I’ve been offered some amazing sounding product on a new car that promises to keep it better than new condition and repel children, dogs and all other stains. All for the bargain price of £400. I assume this is getting on for 100% profit for the dealer, but is there anything I should be doing to a new car to maximise its newness?

Yup, load of tosh. Pay for a proper “new car detail”. Plenty of videos on YouTube. If I was ever to get a brand new car then I’d get this done (and not let the folks in the dealership touch it)

Friendly east european* gentlemen will valet your car once a year for the next 10 years for that

*Until March 2019

There are essentially two types of new car protection. Those traditionally sold by dealers that are nothing more than a polish and sealant which last a few months at best.

More recently ‘ceramic’ paint protection has become available. These can genuinely offer years of paint protection if applied correctly. Be aware that costs can vary.

My advice is to step away from the dealer. Don’t even let them prep the car. Find a local detailer with a good reputation and get them to apply a new car protection. Expect to pay anything from £200 – £1,000 depending on what level of protection/ products you choose!

Google GTechniq for an idea of what can be done. There are other brands who offer similar products.

Shrink wrap it, inside and out.

Not heard of the ceramic coating but the other stuff is total snake oil at most dealerships to boost the salesmans profits.

I had that treatment done to my car (Supagard IIRC) but I didn’t pay for it! The dealer wanted £200 for it but I got it chucked in as part of the deal. The salesman needed the sale in his quarterly budget to make bonus so I agreed to have it registered as a sale the day before I collected it, also got a few more £ for my trade-in too so guessing he fudged the figures to get his commission 😆

It does work at stopping stuff ingraining into the fabrics so worth it from that point of view but not worth £400! If you do want the treatment have a word with the local prep places that most likely do the job anyway, they’ll do it for a lot less. Mine needs a top-up of the fabric treatment (like a DWR does, probably the same thing!) every year or so and the local guys do it for £15 as opposed to £60 through the dealer. I get it as part of the annual pre-MOT valet so it’s no hassle.

Actually, just checked my sales paperwork and it is Supagard and it’s listed as £0.01p!

Some of the products sold by dealers are really good, what they fail to do is prepare the car properly or give the products the correct amounts of time and conditions to cure.

I would avoid paying a dealer and go to a local detailer with the money instead.

It’s called “upselling” and it’s how sales weasels maximise their commission.

The stuff is usually Supguard – dealers want £200 – £400 for it, but you have to remember that’s to have the ‘detailer’ come around and apply it.

It’s usually the first thing a dealer will ‘throw in’ to close a deal.

We bought a car from a mate, a real, known for 30 years or more mate back in spring, he ‘threw it in’ to seal the deal, I suspected their would be a catch, sure enough when the day came he sold a line about getting into trouble for throwing it in so he’s hidden the kit in the boot rather than having their guy apply it… anyway…

It’s pretty good, but I’m sure you can buy equally good / better stuff in Halfords or online, it’s not magic. I’ve seen the kit on eBay for £25. It took me about 30 mins to do the job and it’s worked well so far, dirt still falls off it with a simple clean and there’s enough in the kit to renew it every spring for a couple of years – they do give you a sticker to put in the windscreen because apparently it’s SOOOOOOooo good it ups the release value… I have my doubts.

Anyway, if you want to be a bit mean to the sales guy, ask them “why? is the factory paint crap?” with a concerned look on your face and mumble something about another brand, but personally if they won’t give it for free, buy a kit online and do it yourself, it’s easy peasy to do, just like any other polish / wax type stuff.

Dealers do lay it on thick come purchase time though.. certainly mine did..

“It repels water”

Hmm.. that’s good for paintwork then.. I did wonder if it ever rained here on the South Coast 😆

Oh, the interior guard stuff it just waterproofer, it’s £10 a tin from shoe shops and that’s twice what it costs really.

I’d not trust the dealer to do a good job, find a local detailer to carry out the necessary work, i use a local guy OCD valeting/detailing , my caddy has recently been in for a full winter treatment to protect it from the salt/grit/shitty roads, come spring i’ll hand my van back to him to clean it up for the summer.

Scroll down for my clean caddy

I have a simpler option.

Apply water and grit to the interior seats soon after purchase.

Sigh.

Accept that your hobbies and nice cars don’t go together and buy some chavy washable seat covers from halfords.

Houns has it. New car detail. Have a look on detailingworld.co.uk

I did pay extra for a Zymol finish on my car when new but that included a full pot of wax so was pretty decent value (I forget the price)

Cheapskate option is to wash the car immediately and put some proper wax on it

Most of these upsold special treatments are complete crap, poor quality for the price you pay, applied badly and don’t do what they say. Mind you most people think when they pay for it they’ll never need to wash their cars again 🙄

The latest one I’ve seen was on a Honda Jazz a friend bought. They said they’d managed to get a great deal on the car and got this treatment for free. I saw the car the day they picked it up (2/3 years old) and the whole car was covered in swirl marks and looked extremely shoddy. If it was a betting man I think they just took it to the local £5 drive through place and pocketed the profit.

Spend £50 on some decent cleaning equipment for yourself and most importantly learn how to use it properly and save your money.

For balance, I bought a new car last year. The sales person mentioned as an aside that it had been treated inside and out because it was in the showroom and people would be in contact with it. At the time I thought little of it.

First time I cleaned the car the dirt literally fell off it. It needed no persuasion just a wipe over with a clean sponge and a hose down, and it’s stayed like that. it never looks completely sparkly but by the same token road dirt doesn’t stick to it.

Can’t comment on the interior protection because it’s pristine

First time I cleaned the car the dirt literally fell off it. It needed no persuasion just a wipe over with a clean sponge and a hose down, and it’s stayed like that. it never looks completely sparkly but by the same token road dirt doesn’t stick to it.

It’s not magic, a proper clean polish and wax will do that to a car too.

Sealants will work and can last if applied correctly. Either do it yourself (clean, de-iron, de-tar, clay, correct paint, remove any residue, seal, several coats possibly) or search for a local detailer.

The stuffs on eBay for about 20 quid if you want to do it yourself and save the other 180…

It’s mostly snake oil but just like finance, GAP protection, alloy wheel insurance, paintwork insurance, service contracts etc… the sales people have to offer these add on’s and they will be targeted on them so give them some slack. If you get continually bugged by this behaviour then tell them that they will give the maker a poor post sale review of the salesperson and since they are also targeted on reviews they will back down.