Advice on dealer add-ons

Selenophile

I'm not sure in which subsection I should place this, so I'll leave it here for now...

I'm about to order a new car from a dealer. They gave me a quote and recommended two additional add-ons. One is Mapfre Cosmetic Repair Insurance (3 year cover) for 395 euro and the second one is Supagard Exterior and Interior Body protection for 299 euro.

I have never bought a new car before, so never dealt with dealerships before. Unless forced by life events, I won't be selling this one for a long time. I'm not going to go with PCP, so I'm not worried about car's value in three years from now. My questions are, are any of these add-ons good, would you recommend any or non of it, is any of it a good value ?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

Neilw

The products for the likes of supaguard are about €30, more then likely won’t be applied correctly either. They are money makers for dealers. I wouldn’t buy either of them.

Selenophile

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119870779#Comment_119870779

Thank you. It looked a bit too much to me, but I really don't know anything about application of these products and if it requires anything worth 400 euro. So I said I'd better ask. :)

hoodie6029

Better off getting a detailer to apply a ceramic coating for you to protect the paint, if you want to.

I’ve never seen a car washed well at a dealers, I wouldn’t let them lose on paint protection that needs meticulous application.

Best of luck with the new car. What did you get?

bazz26

Car dealer add ons are like Ryan Air add ons, designed to get you to spend more. Big markups for dealers on these products, best avoided.

JoeA3

The Supaguard is a waste of time and money. Avoid.

If you’re someone that’s prone to picking up minor dings, scratches, wheel scuffs, etc, then maybe the cosmetic insurance is worth some consideration. Considering a bumper scuff can cost ballpark ~400 to get fixed.

zg3409

These are all scams and bad value. Get them elsewhere if you need to.

BronsonTB

Presume this is a second hand car (new would have a manufacturers warranty) - Check the fine print on both to see what is covered but usually are not worth buying.

Dealer should be giving you a warranty & likewise check what it covers (get it in writting!)

Good luck with the new purchase.

JoeA3

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119871889#Comment_119871889

I would expect this is a new car. A manufacturer's warranty does not cover dents and scratches... hence dealers try to flog these products, much like how phone shops and Harvey Normans try to upsell you insurance...

Selenophile

Thanks everyone for the answers and good advice. That is helpful.

I'll definitely forget Supagard and will consider cosmetic insurance. I think there is a good chance I get a "minor cosmetic damage" in next three years, and if repair is really around 400 euro, then I guess this insurance makes sense with premium costing the same. However, knowing insurance companies, if the probability was so high, they wouldn't offer it at that price. 😁 To be honest, I didn't know there was such insurance. So I will look around if there is any other similar product in the market and if it costs less.

@hoodie6029 I'll order new Kia Niro PHEV.

bazz26

I'd also read the fine print on the Cosmetic Repair Insurance first before signing up. They may have exclusions on what is and isn't covered. Just make sure it's not worthless.

Selenophile

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119873072#Comment_119873072

Thanks for reminding me of a small print. I took a look at the brochure for the Cosmetic repair insurance, they were referring to T&Cs, but there were no T&Cs in the brochure. Searched for the web site, no T&Cs there either. I'll stay clear of those guys. I'll order a car from dealer and that's all.

M3CS

Don't waste your money on any of it.