are the paintwork protection systems that dealers try to sell you anygood

the only thing they are good for is the saleman's pocket.............

the only thing they are good for is the saleman's pocket.............

thats what i thought just thought id put it out there for others to comment on

thats what i thought just thought id put it out there for others to comment on

Load of twaddle imo, and disgustingly obscenely expensive.

Go and get yerself some top notch polish and do it yourself.

I actually enjoy polishing my car anyway.

I used to sell Lifeshine and Supagard. The dealerships I worked with would give more for cars coming back at trade in time with the treatments because they knew they'd need less prep and could be sold with "paint and fabric protection from new". Naturally I used to make sure my personal cars were done.

Try making friends with a valeter at your local dealership and get enough left-overs to do, say, half your bonnet. Leave for 6 months then make your own judgement.

Mind you, I'm also a big fan of RainX and even of solar power, both of which some people say don't work.

For £200 I would sooner spend 6 hours myself just washing & drying my brand new motor, then apply lots of coats of a good wax!

Supagard products are ok and they can be bought for afraction of the dealer price on ebay.

To be fair, I've had Supagard on my last two new cars and then not bothered with polishing etc from then on - after 3 years my Volvo looked fabulous and after three and a half yeras my VW Tiguan looked as new....I'm about to get a Skoda Superb Elegance and I'm having it done on here too. Buut then again I'm basically lazy and cant be arsed to wax, buff etc etc every 6 months...........

It's OK, but the problem is that it's at least 60% mark up for the dealer.

A few years back I was offered superguard and GAP insurance on a Range Rover.

I said no and got them both for the price of one from the same dealership.

It always depends on what approach you take to bodywork maintenance. If you're not the kind of person who regularly maintains their bodywork, then you can usually strike a deal and IMO its better than nothing. On new cars its pretty good but its not good value for money at 200quid a pop. On 2nd hand cars, the valeter will probably not do the necessary prep of the paintwork (an extremely thorough and precise decontamination of the paintwork) to get any longevity out of the the products, and certainly nowhere near the claimed times that the manufacturers make. My dads vw golf plus has lifeshine and it still protects extremely well 4 years later, although the car has only done 15k and is garaged. I guess it all depends on a number of factors. Lifeshine is the best I've seen.

It's OK, but the problem is that it's at least 60% mark up for the dealer.

The world does indeed revolve on profit. Most customers decide whether the item is worth it to them, rather than deciding (or caring) whether the dealership is using the best way to cover its costs. Someone who polishes their car every weekend shouldn't buy paint protection. Someone who prefers to spend time using their car and just washes it once a month might make a different judgment, and depending on whether the dealer is switched on, might well get a better PX value down the line.

For what it's worth, overall, a well run car dealership will make pre-tax profit of 3-5% on turnover. A badly run one will make a 3-5% loss. Unless it sells "MGs", when it might easily make a 10,000% loss.

Clothes and furniture stores usually add 100% mark up and then add the VAT.

Would you like to guess how much mark up you pay at Maccas?