I'm looking at a 2006 Accord Sedan SE which is Royal Blue Pearl. I love the car. It drives great.
But, the rear bumper is scratch on the right rear. They tried to buff it out and, of course it's no suprise that, they actually made it worse. The scratches are mostly gone, but paint is now 'foggy'.
They have offered to swap rear bumpers with an EX V6 to deal with the issue. I said no, thinking that the entire car was painted as a whole and, while the colors might be named the same, there might be some slight difference causing it to stand out.
This doesn't even address the damage they would probably cause just doing the swap.
Anybody think I should let them do the swap? I really do like the car.
Had the same thing with my 01 Sunfire and after they swapped the bumper I couldn't see any difference. I would let them do it and then take a look to see if you can spot any difference in colour.
let them swap it and then notice the VIN sticker on the bumper doesn't match the car!! Now does it smell funny???? Honda puts vin stickers on the rear bumpers inside the trunk lip.
If they do the swap, are you obligated to buy? I'd ask for the swap on the condition you can back out, if they are that confident in their work, they should agree.
OTOH, you may go through the bumper swap only to have some moron bump you in the mall parking lot. ;)
As an alternative, you could have them refinish the bumper cover. That's very inexpensive, and you won't know the difference. I'm amazed at what they can do with bumper covers. I had one that was seriously screwed up in a minor accident, and it came back looking better than ever--as a repair, not a replacement.
But, of course, my car was a few years old at the time. Why would you accept anything like this for a new car? You pay a premium for a new car over a used one; why would you buy anything less than EXACTLY what you're looking for?
Accepting this kind of a deal is good only for the dealer, not for the buyer. He wants to move the car. Why should you take it?
This is part of negotiating. What do you get out of taking this car with a swapped or repaired bumper cover?
If the answer is "I get the car I want NOW", then you're exactly the sucker the dealer likes dealing with. You let emotion get in the way of a business deal--which means you lose, every time.
There's no need to get emotional about a silly car. You know the same car with zero damage is available somewhere else, or will be available at this dealer. Why would you spend that kind of money to fulfill a very temporary emotional satisfaction?
Delayed gratification is just fine. If the world doesn't offer what you want when you want it, go with the flow. It's not like they're not selling Accords left and right. It's not like this is some antique Ferrari you're buying off of Ebay and you won't ever be able to find one like it again. It's a new Accord, fer chrissakes.
If you are paying for a new car it seems unfair to offer one that had any type of body damage. I had the same experience with a new Saturn SL2 where they damaged the front bumper in transit (so they said) and offered me a brand new bumper. I took their offer but found later that they had poorly mounted the new bumper and, when I parked with the bumper barely rubbing the parking island, the new bumper just came apart when I backed out. When I brought the car back and demanded that they refund my money as they promised within 30 days, they said: Since I had incurred body damage the car was no longer new and the 30 day return policy was voided. So ask for another car fresh from the production line or go somewhere else.
Let me get this straight. YOU did damage to the car and YOU expected the dealership to repair YOUR damage for free. Am I correct in the way I read what you are saying?
Take a step-back, and a deep breath, and walk away from the deal. Either wait for another one just like it from the same dealer, or find one at another dealer. First of all, show patience in your purchase of the new Accord, or you will be forever sorry that you went ahead with the purchase. Don't EVER fall in love with a particular sample of a new car; just like women, there are plenty of them out there!
Brian, Perhaps you don't understand. The bumper is supposed to sustain damage in excess of 5 mph without falling apart. What I did was back up at perhaps at almost 0 mph with the bottom of the bumper barely rubbing against a parking island (you could hardly hear it). Do you really think that the whole bumper should come apart under these conditions? I'm 73 years old and have owned about 12 different cars during that time and none of them ever lost a bumper. And, I might add that I've been a lot harder on those cars than the Saturn.
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