[OnceUponARohan]

Hello everyone,

So I recently completed a Road trip to Jaipur and back from Gurgaon that ticked the odometer slightly above the 3000Km mark. If I were to summarise my experience with the Jeep Meridian, I'd say Calm & Relaxing.

The car keeps on pulling on the highway and I managed to get a average of about 13.2 Km/L during the roundtrip! Driving style was a mix of Cruise control @ 90 with occasional acceleration to about 100+ in patches. It's a nicely planted car and instills a sense of confidence in the driver. And it doesn't feel slow at all. In fact I was touching 100+ speeds occasionally.

I noticed one Issue though with the car recently, when I took it to get it washed etc. The side on A pillar above the driver has been repainted! The paint thickness gauge gives a number of 140+ thickness reading and there are paint pin holes there. I raised it to Landmark Jeep GGN and they told me they've further escalated it to Jeep HQ Pune and some engineer will come etc. but till now nothing has happened!

Ask to the community, is there something I can do here?

[RedTerrano]

Originally Posted by OnceUponARohan

The side on A pillar above the driver has been repainted! The paint thickness gauge gives a number of 140+ thickness reading and there are paint pin holes there.

Did you take readings on other locations? What were those?
Perhaps 140 (what unit?) is the average, and the pin holes are just a defect and not repaint.

[firstdrive]

Originally Posted by OnceUponARohan

I noticed one Issue though with the car recently, when I took it to get it washed etc. The side on A pillar above the driver has been repainted! The paint thickness gauge gives a number of 140+ thickness reading and there are paint pin holes there. I raised it to Landmark Jeep GGN and they told me they've further escalated it to Jeep HQ Pune and some engineer will come etc. but till now nothing has happened!

Ask to the community, is there something I can do here?

Reminds me of an Old video of Brotomotiv Youtube Channel mentioning issues with manufacturer.

What you mentioned could be genuine case of repainting or QC issues with the manufacturer.

I believe FCA and TATA share the same Pune facility, you can watch below video about Tata Safari paint issues.

Brotomotiv Paint Issues

Note: I am just speculating that it could be issue from manufacturer and nothing to do with dealer hence your case has been escalated, also I am no way associated or promoting Brotomotiv!

[OnceUponARohan]

Originally Posted by RedTerrano

Did you take readings on other locations? What were those?
Perhaps 140 (what unit?) is the average, and the pin holes are just a defect and not repaint.

Hello,

So yes we did take it everywhere else and mostly it was between 95-105 but this one area was 130-140

[yashg]

If the car is otherwise running fine, you'll have to let it go. Maybe they sold you a repainted car, maybe not. If you have connections at the highest level in the government and can fight for months you can even get full refund. But if you are liking the car, just forget it. That's Jeep. Yeah, not what you'd expect from a premium brand in a 40L car. But that's how things are.

[gururajrv]

Just let it slide to save both time and peace for your ownself. Getting OEMs to hear you is a task where you'll have to invest a lot of time, effort and even money for your travel to & fro. Rather, just get it detailed and live with it if the car is doing just fine mechanically.

[Asish_VK]

If the Car is fine otherwise, enjoy it to the full. Don't let that be 'the biggest concern' of your life and loose too much your time and money.

BUT, I won't say let it slide completely, You should raise the concern and if you have solid proofs, make sure this is getting noticed by concerned parties.

[sukiwa]

Originally Posted by OnceUponARohan

The side on A pillar above the driver has been repainted! The paint thickness gauge gives a number of 140+ thickness reading and there are paint pin holes there.

Sometimes some things don't change, reminded me of a thread from 2017 (Sky Moto Jeep (Pune) sells me a Repainted Compass).

[shrinz.vivek]

Paint repair is common practice in automobile manufacturing. Not all bodies come out defect free from the paint shop. As long as this was repaired at the factory or the dealer, I think there's nothing to worry.
If you are not satisfied with the quality of the repaint, then you can raise it to the ASC.

[one-77]

From your post, it seems the car has run several thousand kilometres now. Unfortunately there’s not much you can do at this point to prove the repainting was done prior to delivery. It’s painful enough to get the dealer/ manufacturer to own up even if you had noticed this prior to delivery, once you’ve made the payment.

You would probably have to let this rest, make peace with yourself, and enjoy what’s good with the car.

[TSI_Exhaust]

Hey OnceUponARohan!

As per what you have written, it seems that the car is running absolutely fine.

As for the issue you came up with, you may be have a case here but I would suggest you to let it slide. On this forum itself I read about a repainted Slavia being given to a customer which they caught at the time of delivery I think and they had to go though a lot of to and fro to get a full refund (if I remember correctly).

The point is that you will have to have good contacts, will have to pull a lot of strings and will have to burn a ton of time, not to mention, a lot of money in case of legal proceedings. If the car is running fine, all this is just not worth it in my opinion.

If what is being pointed out is correct, yes, it is indeed sad to see this kind of dealing with regards to a premium brand with a premium offering.

[congruent.cars]

If you have irrefutable proof and the car otherwise is performing to expectations, you could try pushing Jeep India and Dealer for some kind of quid pro quo... like a complimentary extended warranty, complimentary routine services, 100% coverage of the painted panel(s) if any defects start showing up, etc. Please keep all agreements/commitments in writing.

[Vijay T]

I agree with what congruent cars is suggesting.

Please make peace with it & enjoy the car which otherwise is ok as per your post.

Touch-up is common QA practice in Automobile industry.

Since you caught it,may be you could try to get some form of repayment as suggested.

Hope you million miles of peaceful driving.

[adwaith]

Originally Posted by OnceUponARohan

Ask to the community, is there something I can do here?

The answer is yes, but depends on what you want to get out of it.

You could confront them and get a bunch of freebies or take legal action under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. While you could seek the remedy of replacement which judicial pronouncements entitle you to, the chance that it will happen is remote and even if you are awarded that it will be after a long drawn out battle. What's most likely to happen is that you will be awarded with pecuniary damages.

If you have some time on your hands, a consumer complaint will not hurt but I would advise that you speak to the dealers and see what they have to say for themselves.

[Geo_Ipe]

Originally Posted by OnceUponARohan

I noticed one Issue though with the car recently, when I took it to get it washed etc. The side on A pillar above the driver has been repainted! The paint thickness gauge gives a number of 140+ thickness reading and there are paint pin holes there. I raised it to Landmark Jeep GGN and they told me they've further escalated it to Jeep HQ Pune and some engineer will come etc. but till now nothing has happened!

From my limited knowledge acquired from YouTube University, paint thickness >500 (whatever unit) indicates a lot of putty under the paint.

In your case, the reading is some 35 units above normal, which may not be that abnormal. You could check the paint depth of other Merdiens & Compasses over the same areas and see how different the readings are. Also wait to hear back from Jeep and let us know what happened.

As long as there is no colour mismatch, don't give this epsiode too much importance - enjoy your lovely machine!