2017 CX-5 Soul Red Crystal Metallic

[BaseballGrassGy]

I went to the dealer on 9/12 and was told it might be finished the next day. No surprise, that didn't happen.

I was notified on 9/21 that my car was ready to be picked up. Car went in to the dealer for inspection and then repainting on July 17th. When I picked it up, the paperwork indicated the paint work was done by the body shop that is affiliated with another of this company's dealerships. Interestingly, the paperwork doesn't even state which panels were painted. Just another example of the "zero transparency" built into Mazda's warranty repair process that has been their MO for 67 days.

From a distance it looks the beautiful red vehicle we bought, but upon close inspection there is evidence it is a body shop paint job. We now have a CX-5 any knowledgeable buyer can see has had a major repaint. This detracts substantially from the value of our car.

I had hoped that the ridiculously long repair time would have resulted in very high quality work. The difficulty of replicating this color resulted in so much rework that the dealership's body shop must have taken a huge bath on the job. At a certain point (67 days), they gave up and said "come and get it". In fact as soon as I arrived all the service personnel disappeared. I knew then it would not be what I was hoping for. Having made three car payments since it was dropped off, I was not willing to do anything but take it home.

I'm crossing my fingers that the chipping will not happen again, but our car's paint job would have never got off the factory floor looking like this--no matter what color it is.

 

[Xeler8ing]

You may want to cut your losses and trade in / sell it before it something happens again with your paint

Alternately, you can try and escalate it to Mazda NO HQ and see what they have to say.

 

[shadonoz]

That sucks. A good lawyer might be able to convince Mazda to buy it back from you... but it might cost more than it's worth.

 

[BaseballGrassGy]

Mazda has made it very clear they could not care less about me, or my car's paint problems.

If they did, the car would have taken an hour drive down the freeway to Mazda's port repair facility back in mid-July to be repainted to OEM quality standards. I would have had the car back a month ago and it would look like new (because cars repaired at the port after shipping damage are sold as new). Instead they wasted two weeks negotiating the price of repairs with a Ford dealer's body shop, and then the body shop spent almost seven weeks trying to get it to look right. Then when the dealer got tired of me asking when my car would be fixed, they gave it back to me with obvious defects in their paint work.

From the start Mazda's goal was to repaint only the panels they deemed worthy of repainting at the lowest possible cost without concern for customer satisfaction. In this case, everyone has lost. Mazda spent a lot of money on repairs, and will be reimbursing the dealer for 67 days of loaner car. The dealership lost money on the repair job because they got beat down on the estimate, and the SCR paint was way more difficult than they realized. And of course they didn't put their best people on the job, so the work is substandard. This is all so predictable.

And I'm stuck with a body shop paint job that has dropped the value of our car substantially.

There is a lesson here. Buy a Mazda, and you could be very happy--like many thousands of owners no doubt are. Or, your car could have a serious quality problem and you could end up wishing you had never bought a Mazda. From the beginning their sole priority has to been doing the bare minimum as required by law, while minimizing their costs along the way.

 

[jmhumr]

That sucks. A good lawyer might be able to convince Mazda to buy it back from you... but it might cost more than it's worth.

I was thinking he should try to get the story to go viral. Mazda loves their red paint, so it might not take much to get their attention.

 

[SweetPete]

BaseballGrassGy, here's a crazy question: what's the status with your warranty now? Are the panels that have been painted now covered by the body shop's warranty (and if so, how long is it?), and the unpainted panels still covered by Mazda's standard warranty? I would think that, due to how expensive it is to apply this paint, and that the body shop - at their expense - would NEVER want to see your car again on THEIR warranty, that the body shop would have had every incentive to do it PERFECTLY the FIRST time.

I'm really worried now. After having my car for over 3 weeks, my car is supposed to be painted tomorrow. And not a full repaint, just the actual damaged panels + "blending in" of any adjacent panel. So...who's warranty covers the partially painted adjacent panels? I'll try to find out. And then regarding the issue of my 2017's value. What's Mazda going to do? Don't know.

Have you been in touch with "Lexi" at Mazda Corporate? She seems to be the go-to person on this paint issue when someone contacts Mazda.

We may be approaching the point where a survey question/thread needs to be started (separate from this one), asking "Who has had their car repainted and are you happy with the repaint?"

 

[1cx5]

Mazda use Instagram in most countries. In Australia Mazda seem to have a media manager that answers questions on their Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/mazdaaus/

Take a photo and add it and link to Mazda US and your dealer and the panel shop if they have one.

I will follow you if you need numbers.[ I'm not an expert on Instagram]

Do the exact same thing on Twitter. Just directly tweet them and tell them you aren't happy etc.

And leave bad feedback on your dealers Facebook. I'm not on Facebook.

Most legitimate professional company's that take pride in their company and their work use all 3 forms of social media to generate sales.

Use social media against them.

[Just to note when I bought my CX 5 the dealer went to a lot of trouble to take an iPhone photo of me standing next to my new SUV and then had it up on Facebook by time I got home.]

 

[BaseballGrassGy]

A dealer body shop is not capable of giving an OEM quality paint job, and if you expect them to give you one you're dreaming. Your choices are to use the touch-up paint frequently as the paint continues to chip, or accept a body shop repaint of those panels Mazda chooses to refinish. You didn't buy a Kia Stinger, you bought a CX-5 and the way the two factories address these issues is very different.

I picked up the car Monday morning, and I used the car duster this afternoon (Saturday) to get the car clean for the trip to church tomorrow. I noticed the paint already has a crease mark where something hit the top of the front valance. The new paint is soft, and it is going to be damaged more easily than OEM paint.

