PCP Contracts, Discounts and Salesmen [HELP]

[stuartrendall]

Only thing worth having would be 2 year saving plan at £199 which is a no brainer. Paint protection not worth it at all and a rip off imo.

Agreed, most likely won't cover paint chips or scratches so pointless when the car comes with paint warranty as standard.

[monkeyhanger]

Update:

Contacted the salesman regarding the services and/or warranty packages I’ve signed up for and this is the response:

“Essentially you have 4 years warranty, 2 years roadside and breakdown cover & a 2 year service plan.
With regards to the paint protection it is a life time guarantee on the interior and exterior.

For both products all documentation is supplied on collection of your new vehicle, I hope this has been of assistance”

I asked about cost for them all together and how much it is additional a month on PCP and i am still awaiting a response (should receive one tomorrow). I’m predicting it to be around £20-£30 a month extra. Is this worth it?

Sounds quite vague from the dealership - you will find it harder to get your money back once you pick up the car.

The car comes with 1 year breakdown cover and 3 years warranty as standard. So it sounds like there's an aftermarket warranty in there for year 4 - do you have a 4 year PCP lined up? If so that extra year aftermarket warranty should be available elsewhere for a lot less. I would ditch this. 4 years is a long time to keep a car, if you decide to part-ex it in at 3 years old, you've essentially chucked this money away. Buy it if you need it, when you need it - when the car is 3 years old.

2 years breakdown cover? Hopefully they mean years 2 and 3, because VW already covered year 1. Ditch this, you can get breakdiwn cover yourself for under £50 a year if you shop around and don't auto-renew.

The paint protection sounds like lifeshine or Autoglym - this stuff is seriously overpriced probably coming in at £400. Again, I'd be looking to ditch this.

Did you not get any paperwork in the post, from the dealership or VWFS? Did you electronically sign remotely? You should have access to the finance agreement either through a hardcopy in the post or PDFs from the remote "accusign" documentation which should itemise those "options" and their cost.

If the service plan is purely the £199 for 2 services then this is worth keeping as it's great value for money.

Need to kniw what you're paying for each of those things to know you're not better off ditching.

[SRGTD]

For the Lifeshine product, the dealer usually charges £400-£450. Definitely not worth it. The products themselves are OK but probably cost no more than £35-£40, so there’s a very large profit margin in it for the dealer. The main issues I would have with the dealer applying any form of paintwork protection are;

• insufficient time allocated to do the job properly

• the likelihood is that the person doing the work has neither sufficient knowledge nor experience; they’re not professional car detailers - they’re car washers

To=maximise the durability of any paint protection product, correct preparation of the paintwork is absolutely key. A professional detailer would do the following for a similar price to that charged by the dealer for the Lifeshine product;
- snow foam pre-wash
- safe two bucket wash and blow dry
- full paintwork decontamination - claying and use of iron fallout remover and tar/glue remover
- single stage machine polish and wipe down to remove polish residues
- apply protection product. Leave to cure (sometimes overnight - depends on the product) before buffing off
- Polish glass, dress tyres, polish and protect grilles, brightwork and badges

In addition to the above, wheel protection may be included - if not, it’ll be available at an extra cost. Typical time a professional detailer would spend doing the above; 1.5 - 2 days.

The process the dealer will undertake for the £400+ they charge will probably be;
- pressure wash
- ‘unsafe’ single bucket and sponge wash. Dry with wash leather
- apply Lifeshine (to ‘dirty’ paint that hasn’t been decontaminated) and buff off
- apply tyre dressing

Time spent by the dealer doing the above - probably no more than a couple of hours. And @stuartrendall - no, paint chips and scratches aren’t covered under the Lifeshine warranty, nor is damage by tree sap or bird droppings if these substances aren’t washed off the paintwork using Autoglym shampoo within 48 hours. Lifeshine guarantee at the link below;
https://www.lifeshine.com/terms-post-1604.php

[lancslad1985]

For the Lifeshine product, the dealer usually charges £400-£450. Definitely not worth it. The products themselves are OK but probably cost no more than £35-£40, so there’s a very large profit margin in it for the dealer. The main issues I would have with the dealer applying any form of paintwork protection are;

• insufficient time allocated to do the job properly

• the likelihood is that the person doing the work has neither sufficient knowledge nor experience; they’re not professional car detailers - they’re car washers

To=maximise the durability of any paint protection product, correct preparation of the paintwork is absolutely key. A professional detailer would do the following for a similar price to that charged by the dealer for the Lifeshine product;
- snow foam pre-wash
- safe two bucket wash and blow dry
- full paintwork decontamination - claying and use of iron fallout remover and tar/glue remover
- single stage machine polish and wipe down to remove polish residues
- apply protection product. Leave to cure (sometimes overnight - depends on the product) before buffing off
- Polish glass, dress tyres, polish and protect grilles, brightwork and badges

In addition to the above, wheel protection may be included - if not, it’ll be available at an extra cost. Typical time a professional detailer would spend doing the above; 1.5 - 2 days.

