PSA: Put a sign in your car if you don't want dealer to wash it..
 

I took my car to the dealer to replace the driver side weather strip molding since it began rubbing and specifically told the dealer to NOT wash my car. I get my car back and look at the dashcam videoes and I see a hundreds of swirly sharp wiper blades smacking the hell out of my car :mad0260:. Hopefully opticoat will save me from some of the swirls but I doubt I got out of this one without damages.

Lesson learned. If you hand wash your car yourself then put up a sign, don't trust the dealers even if they say they "noted" it.

Way ahead of you. More painful when it happens to a brand new car during "detail prep". Made this a while back, feel free to print and use.

http://i62.tinypic.com/nys775.jpg

Yup. I once dropped my car off two days after washing it. It was spotless. When I got it back, it looked like they dumped a bucket of dirty water on it and let it bake in the sun all day. Luckily it was just a pressure washer, but I learned my lesson.

Had my oil changed today and was shocked when the service guy said "we don't was the FRSs I hope that is OK". I was so surprised all I could say was "what?". He points over at the washbay and there is a BIG sign that says "DO NOTWASH FRS UNLES (yep spelled like that) CUSTOMER REQUESTS". He said they had some guys freak out all over them and made the rule.
Then go out and sure enough car is just the way I left it. Then I notice the map sized (or so it seemed) service sticker stuck in the corner of my windshield! Didn't think was a big deal just pull it off.
NOPE! Took 1/2 an hour with a plastic scraper and Goo Be Gone. Guess they need another sign.

Not trying to be racist, but I also write on a few post-its in english and spanish. I leave one on my steering wheel, dash board, and rear view. I take no chances.

That, and I also special request a fellow 86 enthusiast/owner who happens to be a tech at the dealership I go to. Awesome because he directly takes my car out of the stupid long lines, and takes all my special requests!

Excellent info... I'm going to print and use the signs for sure. I use to work at a dealership and it pained me to see the early morning wash crew scrub the new cars down on the lot. :( A customer in service once requested 'no wash' and I overheard the service rep call the customer 'douchebag' behind the scenes because of the request. :iono:

I'm about to place an order for a '15 BRZ and I cancelled my plans of ordering at a certain dealer when a manager turned down my request of not washing the car... She said it was Subaru's policy. Told her to not drill the front for plates... She said it's against the law. :thumbdown: Am proceeding to place my order at another dealer and they gladly accepted my requests and to leave all plastic wraps on the exterior and interior for me.

Very few folks understand... And the idea of placing multiple signs is well worth it! :thanks:

the worst thing is when they do that dumb waterless 'washing' which involves them spraying some crap on your car and using all the sand and dust thats on the body as grinding paste for the paintwork....

I learned this the hard way as well. Sorry for the new swirls and scratches on your Opti-coat!

White car hides scratches pretty well. Sure, i didn't let anyone touch the car for the first two years, but its still just a car - and not even super expensive at that. I let them wash it this past time there and they did a good job.

I was told to do this too, but would feel like an asshole lol… but being an asshole is what it takes sometimes to get things done properly.

Our dealership has their own automatic car wash they drive the cars through. Don't even get me started on how I've seen some of the techs driving the cars in the back lot through the car wash. I almost got t-boned by a guy who came flying out of the car wash as I was going in to talk to their autobody shop about some repairs I needed done on my xB. I politely informed him that the dealership techs were out hooning around in customers cars and almost wiped me out in the process. I told him that if I had been hit, while on the way to speak to him at the autobody shop, I would have not been as calm and collected as I was being at the time.

I was hoping they'd attempt to wash mine and destroy my car and the car wash

my dealership is pretty cool when it comes to this,
they actually put there own do not wash signs in the car when someone request not to get the car wash


other than that, thats all they are cool about

I have a sign that I hang from my rearview mirror just before I get out of the car. I bought it after they washed my 4Runner even though I asked them not to.

The dealer prep can really go either way. I've seen too many horror stories of people refusing dealer prep, driving their car home still covered in plastic, and once they remove the plastic they have a huge scratch in the side of the car and they already signed the paperwork and agreed upon the car in its current state.

I purposely let them prep it so I could inspect it completely before signing the paperwork. I didn't have any problem with how their prep turned out, but maybe they took their time since I bought the car at 9:30am on a Tuesday...

Dealer won't wash my car, I added the GrimSpeed license plate holder. :P

and?

Yesterday, after telling them not to wash it, they decided to wash it BEFORE they did the servicing...came back to find oil spots and fingerprints/smudges everywhere...

a sign ? I generally just wear my tin foil hat into the dealership before service.

Every time I drop my car off for service at any shop I put a typed, printed note in the dash that says not to wash it, or open the door with a hand that has a ring or a watch.

I've heard too many stories of places doing these things anyway even if you mentioned it to them when you dropped the car off, or it is "noted" in their system. I just keep that piece of paper in the glove box, and it goes onto the dash when my car gets dropped off so everyone working on or around the car can see it - instead of hoping that person A gets the message to person B, who also tells person C that is also working on it, etc.

Honestly I like the dealership that I bought my car from, and I think they did a good job when they prepped my car before I took it home after buying it (which I knew I shouldn't have done, but at that point I was too paranoid about not knowing how to wash my car the right way after reading through so many obsessive detailer forums, etc), but now that I know better and don't NEED someone else to wash my car for me I don't let anywhere else do it.

On a related note...

A while back I had an issue with my 15K mile service (long story) that resulted in the service department offering me some free extras to keep me happy. One of the freebies was new wiper blades. They did all the extras and everything looked fine.

A few days later I was near the rural border of Mississippi and Alabama when it started to rain. The windshield immediately fogged up. I hit the defroster, but it didn't help. I grabbed a shop towel from the back and tried to wipe out a spot where I could see, but it wouldn't unfog. WTF?

I had to slow down to about 30 mph in a 65 zone because of how difficult it was to see where the hell I was going. People were flying up on my ass at speed and swerving around me, even after I turned my hazards on. Radar was telling me that it was best to drive on through it rather than stopping and waiting for it to pass over. So I persevered.

When the rain subsided to a drizzle and I was able to pull the wipers back to intermittent, I noticed that the windshield would fog every time the wipers ran across it, then would start clearing when the wipers were still. It looked like there was some sort of residue on the outside of the windshield that was fogging. I didn't think rain repellents did that kind of thing. Maybe they Armoralled my windshield? I can't think of what they put on it to cause that.

I stopped in Selma to pick up some Invisible Glass and cleaned the hell out of that windshield and the wipers. After that it was fine. What the hell did they put on my glass?

I thought about calling to complain about it, but at this point I think I just need to forego the temptation of "free" service and handle it myself from now on. Free is pretty expensive when it risks getting you killed.