I have a Rav4 that is appox 5 weeks old. I have a couple of samll chips in the paint 2 on the hood 1 on the door. What should I expect from the dealer? I am very disappointed with the paint quality.
Paint chips are not the fault of the dealer or Toyota and has nothing to do with the quality of the paint.
Chips are caused by flying rocks, bugs, and morons in parking lots swinging doors open while being totally oblivous of the car next to them.
This is not a warrantable repair that the dealer or Toyota will, or should, pay for.
What should I expect from the dealer? I am very disappointed with the paint quality.
You should expect that the dealer will have touchup paint available in the right color for you to buy.
No paint is immune to chips when it gets hit with a rock etc.
That is NOT the fault of the dealer or Toyota. Small stones or even bugs can take paint off.
Now my 1977 Aspen…that was a different story…Driving down the road one day and all of a sudden I was getting the debris flying up on my windshield which the wipers didn’t have much of an effct on. I pulled over and noticed that half the paint on my hood had pealed off. Luckily the car was only 3 months old and it was repainted by the dealer.
I also have a 2007 Rav4 (black). I bought it in June and within 3 weeks I noticed paint swirls due to bird droppings! See attachment…Since it was a new car I washed it weekly and removed bird doo the very same day it happened. I brought it to the service manager who pronouced the paint officially etched. He tried to rub it out with a compound to no avail. He said it was not covered in the warranty…actually the warranty says nothing about bird doo. The car also developed scratches from spray via a garden hose. I did wash the car and tried to use a paint cleaner I bought from the dealer. It helped a bit, but not with the etched areas. I called the dealer back and spoke to the General Manager - he promised me that a Toyota rep would call me. It’s been weeks. So I called the Customer Experience Center and opened a case. The phone rep. said that it most likely would not be covered by the warranty. she mentioned that whenever Toyota switched to water-based paint the problems surfaced, especially on white an black vehicles. She said those colors do not get clear coat. I have the feeling that they are getting many complaints about the paint jobs. I love the car, but can’t stand to look at the paint.
I agree with the others. Even if you had purchased a Rolls-Royce, flying rocks and clumsily opened doors will lead to paint chips that are not the fault of the manufacturer.
In a similar vein, if a flying rock chipped your windshield, would you blame Toyota for that occurrence? If a passenger accidentally cut the upholstery, would you blame Toyota?
As long as the paint was in good shape when you took delivery ogf the car (and I have to assume that it was), then chipping of the paint afterward is not something that any car manufacturer is responsible for.
Ditto to what everyone else said. Now get some touchup paint ASAP and touch those bald spots before they start to rust.
Hold on guys. Tree329 may not have explained the problem adequately.
Tree329, describe the problem a bit better. Is it flaking or is the paint really chipped? As the other posters correctly pointed out, chips are due to mechanical damage and should not be repaired under warranty. Flaking paint, on the other hand, may be warrantied.
I guess i am lucky…just traded in my 97 black RAV and there were the expected minor chips in the paint on the leading edge of the hood and no obvious blemishes in the paint… also have a '05 and there are no paint problems.
who said it ever got hit? i mean it couldve, but paint can not necessarily chip, but be too thin just because newer cars are being made faster, and there are robots painting them too fast, paint on cars these days aint half as thick as it used to be.
Sometimes when they paint the car the primer is not strong enough to hold the paint or the primer is layer on to thin. It could also be that the paint put on was too thick. It is found common if the car has been repainted from its original color.
This would not be due to the deal or Toyota, but maybe if you go back to the deal he cut you off on a offer.
I have a new 2008 Rav4 & have multiple stone chips on the front end of the vehicle. Local Toyota dealer says I must be driving in areas with road construction. Have been driving the same road to work for 14 years with no paint problems on past 3 cars.
Met a chap who is in the automotive paint supply business. He said the issue with newer European & Japanese cars is that they now use an acrylic/waterbased paint coat which cannot take impact like the older paints. Rav 4’s are built in Japan.
If this is the case Toyota should install the clear plastic protection film they install on rocker panels & other leading areas of the car.