Dealer Sealant - $825 - Ahhh!

[gb387]

Well the girlfriend went and bought a Scion TC to take delivery in 4 weeks.... to make a long story short, her and her parents(I was not there) were "sold" on the dealer sealant @ a crazy $825.00 (under body, paint and interior what ever that means). She was told the "sealant" will increase the value of the car by the salesman, to me seems a little shady there. She asks me after signing the papers if she should have gotten it.... IMO its a waste of money even more so knowing that I would have a hand in taking care of it and she is fresh out of college and needs every penny.

Only if she would have made a phone call!



$825 is a lot of Meguiars products!

[LAfirefytr]

by law, she is able to change her mind and request that she be refunded the $$$$ is she wants. They may try to jack you around, but they canot refuse to credit her back the money, especially since she has not taken delivery of car. $825.00 is toooo much and on top of that she probably financed it in with the price of the car so she will be paying finance charges for the length of her loan! Talk to her and tell her she does have options. $825 worth of Meguiars will carry you until the wheels fall of the car!!! LOL

[gb387]

Originally posted by LAfirefytr
by law, she is able to change her mind and request that she be refunded the $$$$ is she wants. They may try to jack you around, but they canot refuse to credit her back the money, especially since she has not taken delivery of car. $825.00 is toooo much and on top of that she probably financed it in with the price of the car so she will be paying finance charges for the length of her loan! Talk to her and tell her she does have options. $825 worth of Meguiars will carry you until the wheels fall of the car!!! LOL

Yes, I would sure think there is something that can be done. I already told her I thought she got taken. I told her to do a Google search on "Dealer Paint Sealants", that will tell you all you need to know.

I am doing a little research on Iowa car buying laws just to see.

[Murr1525]

Yeah, if the car isnt there yet, try and get out of it... or at least the exterior stuff. It is usualy put on at or near the dealership once it is there.

[35th Anniversary SS]

Hopefully that can be adjusted... I dont see why it cannot be changed.

Good luck.

[STG]

I am not aware of any "cooling off" period for new vehicle purchases in Iowa or any other state.

If you sign the contract, you are obligated.

That said, a friend of mine owns a large new car dealership. I've seen his top sales manager "unwind" a deal when the customers started yelling/screaming/crying etc. very publicly in the showroom.

It was more cost-effective to cancel the crazy lady's contract than watch her drive other buyers off the property.

Since you are dealing with your girl friend, chalk up the $825 as a lesson. Don't bring it up, don't mention it ever again to her or her parents.

If you do she will hold it against you in the future. After all, there's nothing quite like implying that she and both parents are too dumb to avoid getting ripped off.

[TrufflePig]

nah something can be done for sure.

you are paying for a product on something you don't have yet. you can defiently get your money back.

make a case for it. i'd go myself and talk to the guy. there is no way they can steal that amount of money without you having the car yet.

that's just ridicilous and such a huge ripoff.

its still cheaper than the $1300 my dealer wanted for rust proff and buff stuff...

haaaaaaaaaaaaa i laughed when i heard that.

imagine $1300 worth of products on ADS. I'd own Meguiars by then.

like some dealers think we're idiots sometimes. really. i feel bad for those that get sucked in.

bro, go fight for your money man. you have every right to get it back.

[Top Down]

I know for a fact that there's no "cool off" period for MA, but you should check for that state. It will actually say on the contract if there's no cool off period (read the fine print!). Once it's signed, it's a done deal. Only the dealer has the option to cancel the contract, and the only time they do that is if you want a different car (one that costs more). Ask if they would apply the $825 towards a different product like an extended warranty or something.

[gb387]

Originally posted by Top Down
I know for a fact that there's no "cool off" period for MA, but you should check for that state. It will actually say on the contract if there's no cool off period (read the fine print!). Once it's signed, it's a done deal. Only the dealer has the option to cancel the contract, and the only time they do that is if you want a different car (one that costs more). Ask if they would apply the $825 towards a different product like an extended warranty or something.

There is a 3 day cooling off period in Iowa, many dealers advertise it as their own policy/a benift when buying from them when in fact the state requires such a policy.

[Cadude]

If she is unable to back out or get her money back, help her understand the fine print of the sealan't's warranty. Anytime, it isn't living up to what was promised, take it back to be corrected. In other words, bug the ____ out of them. I read about one guy that did this after he realized he'd been ripped off. They finally got so tired of him, they refunded his money.

[gb387]

Originally posted by Cadude
If she is unable to back out or get her money back, help her understand the fine print of the sealan't's warranty. Anytime, it isn't living up to what was promised, take it back to be corrected. In other words, bug the ____ out of them. I read about one guy that did this after he realized he'd been ripped off. They finally got so tired of him, they refunded his money.

Sleeping on it last night, thats kind of what I was thinking.... If that is the case we will make sure we get a copy of what its all about.

I was also thinking there is really no way to prove after X amount of months the product is no longer there so how can you really go back on the 7 year warranty?

[CELL]

From my own personal experience, she should ask for a refund.
When I bought my scion tC, they tried to sell me on the same thing. I did a little research on what it was they were using to do all of this "sealing"
To make a long story short...its NOT what they claim it is and doesnt last as long as they claim it does.
Scion is a line of low priced toyotas to appeal to younger drivers.
The base price is so low and the salesman dont make much off the actual sale of the car itself, they make thier money off of "upselling" you on over priced accessory packages and services.

[Mike Phillips]

I just received an e-mail from a gentleman who is purchasing a new boat and the dealer is trying to sell him a sealant that is very expensive.

I've asked this person to post this offer to this thread so we can all investigate the offer and the product.

[SoCalZ71]

GB, In reading your first post, your GF has not taken delivery of the car yet? Correct? If not she has not signed the actual purchase agreement paperwork (usually 6 to 8 signatures on one long carbonless paper). She may have signed a sales agreement stipulating agreed price and deposit but not a formal purchase agreement. Based on my assumptions, your gf can cancel the deal and get a refund of the deposit or renegotiate the deal to exclude the sealant.

Just having gone through something similar, just make sure her terminolgy is accurate with regards to signing documents, essentailly, what docs did she sign? etc.

[the other pc]

Originally posted by gb387
...I was also thinking there is really no way to prove after X amount of months the product is no longer there so how can you really go back on the 7 year warranty?

That's a subtle part of the legalese fine print. They don't really warranty the product, they warranty your paint.

They say that their stuff is so amazing that if you follow all the fine print and your paint does fail within X years they'll fix it for free.

That's not intrinsically a bad thing, it's more a matter of value for your money. They choose their warranty period because modern OEM paint systems will typically last more than X years if you do absolutely nothing to them at all. It's pretty darned unlikely they'll have to pay up. What you're actually paying for is an insurance policy, some really, really, cheap generic finish care product and a bit of "peace of mind". If that's worth $825 to the customer then all's well.

Of course they usually throw in a requirement for regular scheduled maintenance (at that dealer only, for yet more money) of their "permanent protection" that the salesmen never, ever mention and nobody ever follows anyway (because it's all in teeny, tiny print that nobody reads and everybody forgets about the whole thing the second they roll off the showroom floor) so they can refuse to warranty the finish if does happen to fail early.

Most people just sign on the dotted line (hey it's financed!), drive off blissfully, sell the car years before the paint or warranty expire, forget about everything and let the dealer keep the $812.50 profit.


PC.