2016 Quicksand Paint Defect

Traded in my FJ Cruiser for a '16 Quicksand Tacoma TRD Off Road Double Cab MT. Very happy with how it drives until 12 days into the ownership when I found paint defects on bumper from factory. There are two blue/black spots each about 3-4 inches long by 1/3 inches wide on the front bumper. These two spots are obviously bad painting process! And two paint hairline cracks each about 3 inches long along right headlight. These are not the injection moulding line, and not shadows from the protection film and the protection film was applied by dealer without knife at all. See pictures for the defects. I couldn't see this indoor when I took delivery but as soon as I parked in sunlight, it's clearly blue-ish. Called the dealer and Toyota 1-800 number, it's covered under warranty, dealer scheduled appointment for repair on March 7. Estimated repair time is 4 days with loaner provided. But here are my questions, asking for opinion...

1) How could such defect even leave the factory!? Clearly I have protection film applied at dealer so there is no way I can cause the issue.

2) Since the bumper has to come off for respraying, and it does go into vehicle service record that bumper has come off and resprayed, will this hit my resale value? I'm very concerned about this since I was really OCD about maintenance on my FJ Cruiser to get such a good resale price.

3) Since it has to be resprayed, and it will not get the same pattern/texture/paint finish from factory? I demanded $700 compensation and/or factory extended warranty after the repair. Is this number fair?

4) Also, if the texture finish is bad, I demanded a new bumper painted from factory, is this possible? Dealer was also pondering looking up a new truck replacement but '16 Quicksand Tacoma OR DC MT is not on the lot anywhere, minimum 6 weeks to find one. Which option is sensible?

5) Is there anyone with experience on repainting Quicksand and how it holds up who can chime in? How durable and how will the paint finish look like?

 

You demanded $700? How'd that work out for ya?

 

The case manager and the dealer are looking at compensation right now. They accept both option as a possible compensation. The extended warranty may be their option. I believe $700 or extended warranty are appropriate numbers for which I will take the hit on resale value as vehicle record will show that bumper has been resprayed. Also, there is no guarantee that the repainted surface will hold, so I think warranty is a fair game. I'm sorry for being OCD about this, but I take care of my car seriously, that's why I only lost 5% in depreciation after 4.5 years on FJ Cruiser.

 

Toyota doesn't own you anything but a properly painted rear bumper. You accepted the wrap job from them 2 weeks ago. Why the hurt feelings, Toyota didn't do it on purpose. They'll fix it.

 

What's the hit on resale value if the vehicle service record/CARFAX shows that my bumper has been resprayed?

 

I would imagine zero. Factory defect.

 

But that means my car has had defect and repaired that is not factory original in the service record, no? Also, there's no way to get that texture back, no guarantee that paint finish will be factory like, or guarantee that paint will be smooth like factory finish.

 

If your dealership is nice enough to compensate you a warranty take it. That's actually pretty cool for them if they do it. Most probably wouldn't.

 

The Toyota Customer Center and the regional office are now involved too, so we'll see.

 

I'm no expert by any means, but a simple respray of the bumper, or even replacement, shouldn't have any effect on re sale with a warranty issue.

 

That looks terrible. You should get rid of the truck.

 

There are spots like that in my engine bay too, it's just where the spray didn't get everywhere. It's not really in a visible spot on my truck, so whatever. It's a $30k pickup, not a $100k Porsche. I don't have high expectations for the fit and finish of a Toyota ...

If you want to get the fascia resprayed I wouldn't imagine it won't affect resale unless it's a really dicked up spray job. Plus, since you have a non-metallic color it is real easy to match. This means only that panel has to be painted. If it were metallic the panel and up to 1/2 of the surrounding panels would need to be painted so the metallic flakes would blend properly.

If they agree to spray the fascia I'd let them. Dealerships typically have great body shops that are responsible for repairing vehicles to factory standards, which the same can not be said of all private body shops around ...

 

... All smooth takes is clear coat and then wet sanding + polish ... any decent body shop can do this just fine. When the paint doesn't end up smooth it's because they didn't wetsand/polish properly. Most modern paints will lay out real smooth anyways and require very little wetsanding to even out.

 

Won't affect Carfax because it's not due to an accident.

Also agree with Joe, good paint shops can match 100%.

 

Thanks for all comments. The dealer did say that they can paint it, but it will not be 100% to the factory standard, close, but not 100%. That's why I mentioned to them that I will not be happy until it's factory standard. Clearly this is not dealer's fault, but I have to put them through this. The texture on the bumper though, will they get it back after sanding? That's why I also mentioned that they should have just replaced with a pre-painted front bumper from factory.

Also, I agree that paint finish cannot be 100% and I didn't expect a Porsche quality. But these are on the outside and it's clearly visible, I can see it everyday. I had other cars with paint in the engine bay not 100% perfect, but you don't see that.

If I'm lucky there might be another Quicksand on the lot so that I can compare after the repair.

When I resold my FJ Cruiser, I got asked "has the car been resprayed before?" Then if the time to resell this Tacoma comes, should my answer be "yes" and take the hit on resale value? That's my biggest concern on resale value, CARFAX and service record.

 

IMO, I wouldn't bother fixing that. Getting the whole bumper repainted to fix something so minor is a risk. I doubt the finish will be like OEM. I'm not ragging on you--just my 2 cents.

 

You would be shocked, maybe even down right sick to your stomach as to how much damage the dealer can fix and not be legally obligated to tell you. Let them fix your bumper and be happy. You are not obligated to ever tell any one the bumper was repainted because it was not a crash or incident reported as an insurance claim