UPDATE: Dealer scratched my new car!
 

When we went to replace our flood damaged Civic, we bought a new Accord EX in Silver from a Honda Dealership 'bout 90 miles away.

When we picked it up, it was very late and the dealership was a complete zoo (crazy). Anyway, I noticed (upon inspection) a 3 foot long scratch on top of the hood... I also noticed some marring and scratching on the driver's door handle. The dealership employees tried hard to remove the scratches, with their special rubbing compound and a polishing cloth. They made a bunch of the minor scratches go away, but were unable to make the two above listed scratches disappear.

The dealership manager came out and looked at the scratches. He said we could take the car home today and bring it into their affiliate dealership here in my city to have them look at fixing the scratches. He said if I wasn't satisfied with the paint repair, I could trade in my 06 for a new 07 and only pay the difference in MSRP. This would involve a whole day of driving back and forth, and the hassle of toting around my entire family too (infant and 3 year old). I got this agreement in writing.

My question: How do you think the affiliate dealership will try to address these scratches, and will it be a solid fix. My issue is I don't want them to add some quick fix compoud that will fill in the scratch, only to wear off in a year, then my scratch would be visible again. Also, I don't want them to run the clear-coat down (through polishing) so far that the paint protection is compromised. I'm a car paint novice, so I'm looking for help understanding this dilema.

I also don't want them to sand and paint the car either. The last Honda I had "color matched" at the dealership, the half of the hood with newer paint, faded within a few months... I want the paint to be in like new condition that will last for years, and withstand the same punishment the surrounding paint will. If a paint shop can't make that happen, I would opt for the new 07. Considering the difference in MSRP is only $150, I'd be ok with this option, but I would want to be able to give a reason why the normal paint fixes are unacceptable in my situation.

Sorry for the long post. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

RE: Paint help! Dealer scratched my new car!
 

Since you're dealing with a new car paint color matching should be super simple... Did you pay MSRP for the car? Anyway, any decent paint should should be able to match the color and quality without a problem... I'd make sure that if you opt to get it fixed that if the repair blows you still want the option to trade in to the 07' don't get stuck with a botched paint job....

RE: Paint help! Dealer scratched my new car!
 

Paid $19,300 for an EX Sedan (yes, thats right - 'bout 4k off retail)... so I don't have a lot of room to complain. However, I don't think I'd be happy with a new painted section... It may match color perfectly (though silver is hardest of all to match). Its the paint weathring I'm concerned about then. The new painted sections will not have the same color fasting properties of the rest of the car and will tend to fade differently than the rest of the car, making obvious cosmetic issues. Especially with Silver.

UPDATE
 

Took my car into the local dealership's paint/body repair facility. They were unable to buff out the scratches, even after they sanded off most of the clear coat (against my wishes). They said repainting would be necessary. As said earlier, I won't be happy with a repainting fix.

I made contact witht he original dealership and they are going ahead with the trade-in deal for an '07 Accord EX. We'll have to wait for up to 2 months for a matching one to come in, so we'll simply put miles on the 06 in the mean-time (I guess). Although, I'd really just like to get this over with. I'm anxious to get the windows tinted and put on a spoiler. Can't do that until I get the new car (obviously)

I'll let you know how it goes.
Regards