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

[sm1ke]

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.

Yep, they'll either have a big machine that spays the treatment on, or it'll be part of the automated wash, or you'll get the hand application. The product is usually the same stuff on the shelves at Canadian Tire/Autozone/NAPA etc. Like $10-20 a bottle, with enough product to do your own applications 5-10 times, depending on brand/product/application. It's super easy to apply, you just mist it on to the paint and wipe it dry with a microfiber cloth, doing 1 or 2 panels at a time.