Finally took delivery. Scratches / gouges in paint. What do?

[Wolfy]

How bad is it? A new paint job is not without it's problems and will probably not match factory for durability, etc. I'd probably (without pictures hard to say) just write it off, and feel relieved in the fact that your jeep is no longer pristine and you don't have to worry about every little scratch.
When I bought my F150, brand new 2013, I signed the papers while the truck was parked outside. Some guy in a Dodge Powerwagon pulled into the spot next to my new truck (while I was signing the papers).
I signed everything, and walked outside, the guy had left, and there was a huge door ding dent in the side of my door. I was walking with the salesman that sold it to me. I said "what the @#$%^&*????"
They gave me a certificate to have their body shop fix it. I had just flown up to Boise from SLC to get a $7,500 discount on the price compared to SLC pricing. I drove back to SLC, never got the dent fixed, and still have the F150. It has been a fantastic truck, I love it, and I didn't need to worry about the first blemish.

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[RDiddy]

Hearing that, I would have countered by asking what, if anything, the factory's post-assembly Quality check is intended to accomplish. I say this because you characterize the touch-up work on the hardtop as a low-quality bodge.

In your position, I'd press the dealer for an agreed-upon cash payment directly to me, period.

I'd either pocket the cash, or use it to obtain paint & repair services for which I already know the cost (as I'd have used the estimates to form the basis for my cash payment demand.)

The thinking here is that I'd want to separate myself from a dealer whose actions have made it plain that they are uninterested in and a bit evasive on a straightforward customer service matter.

I'll tell you what, this thread now has pics... so you can judge for yourself and give me your thoughts. I am probably biased.

Just so you can tell what you're looking at, the first three pics are about the best pics I can get of the two touch up pen spots.

The next pic is the top cross member above the windshield and the rest of the pics are the scratches that follow the path back from the cross bar resulting from whatever dragged across my hardtop.

I was mostly curious if anyone here had any tangible notion that the factory would never use a touch up pen and the dealership fucked my hardtop and tried to cover their tracks / hoped I wouldn't notice.

Regarding your last sentence, you hit the nail right on the head - I have wanted to distance myself from them for months now. It didn't take them long to screw me over right from the get go and I was hoping and praying that taking delivery and be rid of them permanently - hence why I feel that it might just be easier to suck it up and walk away as it's just paint.

I have no real faith in their ability or desire to do business ethically. Their solution is to order a wrangler the same color as mine and swap out the hard top for the new one... therefore sticking the sucker that buys that new wrangler with a modified / repainted hard top. I don't know about you but I wouldn't appreciate that if I was the next guy in line - assuming it wasn't disclosed of course.

Not to mention they have so far adamantly refused to address the two gouges in the windshield crossbar, which is obviously not easily solved by a hardtop swap.

 

[RDiddy]

How bad is it? A new paint job is not without it's problems and will probably not match factory for durability, etc. I'd probably (without pictures hard to say) just write it off, and feel relieved in the fact that your jeep is no longer pristine and you don't have to worry about every little scratch.
When I bought my F150, brand new 2013, I signed the papers while the truck was parked outside. Some guy in a Dodge Powerwagon pulled into the spot next to my new truck (while I was signing the papers).
I signed everything, and walked outside, the guy had left, and there was a huge door ding dent in the side of my door. I was walking with the salesman that sold it to me. I said "what the @#$%^&*????"
They gave me a certificate to have their body shop fix it. I had just flown up to Boise from SLC to get a $7,500 discount on the price compared to SLC pricing. I drove back to SLC, never got the dent fixed, and still have the F150. It has been a fantastic truck, I love it, and I didn't need to worry about the first blemish.

Added pictures to the best of my ability. I just learned that photographing them is not easy. Hope it helps.

Thank you for your advice and for stopping by my thread. Take care

 

[Wolfy]

Hard to judge exactly from the picture (zoomed out view for context would help), but I think living with it would be the best option. Just my humble opinion. I know your frustration. It sucks to buy something and have flaws like that. How many other people, if they didn't know it was there, would notice?

 

[starrs]

Hard to judge exactly from the picture (zoomed out view for context would help), but I think living with it would be the best option. Just my humble opinion. I know your frustration. It sucks to buy something and have flaws like that. How many other people, if they didn't know it was there, would notice?

It’s a brand new vehicle tho. I’d demand it be fixed. Simple as that. They did a shitty job with the touch up work, and that makes it even worse.

 

[RDiddy]

It’s a brand new vehicle tho. I’d demand it be fixed. Simple as that. They did a shitty job with the touch up work, and that makes it even worse.

The two touch up spots are really the clincher for me. They stand out pretty glaringly IMO.

That aside, they have proposed to swap the hard top, which covers off most but not all of the paint defects, however I am concerned that I am only going to be trading off some small issues for other small issues as a result so overall not sure it's even worth it and I should just call it a day.

There is nothing to say that at the end of the day they will swap on the new hard top and not put new or more visible scratches somewhere else.

