Who had the dealer skip prep on your new car delivery?

[ksoze]

Will be taking delivery later next month of a Jerez black E93 M3. Plan on being meticulous with washing, etc while I have it - both because that color needs it and I like doing it

I am concerned however about the dealer prep guys doing their initial wash and whatever they do for new car delivery. I know that color will show any evidence of a dirty sponge or towel and from what I have seen at the back lot prep area of most dealers, there is not much two bucket washes going on.

How many of you asked for the car to be left unwashed during initial delivery? If you did not, how was the quality or damage of prep? Did you send to a detailer immediately after delivery?

[sensi09]

Asking the dealer not to wash it should be a simple request, but I believe much of the prep is done at the VPC, which may even include a wash.

[dirtyfreebooter]

I asked for no wash, no front plate.

Then, since Co's BMW sucks, they couldn't manage a PDI on a Saturday, so mine sat outside until Monday, and we got 8 inches of snow on Sunday... so someone at least scraped snow off and hosed it down, because they put it inside, but it had snow dirt all over it. So, in the end, I was pissed. Whatever I guess. Paint was still flawless after my initial clay and wax.

[DBH]

I only asked that they not wash once. I usually ask to see the service/wash area whenever I shop at a new dealership. If it's neat and clean, I'm generally confident that new car prep will be okay. However, I always make sure to tell the sales guy and the manager beforehand that I will not accept delivery of a car with any swirls or marks, period. This seems to work - or maybe I've just been lucky.

[RandyB]

No dealer prep here in terms of washing. They will never wash mine and for good reason. I had to clay bar it right off the bat - lots of contaminants from shipping.

[kaykay]

Make sure they take your shipping blocks off, they left mine in there.

Dealers don't care about customers after they've signed the paperwork.

[duk]

i just asked them to clean the interior and remove packaging, no exterior car wash

[MJM]

My E90 M3 is due to the dealer by the end of the month. I have asked them to not install the front plate mount, do not remove any plastic covering from the interior and only perform a quick wash to examine for any shipping damage. My detailer will then perform a complete detail and then install a Ventureshield over the entire front end.

MJM

[TTG]

They only gassed up mine.... No wash, no prep, no detail & etc. She has zero swirls :-)

[PKL]

I had them do a wash and wax, I trust them for a new M3 delivery. No front plate

[kitw]

My paint was nasty when I got my car, tons of swirls, etc. Had to spend some quality time with Menzerna and Mr. 2474, but got most of the swirls out.

Jerez is a beeyeotch!

[Navypat46]

I had the prep done, but they couldn't find the GPS code or whatever it was for the navi so I had to go home from Seattle w/o navigation. Wasn't bad, but seriously...for a car of this caliber, EVERYTHING should have been up and working.

[yamahuh]

I requested no wash, no front plate, no dealer logo's, and no one driving it. It had 8 miles on it.

[dghdgh]

My car was deliverd in a disgusting state. Delivery wax, mud inside and a number of issues.

[ksoze]

Was this AFTER dealer prep?

[half man half amazin]

I let them wash mine because it's silverstone. But if I had black I would not allow them to wash it. I learned that the hard way on my Lexus ( black) the dealer washed it after an oil change and it was swirl city!!! Never again with a black car. Way too much hassle.

[1cleanm6]

My car arrived at dealer around 3pm i think, I was so eager to get the car asap, if they detailed it I would have to pick it up next day.

SOOO i told them not to touch it im on my way...

No biggie took it to my friends detail shop next day and got a nice detail

[BMRLVR]

I told my dealer not to remove the shipping plastic or clean or wash my car in anyway!

[TTG]

Originally Posted by BobsM3Coupe

I didn't even let them put gas in it. At delivery, they gave me a gas coupon and I went up the street from the dealer and filled it up with Shell 91. Even though the exterior wasn't really dirty since it only travelled about 135 miles on the enclosed delivery truck from the VPC in Oxnard, I gave it a bath when I got it home and I also removed all the plastic from the seats, floor protector and other decals from the exterior of the windows. From dropoff at dealer till I picked it up was 3 hours. The tech did the PDI, test rode it for 5 miles (they use a standard route for all test rides) and I picked it up with 8 miles on the clock. Car was as perfect as it could be.

Mine was a ED car and they had to do safety inspection and check for damages.... That is when she was gassed up. The GM of the dealer personally brought my car from storage 5 hours she was unloaded from the truck and made me sign a waiver that I did not want anything done besides safety inspection..... She was not even that dirty after making a trip across the ocean..... There was less than a mile put on the odometer from what i dropped it off with..... I was ultra happy with my dealer

[JAJ]

I picked my SG 08 E92 M3 up at the dealer on March 26, 2008 - it was one of the first ones delivered by this dealer. While I was waiting on the paperwork, the dealership's new car detailer came out to talk to me. I told him he'd done a great job polishing it (no swirl marks anywhere). He said he hadn't polished it; he'd washed the car and that was it. No polish, no wax, no nothing else. It was stunning. His advice - always wash by hand, use the BMW washing soap, and don't do anything else, ever.

Three years on, having followed his advice to the letter, it still just glows. Water beads up like new. No swirls, even on the carbon fiber roof.

[Snow M3]

I picked my car from the showroom so it had 12mi on it and perfectly clean. Paint is flawless and the inside was clean. Full tank of gas. I took it in for the CF rear spoiler, which was negotiated with the purchase and it came back clean again. They did break the small lip spoiler that came with the car. I was upset about that but they told me that if often gets broken when taking it off. Is that true? I now have a little spoiler that is broken at the 3/4 mark. I wonder if I can repair it, refinish, and repaint or wrap in CF to sell or give away. Of course I'd divulge that it was broken and restored. Any thoughts?

[Snow M3]

The true "hand" wash technique makes a lot of sense. I always figured that using a sponge or even a microfiber cloth was bad for the paint. With your own bare hands, no dirt gets trapped in your hands if you rinse as you wipe the car. It takes longer because you're limited by the size of your hand but it's worth it. Cloth just traps debris and dirt and you're swirling all that over the paint as you wash. So far the service at my local dealership has been good so I will keep trusting them for now with the occasional service related wash. Next one is the initial 1200? 1400mi? service, which at this rate, will be this fall.