Kg11

My local dealer just took in a GTS manual on trade. It is my color (GT Silver) and build (sport seats, manual, black interior). It has 43,000 miles (which is great) and a fair amount of rock chips, like most every other car here. Their policy is to respray the front end as part of the sale. The car will be CPO'd and it doesn't have any accidents or other issues, just rock chips. Will this somehow hurt me down the line with resale? Resprays are pretty common on front bumpers in this area. Normally, I might ask for a discount, but it is not going to happen; a CPO'd GTS manual with that mileage at $70k is a fair price.

Is there any "issue" with having a car resprayed, in terms of future resale? I plan on keeping her for a few years: I have always wanted a manual GTS in GT Silver, and they just don't come up often.

thxbuff2001

I dont like resprays so I would just ask them if they could leave it as is. No stories is no stories.

I dont really care about rockchips and would not respray just for it.

Thats why if I get a used car and they have rockchips, I leave it alone.

If I get a personal car with no rockchips or some rockchips, I put xpel on it.

voiceprint1

I doubt anyone will knock you down on price, but light colors and metallic paint can be a challenge to match across panels, have a look at most silver cars and you will notice that they don't always match, unless you have a highly skilled painter and he is willing to do test strips to match, also matching on plastic can be problematic, due to the plastic substrate, some might chime in on how this is not an issue, but I have re-sprayed my back bumper twice, both at shops rennlisters /paint people recommended and each one is not exactly right if you asked me (white).

OnlineAlias

Just to note, white is one of the hardest colors to get right on bumper covers, because the flex modifiers that need to be added for a bumper cover tends to tint the paint.

To OP, this is really up to you, and a tough call on a metallic and lighter color. On one hand, they could get it wrong and you could have to mess with over and over to get it right. And if the chipping is bad, you can't really touch it up without it being a thing because a light metallic is the most difficult (impossible) to touch up and make look right. For me, the chipping would have to be instantly noticeable and/or excessive before I'd paint it.

ThomasCarreraGTS

DesmoSD

That's good that they'll respray it for you, gives you options. How is the rest of the body's condition; mirrors, rockers, hood, fenders?

Silver tends reflects differently on plastic compared to metal so even with the proper paint code, resprayed bumpers will be more noticeable, esp in pictures and mediocre lighting. Since they are going paint it as part of the deal, keep all documentation, take as many before and after pics so it would make selling it down the road a little more easier.

Skwerl

To those saying "no stories beats a respray," would you also be inclined to pass on a car with enough stone chips to warrant a respray anyway?

ThomasCarreraGTS

Kg11

Thanks everyone. It seems as if the hood perhaps had bad paint: there are a lot of significant rock chips there, but almost nothing on the bumper or quarter panel. Perhaps the hood had a bad clear coat from the factory: very weird. I looked it at it today and the rest of the car was exceptionally clean; it had around 25 chips in the hood, including good sized ones. It doesn't look great as-is.

The respray doesn't bother me, especially as this will be a drivers' car and not a showroom queen, but I suppose it may bother someone down the line. Then again, the car will probably have 150,000 miles when I sell it, so who the heck cares at that point? It is good enough to CPO, which says alot.

Skwerl

Would you be likely to pass on a car like the one described in the OP that sounds like it does indeed have a fair share of rock chips, in favor of holding out for one without the chips and that wouldn't benefit from new paint?

My hunch is simply that OP can either lose buyers/value because the paint isn't original or lose buyers/value because the paint is all chipped up - it ends up being a wash, more or less.

voiceprint1

Inconsistencies on the body vs the hood could mean it was in an accident and the front bumper and quarter were repainted or replaced, while the hood remained original and thus looks different/aged.

Only you can decide on the right car, but I would not say because it's a CPO it's necessarily led a pampered life.

thxbuff2001

It depends on the car, price and condition.

If its just a normal road going car, how much rock chips will that get, not too many. I live both west texas and dallas and i know when to drive back and forth on my special cars, night time or when it is cold. If it is windy, I use my SUV.

I went to the Petersen Musuem in LA, the part where the ferrari cars are displayed, I saw those ferrari cars, I told myself, wow, my cars would look BNEW compared to those on display right now. Its like a swarm of pellet guns shot those bumpers.

alwayswantedone

A respray never seems to be as good as factory...particularly when a dealer is doing it to "ready" it for sale. What looks good superficially may not look good to a trained eye or .... even if it does ... it's not factory. It will be evident for the future purchaser via paint depth gauge or otherwise, if he/she cares about it, and generally the quick make-ready resprays don't have the longevity that factory finishes do. Some will and some won't.

All of this may not make a hill of beans difference to you if you're going to keep it and don't care about impeccable resale prerequisites. It wouldn't to me, if I was going to keep the car long-term and it was otherwise a great deal. But...they're only original once. If that bothers you, keep looking. If it doesn't get a great deal, enjoy, and don't look back!!!!

Presto

sandwedge

Tough crowd. No accident and the dealer is willing to fix a bumper that's obviously pretty beat up. I would tell them to go ahead, ask who's doing the spray, confirm that shop's credentials, take pictures and get a written statement from the dealer as to why the respray was done. Just a wild guess but I'm thinking most buyers out there would rather have a correctly resprayed front bumper with proper and no alarm documentation than a bumper that looks like it's been to hell and back just because.....after all, it does have the original paint. Add the CPO the dealer is adding and this would not be a hard decision for me.