What to pay attention before taking delivery

[Hildy]

Originally Posted by lordbaby

CTS shipped to dealer, what to pay attention before taking delivery ?
No bs allowed , serious question.

Listen closely: CHECK THE PAINT...take a flashlight if the weather is cloudy. Especially if you have a dark color car. ESPECIALLY red. I didn't do that and I've been paying for it ever since. My car looks perfect now, but it's taken me two months and alot of money to have it look like it should have looked when it left the dealership... if ONLY I HAD TAKEN THE TIME TO LOOK. Got it?

[lordbaby]

just took delivery of the car in the evening. didnt notice that credit card is not accepted. will send someone to bring in a check tomorrow. everything went well other then some normal issues about the suddenly increased price and increased finance %... will elaborate more later. Hugh rain on my way home. Didn't have any chance to unleash the beast. Drove by a theme park and fireworks were launching right above despite the rain. Looked at it though the sunroof: FANTASTIC VIEW! Feeling pretty tired now, will check out more about my car tomorrow

PS: how to take the key out from the fob?

[hanapa]

Originally Posted by Hildy

Listen closely: CHECK THE PAINT...take a flashlight if the weather is cloudy. Especially if you have a dark color car. ESPECIALLY red. I didn't do that and I've been paying for it ever since. My car looks perfect now, but it's taken me two months and alot of money to have it look like it should have looked when it left the dealership... if ONLY I HAD TAKEN THE TIME TO LOOK. Got it?

You've got that right, friend. I'd take your receipts to the dealer and ask for reimbursement. My dealer swirled the hell out of my blue chip car and after a lot of bitching on my part, they agreed to pay for a detailer to repair it.

[Southern]

lordbaby, please don't "unleash the beast" just yet.
Too many people just grab their caddy and run it hard.
Some years later when it is burning oil, or the brakes are bad prematurely, or the rotors are warped, etc,etc they talk about the POS they bot from Cadillac.
Please follow the procedure in your owners manual and break in the car properly.

[NOT ON MY WATCH]

Originally Posted by lordbaby

PS: how to take the key out from the fob?

There is a thin black button you have to push in incredibly hard, and as you are holding the button in, you can pull the key out. Once you do it a few times, it seems to loosen up a bit. You might need to use your fingernail to get the right amount of focused pressure. Don't pull hard on the key! If it doesn't come out with a minimal amount of force, you're not pushing the button in hard enough.

[like2drive]

Originally Posted by NOT ON MY WATCH

1) Check all interior trim for unusual gaps or differences from side to side. I didn't notice gaps on mine until about 500 miles (not sure if they were there before or not) - and I have major gaps on both sides of the center console between the wood trim and the outside plastic (on the sides of where the wood trim and plastic meet up with the seat heat/cool controls). I believe a couple other folks noticed trim problems on some of the pillars.

2) Check steering wheel for vibration - especially from 60 to 65 mph. I thought I had a problem with this, then thought I didn't - now I know I do have some kind of steering issue for sure. Might be an alignment issue on mine, as the steering wheel has some play on the right side close to center, but I haven't hit any potholes, speedbumps, or curbs.

3) Check cupholder door, glove box door, center console hatches, and rear folding seats for proper function. Might sound silly - and in all the cars I've owned before, there has never been a problem - but my cupholder door was not working from day one.

4) Check headlights for moisture. Mine had this when I picked it up from the dealer (they had just washed the car). The dealer said it would go away, but I have been too busy lately to monitor this.

5) Check paint very closely in good lighting conditions.

6) Check compass for proper function.

7) Check radio (AM, FM & XM) for proper reception and quality level.

8) Check spare tire area for proper equipment: spare tire, fix-a-flat, or pile of cash.

That probably covers most of the issues some people have experienced - so if you check those at the dealership, you ought to be fine out of the gate.

Thanks NOT ON MY WATCH. The day I take delivery of my new baby, I'm going to take with me your checklist and go through point by point.

[NOT ON MY WATCH]

Originally Posted by like2drive

Thanks NOT ON MY WATCH. The day I take delivery of my new baby, I'm going to take with me your checklist and go through point by point.

De rien. You're welcome.

[08CTS]

Originally Posted by hanapa

You've got that right, friend. I'd take your receipts to the dealer and ask for reimbursement. My dealer swirled the hell out of my blue chip car and after a lot of bitching on my part, they agreed to pay for a detailer to repair it.

My dealer also screwed up my brand new paint royally, and didn't mention anything about it. Luckily, the sales manager agreed to foot the bill for a detail from a legit detailer.

Its amazing how prevalant this swirl problem is!

Can any of our Forum Dealer friends explain why this happens so frequently? Is it simply a training/employee issue? Or soft paint? Etc?

[lordbaby]

kinda new but... make sure you are paying what is agreed. I'm not blaming my sales, she increased my price by 500 due to the increase in price of the CTS and her reason is that I got the incentive from GMAC. Of course, I didn't allow the difference because this isn't what was agreed.

[jghiller]

Check for USB port in console if you have IPOD connection option. You should also get IPOD cables. Dealer showed me the cables to make me aware of this but if I hadnt read the owners manual I wouldnt have noticed the missing USB port. I dont have an IPOD but I knew it would be the first thing my daughter wanted to try out. Fortunately the USB port was there but during build, someone put the wrong console insert in the car, covering up the port.