your car, or is Lexus paint that soft?

 

Now take it to a reputable, top notch (i.e. high end) body shop and get a quote, and get it fixed by them. Then submit the receipt to the dealership. The dealership will take the cheapest way out as possible - having a crappy paint repair is worse than the scratches!

 

How would I convince the service manager? I walked in with an estimate for full paint correction. 600$ and the service manager said he can’t do that and everything must be done in-house.

 

They will probably have a mobile airbrush guy try and cover up the damage...

Scratches are deep and do resemble key marks.

 

I had a dealer cover scratches on a car that happened before I bought it. They legally had to tell me and the paint looked great. It was a Porsche dealer so they must be doing it "right"....right? But I was younger and less experienced in such things. I kept the car for a long time and the panels that were painted faded and deteriorated through the clear coat in a terrible way and at a completely different rate of the rest of the car which looked fine for its age. I don't want a dealer quick repair painting my civic, let alone my RCF. I'm not sure you can be made whole with $0 cost to you or a drawn out lawsuit to prove that their work won't be the same. But if you want to keep the car for a long time or want to get value when you sell it, make a very careful choice here. My .02

 

whoever was washing the car forgot to take off their ring(s).

 

$600?? Simply tell them that that is not an acceptable solution. You bought an $85k car and they had some flunky damage it, and you no longer trust them not to make it worse. Take it to get it fixed and send them the receipt. Document that the service manager told you he would pay for it. IF they balk at that, you tell them that you will become a social media nightmare for them and you will obviously take your business elsewhere. $600 is nothing - they make that in profit off you in just two services. For the dealer, it's not worth the bad PR and the loss of business. Finally, if they don't pay for the repair, you go the legal route. They already admitted fault, so that's a no brainer.

 

The scratch looks deep, someone keyed your car very likely. If the dealer insists on doing it in-house, I'll let them do it. If they gonna re-paint the panel, you gotta check their work afterwards - check under sunlight with different angles of sunshine (morning, noon and afternoon) for paint mismatch and clear coat quality (orange peel). Some dealership would do a good job in color match, while some others will simply run the paint code in their system and follow the what the computer says to mix the paint, without any regards to how it matches up to the color of *your* car. So, check their work, anything you find not acceptable, make sure to bring it back ASAP and have them re-do it.

 

Questions:

1. So if done "IN HOUSE"...... Will this show up in CarFax, AutoCheck, and etc.,? I'm hoping NOT.

2. Will they put it in writing for a "LIFETIME WARRANTY" as long as you own the car for the respray? I know the LARGEST Lexus dealership body shop on the west coast will and did for my other Lexi when I had accidents (not my fault though.)

Lastly if they are a reputable Lexus dealership, they will take care of you. It's STILL a headache 😣 though.

Good luck