I picked up a new '05 G35 last weekend. I love the car, but during my first wash I realized that the front of one of the fenders, and the front bumper had been repainted. The car is brilliant silver, the repainted stuff is not brilliant, just silver. I talked to the dealership manager, who insists that if the car had any paintwork before delivery it would be in their system - and it's not. Looking at it, it is obvious that it has been repainted, not only does the paint not match but there is overspray on the inner fender, and the wire that goes to the turnsignal is painted silver (I don't think they come that way), as are some of the bolts that hold the black inner fender and bumper together.



My first inclination is to demand a different car. The dealership thinks that this is a very small problem and they should just repaint the quarter panel and make it match. Worst case they say they will ship the car back to nissan to have the whole car repainted. I am not comfortable with this - I just bought a brand new infiniti, I don't want a repainted infiniti.

Another issue here is that I drive a thousand miles a week, thus the new car now has 1000 miles on it. If they delay the process another week it will have 2000, etc. I am willing to pay a reasonable rate for mileage, but I know that after a month there is no way they will exchange a car with 4K miles.

I will admit that I am very **** about this sort of thing, the reason I got rid of my last car which was a 2005 was because of bad paintwork that after 3 attempts at the dealership (different dealer), and 6 months out of service, couldn't be fixed. I don't want to go through that again.

Does anyone know what my options are here? Since I took delivery of this car am I stuck with it? There is another local dealership that has an identical car - can they swap it? Can I pay a little bit of money and get an '06 in the same configuration?

If you have any advice - please let me know - I am going to the dealership this afternoon.

Thanks

 

sorry to say that you are SOL...
just wondering how you went about the walk-through with the salesman when buying the car... I know we all make mistakes but to be **** about mismatched paint jobs yet not see the problem before signing the papers is not very good...
especially after putting all those miles on the car... sorry can't help you much but i think the best course of action is to hire a lawyer and contact Infiniti corporate.... hope things work out for the better...

 

that sucks. and the worst part is that i kinda know they wont let u have a new car. to them, they already got your signature and thats that to them. take some pictures for your records if you decide to hire a lawyer. i suggest you inspect the rest of the car, i mean really inspect it for other minor or major issues.

i got lesser problems with them azzfaces at the dealer, i got apointment in afew days and ima demand a replacement of my passenger side window frame, 5 times i brought it in for pops/ticks and they did sht to fix it.

 

try the best you can with the dealership and if they are stand up people they should work with you. If not, then contact corporate. Sorry to hear about this issue, but it is not the first I have heard about re-paints from the factory. Most times during transport, things happen and they do a uick re-paint not even informing the buying dealership.

 

What are you guys talking about? He is NOT SOL.

Are you kidding? YOu bought a supposedly new car, and you got one that's been painted. It didn't come from Infiniti that way... it was probably in a fender-bender and the dealership painted it and wanted to sell it as new.

Infiniti CAN'T fix a car and sell it as new, even if it occured at the manufacturing facility.

And a dealer can't fix a car, sell it as new, without clearly stating to you that it's been fixed.

First of all, talk to the BBB if you don't want to get a lawyer. Also, talk to the consumer protection division of your state's Attorney General's office. But truth is, they have no leg to stand on - you deserve a new car. You are in a very powerful position, here... they f'ed up and they know it, and now they know that you know it. They could get in big trouble for this. I HIGHLY, HIGHLY, HIGHLY doubt it came from Infiniti this way. And if it did, you deserve a new car anyway, but in that case it's Infiniti's fault, not the dealerships.

 

All right - thanks for the info guys, I am not ready to give up on this. I am on my way down to Infiniti now. We'll see what they come up with.

 

Sorry to hear it. At least the car is silver which is pretty easy to match. If it was a 2 part paint color, like ivory pearl, that would be much more problematic.

 

sorry to hear

 

take pictures for you records if you decide to follow up on the consumer report thing remention or legal actions for that matter. PRove is your best friend.

 

Don't give up - if the dealership can't make you happy, contact Infiniti corporate and the BBB. You're not SOL on this issue. You paid for a new car and you should get a new car.

Demand a different car.

 

Dealers often receive slightly damaged new cars in shipping. They often replace and repaint the damaged part with a new one without ever telling prospective buyers. Often hoods, fenders and bumpers. No way the car you have came like that from the factory. Most likely, it is something your dealer did and if it's not done right, definitely make sure you take it back and get things made right to your satisfaction. Any body shop can tell if things are repainted if it's that bad and can back you up if it comes to litigation. Also call up Infiniti corporate--they are usually very responsive.

 

Silver is one of the most dificult colors to match, especially the metallic flakes that are at one angle when applied at the factory and at a different angle during repaint. I had a 3 wk old silver 300ZX 20 yrs ago which was egged and repainted poorly by the dealer. I wound up in small claims court sans my expert witness who failed to show. I will never buy another silver car due to the difficulty in matching.

 

If my memory serves me correctly, there was a huge lawsuit against BMW that dealt with this issue. I believe the ruling was that car manufacturers are supposed to inform the purchaser of the defect if the damage is above and beyond a certain figure that would impair your ability to sell the car for as much as someone else whose car was not damaged prior to sale. If that is still ruling precedent, then perhaps you need to see how much the damage adds up to your resale loss. I think asking an attorney wouldn't hurt.

 

They know it was repainted, don't believe them for a second. They are just trying to dump one of their remain 2005's on you that obviously had repair work done.

 

I went back to infiniti of coconut creek and they took care of me. It worked out better than I had hoped.

I went in and offered to pay a reasonable amount for the miles that I had driven, and switch to a comparable car.

They offered to switch me into another car that was essentially the same but white (an 05) for no charge, or upgrade to an '06 and split the difference. I ended up getting an 06 6MT Sedan black w/ graphite w/ prem A and aero package. It cost me a little bit to upgrade, but it still seemed like a good deal. They ended up knocking a little over 2,000 off the sticker price of the '06. And now I don't have to worry about buying a spoiler and trying to get it to match.


Unfortunately now I have to go through another break-in period.