Fresh owner and upset

[MAX FPS]

FWIW my car had similar paint issues when I picked it up from the dealer last year. The dealer had clearly preformed an absolute crap buff job and there was white buffing compound leftover in most of the cracks/crevices of the car. Luckily all of the white came off relatively easily, just took time and patience to get to it all.

As for the area of paint near the taillight, unfortunately despite multiple people at the dealer verbally telling me it would get taken care of under warranty I'm still waiting. The only good news about it is that you don't really notice it unless you're looking for it, but it obviously is still disappointing how poorly the dealer has handled this situation.

That's annoying, but it's so similar to the OP's damage that it makes it more likely the factory is scraping that are putting the taillights in than the OP got some re-sprayed car.
Do you mind calling out what dealer is jerking you around? I'd like to see more people share which ones are good and bad here.

 

[MiamiBlue]

This is a prime example why you never let a dealer detail, polish, paint correct etc a car. The job usually falls to a junior tech with no formal training, and let loose can cause more damage than they fix. A local professional accredited detailer/ceramic/PPF specialist will be able to look at the paintwork and know exactly the cause and how easy it is to correct.

Regarding software updates and recall/bulletin type fixes. I think some dealers are proactive and do them preemptively, while others do then ad-hoc to resolve specific owner reported problems. I hear the software updates alone take hours to complete, and some dealers don't have the time (or can't be bothered) to do them to every vehicle. There's also (AFAIK) no way for the end user to check the software versions installed on their car.

 

[Andrew25]

FWIW my car had similar paint issues when I picked it up from the dealer last year. The dealer had clearly preformed an absolute crap buff job and there was white buffing compound leftover in most of the cracks/crevices of the car. Luckily all of the white came off relatively easily, just took time and patience to get to it all.

As for the area of paint near the taillight, unfortunately despite multiple people at the dealer verbally telling me it would get taken care of under warranty I'm still waiting. The only good news about it is that you don't really notice it unless you're looking for it, but it obviously is still disappointing how poorly the dealer has handled this situation.

That looks like the evolution of my same issue after 1 year! As bad as it might sound, it kind of relieves my pain, since this must mean something happens at factory level, and not something weird and specific to my car and/or my dealer. Having said that, I'm so sorry to hear you still have the issue after one year, that's definitely insane, Lotus shouldn't let this happen. Honestly, in my family we had a similar issue with a Maserati and guess what? They took care of it in a couple of days. Come on Lotus...

 

[Andrew25]

This is a prime example why you never let a dealer detail, polish, paint correct etc a car. The job usually falls to a junior tech with no formal training, and let loose can cause more damage than they fix. A local professional accredited detailer/ceramic/PPF specialist will be able to look at the paintwork and know exactly the cause and how easy it is to correct.

Regarding software updates and recall/bulletin type fixes. I think some dealers are proactive and do them preemptively, while others do then ad-hoc to resolve specific owner reported problems. I hear the software updates alone take hours to complete, and some dealers don't have the time (or can't be bothered) to do them to every vehicle. There's also (AFAIK) no way for the end user to check the software versions installed on their car.

The dealer next to where I live explained me that every dealer should perform a pre delivery inspection to check and fix all of the issues and updates the car has/needs. The dealer where I got the car definitely did NOT perform such an inspection. I can't do but give credit to your "can't be bothered" with updating every vehicle, but you know, I don't expect a Lotus dealer to sell and deliver tens of cars a month, at least here in Italy. In my case, they had the car sitting for six weeks (!) before the delivery and..did nothing to it? Come on! The car also needs some hw updates, like a "heat shield" for the front hood boards, and it's 40° here these days...

 

[Bulls-Vivid-Red]

That's annoying, but it's so similar to the OP's damage that it makes it more likely the factory is scraping that are putting the taillights in than the OP got some re-sprayed car.
Do you mind calling out what dealer is jerking you around? I'd like to see more people share which ones are good and bad here.

I'm in Chicago and got mine from the only nearby Lotus dealer, Glenview Luxury Imports. The overall dealer experience has been less than great, including my recent 1 year service in which the world's dirtiest service tech blackened both of my seats (straight up oil smears on the one seat). At least to their credit they jumped right on that (I noticed right away before leaving their lot) and they spent a bunch of time cleaning it up.

The rear paint defect is another story and shame on me for not getting these guys to commit to fixing in writing instead of believing what was being told to me on the phone. The defect was missed by GLI during the inspection and by me at the pick up. It was immediately spotted by my PPF place who called me while I was still in the uber back to my house after just having dropped it off! The whole situation is just so ridiculous and wildly different than my previous high end dealer experience at Continental Ferrari in Hinsdale IL (first class operation).

The defect hasn't gotten any worse and I honestly just want to drive the damn thing and not have to think about lawyers and whatever other BS comes next. We'll see what their next steps are, at this point I'd just be happy with some touch paint LOL.....