The process the dealer will undertake for the £400+ they charge will probably be;
- pressure wash
- ‘unsafe’ single bucket and sponge wash. Dry with wash leather
- apply Lifeshine (to ‘dirty’ paint that hasn’t been decontaminated) and buff off
- apply tyre dressing

Time spent by the dealer doing the above - probably no more than a couple of hours. And @stuartrendall - no, paint chips and scratches aren’t covered under the Lifeshine warranty, nor is damage by tree sap or bird droppings if these substances aren’t washed off the paintwork using Autoglym shampoo within 48 hours. Lifeshine guarantee at the link below;
https://www.lifeshine.com/terms-post-1604.php

They won’t even spend a couple of hours - my new dealership pays the outside company £6 a car so they won’t clean it properly. I’m going for a removal of the white coverings and I’ll wash it the first time myself.

[SRGTD]

They won’t even spend a couple of hours - my new dealership pays the outside company £6 a car so they won’t clean it properly. I’m going for a removal of the white coverings and I’ll wash it the first time myself.

The ‘no more than two hours’ was a best guesstimate if the dealer was applying Lifeshine. Agree, if they’re just washing a new car without doing the Lifeshine treatment, it’d be much less than two hours.

[monty831]

I took my car to someone external (for paint protection) who had it for 2 days. Money well spent. He used to work for the dealers and my salesman actually recommended him

I refused some of the extras apart from the service deal

I don't think I will keep the car long enough to make the most of them

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk

[lancslad1985]

They won’t even spend a couple of hours - my new dealership pays the outside company £6 a car so they won’t clean it properly. I’m going for a removal of the white coverings and I’ll wash it the first time myself.

The ‘no more than two hours’ was a best guesstimate if the dealer was applying Lifeshine. Agree, if they’re just washing a new car without doing the Lifeshine treatment, it’d be much less than two hours.

I asked how they applied lifeshine and how long does it take and I got told about an hour to an hour and a half. I pointed out they aren’t doing it properly and he agreed and said it’s done by the external agency that are trained by autoglym.

[MrTomOates]

Further update with a small sum of prices included.

Here is the original information:

Essentially you have 4 years warranty, 2 years roadside and breakdown cover & a 2 year service plan.
With regards to the paint protection it is a life time guarantee on the interior and exterior.

For both products all documentation is supplied on collection of your new vehicle.


According to the salesman, both products have been discounted massively.
The warranty is £412 and the interior and exterior protection is £259.
In monthly terms, it's approximately £10 a month extra.

Not sure where the 2 year service plan and roadside breakdown cover comes into the equation now since all he mentioned in the second email was the warranty and the interior and exterior protection. Slightly confused and puzzled

[MrTomOates]

I want my damn car now
All this chasing around is a ball ache!

By the time I get to the garage to pick the car up, I'll know that salesman's job better than he does

[monkeyhanger]

Further update with a small sum of prices included.

Here is the original information:

Essentially you have 4 years warranty, 2 years roadside and breakdown cover & a 2 year service plan.
With regards to the paint protection it is a life time guarantee on the interior and exterior.

For both products all documentation is supplied on collection of your new vehicle.


According to the salesman, both products have been discounted massively.
The warranty is £412 and the interior and exterior protection is £259.
In monthly terms, it's approximately £10 a month extra.

Not sure where the 2 year service plan and roadside breakdown cover comes into the equation now since all he mentioned in the second email was the warranty and the interior and exterior protection. Slightly confused and puzzled

If those figures are right, I wouldn't lose sleep thinking I'd been seriously ripped off. £412 for 3rd party warranty (if the coverage is comprehensive and little to no excess for making a claim) isn't crazy, but even so - Is there any chance you won't keep the car more than 3 years? If so, ditch it and buy warranty later.

£259 for lifeshine or equivalent isn't too bad (compared to £400) if you don't do much cleaning and looking after your car yourself.

[MrTomOates]

Further update with a small sum of prices included.

Here is the original information:

Essentially you have 4 years warranty, 2 years roadside and breakdown cover & a 2 year service plan.
With regards to the paint protection it is a life time guarantee on the interior and exterior.

For both products all documentation is supplied on collection of your new vehicle.


According to the salesman, both products have been discounted massively.
The warranty is £412 and the interior and exterior protection is £259.
In monthly terms, it's approximately £10 a month extra.

Not sure where the 2 year service plan and roadside breakdown cover comes into the equation now since all he mentioned in the second email was the warranty and the interior and exterior protection. Slightly confused and puzzled

If those figures are right, I wouldn't lose sleep thinking I'd been seriously ripped off. £412 for 3rd party warranty (if the coverage is comprehensive and little to no excess for making a claim) isn't crazy, but even so - Is there any chance you won't keep the car more than 3 years? If so, ditch it and buy warranty later.

£259 for lifeshine or equivalent isn't too bad (compared to £400) if you don't do much cleaning and looking after your car yourself.

