Chipping paint on bonnet - common or respray?

[CiaranMcK]

Hi,

 

I’m suspicious my Lexus is250 has had an undeclared accident. It’s clear on vCheck. No auction no salvage etc, and bought from an indi dealer so I’m hoping I’m wrong. Car has good service history (one small gap) and only 2 previous owners.

 

But. 
 

- Bonnet has strange paint chipping at the top edge that looks to me link a poorly respray. 
 

- Outdoor temp sensor is bodged with a space connector rather than the factor plug that makes me thing the bumper has been heavy handedly removed 

- Both mounts in the airbox are snapped

- The engine cover has a breakers yard part number written on it in chalk and none of the engine plastics are pinned down.

- Possible there’s a few MM less bonnet gap on drivers side compared to passenger. 
- Factory splitter split in the middle, doesn’t match up 

 

It could be innocent.

- It’s recently had a water pump which (I assume) requires the air box being removed and they’re often brittle or over tightened

- Front bumper being removed breaking the ambient sensor again could be down to other non-damage repair work. Water pump or exhaust?

- Bonnet edge could be common problem or just ware over time 

- Its a 14 year old splitter that will have touched many a kerb.

- previous owner or dealer could have lost the engine covers and decided to replace them before PXing/selling on. 

 

 

 

I just need opinions before I rage and accuse a reputable dealer. Am I looking for issues where there aren’t any?

 

[Linas.P]

I think it will be closer to this:

1 hour ago, CiaranMcK said:

It could be innocent.

- It’s recently had a water pump which (I assume) requires the air box being removed and they’re often brittle or over tightened

- Front bumper being removed breaking the ambient sensor again could be down to other non-damage repair work. Water pump or exhaust?

- Bonnet edge could be common problem or just ware over time 

- Its a 14 year old splitter that will have touched many a kerb.

- previous owner or dealer could have lost the engine covers and decided to replace them before PXing/selling on. 

- Air box does not need to come out when changing the water pump, only "snorkel", but that is assuming mechanic knows what they are doing, which isn't always the case. As well to replace bulbs you may need to remove airbox, so mounting points being broken may not be big deal. That is how I broke mine on last IS250.

- It may have been small accident, or maybe just general wear an tear, bumpers get's scraped all the time so it is not unusual

- bonnets are aluminium and they are common problem, but generally it is front of bonnet which tends to bubble-up and peal. But I guess possibility is that front was pealing necessitating repainting entire bonnet and job was not done very well.

- on all used Lexus I had they were missing clips and had broken cover clips. At first I was replacing them, but even after dealer service I would find few broken every time, so just stopped bothering... I had bag of like 20 clips in glovebox and I would replace them as they would get misplaced overtime.

Very hard to see it in the pictures to be honest. The only thing I can see is that your passenger side headlight was likely replaced. 

- Cannot see any issues with the gaps, but that does not mean they don't exist, maybe they are clearer in person.

- The bottom splitter is two part, so it is not broken, that how it should be - that said it should be matching colour.

- The edge of the bonnet looks weird - it may be repainted, but needs paint gauge to check. As well it is weird that front edge of bumper is so clean, most of the time they are "sandblasted", again indicating it was repainted, but not necessary due to accident. 

Now in summary, let's see where you are legally with this - when buying from car dealer you have statutory rights to return the car or to request for issues to be fixed unless they were clearly identified during purchase. So you don't need to rage or make a scene, you simply need to show dealer what is the issue and request them to fix it, for example broken ambient temp sensor would squarely be dealers responsibility to fix. 

What I would advise - get second opinion from body shop, many even going to give you free inspection before giving the quote. Then go back to dealership with quote in hand and point out what you expect them to fix, be reasonable - I am sure they won't repaint half of car, but you can easily point out 3-4 things which are clearly not right and you could reasonably expect be fixed when buying car, like ambient sensor or broken airbox. Worst case scenario, if body shop going to discover previous accident and more bodge job you could reject the car and return it to the dealer - that is your right. 

[CiaranMcK]

27 minutes ago, Linas.P said:

I think it will be closer to this:

- Air box does not need to come out when changing the water pump, only "snorkel", but that is assuming mechanic knows what they are doing, which isn't always the case. As well to replace bulbs you may need to remove airbox, so mounting points being broken may not be big deal. That is how I broke mine on last IS250.

- It may have been small accident, or maybe just general wear an tear, bumpers get's scraped all the time so it is not unusual

- bonnets are aluminium and they are common problem, but generally it is front of bonnet which tends to bubble-up and peal. But I guess possibility is that front was pealing necessitating repainting entire bumper and job was not done very well.

- on all used Lexus I had they were missing clips and had broken cover clips. At first I was replacing them, but even after dealer service I would find few broken every time, so just stopped bothering... I had bag of like 20 clips in glovebox and I would replace them as they would get misplaced overtime.

Very hard to see it in the pictures to be honest. The only thing I can see is that your passenger side headlight was likely replaced. 

- Cannot see any issues with the gaps, but that does not mean they don't exist, maybe they are clearer in person.

- The bottom splitter is two part, so it is not broken, that how it should be - that said it should be matching colour.

- The edge of the bonnet looks weird - it may be repainted, but needs paint gauge to check. As well it is weird that front edge of bumper is so clean, most of the time they are "sandblasted", again indicating it was repainted, but not necessary due to accident. 

Now in summary, let's see where you are legally with this - when buying from car dealer you have statutory rights to return the car or to request for issues to be fixed unless they were clearly identified during purchase. So you don't need to rage or make a scene, you simply need to show dealer what is the issue and request them to fix it, for example broken ambient temp sensor would squarely be dealers responsibility to fix. 

What I would advise - get second opinion from body shop, many even going to give you free inspection before giving the quote. Then go back to dealership with quote in hand and point out what you expect them to fix, be reasonable - I am sure they won't repaint half of car, but you can easily point out 3-4 things which are clearly not right and you could reasonably expect be fixed when buying car, like ambient sensor or broken airbox. Worst case scenario, if body shop going to discover previous accident and more bodge job you could reject the car and return it to the dealer - that is your right. 

You’ve said exactly what I wanted to hear! 
 

Thank you.

[Mr Vlad]

As Linas said above. When I bought my is250 knew it wasn't a dead straight car and been in a bump or two. Lots of missing clips. Billions of scratches but the car ran like new and after spending a couple hundred quid on getting the paint sorted I simply love my car. Even the headlights were ever so slightly different but they worked. I've had to replace one coz of very bad condensation and the replacement is mint whilst the 'old' one looks naff now lol. You've got a superb car. Nothing to threat about. Remember it's an old car but it's still superb.