# How to tell if a car has supaguard applied ??



## renton (Nov 27, 2005)

So the father in law has just collected his nearly new Meriva up from his local Vauxhall dealer. He paid £350 for the vx protect/supaguard paint protection. 

However I'm not convinced it has been done properly or even done at all. 

He has just travelled 480 miles up to us in Scotland and the car was fiklthy so I've give it a wash and the paint is horrendous for what is a nearly new car. 

There is loads of tar on it and there was no beading of the water at all. 


How can you tell if its been applied at all. 

If not what can he do ?


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## ardandy (Aug 18, 2006)

£350!!!


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## MagpieRH (May 27, 2014)

Give it a week, it won't have. The supaguard stuff, if applied properly, apparently will last a short time. Generally (from what I've read on here) it won't have been.

It will give some hydrophobic properties - pour some water on it, see if it beads up/runs off.

If you want some protection, give it a polish (since it's horrendous) or use some SRP or similar to remove whatever's left of the "sealant". Then protect it with something.


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## 182_Blue (Oct 25, 2005)

Didn't you warn him !, TBH it's a waste if it was applied or not, no better than any reasonably priced sealant.


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## renton (Nov 27, 2005)

182_Blue said:


> Didn't you warn him !, TBH it's a waste if it was applied or not, no better than any reasonably priced sealant.


I didn't find out he had paid or it until he came to visit us today.

There is no beading at all when I washed it earlier.

I'm fuming as the dealer has clearly ripped him off.


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## DrEskimo (Jan 7, 2016)

Surely this is illegal...taking so much money off people and not even doing it.

I would be trying to get his money back...although I cant imagine you would have any luck since it would be very hard to prove without doubt..


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## telewebby (Apr 27, 2009)

did he get the registration card with it which acts as a guarantee if the product fails? 

Alex


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## fozzy (Oct 22, 2009)

Just Detailed the Daughters Beemer that Had it Applied 2 months ago when she bought it. I've seen demon shine give better results, there was no protection on the car at all, although she did get a nice little maintenance bag. Needles to say it took me 5 minutes on the phone to get a full refund for her. Just under£500, outrageous!


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## James_R (Jun 28, 2007)

There you go, what telewebby says.

Your dad should have a Supagard guarantee (3yr) in his handover pack when he collected the car.
The dealership should have pushed lines for a Supagard pack to be issued from parts to valet bay for that registration plate.

If they can't provide you with the warranty certificate and/or the barcode of the pack used, or an internal instruction from admin to parts, then you are quite within your rights to question whether it had been done at all.

You should see some good beading in fairness.


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## Pinky (Feb 15, 2008)

I would be on the phone to the salesman at the dealers and kicking up blue hell and demanding money back and the dealers pay for it to be done professionally .That's shocking , and a letter to the dealer principal and Vauxhall customer services even though it really isn't Vauxhall wouldn't go a miss as well .


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## suspal (Dec 29, 2011)

What people seem to forget is that showrooms/garages don't pay well and there's a huge amount of turnover of staff. Which inturn manifest's into service mangers not prioritising training requirments,well knowing time and effort and cost's involved in training going down the drain,therefore buyers get short changed,very few people have an understading of application of these products,so it's a slap/dash job.
Now if anybody knows anything about forecourts,they'll say it's a numbers/volume business and that means the principle's cannot afford to let someone spend the time needed to prepair a vehicle prior to handoverto the standards we expect(not every valeter at these forecourts are bad).
I've always said pay the extra and get a bespoke quality detailer to prepare the vehicle at the garage or at their premises.

Like the old saying goes pay peanuts you get monkeys,but then again there are exceptions to any rule,I guess it all boils down to luck.


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## SteveTDCi (Feb 8, 2006)

Took a m135i in and that had been super guarded and was protecting the car.


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## GleemSpray (Jan 26, 2014)

One of my elderly neighbours was hosing down his brand new car last summer a day or two after he collected it and saying " _what do you think of it ?_ "

I have cleaned his cars before from time to time, because he isnt very able, and he was telling me about the "Super-Whatever Protection Guard " that the dealer had "included for free" as I stood and watched the hose-pipe water just pool in large puddles on the roof and bonnet.