Why can't anything ever just be easy, for once? Always gotta be a catch

 

[Strommen95]

Why can't anything ever just be easy, for once? Always gotta be a catch

I don't know man. I'm sympathetic to your cause but they're literally offering to swap hard tops which will fix your paint issues and not bring any new ones. People swap tops out all the time. I don't see what's an easier solution than swapping tops. At this point I don't know what your expectations are going back to them or with this thread.

 

[RDiddy]

I don't know man. I'm sympathetic to your cause but they're literally offering to swap hard tops which will fix your paint issues and not bring any new ones. People swap tops out all the time. I don't see what's an easier solution than swapping tops. At this point I don't know what your expectations are going back to them or with this thread.

That's fair - I never said that wasn't an acceptable solution, aside from that not doing anything for the largest defect that exists in the paint on the windshield crossbar, but I digress.

I am sure that it is definitely possible to swap the tops without further issue, the purpose of this thread was two fold - never having done a hard top removal before, I was trying to gauge whether this would be something that the dealer could likely pull off without trading this superficial damage for other, possibly more visible scratches or damage and secondly if most people would even bother, or in other words if I needed a reality check.

It appears from the consensus above that most people would have them do something about it so that's what I will do. When I asked why can't anything ever just be easy, it's only because it's been a monumental struggle every step of the way with this Jeep. I was so ready to be done with all of this by now, I apologize if I am stressing over the whole thing.

 

[Lagoonatic]

It looks like shipping damage. I would 100% take them up on the offer of a new top. That's the best fix for the scratches on the top. They should be able to do this without damaging anything just as you should be able to remove it yourself without scratching it. I would carefully look at the the new top after install to make sure the color match is perfect.

To fix the scratches on the body, with touch up on metallic paint it would look like the blotches on the top. I would consider taking to an independent body shop to get an opinion on what could be achieved.

 

[RDiddy]

It looks like shipping damage. I would 100% take them up on the offer of a new top. That's the best fix for the scratches on the top. They should be able to do this without damaging anything just as you should be able to remove it yourself without scratching it. I would carefully look at the the new top after install to make sure the color match is perfect.

To fix the scratches on the body, with touch up on metallic paint it would look like the blotches on the top. I would consider taking to an independent body shop to get an opinion on what could be achieved.

Understood, thank you

 

[JEEPIDON]

I'll tell you what, this thread now has pics... so you can judge for yourself and give me your thoughts. I am probably biased.

Just so you can tell what you're looking at, the first three pics are about the best pics I can get of the two touch up pen spots.

The next pic is the top cross member above the windshield and the rest of the pics are the scratches that follow the path back from the cross bar resulting from whatever dragged across my hardtop.

I was mostly curious if anyone here had any tangible notion that the factory would never use a touch up pen and the dealership fucked my hardtop and tried to cover their tracks / hoped I wouldn't notice.

Regarding your last sentence, you hit the nail right on the head - I have wanted to distance myself from them for months now. It didn't take them long to screw me over right from the get go and I was hoping and praying that taking delivery and be rid of them permanently - hence why I feel that it might just be easier to suck it up and walk away as it's just paint.

I have no real faith in their ability or desire to do business ethically. Their solution is to order a wrangler the same color as mine and swap out the hard top for the new one... therefore sticking the sucker that buys that new wrangler with a modified / repainted hard top. I don't know about you but I wouldn't appreciate that if I was the next guy in line - assuming it wasn't disclosed of course.

Not to mention they have so far adamantly refused to address the two gouges in the windshield crossbar, which is obviously not easily solved by a hardtop swap.

Swap the top, have them address the other scratches. This is just touch up work that any body shop can perform. I still think this was carrier damage. We used to see it all the time. I actually saw one car come off backwards from the top level and land on the trunk cover and taillights! It was in the showroom 3 weeks later!

 

[shekmark]

The top needs repacking for sure. That would have really bothered me. Those two little scuffs on the up windshield surround are bad and must be easy to fix. First time in the woods and you will those all over lol. Good luck. Your dealer sucks, but a new top is cool.

 

[starrs]

For the 2 touch up spots you’d be better off spraying some paint rather than blobbing it on. Light coats until fixed. Those touch up pens with a brush on the end are a joke

 

[JeepCares]

As title says, ordered May 25. Finally got it delivered October 16 :/

The top crossbar above the windshield is gouged / scratched in two spots and the hard top in 4 spots from factory. Also at the back there are two spots on the hardtop that someone has already taken a color match touch up pen to.

I am so sick of being at odds with my dealer, I half want to run away and say screw it, it's only some paint, but my other half is saying it is literally a brand new vehicle and it should be pristine.

Would you continue on and make them make it right or just deal with it having some scratches as surely these aren't the last of them it will ever have.

I'm on the fence...

Hi Rob,
Please let us know if you need any assistance while working with your dealer. Our team is available via private message.
Alex
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[MrJeepNut]

What??? Does this vehicle not have a "Jeep" badge on it in several places? If it does, that suggests you should get it out on the trail right now and make some bigger scratches, gouges, dents, whatever... that way you won't even notice those little ones. Much easier, more fun, less stress!

Just kidding, but hey, this wouldn't be a proper Jeep forum unless you got at least one snarky reply, so here you go.

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