Purchased a 2015 Honda Fit with 10 miles on it. A few days later, I got a minor ding and took it to the body shop to price out getting it removed. Body shop told me (and the dealer later and quite reluctantly confirmed) that the passenger door had been repainted! Dealer thinks this was done by Honda at the port of entry but I'm waiting for verification of this claim. Final resolution with dealer has yet to be reached but a warning to other buyers. Apparently, Honda will do this on new cars that get damaged and if it's less than $500, they don't even tell the dealer. I'm still hot under the collar but hopeful that dealer will extend warranty on the paint job or take other measures to my satisfaction.

 

was the paint job that they did or the repairs that they did poor?

 

Paint job was fine I guess but as the body shop (and the dealer also admitted), a repaint job is never as good as factory paint. My fear is that down the road, the repainted door will be begin to fade, peel, etc. Plus, I hate getting scammed by Honda.

 

Unfortunately this is common practice in the auto industry.

 

Yes, both manufacturers and dealers routinely repaint dings and sell the car as new, because technically it is new. No such thing as a "blem" car!

 

I am confused. Did the "ding" happen after you took the car home, or did it happen while at the port of entry? The concept of needing to repaint an entire panel is nothing new. If the damage can not be pulled out (like hail damage for instance), and body work is needed, they will paint the particular body panel the damage is located on. What you really want to avoid is needing the entire car repainted (which can happen if your car is keyed on both sides by someone). It never looks right, in my opinion.

Of course, I may be thinking about what happens if they need to "replace" a body panel, not repair one. I do remember once a guy who was hanging out in the parking lot of a business where I worked, who would offer to repair small "dings" in peoples car, while in the parking lot. He would drill a hole, pull out the dent, then fill with some sort of epoxy, sand it down, and arrange to come back and paint the work later. He was a gypsy who apparently make a living doing this.

 

The ding happened after he purchased the car. This led to him taking the car to a body shop which then told him the door had been previously repaired.

 

Know exactly how you feel.
Honda isn't the only one. Majority of the mfg's do it when port damage occurs. MB, BMW, Porsche, Lexus, VW, Nissan, Toyota etc...............
However, it won't apply to Bentley, FErrari, Rolls Royce, Bugatti and the like. They ship each car in its own separate container!!!!!!

 

Well, now I know at least. Next time I get a new car, I'll make sure to order it to arrive in a cardboard box! Thanks everyone for the comments.

 

Now that I re-read the post, it makes perfect sense. Thanks for the clarifying comments. I must have been having a "senior moment".

 

I passed an automobile delivery truck yesterday, and each of the cars was completely covered in a white plastic cover. At first I just assumed they were new models being transported incognito. Then I saw the brand, "Maserati". Your next car will need to be between 70,000-150,000, in order to get that kind of treatment!

 

Honda had allot of paint issues on these fits which delayed the launch.

 

I've seen Audis transported like that too, which aren't absurdly expensive.

 

Did you find out why passenger door was re-painted?


What did body shop see to determine that door was re-sprayed?


I've also read/heard that painting at ports is a common practice done by most mfgs.

 

I'm still waiting for an official explanation from Honda and/or the dealer as to why the door was repainted. I'm hoping it was just do to a minor scratch and not something like a forklift driven into the side of the car...... I do want to get
documentation on the original damage so that when I eventually sell the car, I
can show a buyer that the door was not repainted due to the car being in an
accident.

The body shop guy immediately spotted the repaint. He pointed out two things to me: first was a tiny speck of dust that was embedded in the clear coat. second was a subtle difference in the texture of the paint between the 2 doors. Once he showed me, I could see it, but otherwise I'd have never known in a million years.

 

pull the door panel and look at the door skin. if it was in fact a simple scratch, then the skin won't be damaged.

 

Or at least until the different paints started to age differently with time. The factory paint and the paint used for repairs are different formulations.

 

OK, here is the final word: the dealer checked with Honda and was told that they had no records of any damage to the car or having repainted the door at the POE. The service mgr suggested I take my car to their body shop and have them measure the thickness of the paint on the door. I did this, and the thickness was the same as on the rest of the car. Apparently, if the door had been repainted, it would have been considerably thicker than factory paint. I found similar confirmation of this point on a couple of sources via Google so I don't think I was getting a snow job. So, I am relieved that I have only factory paint on the car. I think the local (non-Honda) body shop guy thought the door was repainted due to a tiny dust speck on the specific door. I'm going to leave the speck alone as it's pretty much invisible. The moral of this story, for me at least, is next time I buy a new car, I'm going to insist that the paint be measured all of the car as it's pretty clear that Honda wouldn't necessarily inform the dealer of repainting done prior to delivery of the car to the dealer. Dealer's overall response was very courteous and positive, so I'm happy that this turned out to be a non-problem.

 

Well, Honda was having quality issues with the paint so that could account for the dust under the clearcoat. What is odd though is that the dealer originally confirmed that the door had been repaired only to say the opposite later. Regardless, if the paint thickness is the same on the door as the rest of the car then it hasn't been repainted.

 

Having worked for a new car dealer a couple of years after high school, I saw more than a few cars banged up and repaired prior to sale (vandalism, parking lot collisions, unloading off the car hauler, etc.)