I had a good look from various angles in the sunlight, without being too obvious and in my opinion, there was no protection at all on that car - it appeared to be a brand new car that had been simply unwrapped and then washed.


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## stangalang (Nov 27, 2009)

Trust me a buddy of mine used to work in dealerships, as a salesman. He always said he didn't sell cars, he sold finance, gap insurance and life shine. And the stories he told me of how they used to apply it was horrific. Mixing the components and applying together, instead of one over the other. Wiping them with rags off the floor, all sorts. Everything you believe to be true, is true. They literally don't care. It is money down the drain. The ones that have guarantees are worthless, as no one will honour them, you just chase multiple companies around until you are bored. 

Get a detailer, get it done infinitely better, for about the same money. Its the only way


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## Soul boy 68 (Sep 8, 2013)

Thank God I stumbled on to this forum or I would have been £350 poorer.


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## GleemSpray (Jan 26, 2014)

Best thing i ever did with my VW Golf was refuse the hard-sell £500 protection coating from the dealers ( which was a real fight !!  ) and thought to myself _" i would rather spend that money on some decent cleaning products and wax_", which is when i discovered DW 2 and a half years back.

Learned sooo much and have had massive fun and satisfaction getting the car looking good.


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## Hufty (Apr 27, 2015)

GleemSpray said:


> Best thing i ever did with my VW Golf was refuse the hard-sell £500 protection coating from the dealers ( which was a real fight !!  ) and thought to myself _" i would rather spend that money on some decent cleaning products and wax_", which is when i discovered DW 2 and a half years back.
> 
> Learned sooo much and have had massive fun and satisfaction getting the car looking good.


And spent well more than that £500 I bet :doublesho


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## GleemSpray (Jan 26, 2014)

Hufty said:


> And spent well more than that £500 I bet :doublesho


Errrrr ..... No, ....... No,....... Not at all... Just the £500 .... Honest ☺


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## Pinky (Feb 15, 2008)

have you contacted the garage to complain yet ?


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## renton (Nov 27, 2005)

Pinky said:


> have you contacted the garage to complain yet ?


Sorry for not replying earlier.....

In laws are up here in Scotland visiting us for the week so when he is back down in Worcester he will be going into the dealer and questioning them as to whether or not they did it.

He got a cleaning pack and a certificate claiming it had been applied 2 days before he came up to us yet there was absolutely no beading on the paint at all. The water was jut pooling on the paint.

I've since give it a good wash and applied two coats of autoglym EGP to it until I can fit in a machine polish and some polymer net shield.


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## sshooie (May 15, 2007)

stangalang said:


> Everything you believe to be true, is true.


My wife worked for a privately owned VW dealership for ten years up until 5 months ago, I have sat in their car park and watched them scrape snow off cars with the plastic snow shovels then use the yard brush to get the lighter bits off. Cars mean zilch to them, as you say they sell products not cars.


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## sshooie (May 15, 2007)

Pinky said:


> I would be on the phone to the salesman at the dealers and kicking up blue hell and demanding money back and the dealers pay for it to be done professionally .That's shocking , and a letter to the dealer principal and Vauxhall customer services even though it really isn't Vauxhall wouldn't go a miss as well .


They won't give a **** mate, regardless of who you speak with or what they tell you, they will still be pushing it to the next customer


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## GleemSpray (Jan 26, 2014)

sshooie said:


> They won't give a **** mate, regardless of who you speak with or what they tell you, they will still be pushing it to the next customer


Yup.

They will just stand there, look you in the eye and say " _can you prove this ? _", knowing full well that they can say at any point " _You must have washed the car with strong chemicals which have removed the coating which we applied so carefully_ ".

Nothing you can do or say will make the slightest difference.


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## Cookies (Dec 10, 2008)

I reckon they'll look out at the car, which will now bead furiously because of the SRP and EGP, and tell you that it appears to be working just fine. 

Personally I probably wouldn't have applied anything until this was all sorted out. 

Cooks


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