Auto body repair & detailing: Swirls, Scratches on brand new car from dealer?, light scratches, car salesmen

Question
Hi Notto,

I recently purchased a 2006 Black Nissan Murano.  We took it home at night and the next day noticed it had what appeared to be light scratches/swirls all over the paint from it being washed before we purhased it.  At any rate, the dealer said their detailing guy would buff it out.  So he buffed it for a few hours and the scratches/swirls are still there.  So they took it to another place who said they could get it out by handwaxing it.  Guess what's still there.  It's been a back and forth with the dealer.  We have spoken with two outside detailers who said it's an all day job to buff it out.  The dealer wants to have their detailer guy work on it again as he said it will take half a day to sandblast it.  I'm very hesitant to have the same guy work on it as he didn't get the job done the first time.  I realize black cars are the hardest to keep clean but a brand new car shouldn't already have these marks.  Have you heard of this happening before?Any suggestions?  

Answer
Karen,
I can really sympathize with you.  Yes, I've seen this before.  The truth is, most cars on the lot aren't treated very well.  It's illegal in most states to wash them with soap, as a car lot would end up with a huge amount of chemical buildup over the years, theoretically, and so they just pressure wash them with water and wipe them down.  Quickly.  Without care.  Thus the dirt (they're outside all day right?) just gets rubbed into the paint and thus you have some pretty good fine scrathes all over the car.  I was at a dealership one night and the lot lighting showed the swirly scratches so bad, I was disgusted.
First of all, most car salesmen,etc. know very little in most cases about paint, etc.  No one is going to sandblast the finish.  This would strip it down to bare metal.  Yes, it is very difficult to remove these from black paint, because the aggressive polish can leave its own swirl marks.  Best bet is to threaten to return it, and then just let them clamor to make you happy. Then after a while, give them the option to have you take care of it and then reimburse you.  This is not unreasonalbe.  Take it to a body shop to see if there's a paint problem (there may be scrathes underneath the paint or some touchup body work possibly done in transit).  Then if they say it needs to be buffed out, get some recommendations for a good detail shop from them and some other body/paint shops and have them do it.  Don't pay for the work unless it's done right and you can see in the light that it's gone.