So what does the dealer do at these 6 month paint checkups?

Getting ready to take my soul red CX5 in for its first paint treatment thingy which I'm supposed to do after 6 months for the first 3 years to maintain the warranty. Any idea what they do how long this takes to do?
 
Yes the U.S.

Looking at my notes from all the paperwork when I purchased the vehicle.....

Paint protection must be reapplied every 6 months for the duration of the 3/36k warranty. [redacted] is Automate’s number if you do not receive a notice prior to each appointment. You must present the notice from Automate to the dealer for every appointment or you void the warranty if you miss one. If you notice the paint fading, etc you must report it within 30 days of noticing this or you can void the warranty.

I found this discussion over at the 4Runner forum Toyota-4Runner.org
 
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We're missing some info. Sounds like he got charged for some paint sealant stuff, and this is the 6 month reapply/refresh thing. Can the OP specify if he's being charged for this?
 
Yeah, how much did this 'paint protection' stuff cost the OP?
 
We're missing some info. Sounds like he got charged for some paint sealant stuff, and this is the 6 month reapply/refresh thing.

I would assume the same.

@SWCX5R, if you're being charged for the reapplication, I would just ignore it, buy a bottle of spray wax at your local auto store and apply it once every few months. If you don't have to pay for the reapplication, you can take it in. Shouldn't take longer than an hour or two as they are likely just washing the car and applying the sealant. You can always call the dealer to get more specific information about what is down and how long you might expect to wait.
 
From The Toyota 4 Runner Site (link at the bottom of post) from 2004
AutoMate (paint protection program)

My dealer has a huge machine that applies some polymer coating every 6 months to your car/4runner. They use it on all of the vehicles Lexus and Toyotas when they arrive at the dealership. They then sell this package of applications to you for a 3 1/2 year period for $500 that is 6 treatments one every 6 months. I alway have done my own but I looked at vehicles that have used their treatments for several years and they look like new so this time I bought the package. It is called AutoMate, it is a specially formulated polymer paint sealant, applied with the fully automatic soft-cloth polish machine. With the package comes a warranty agains't any oxidizing, fading or loss of gloss due to the destructive effects of sun,rain, and snow. Anyone use this or had it done?

 
Just when I thought I'd seen every point of sale dealer accessory money making scam, this comes up. Wow.
How do people get sucked into this stuff? Pure profit for the dealer.
I'd spend the 500 bucks on clear film myself.
 
*wonders if this dealer kisses their costumers after screwing them*
 
In my case my Mazda dealer says all cars sold come with this. Give me my sucker badge to add onto my avatar over there. I never remember agreeing to this.
 
We still
In my case my Mazda dealer says all cars sold come with this. Give me my sucker badge to add onto my avatar over there. I never remember agreeing to this.
don't know if he charged you an added item for this. If not, and they 'gave' it to you, you're golden, just don't pay for any 6 month refresh, and use something like Turtle Wax ceramic spray
 
Yes the U.S.

Looking at my notes from all the paperwork when I purchased the vehicle.....

Paint protection must be reapplied every 6 months for the duration of the 3/36k warranty. [redacted] is Automate’s number if you do not receive a notice prior to each appointment. You must present the notice from Automate to the dealer for every appointment or you void the warranty if you miss one. If you notice the paint fading, etc you must report it within 30 days of noticing this or you can void the warranty.

I found this discussion over at the 4Runner forum Toyota-4Runner.org
I am in Toronto Canada, i have a new Red 2021.5 Signature model. The red paint is already chipped on rear bumper at 1000km and no i did not do knock it. My first car wash and the paint looks all scratched up. Crap paint.
 
I am in Toronto Canada, i have a new Red 2021.5 Signature model. The red paint is already chipped on rear bumper at 1000km and no i did not do knock it. My first car wash and the paint looks all scratched up. Crap paint.

What type of car wash did you use? Touchless or one of those rotating brush types?

I'm not saying that the red paint isn't crap, but those rotating brushes aren't good for anyone's paint, no matter the color or quality.
 
I'm not saying that the red paint isn't crap, but those rotating brushes aren't good for anyone's paint, no matter the color or quality.
My favorite is that even those detail/wash shops, 'Jacksons' or whatever you local chain is, use those. And I don't even want to think about the towels (even if microfiber) that they're using to dry it with. But my biggest laugh is when you see a black Audi running though those Scratch-O-Matics
 
Yeah I'm hand wash only for mine. The CX5 looks pretty good after their treatment today. I was out of there in one hour including the oil change and tire rotation.
 
I'm not saying that the red paint isn't crap....
Well, the red paint on my 2020 is definitely not crap. Almost 2 years, 13k miles, and two Nu Finish treatments later and it is just fine.

In fact, it hasn't had any fresh paint chips on the hood since I bought this dealer loaner in Aug. 2020 with a couple preexisting chips. That's surprisingly good compared other makes and colors I've owned. In my 17 months and 9,000 miles I've added only a couple small chips side-by-side on a passenger door when a passing truck threw stones at it--I knew it when it happened with the audible ding, ding--no paint will resist that.

At least the 2020 version is not inherently crap. That's not say there couldn't be a bad batch of paint or a day on the paint line. Car wash equipment whacking the vehicle would not be a paint problem. Look on the bright side. You could buy a Tesla with hair in the paint and generally poor build quality.
 
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Well now that I have a dash cam setup I reviewed the recordings from my recent visit. They don't have a fancy machine, not even some kind of buffer that applies anything. While my car sat idling for a long time waiting to go through their scratch-o-matic car wash, I could view the detail station where the guy drys the vehicle that just went through, then hand applies whatever he's putting on the vehicle. When my car was pulled into the detail station there is a rack of what looks like 10 gallon jugs of red, blue, orange liquids. I asked about future visit costs once my 3/36 is done and they said $50.
 
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