Just curious if dealers are oblligated by law to remove the plastic packaging on new cars. I will be picking up my 05 in a couple of weeks and the dealer informs me that there is no way he can leave the plastic on for me as it's unsafe to drive with it on. I'm willing to let him remove the plastic if he must, but I would much prefer to leave it on and to be able to peel it off myself when I get home.

While on the subject of picking up a new car from the dealership, how many miles should honda mechanics be putting on the car when they do PDI? My dealer informs me that my brand new '05 might come with up to 20 miles on the odometer after his techs test it. This makes me a little uneasy. 20 miles seems like a little too much. Any thoughts?

 

There have been posts in this forum from years ago where owners have taken delivery of their brand new S2000s with all the wrapping still on it. The owner was the one who removed the film. Your dealer is just being stupid. I guess they've forgotten that "the customer is always right".

As for mileage on the car. It can have up to 20 right off the boat. The dealer techs have no reason to drive the car for more than just around the block. I've heard horror stories of the "lot boy" going for joy rides in brand new cars, even the odd story of cars doing burn outs in the back of the dealer lot.

It may be too late now, but you should have had it in the contract that you will only buy this car if the wrapping is on at the time of deliver and that mileage off the car carrier be documented and no more than X miles from that point on. You wanna bet they would have obliged you if they thought you'd walk if you couldn't get your way?

Dealers! With the exception of a rare few, they are jokes.

 

where are you picking up the car?

i have never heard a dealer say that (of course they can say it!)

my s2000 had 7 miles when i got it- no idea why a dealer would need to test drive a car for several miles. just bought an odyssey that had 20 miles on it cause the dealer had to go get it from another dealer that was 12 miles away (we wanted a specific color that another dealer had and were willing to let them drive it). bought my cars from two different honda dealers in l.a. area.

 

Thanks for the info, xviper. Thankfully I have not purchased the vehicle yet - I've only put down a small deposit to ensure that the vehicle will be allocated to me as soon as it arrives. Should I call them and see if I can get something in writing? What is the best way to get them to meet my demands?

As you said, many dealers are just stupid and like to make up their own set of rules. However, the person I am purchasing this vehicle from is a well-respected s2ki member who has sold many cars to our members. After I politely asked for my car to be delivered in the plastic with no more miles than what it came with off the truck, he responded that there is absolutely no way my demands could be met. Arghh. I'm driving rather far away to get this car and I want it delivered in the manner I request.

What is an acceptable amount of mileage a brand new s2000 should come with?

 

is this matt piercy?

or can you tell us who it is?

very surprised that it could be someone who is on the boards-
i can only guess that they are worried that you might have to drive a ways before removing the film and plastic- have you told them that you intend to remove most of it there? and if they really want, you will take it home in your trunk? !!! (hopefully they will let you throw it away there)

might just be a communication issue.
how about sending them this thread?

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just reread your initial post- i bet he is concerned that you will drive it home, cause there is some potential risk there. it is best to remove it before driving it- we used to have a checklist for folks who wanted to do it themselves... donno where it went!

i wonder if a compromise would be that they remove all wrappings, but do not wash the car- does that work for both of you??

 

This information comes to me as a bit of a surprise and and shock considering that a member of this forum would understand the uniqueness of certain S2000 enthusiasts. It's just too bad that those threads with the pictures I spoke of is from the version of the site from near the beginning of its history and searching that far back may prove uneventful.
The only reason I can see that a dealer MUST remove the wrapping is to ensure that there aren't any covered up flaws. Of course, you could make arrangements to take delivery of the car and have the wrapper taken off while you witness and document it for yourself. Might even be a worthwhile thing to record on digicam for posterity. As for the test drive, I can see absolutely no reason why any dealer would need to put any significant sort of mileage on the car before delivery. PDI is generally a clean up and fluid check and short spin to make sure nothing is odd. After all, they drove it in Japan before putting it on the boat. Only if there is something weird, would they need a more extensive test drive, in which case, wouldn't you like to know what the issue was?
If it is a small enough deposit, I'm willing to be that if you go to another dealership in the area with your sales receipt to show you have actually got dibs on a car, that new dealership may in fact, grant you what you want AND give the car to you for that much less purchase price just to get your business. You may have to do a bit of footwork. And if you do find such a dealer and conclude the sale, tell the current dealer to keep the deposit. Then post a new thread here to tell all of your experience and give a plug for the new dealer.

You might find these useful:
https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.ph...topic=8326&hl=
https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.ph...opic=46426&hl=

 

This is a weird situation. There is a Cadillac dealer in Massachusetts that puts I think 100 or 1000 miles (I can't remember exactly how much) on every one of their cars before they allow them to be sold. They even say so in their advertising. Supposedly, it's so that if there is anything wrong with the car they will find the defect during this "dealer break in" period. Frankly, I always felt it was a load of . I really don't see why this dealer refuses to concede to your requests.

 

Here's the issue as I see it. Before you sign for the car and drive it off, you should make a full inspection of the body to look for scratches, dents, etc. If the car is covered in plastic, or it's dark out, or it's raining and the car is wet, you can't do that very well. I would never sign for a car without making a full inspection. As soon as you drive it off the lot, you own it and all the imperfections it may have. Wouldn't it suck to find a dent while peeling off the plastic??

If you're worried about the dealer doing a lousy job washing the car and potentially scratching it, then ask them to peel the plastic but not wash the car. Whatever arrangement you agree on, just make sure you can see every square inch of the paint and sheet metal and it's flawless.

I saw my S2K right after it came off the truck, with the plastic, spring spacers, etc. They prepped the car so I could test drive it a couple days later. After my test drive, the car had about 17 miles on it. I took delivery about 6 hours later. So while the car wasn't virgin when I bought it, it was virgin when I first saw it and I can account for all the miles and activity pre-purchase. That made me feel pretty good.

CRaig

 

This is their way of getting "demos" and not losing a single red cent. If they had to sell them as demos, they would lose thousands.

 

Here is my .02

I just got my 05 S2K back in July. My dad and I actually went in at the same time and he bought a 05 Accord V6 coupe and I finalized the deal on my 05. His car was on the lot, mine was not. They were supposed to get a shipment in with a red one soon, but that eventually got pushed back so they went ahead and dealer traded for one. When it got there about a week after I finalized the deal, I was so excited except it had 87 miles on it. I start to look around the car and there is a rock chip on the hood and something else that could not be rubbed off. Then I proceed to look on the back bumper and there are two small scratches. Needless to say, I was . I then told them that I will wait until my car comes in off the truck and that I don't want them to remove ANY of the plastic. They said that was OK. ANOTHER week went by and it finally came in. I go to pick it up and this baby was wrapped up nice in her plastic. The only plastic they removed was the windshield so they could see, and whatever was on the soft top. I thought about driving it home with everything still on, but I didn't want to risk some of the plastic bouncing around and scratching up my paint (not very possible, but I didn't want to take the risk). So the salesman, myself, and my dad all took off the plastic on the body and inspected it to make sure everything was copasetic. Then I took her home and cleaned her up and boy was she looking sexy. Sorry it was such a long post, but that is my story. Good luck on getting yours. Don't let the excitement get in the way of any possible defects on your S2K.