And as to being a social media demon complainer, no thanks..

 

[Xeler8ing]

Mazda use Instagram in most countries. In Australia Mazda seem to have a media manager that answers questions on their Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/mazdaaus/

Take a photo and add it and link to Mazda US and your dealer and the panel shop if they have one.

I will follow you if you need numbers.[ I'm not an expert on Instagram]

Do the exact same thing on Twitter. Just directly tweet them and tell them you aren't happy etc.

And leave bad feedback on your dealers Facebook. I'm not on Facebook.

Most legitimate professional company's that take pride in their company and their work use all 3 forms of social media to generate sales.

Use social media against them.

[Just to note when I bought my CX 5 the dealer went to a lot of trouble to take an iPhone photo of me standing next to my new SUV and then had it up on Facebook by time I got home.]

They also respond via Facebook messaging

 

[jmhumr]

And as to being a social media demon complainer, no thanks..

?? Why draw the line there? You*ve been complaining to a bunch of strangers on these boards who can*t do anything about it for months. Why not ask Mazda publicly about it? You don*t have to be a jerk to them. But my gosh, seems worth a shot. Plus it might help the other owners if it gets attention.

 

[DubbuD]

I tend to agree, if it's been an ongoing issue, take to their pages and social media outlets, your story seems like one huge dick around that never ended in anyone being satisfied with the experience/outcome.

 

[Xeler8ing]

Get a lawyer

 

[NelsonLewis]

?? Why draw the line there? You*ve been complaining to a bunch of strangers on these boards who can*t do anything about it for months. Why not ask Mazda publicly about it? You don*t have to be a jerk to them. But my gosh, seems worth a shot. Plus it might help the other owners if it gets attention.

Totally agree...

I dont see it as being a social demon complainer either. I see it as using new age technology to address an issue, you know like everyone else seems to do know when they need something known or taken care of, and as others have stated, Mazda uses this outlet religiously also it seems, so take advantage...

 

[SweetPete]

To those of you who have had your CX5 repainted, when you went to pick it up, did Mazda or the dealer make you sign anything releasing them from any further liability? Or give you any paperwork explaining the warranty ramifications (to Mazda and/or the bodyshop)? My CX5 is supposed to be done next week and I want to be ready for anything that might come up.

 

[CatsPaw]

I had paint "reconditioning" done on mine because it was covered from bumper to bumper in hairline scratches and swirl marks. It was also covered (LITERALLY covered) in little orange spots that looked like rust spots. Since then I've come to believe it's actually road paint. Probably overspray that drifted onto the vehicle.

I wasn't asked to sign anything, but the "conditioning" didn't fix the problem and the dealer became uncooperative trying to claim it was caused environmentally and that they should have no liability for it. I ended up giving up and accepting that my brand new vehicle had paint that already looked years old because I didn't want to fight with them.

 

[boandlkramer]

I must be missing something here.

I drive triple digits in the autobahn and Im not seeing anywhere near the damage claimed here.

problems are amplified in forums full of very particular owners that post should I get a lawyer. Theyre pretty common in the internet fora...

I wonder what real world statistics are on this problem.

 

[Xeler8ing]

I must be missing something here.

I drive triple digits in the autobahn and I*m not seeing anywhere near the damage claimed here.

problems are amplified in forums full of very *particular* owners that post *should I get a lawyer.* They*re pretty common in the internet fora...

I wonder what *real world* statistics are on this problem.

We may never know considering Mazda probably deals with them on a case by case basis and there is no central database where this information can be stored and accessed... unless there is a formal recall.

 

[Jonno21]

I must be missing something here.

I drive triple digits in the autobahn and I*m not seeing anywhere near the damage claimed here.

problems are amplified in forums full of very *particular* owners that post *should I get a lawyer.* They*re pretty common in the internet fora...

I wonder what *real world* statistics are on this problem.

I suspect the German roads are in much better condition than most places. Try driving in the UK, a fair proportion of roads are practically disintegrating. People even have stickers in the rear window, "I'm not drunk, just avoiding the potholes". Plus numerous roadworks to patch up what should have been done correctly in the first place.

 

[paris1]

I must be missing something here.

I drive triple digits in the autobahn and I*m not seeing anywhere near the damage claimed here.

problems are amplified in forums full of very *particular* owners that post *should I get a lawyer.* They*re pretty common in the internet fora...

I wonder what *real world* statistics are on this problem.

I*m usually pretty sceptacle of these types of claims too, but the fact that Mazda has repainted several of these vehicles seems to lend credibility to them.

 

[DubbuD]

I had paint "reconditioning" done on mine because it was covered from bumper to bumper in hairline scratches and swirl marks. It was also covered (LITERALLY covered) in little orange spots that looked like rust spots. Since then I've come to believe it's actually road paint. Probably overspray that drifted onto the vehicle.

I wasn't asked to sign anything, but the "conditioning" didn't fix the problem and the dealer became uncooperative trying to claim it was caused environmentally and that they should have no liability for it. I ended up giving up and accepting that my brand new vehicle had paint that already looked years old because I didn't want to fight with them.

I also had a lot of swirls in my paint, it took a fair amount of time with an electric buffer and polish to get them out to a satisfactory level. My guess is the "conditioning" was probably done on a timed basis and they didn't take enough time or care in producing the results you're looking for.

This picture is taken after a lot of hours of work between claybar, and polish. I'd say a solid 6 - 8 hours. It was as reflective in person as the picture suggests. Before that it had a lot of swirls and imperfection that you could see in the sunlight, before I did any paint correction.