dealer new cars in the sun...

Hey, today was a sunny Saturday, so went for a ride on my bike, after a while went to try out the cycle path next to Gore hill Freeway, North Ryde direction, lots of dark, blind corners and heaps of gardening bark washed on the path... don't corner too hard

then before the 'Freeway Hotel' in Artarmon, in a fenced off empty land, I saw this new shiny new CRV with its alloy wheels wrapped in plastic, then saw a clean, late model Odyssey parked next to it, with its rims wrapped as well, then more and more other current Honda's... Euro's, Civics’ you name it, though i didn't see a type R, but each of them were nice and shiny, with its rims covered.

I was like what... I bet these are new cars to be delivered to customers, but how can Honda allow them to be out in the sun like that... there are just too many things consumers don't know before they pick up their new car, oh ok so the dealers can just give the cars another wash, coat of wax, freshen up the interior and deliver it to customers...

maybe I'm wrong, maybe something happened that disrupted the logistics process for the Honda's to be temporarily relocated, but disappointed how they handled it, anyway, I'll take some photos later, didn't bring my camera, not even a phone to the ride


Laters

Oh is this the right place to post this? I couldn't find a general area, might as well put it in my local area :P


Blitzen

yep this happens all the time. Its hard to get enough under cover space to house all these new cars.

Happens to every car brand (except those brought in under SEVS like Ferrari). Go to the port near the harbour and you can see ALL the cars entering Australia being parked in the open next to the seawater. :)

I think all new cars are delivered with a thick layer of wax (or something) on the top side that gets blasted off with high pressure hoses. That protects the car prior to presentation stage.

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Originally Posted by V205

I think all new cars are delivered with a thick layer of wax (or something) on the top side that gets blasted off with high pressure hoses. That protects the car prior to presentation stage.

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No, it is a protective plastic film that is PEELED off by hand.

and those plastics are just covering the roof, bonnet and boot.

to reduce sun damage on them..

lol who cares about a couple of days of sun exposure neway? even with a new car, unless its a ferrari or sumthing, i doubt many owners are so fussy as to be concerned about such a small period of the car being outside and its not like its gonna cause any harm. i know the argument could be made that people are expecting a 'new' car so want something perfect but surely noone is that obsessive. besides, dealers are always careful to ensure cars delivered to customers look their very best.

at the end of the day, its a car, its gonna end up in the sun sooner or later :p

It's better than in the US. Cars are delivered by train there and sometimes accidents do happen and the dealer gets panel beaters to fix it up before being sold as new cars to unsuspecting buyers. At least one Acura owner has experienced that with their TSX.

What is really wrong is when dealers let people test drive a car and then sell it to someone else as NEW.

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Originally Posted by Alpine

What is really wrong is when dealers let people test drive a car and then sell it to someone else as NEW.

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So a car with 30kms is not new? Most people will travel further than that getting the car home? As long as the dealer is transparent and ensures the car is in showroom condition why does it matter?

In regards to cars being out in the open, Patrick have a holding yard at Ingleburn which houses thousands of cars. They sit there for up to 10 days, along with up to 3 days at the Glebe docks. The time spent at a dealers holding yard is actually less than time spent on the docks. The manufacturer covers cars in plastic which can be kept on the car for up to 3 months. I've seen many many cars leave our showroom in amazing condition after being on our yard for up to 3 months. It's all in the preparation.

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Originally Posted by m0nty ITR

So a car with 30kms is not new? Most people will travel further than that getting the car home? As long as the dealer is transparent and ensures the car is in showroom condition why does it matter?

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So you will happily spend $30k maybe $40k of your hard earned cash on a brand new car which unbeknownst to you has been redlined and flogged by someone on a test drive?

If I was looking for such a car, I would buy a demo and save abit off a new car price!

But if I am going to pay for a new car, that is exactly what I want - a new car which has not been test driven by a potential customer.

So yes. It does matter.

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Originally Posted by Alpine

So you will happily spend $30k maybe $40k of your hard earned cash on a brand new car which unbeknownst to you has been redlined and flogged by someone on a test drive?

If I was looking for such a car, I would buy a demo and save abit off a new car price!

But if I am going to pay for a new car, that is exactly what I want - a new car which has not been test driven by a potential customer.

So yes. It does matter.

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I agree. as anal as it sounds, there is a clear difference *in my mind at least* between brand new and demonstration/showroom displays.

even though the brand new car would have been stuck in the yard, under the elements.... at least that can be touched up/washed/waxed. and besides, like somebody said, it's an unavoidable thing that will happen eventually. my girlfriend collected her car when it was pouring cats and dogs. so there goes the hard work and keeping it in the showroom under lock and key.

on the other hand. having somebody stomp the accelerator like a maniac to test the responsiveness, or fiddle around with the switches, or having kids play with the car's interior.... and then selling it to me as a brand new. I wouldn't be too pleased. but if it's sold to me as a demonstration model, I can't expect much, but would hope for it to be cheaper than it being brand new, AND maybe an extended warranty thrown in. at least that's what you get back home. :p

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Originally Posted by aaronng

It's better than in the US. Cars are delivered by train there and sometimes accidents do happen and the dealer gets panel beaters to fix it up before being sold as new cars to unsuspecting buyers. At least one Acura owner has experienced that with their TSX.

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Aaronng, do you have a link to this story?

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Originally Posted by aaronng

It's better than in the US. Cars are delivered by train there and sometimes accidents do happen and the dealer gets panel beaters to fix it up before being sold as new cars to unsuspecting buyers. At least one Acura owner has experienced that with their TSX.

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If you live in a place where cars have to be delivered by ship, train or truck, then quite a few get damaged. In Darwin, the local crash repairers make their bread and butter from repairing "new" cars that have been delivered to dealers with transport damage. One of my tenants is a crash repairer and he does "new" Fords and Toyotas. When sold to the public, no mention is made of the repairs.

I wonder if withholding this information is a lawful practice?

why do people care it's under the sun for xx amount of days anyway? It gets a full detail with it before you pick it up anyways

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Originally Posted by Zdster

Aaronng, do you have a link to this story?

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tsx.acurazine.com. Got to search.

It's from there. There was a freight train that derailed and had TSXs on board. Similar to the ship carrying Mazda3s that sunk. In this case, Acura repaired those TSXs and sold them as new cars.

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Originally Posted by aaronng

No, it is a protective plastic film that is PEELED off by hand.

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So exactly when is this plastic filmed applied? Would the car be immaculately clean when the film is applied?

Also, if a car was sitting out in a car yard, covered in this plastic film, during the massive storms Melbourne had on March 7th this year, is it possile that you won't see minor hail damage until the plastic film was removed?

i'm 100% unsurprised by this - it's only a Honda after all...

Sometimes when you buy new cars, you can also tell that things aren't right - i reckon mine may have had it's bumper damaged (u can see repairs)

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p...s/IMG_2596.jpg

The protective plastic is really thin so if hail damage were present you would be a dumb **** to not realize it and it does not cover all of the panels, from memory they only cover a majority and leave bits and pieces so bonnet, boot and roof would be covered, can't remember doors or pillars