Most dealers have the cars detailed while they are on the lot to help sell them. They do what they can to make them look good. I doubt if a wax job within 30 days would have a negative affect.

Yeah it actually can. I've seen new cars at the bodyshop before in need of a wetsanding because the dealer waxed them not knowing they hadn't sat in a holding lot long enough before it came to them. If the paint isn't fully cured yet and you wax it you can trap moisture and cloud the paint to the point where a wetsand is necessary to fix it. You could also cause it to go soft and then any bugs or whatever hit it become part of the paint. Same goes for when you have repainting done by a bodyshop. They tell you not to wax until the paint is totally cured for those very reasons. Since a lot of times you have no way of knowing how long it has been since your car was painted when you buy a new car, it is best to wait before waxing. Don't want to risk ruining a brand new paint job.

Is paint covered under new car warranty?

 

Not if you damage it by neglect or misuse of products on the car. If you find defects in the paint like fish-eyes, swirls under the clearcoat, light spots, uneven coats, crazing, etc. Then the warranty will cover it as it is a manufacturing defect. However, it is really easy to tell manufacturing defects from customer caused damage and the painting process on new cars is so perfect that almost no warranty repairs for paint are turned in anymore, so any claim you make will trigger scrutiny. Best bets for exterior car care are to seek the advice of knowledgable people and take their advice.

Not even if it is dealer misuse or neglect, prior to taking ownership?

No, Toyota doesn't care who damages the car, and the warranty doesn't take effect until the car is sold to the original purchaser anyway. Remember that Toyota dealers are not Toyota, they are authorized resellars. If a dealer was to damage a vehicle in any manner then they would have to pay to fix it. Besides, why would you care if the warranty covered the damaged paint or not? I would not buy a new car that the dealer had damaged when there are plenty of other ones available that had original and perfect paint jobs?

You were saying that it is not good to wax the car within 30 days, but the dealer may put wax on it and then sell it to you before the damage begins to show. That would leave you helpless if it does not qualify for warranty work.

If you trap moisture under the paint by waxing you will know it within hours of the wax job. Anyone who looks at a waxed car that has sat on the lot for more than 2 or 3 hours and sees the clouding in the paint and still buys the car obviously doesn't care about the car they are buying. Anyway, 30 days is just a recommendation to be absolutly sure. In most all cars the paint is cured enough to wax before the car reaches the dealer and if atmospheric conditions aren't just right the paint won't cloud even if you wax it right away at the dealership, even if the paint hasn't fully cured. You also need to realize that when I say wax I mean a real honest wax job. I don't mean the crappy spray wax job that dealers do 99% of the time. That stuff isn't real wax and isn't capable of providing protection or trapping moisture, it just shines the car up. The truth is that it almost never happens that a car is damaged by waxing right off, but I've seen it before and it wasn't something I wanted to take a chance on with my car since I custom ordered it and waited almost 4 months for it. If you're fanatic about your car being as perfect as possible like I am then it's just best to not chance such things.

Thanks for the clarification. I was afraid that dealers were waxing cars and then selling them with the consumers not realizing that the paint was being damaged. I recommend to anyone that they thoroughly check a new car out before they purchase it. You spend a lot of money and it should be close to perfect.You seem like a very conscientious and meticulous person when it comes to car care and we can all learn a lot from your advice. Thanks for the tips.

I also strongly recommend going over any new car you purchase with a fine toothed comb. Factories make mistakes and you shouldn't accept mistakes in a new car that you paid top dollar for. When I got mine I refused to sign off on it until I looked at it for 15 minutes or so. I checked every panel line, all the interior parts fits and the operation of all the accessories. This is especially important to do if the dealer wants you to sign a document saying no defects were present at the time of delivery as my dealer did. When I finished I went back into the showroom and informed the dealer I wouldn't be taking the car unless they could fix the wheels situation. They filled out this "promises" form that stated that within 1 week they would have me my wheels. I signed this form and another form and took off. Two days later they had my wheels and made my car exactly what I ordered.

When my car was in an accident I carefully inspected the repair. I nagged the insurance into using only OEM, down to the fluids and I checked to make sure everything was OEM when I got the car back. There were several aspects of the repair I felt were lacking. I sent the car back to have them remove paint runs from around the edges of the underside of the hood, and to re-align the hood because I felt the gap between it and the grille was too big. I also wanted them to readjust the headlamps. They did all these things and gave the car back. At that time I told them the hood gap was still too big. They bulked at me and I informed them that since they used OEM parts they shouldn't have a hard time making the hood fit right. They adjusted it a third time and it finally fit to my satisfaction.

Moral of this story is that you can't trust the dealer or a body shop to do a really good check of any car and you shouldn't sign off on any repair or purchase until you are satisfied with the car. If you do you could find yourself stuck with a car that isn't perfect or close to it and you won't have any recourse other than to sue, which is a crapshoot at best.