My Xfire was 3 years old when I purchased it from a dealer in '10. The carfax revealed it had a single owner before me. Show room condition then and now except for one thing...

So I'm casually discussing a trade in (tempted to get a Challenger R/T but still undecided) with the sales guy that sold us a new Jeep GC last month and he called his trade in appraiser over to give it a quick once over. The guy came back and said "You know that cars been wrecked, right?". Shocked, I asked why he was making that claim. He took me over to the car and showed me a 'drip' in the clear coat on the rear bumper. Of course I knew about that drip having gone over it a thousand times while hand washing and waxing but always chalked it up to a factory blemish. There are no signs what-so ever that the car was ever in an accident by looking underneath the car, inside the rear wheel well etc.
I suggested he put it up on a rack and show me tangible evidence of the car being 'wrecked' and repaired, a big difference to me compared to perhaps a bumper scratch that the previous owner had repainted, or my assumption of a factory blemish. So the body shop perfectly matched the paint but did a **** poor job on the clear coat and the owner didn't have them sand it out and redo? Possible, but unlikely in my opinion.

So he refused to look at the car from underneath and threw a trade in value at me that was $2000 less than the sales guy said he would give me for it. While I was still laughing at his offer he commented that he doesn't 'trust' that the car wasn't wrecked and repaired.
I told the sale guy what I thought of the situation and his appraiser and told them I was taking my business elsewhere, this after buying a 2013 Jeep GC and a 2010 Wrangler for my daughter back in '09. This is a Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge dealer.
Anyway, I scanned through some search results here and didn't find anything on discussions about factory clear coat 'drips' and was curious if any member here had any similar issue with their clear coat.

 

Well, one thing for certain, that 'drip' occurred while the bumper cover was off the car, unless someone hung the car from a hoist by the tie-down hook to apply the clear-coat.
Whether factory or body shop - I couldn't say ......
( you could take a look around all the fasteners securing the bumper cover, if any look like they have been removed, then re-installed, then probably a body shop )

 

I concur, that 'run' occurred while the bumper was hanging and it could have easily been the result of a body shop while in for repair. Not sure if the factory paints in pieces (probably not, but I thought I saw a photo of a crossfire assembly line where there were pieces hung after being painted).

My body shop guy said he could fix that blemish for under $200 (he didn't have much to say about how it occurred as you can play that game all day and in the end the run is still there.).

I still maintain that a customer who had a car in for repair would not have accepted that clearly visible clear coat run. It's possible that the dealer who I bought it from did the repair in preparation for selling and didn't have a picky owner go over it with fine tooth comb. When I bought it I pointed it out and of course the sales guy told me it was a factory blemish (and with it being sold 'as is', it wasn't a show stopper for me).

My contention is that the appraiser offered $2000 less than the salesman based on his 'guess' that because of the clear coat blemish, that the car was 'wrecked and repaired' without any evidence other than the blemish.

I'm simply curious if other owners have noticed paint blemishes that they know or suspect are from the factory.

 

All plastic fascias are painted off the car, then later matched up with the chassis at a later assembly point in the factory. The reason is because the plastics and metals all have different paint processes, so you can't 'dunk' a fully assembled car into the e-coat tank. As strict as the Karmann quality process was, I don't think they would've let that one slip from the fascia painting plant. We at Nissan put our bumpers under zebra lights, meticulously searching for imperfections before clearing them for line use.

It's very possible that the previous owner dinged the bumper, and with the Oyster Gold being a metallic, a full respray would be needed if the blem was severe enough. I would highly doubt the damage was anything beyond cosmetic, and therefore it would not have been reported to insurance.

For example, on my Limited I installed the SRT bumper. If I never told you, you would've never known because the paint was perfectly matched and there was absolutely no damage that prompted the bumper swap.

Wet-sand the drip, and find a new dealer.

 

Sound advice! And as much as I want a new Challenger (I had a '71 in high school) I equally don't want to part with my Crossfire!

 

I have a circular drip of clear coat on the top of my right rear fender and I know the paint is factory original. I thought about wet sanding it out, but I view it now as a kind of "birth mark". Paint defects are typically corrected during Quality inspections at the factory, I guess this one got by them.

 

CarFax is not accurate. It only would tell you if the vehicle had been in a reported accident. If the previous owner paid for a body repair himself, it would not show up.