My New Prius Came Today! Help! I'm Pissed! RESOLUTION!!!

Hate to rain on your parade but you can't really effectively patch holes like that on the plastic bumper because it flexes. I'm worried you'll be dealing with cracking and peeling down the road. I personally would rather have plugs...

 

The Front Bumper you see is called a 'Bumper Cover', and it is replacable at considerable cost. You should discuss the dealer doing that in the event the holes they 'patch' reappear, as they well might. Also they sold you a car someone else used because someone drove it for 3 hours, so the car has (How Fast it Was Driven X 3 hrs. = Miles on the odometer). Make that calculation and see how it jibes with the (below 55) slow speed of breaking in a New Motor !

I wish you luck !

 

Agreed. And with all the abuse the front bumper takes (from road rash) you want a factory finish, which is more durable than any aftermarket job.

 

But would it translate into any real world concern given that the holes are so tiny? Undrilled front bumpers straight out of the factory still have the two indentations where the screws are supposed to go into. I'd think a patched bumper would look better as it'll be perfectly smooth (at least initially) and probably not any worse than the factory indentations if anything develops over time.

 

Can't that area just be partially re-painted?

 

They are making every reasonable accommodation and if you take the free legal advice of some of the persons on this board you might well be in a world of hurt, from a legal point of view.

Yes, this could be a horrible situation where the little holes lead to big holes and the front bumper falls off and then you run over it and run into the school bus full of children on the way to a Special Olympics outing, BUT the odds are that they can fix it easily, properly and so you will never notice it. Try to get that in writing from the dealer, or even better, get some cost concessions and go with the bumper hole plugs, painted in the body color.

If this patching is so difficult, I wonder how they fix bumpers all the time.

Don't become a PIA. You would be better off just walking away (after getting your money back), but you won't have your car in the color you want, at least not now.

 

Unfortunately, it's not just a matter of putting some putty in the holes and dabbing with touch up paint (although you can be sure that's been done many times).

If they do it properly, they'll patch the holes and sand smooth, which will leave quite a large area that needs to be painted. They'll paint the area with the color coat, and blend into the surrounding area (and depending on how successful they are at getting the color and metallic particles to match, they may need to color coat the entire bumper). Then they'll clear coat the entire bumper (if they only clear coat the affected area, it will look like you-know-what, since it won't match.

There's no reason to accept delivery of a brand new car with this kind of damage. These cars aren't exactly in short supply, so finding a replacement shouldn't take that long, especially with a dealer trade, if necessary.

 

same here!

 

This is a significant expenditure of YOUR MONEY, and YOU have every right to see to it that YOU are satisfied, otherwise get your deposit back and go eleswhere. If that makes you a PIA, Great ! It is, after all, YOUR MONEY and it will be YOUR CAR.

 

I'm talking about color-coating just the large sanded area smack dap in the middle, not dapping with touch up paint.

 

Understood--but then they need to clear coat the entire bumper (so it matches properly), and as a result the entire bumper's surface would be less durable than the factory finish.

 

It's your money, so you should do what you feel comfortable with.

Having said that they may be able to repair it so you don't notice it when you take delivery, but it will not be as durable as a factory finish.

I understand the emotions involved in buying a car, but I wouldn't let that get in the way of logic.

I have first hand experience with this situation. When I went to take delivery of my last car, I did the usual thorough inspection and found that the front bumper had 2 indentations that looked like they were caused by the rear license plate screws from another car. Naturally, the salesman said don't worry, we'll fix that right up. I told him no thanks, find me another car because I'm not buying a damaged/repaired new car. 10 minutes later they pulled another car around that was identical except for the interior wood trim color, which I bought.

 

I'm sure. Unlike the dimples on the front bumper of the Prius, these were irregular, and you could see the slot in the screw heads that made the impressions.

This was a BMW, and as I said, when they pulled around the replacement car, the bumper was free of any indentations.

 

I know nothing about the painting process, but wouldn't the new coat of clear coat be over the more durable, factory clear coat of the untouched area? Or do they have to remove all traces of the original clear coat first?

 

They don't. Reputable bodyshops don't repair plastic bumper covers because the repairs lead to problems down the road, they only replace them.

I'm not advocating being PITA...my suggestion was to get plugs or a decorative front plate.

I would not allow holes to be patched in the bumper of a brand new car, 5 years from now you'll be sorry you did that.

You can do that...but its going to look awful. To do it right, the WHOLE bumper needs to be repainted and recleared, especially on a color like Sandy Beach. A "patch" repair like that is going to look awful.

Bumpers are kind of hard to paint correctly so that they don't crack and peel down the line. Putting any kind of "filler" onto a plastic bumper cover is going to degrade over time.

 

If done properly, after applying the color coat, they will sand the entire bumper to ensure proper adhesion of the new clear coat. Will it remove all the original clear coat? Probably not.

The point is the new coats of paint are softer than, and not as durable as, a factory finish--and since the entire bumper has new paint, that's not as good as the factory paint.

 

So reputable insurance companies only replace front and rear bumpers if they happen to have hole(s) as a result of the accident?