But for one gentleman on a local (Vancouver) Subaru forum, he found out after purchasing his new Subaru Forester that the vehicle had been used in a commercial - one which included having a Sumo Wrestler sprawled out on the hood.
Here is his original post quoted from Subaruforester.org:
So I picked up my new 2011 Subaru Forester last weekend. Drove it home, parked in the sun to get a good look, and much to my dismay, noticed small imperfections in the hood... as if someone placed something heavy on the hood. Not really dents... just areas where the light reflections show up shallow imperfections.
At first I wasn't going to complain, thinking "it's not noticeable unless you really look..." but every time I looked
Drove back to the dealer (Don Docksteader in Vancouver), and they said "no problem, we will take care of that for you... must have happened when we shot the latest Sumo Wrestler Add!! Google "Sexy Sumo 2011 Forester"
At the end of the add, you can see a bunch of Sumo Wrestlers lounging on Forester hoods outside the dealership.... I guess this is where the damage happened.
Tomorrow the manager is supposed to phone me, and I am wondering what I should ask for:
1. replace with a new Forester that hasn't been sat on by a huge Japanese man. I can guess that would be a difficult discussion.
2. replace the hood with a new Factory painted hood... not sure this is even possible?
3. repair the hood and re-paint it... I am really not in favor of this option, but that is likely what the dealer will offer. Kind of like paying full price for a new car after it has been in an accident and repaired.
4. ask for money back to compensate for the damage.
Any thoughts / suggestions?
I guess the only good thing is knowing the Forester can actually take the weight of a Sumo Wrestler without too much damage... I would have thought sitting on the hood of a new vehicle these days would have definitely left a large impression.
Here is the ad that he is referring to in his post:
Now although instances of this magnitude would be few and far between, it just goes to show you that even if you purchase your vehicle brand new, from the dealership, you still don't know exactly what they've done with it before selling it to you.
I think it was fairly irresponsible of this dealership to sell the Forrester to this guy without properly inspecting it after the commercial was filmed, because surely they could have anticipated that SOME damage might occur. However, this just perpetrates my theory that you should never buy a car from a dealership.
