It’s interesting to note that most new cars are sold at the end and beginning of the year. After all, auto dealerships are in a hurry to liquidate their inventory as a method to increase their final numbers for the year. Often times, these sales and discounts extend into the beginning of the New Year – lucky for the consumer! There’s nothing quite like owning a new vehicle – the exclusive new car smell, the low odometer numbers, the sense of pride and let’s face it, making co-workers a little jealous.
However, the fact is that just because a car comes new off the lot, that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily perfect. Many times, whenever products are sold in bulk, a decrease in quality control may take place. In the United States alone, close to 16 million vehicles were sold in 2015 (according to the Wall Street Journal). Dealerships need to keep every vehicle looking shiny and fresh, and every time it rains, dirt and water spots stay on all of those cars. At Capitol Shine, we’ve often preached about the dangers of automatic car washes – how they have the tendency to leave swirls and scratch marks. We’ve also mentioned to our customers how using a dirty rag, or a using the same rag on more than one vehicle, can retain dirt that can scratch paint. It’s important to note that not all dealerships use automatic car washes or practices unsafe to a vehicle’s paint, but sometimes that is the case - keeping all cars on the lot clean sometimes means a rush on the washes.
The good news is that one of the services provided by Capitol Shine is paint correction - a process where we remove scratches and swirl marks. The majority of the time, the scratches are in the top layer (clear coat), which means they can be removed without the use of touch-up paint. Your car has four basic layers: sheet metal (body), a primer coat, paint and then one or more layers of clear coat. With some buffing and detailing techniques, a clear coat can be restored. If you’ve recently purchased a new car, but the paint seems to be scratched (or if your older vehicle has scratches), stop on by one of our locations and let us take a look at it. In just about 30 minutes, we can give you an estimate on what is needed to get your vehicle looking the way it was meant to. In fact, we even have a package specifically designed for getting new vehicles ready. Call or email us to find out more.