It’s exciting that you are collecting your new car and the delivery date is nearing, but more often than not, you may have not taken into account how your new pride and joy is going to be prepared for collection, after possibly travelling halfway across the world.
The vehicle preparation is critical to your paint condition.
Between leaving the factory and arriving at the showroom, your new car has been on an open transporter, then a ship overseas... then in a holding area upon arrival then... back onto an open transporter. When it’s finally delivered to the showroom it needs to be prepared for your collection.
The question you need to ask is, is the showroom going to prepare my new car properly?
We see car’s delivered in an immaculate condition and others in a very questionable state.
How does the showroom prepare your car?
The car showroom will receive your car with all it’s cellophane wrapping still on the interior and exterior, which has been applied to help prevent damage in transport.
This cellophane is designed to be easily removed without leaving much, if any, residue as it’s most likely been applied without any adhesives, but rather clings to the car via static. But you may sometimes have weak adhesive around the corners of the sheets.
Firstly they will remove all the cellophane and packaging before moving your new car into the wash bay. Your new car is washed to remove all the contaminants picked from transport. If your car was on the lower quarters of the transporter it can be surprisingly dirty when it arrives at the showroom.
The wash bays can differ massively from dealer to dealer, some bays being immaculately clean and tidy whereas others are no better than the local £10 hand wash with dirty rags and gritty sponges.
It’s important to grill the dealer on how your car is going to be prepared. The very fact that you are asking the questions may help them look after your car better on arrival. Showing that you have an understanding of paint defects will help.
Ask the question will the car be prepared with other cars coming in for a service or do you have a separate wash bays for the new cars?
Ideally, you want to avoid your new car being washed with the cars coming in for service.
What’s the best way to receive my car?
Let’s say you want the full experience of collecting your car from the showroom, looking incredible on collection day however you also know that the showroom may not prepare the car to your standards and you really don’t want to risk your car having marring and swirls across the paint.
You can actually ask the dealer if you could arrange to have Swank Wash® come and prepare your car before collection so then you have the best of both worlds. A collection day to remember and peace of mind knowing your car has been prepared by Swank Wash with all the protection professionally applied. It will more than likely cost less than the so-called protection the dealership is trying to sell you. Often the protection the dealership is trying to sell you is a spray-on polymer sealant that typically lasts no longer than six months in our experience.
The other alternative is that you get your new car delivered directly to your home with the packaging still on and you can book in a Swank Wash and we will come and prepare your car on your driveway. The services suitable are our ½ day Swank and full-day Swank.
To sum up
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You really need to ask your dealer how your car is going to be prepared and find out if they have the ability and skills to prepare your car without marring the paint
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Don’t opt for the paint protection the showroom offers you as it’s often overpriced, and poor quality. You would be surprised how often we visit cars that have no protection applied despite paying for the protection packages
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If you don’t feel comfortable that the dealer can prepare your car properly arrange for Swank Wash to visit the showroom ahead of collection for the collection day experience or have the car delivered directly without any preparation from the dealership.