You'll know more than the salesman, and it takes too long to receive a response from them so why not ask the man himself @monkeyhanger.

In regards to the packages I have mentioned, how do I go about getting the most out of them? Especially the interior and exterior paint protection etc... I'm going to be cleaning the car when ever there's a spec of dust or dirt on it

[monkeyhanger]

^ If you are going to be a keen car cleaner, generally don't eat in the car and don't have any messy kids eating and drinking in the back then I would forego the interior/exterior protection.and buy some bits to do it all yourself, and to a better standard than the dealership, for £60-80.

You can do this whenever you get a day off shortly after receiving your car:-

1. Wash the car thoroughly.
2. Give the paonted body panels a rub down with a new microfiber cloth soaked in meths (methanol - or Isopropanol) to clean off any wax the dealership might've applied.
3. Go over the bodywork with an iron fallout remover like iron X.
4. Rinse off the Iron X and give the car another wash, then dry it off.
5. Apply a sealant (I have a preference for G-Techniq C2V3 as it's easy to apply and to remove the residues). Go over the car with a water dampened microfiber cloth to remove the excess residues. You can put the seslant on you wheels and all windows except the windscreen.

The car will feel Teflon coated, water will bead up nicely for at least 4 months. If you want some extra gloss, you can wax on top of your sealant.

Every 4 months reapply your sealant after a thorough wash (you won't need yo do the ironX again unless you missed some).

If the sealant is topped up, cleaning the car will be a breeze as muck adhesion will be low.

If you want to protect your interior, buy 2 big cans of scotchgard. Do your seats with 1 can and your carpets/carpet mats/boot with the other.

[MrTomOates]

^ If you are going to be a keen car cleaner, generally don't eat in the car and don't have any messy kids eating and drinking in the back then I would forego the interior/exterior protection.and buy some bits to do it all yourself, and to a better standard than the dealership, for £60-80.

You can do this whenever you get a day off shortly after receiving your car:-

1. Wash the car thoroughly.
2. Give the paonted body panels a rub down with a new microfiber cloth soaked in meths (methanol - or Isopropanol) to clean off any wax the dealership might've applied.
3. Go over the bodywork with an iron fallout remover like iron X.
4. Rinse off the Iron X and give the car another wash, then dry it off.
5. Apply a sealant (I have a preference for G-Techniq C2V3 as it's easy to apply and to remove the residues). Go over the car with a water dampened microfiber cloth to remove the excess residues. You can put the seslant on you wheels and all windows except the windscreen.

The car will feel Teflon coated, water will bead up nicely for at least 4 months. If you want some extra gloss, you can wax on top of your sealant.

Every 4 months reapply your sealant after a thorough wash (you won't need yo do the ironX again unless you missed some).

If the sealant is topped up, cleaning the car will be a breeze as muck adhesion will be low.

If you want to protect your interior, buy 2 big cans of scotchgard. Do your seats with 1 can and your carpets/carpet mats/boot with the other.

Love this.
Screenshot the entirety of your post.
I should probably get round to telling him I'm not interested in half of the stuff he's got me signed up for, however, I have just asked for a order form with everything on it because I literally do not have one from him.

[Simonz]

^ If you are going to be a keen car cleaner, generally don't eat in the car and don't have any messy kids eating and drinking in the back then I would forego the interior/exterior protection.and buy some bits to do it all yourself, and to a better standard than the dealership, for £60-80.

You can do this whenever you get a day off shortly after receiving your car:-

1. Wash the car thoroughly.
2. Give the paonted body panels a rub down with a new microfiber cloth soaked in meths (methanol - or Isopropanol) to clean off any wax the dealership might've applied.
3. Go over the bodywork with an iron fallout remover like iron X.
4. Rinse off the Iron X and give the car another wash, then dry it off.
5. Apply a sealant (I have a preference for G-Techniq C2V3 as it's easy to apply and to remove the residues). Go over the car with a water dampened microfiber cloth to remove the excess residues. You can put the seslant on you wheels and all windows except the windscreen.

The car will feel Teflon coated, water will bead up nicely for at least 4 months. If you want some extra gloss, you can wax on top of your sealant.

Every 4 months reapply your sealant after a thorough wash (you won't need yo do the ironX again unless you missed some).

If the sealant is topped up, cleaning the car will be a breeze as muck adhesion will be low.

If you want to protect your interior, buy 2 big cans of scotchgard. Do your seats with 1 can and your carpets/carpet mats/boot with the other.

Some good advice on cleaning, thanks.

No need for wax then just rely on the sealant to do it's job and re-apply every few months? I was always a fan of Autoglym resin polish to add a protective coating.
Suppose step 2 only applies to new cars, but also include step 4 for older cars as well?

[monkeyhanger]

^Steps 2- 4 should only need doing once if you got all the embedded iron out, unless brake dust is causing further iron (from your discs) to get onto your bodywork. The tinge of these micro dots of orange (rust) on your oaintwork is only really noticeable on a white car.