When I was ordering my new Prius today the salesman sort of sheepishly said he had to show me a video about a paint protection option. The video claimed that recent models of cars have “softer paint” than earlier models, due to environmental regulations requiring water-based paints. Therefore, it claimed, we should pay them to protect the paint from acid rain, bird droppings, salt spray, etc. I know you’ve debinked the need for these add-ons in the past. Is the “softer paint” claim just a new twist to the sales pitch, or is there anything to it. (The video did have the 3 Stooges in it, so I figured I should take it seriously.)
When my wife and I bought her 2006 Sienna we had to listen to the sales pitch for paint protection, interior protection, maintenance agreements, extended warranties, etc. It’s mostly profit for the dealer. Just say no to all of it. Keeping the vehicle clean and waxing it two or three times a year is more than adequate to maintain the paint job. It’s probably a lot easier to wax a Prius than a Sienna too.
Good luck with your new car,
Ed B.
Wonder what they would say if you told them you were going to cancel the order and buy another make of car with better paint? Tell them if the paint is that lousy then that also raises concerns about the rest of the car that the paint is attached to.
The salesman is only doing what he is told to do so don’t get mad at him. The product being pitched is totally unnecessary of course.
It is a crock. I made the mistake of buying this for my new Civic in 1999. When I came back a few years later with faded paint, they refused to live up to the commitment to repair it. Their sales pitch claimed I didn’t need to wax it, so I didn’t wax it as often as I should have. Just wax the car as often as you should and the paint will last just fine.
I wonder what we’d do if a car salesman ever told the truth? If he offered a deal that was actually useful and desirable? Would any of us trust him? We are so accustomed to a dealer’s lies that we scoff at the idea of “soft paint” as an automatic reflex action.
And so it shall be. Anyway, tell him, “Just gimme the car. Nothing extra.” Believe me, you can’t ever go wrong this way.
just use a descent wax polish,like turtlewax, twice a year and you will be fine!plus its best to get a metallic colour,because they have a clear coat laquer,which is tougher than a base colour, and wont go dull,even if you never wax it!and i dont understand why car salesmens lips move when they talk?because they talk out of their behinds! ha ha!good luck with the new car.
Like everything else they offer at the closing, it works by taking money from you and puts it in their pocket.
That soft paint stuff is pure lies.
The Three Stooges were painters on more than one show. They are more qualified than car salesmen are.
This is what I would do. I’d look at them and say "If the paint is so crappy from the factory, I don’t want anything to do with a car like that, then get up and leave.
So, according to the Three Stooges, Toyota can’t get the painto to be durable but the dealer’s body shop can?
Wow. This is a new low in scams.
It’s bull. Period. Back in the late '70s - early '80s, when low VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) water-based paints were mandated, a few manufacturers (GM in particular) had difficulty getting the process down and their paints peeled off in sheets. But that has been long since solved. And there was no after-manufacture cure. Toyota never had the problem. My '89 pickup’s original paint was in great shape (sans the beating I gave it) even after 18 years. I waxed it occasionallly.