CX-9 Paint Defect ... Undisclosed damage in transit?

chris76

Member
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2018 CX-9 Signature
I purchased a new 2018 Mazda CX-9 Signature with Machine Gray paint from a prominent Northern California dealer last Wednesday, 02/28/18. I did a pre-purchase walkaround in normal daylight and everything looked fine with the vehicle. Over the weekend, I had a clear bra installed on the vehicle and was examining the workmanship with a flashlight in the garage without the lights on. The clear bra looked fine, but to my shock, I found a MAJOR paint defect on the driver's side door. It appears that someone tried to spot-paint the finish in about a 12 x 12 inch area on the upper left-hand side of the door, adjacent to and below the mirror. When I purchased the vehicle, the dealer did not disclose any prior body work that had been done to this supposedly new vehicle. I can also make out what appears to be faint sanding marks as well. I have a hard time believing that this could have shipped this way from the factory, and was likely "repaired" by the dealer after being damaged in transit. Upon reading the California statutes, dealers actually don't have to disclose repaired damage unless it's beyond 3% of the MSRP of the vehicle, which, in this case is $1383.00. That's probably why they did a "spot" repair from a preferred shop to try and stay under the mandatory disclosure threshold.

I am planning on taking the vehicle to an independent body shop tomorrow and having them inspect and write a report on the finish, but I have no idea what to do next to get this resolved. Can I file a warranty claim with Mazda? Should I contact an attorney? Obviously this is not up to factory standards on a brand new car. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Photos are here:
https://imgur.com/a/Qah0w
 
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Contact the dealership right away and Mazda corporate too. A brand new vehicle should not have any repairs done other than recalls. Demand the dealership to provide a satisfactory solution or you will go to local news and attorney general for help.
 
So hard to tell from the pictures, but is that not just wax residue from a detailer that was not removed? Have you tried wiping with a microfiber?
 
So hard to tell from the pictures, but is that not just wax residue from a detailer that was not removed? Have you tried wiping with a microfiber?

Nope. Its metal flake below the clear coat. Looks like it was airbrushed by a guy in a van.
 
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Nope. Its metal flake below the clear coat. Looks like it was airbrushed by a guy in a van.

Well then that is very disappointing, and I would be contacting the dealership for exchange or repair.

With regards to not disclosing the repair, if that is indeed what the dealer did, then that is also very disappointing. Although when I was a tool salesman, I also went to a lot of body shops, and occasionally I would see new cars with the DEALER WINDOW STICKER still in the window, in the body shop for repairs.

How many miles were on the car at delivery?
 
Car had 19 miles on it. Going to contact dealer today. First Im taking it to a couple of body shops to get written appraisals and estimates to prove my case. Dealer can either pay to have it refinished to factory standards or they can take it back. If they balk, Im contacting Mazda.
 
That looks awful, definitely didn't come from factory like that. I also can believe a dealer's body shop would ever let that go. New car dealers use shops that match factory standards.

New cars are repaired on a regular basis. I worked at a dealership for a while and saw it often. You should never know a repair was done by examining the vehicle.

Law does say that a dealer doesn't have to disclose under a certain amount.

This needs to get fixed for free. Should be obvious to them that you couldn't have caused this.
 
Definitely the dealers problem. Even though they do not have to disclose the damage, they will have a record of the damage.
 
Nasty... It's the dealer's problem to make it right as has been mentioned above.

Dealers routinely fix damage found when taking delivery of new cars and almost never have to disclose it to buyers since it's tough to exceed required state law percentages when based on MSRP.

For reference, I just had my 2008 fixed after an accident ruined both doors on one side and slightly bent the unibody in the middle. Final repair cost was just north of $7k. Yes, over $7,000 to straighten the body on a rack (maybe 1.5 hours), remove/replace trim and new (used) doors and paint it all. That was following the estimates from the insurance company system. Body work is crazy expensive these days.

I'm guessing someone poorly fixed that door (wrong temp, pressure, or paint viscosity will spit/run metallic) and billed less than $1000 depending on the process necessary for the paint color, so no disclosure was necessary. I also doubt the dealer will own up to it being repaired and will just blame it on Mazda. Either way, you should have little trouble getting it fixed.
 
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I still wonder how well body shops will be able to match Machine Grey and Soul Red due to the complex paint process Mazda uses for them.
 
Upon doing more research on this, dealership is in hot water, legally speaking. Under California law, dealers have to disclose ANY damage over $500 or 3% of MSRP (about $1400 in this case) to a new or previously untitled vehicle. Proper repair estimates are between $2600 and $3300.

I emailed our sales guy and told him that either they allow the car to be repaired to Mazda factory standards and our satisfaction, or they can take the vehicle back at the price we paid for it, and compensate us $1700 for the clear bra we installed.

We'll see what happens. I have yet to take their customer satisfaction survey, and I'm prepared to give them all UNSATISFIED ratings if they d*ck me around.
 
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Spoke with the delaer

Here is an update. Today I received a call from the dealer who denies, of course, that any repairs were done to this vehicle and recommended that I contact Mazda Corporate. Hopefully the situation will get resolved through Mazda.
 
Here is an update. Today I received a call from the dealer who denies, of course, that any repairs were done to this vehicle and recommended that I contact Mazda Corporate. Hopefully the situation will get resolved through Mazda.

I can't see any way it leaves a factory that way.
 
I dont either. Unless it was repaired at the port, which Ive heard can happen. Somebody, somewhere along the line, has effed with this car.
 
Here is an update. Today I received a call from the dealer who denies, of course, that any repairs were done to this vehicle and recommended that I contact Mazda Corporate. Hopefully the situation will get resolved through Mazda.

Why do you need to do anything? This is a warranty issue and they should be contacting Mazda, not you.
 
I can't see any way it leaves a factory that way.

Agree with this...Mazda corp will likely say that their vehicles newly produced are subjected to careful and routine inspection and quality control. If indeed there was damage caused during transit delivery to dealership (highly doubt it) then dealer should've noticed that as they also take delivery of new vehicles and should inspect it prior to paying Mazda corp. if there's damage then they claim it with Mazda corp. They should've caught it honestly when doing the PDI but sometimes they don't out of lazyness or whatever. Dealer's reaction sounds like a cover up instead of owning up to it. If only you had proof of this while still at the dealership then it would've been easier to prove.

I took delivery of brand new '17 Signature early last yr with odometer reading of 4Kms and I carefully inspected vehicle on day of delivery and found a small minor dent below driver's door that really wasn't obvious. Told the sales rep and I took a photo of it and notified the GM as well...Their reaction was "we'll take care of repairing it at no cost and apologies for the oversight". They most likely got it fixed via PDR...bottom line is they did right by me and wanted to really earn my business.
 
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