Does car warranty cover paint?
These warranties may provide repairs to paint as long as the problem is not associated with any external damage or wear and tear. However, you will need to check the terms of your vehicle warranty to see if this is the case.
Does car warranty cover paint in any situation?
If you or someone else scratches your paintwork, or a corrosive material gets onto your vehicle, this will not be covered. If, however, the car paint starts to bubble and flake because of a problem with the quality of the paint that the manufacturer used, this is likely to be covered.
Most used car warranties will not cover problems with paintwork, so if you want to avoid expensive bodywork bills, and want to keep your car looking in tiptop condition, there are a few things you can do.
What makes car paint fade?
Car paint should last the lifetime of the vehicle, but the reality is that different climatic and care conditions will make the paint fade at different rates. The UV rays from the sun can cause brighter pigments to appear less vivid over time. People who live in coastal areas will likely have their car paint damaged by sea salt, while those who live in areas that routinely get a lot of snow may also find that their paint starts to degrade over time.
If you rely on a carwash that uses big industrial brushes to clean your vehicle, these can cause micro-scratches on your paintwork, which will accelerate any damage to its appearance.
If you live in an urban centre, the nitric acid from air pollution can also damage car paintwork in the long term. Once paint starts to oxidise, the damage will accelerate, meaning that paint restoration will soon become necessary.
What can you do to protect your car’s paintwork?
Given that car paintwork is susceptible to damage caused by the weather, one of the best ways to protect a vehicle is to cover it if it is parked in the open air, or ideally to park it in a covered garage. If you use a cover, make sure it protects against UV as well as the weather.
For some people using a garage or a cover is not a realistic solution. Though paint will eventually fade, the aging process can be slowed down by regularly washing the car and using a wax polish once a month. Washing the car removes the build-up of dirt that will exacerbate paint problems. Wax provides protection against the grit that is picked up through day-to-day driving.
Choose a contactless car wash to avoid the damage caused by big industrial brushes. If you wash the car yourself, use a car soap to clean the vehicle. Using regular washing up liquid, for instance, is not a good idea because it could remove the car’s protective surface and make the problem worse.
What if your car paint is already becoming damaged?
It is possible to reverse some damage to paintwork. Usually, a good polish will help. To do this, you need to wash the car with car soap and use a fine grain clay bar to remove grit, old paint and other contaminants.
Use a cutting polish to remove remnants of dead paint without scouring the paintwork. Once this is done, a finishing polish can bring a bright shine to the paint. Applying these polishes with an orbital buffer or car polisher will produce the best finish.
Finally, seal the paint using a car sealant glaze. Any final imperfections can be removed by using a few coats of sealant glaze.
