2017 Prius Two, Red, paint is chipping and cracking after 6 months of ownership

Unless it is damage by sap, bird droppings, rat/mouse droppings, dead insects, bat droppings - each of which will destroy paint - it doesn't look right. Where is it normally parked - is it exposed to an industrial area where contamination could have landed on the car?

I bought a new FORD 10 years ago, and very soon after taking delivery, one morning came out and the bonnet had fresh bat (we call them flying fox) droppings - which took the clear-coat off. FORD pointed to the warranty paperwork where it said it's not covered by warranty (though if it ended up rusting, it would be!!!).

You could talk to a spray-painter for an opinion (even a crash repairer) who would be able to see if there has been paint or panel repairs before you took delivery.

 

wow, that is bad! i thought the paint had a 12 month warranty. there are very few paint issues on newer cars here. try searching a bit to see if anyone else has had similar. don't limit yourself to gen 4.
all the best!

 

The paint warranty is limited on all cars. As I said above, FORD wouldn't cover damage by bat-droppings. SUBARU's warranty says "

 

limited is one thing, but 'there is nothing that can be done' without an explanation is unsatisfactory.
and how does he know how clean the car was kept?

 

There's a lot of Honda owners, including myself, who would STRONGLY disagree. TONS of Honda's around here with massive clear coat failures. Partial blame goes to stronger EPA paint regs. Honda finally offered a recall on many of its darker paint colors that included our midnight black civic.

Several of your examples are bird poop etchings. BTDT I shouldn't speak in absolutes but I'll never own a non-white car again. My wife's dark blue OutBack has numerous examples like yours.

 

100 percent of our fleet cars have had paint failures - all optional "premium paint" because this was the only white color in 2008.2009,2010....
Since these are fleet cars and not maintained to the same loving standards as privately owned vehicles, I give Yota a pass on the G3's.

YOUR car on the other hand appears to have substantial paint damage that to my untrained eyes looks like they pooched the paint job at the factory - or the car may have even been damaged in transit and repaired by the dealer without them notifying you.....because......in some states the dealer does not have to disclose this.....and in others they have a strong incentive to "forget" about stuff like that.
Your paint is CLEARLY (pun almost unintended) not up to industry standards, but unfortunately you have to prove that you didn't cause or exacerbate the problem.

....so you're probably scrood.
HOWEVER.....(comma!) I think I would spend a little bit of money and have some fun before I dumped the car....especially since you live where gas is more than $2.39 a gallon, and especially especially since based on the number of cars that you've owned, you're probably underwater on this car, and you're going to have to rig for deep submergence to get into another one.

1. Get an estimate from the best body shop you can find for what may have caused the damage and how much to make you whole.
See if you can get a written estimation that this damage was caused by improper paint or repair. If they think that the car's paint has been repaired, then I would take that document to your dealer and do the Whiskey Tango Foxtrot thing....
2. See if you can serve your dealership for Small Claims court case, the limit for which I believe is $10K in Caly.
You might get lucky.
3. Try to forget about the paint and just let the car's efficiency reward you for driving a more frugal car than the Mazda....and you may be part of an oops at the factory that will be compensated for by the mother ship.
Of course, this is about as likely as a certain politician who shall remain nameless publishing his or her taxes......or flying off to Oslo for a medal and some spending money............but these are strange times we live in!!!

Speaking of which, if you haven't already done so.......go vote today!


Good Luck.

 

There's another option....
I'm seeing people get their cars 'wrapped' out your way...

 

a fellow in another recent thread said his paint was peeling and toyota refused to cover it.

 

Comprehensive insurance claim, pay deductible and get it repaired, damage is damage, see if that can work.

 

How often do you wash your car? It looks like the clear coat has been eched by bird crap. Look at your rubber trim pieces along the roof rails, you can see that your car has not been washed regularly, they should be clean and shiny if washed weekly. Washing and waxing is part of keeping your car looking good and protecting the paint and clear coat.