Gaiden

I have a slight question regarding the drilled holes in the front bumper where the liscense plate goes. Well, I ordered a Super White Scion tC 5 Speed that will arrive in a few weeks, or so, since my dealer didn't tell me when it would arrive. But this is a question to all of you who requested that the dealer shouldnt drill the holes in the front bumper or to salespeople from dealers, how far in advance should you tell them? or are they going to call you when your car arrives? will the holes be there already?

Thanks for any help.

ScionicXTC

I'd tell them as soon as possible, ask them to make a note of it, and call to remind them right before it gets there... Also ask them to put something like a post-it note on the bumper itself as soon as it comes off the truck so nobody will make that mistake...

blackpearlTC

they don't drill the holes. they come from the factory with holes.....they're just covered up with paint. if you look real close, you can see the indentions

Lenalove

They drill holes on when the car arrives to the dealer. I also have requested to them not to put holes on mine. Super White 5 Speed tC. I had to go through the top guy there "General Manager or whatever" and get permission since its by "law" to have that ____ in front of the car. Then I had to call the guy in charge of "putting holes" and he have made a note not to put holes on the car I have ordered.

Gaiden

Hmm, think the liscense plate could fit in the bottom grill of the front bumper? (adjustment of course)

reign

The indentations are just that. There's still plastic behind them. The indents just make it easier to drill the holes. I drove mine off the lot without them being drilled

Redfish

Yes, there are no holes drilled from the factory.

You need to tell your salesguy this asap, and remind him regularly to do whatever he has to to make sure they dont get drilled. I'd go even so much as to say that you will not accept the car if you find holes drilled unless the bumper is replaced.

djaaronp

One problem with that, perhaps, is the blocking of air flow to the engine. I havent seen a tC front bumper that up close yet.

Is this even an issue? Or would it be blocking the air flow to nothing? (i.e. that opening just goes to the bottom of the car)

Gaiden

Hmm I don't think so, I haven't really inspected it thoroughly, but it didn't look like it that way when I first popped the hood at the dealer. Thanks for the concerns though, ill look out for it.

Shadow_tC

Tell your salesperson ASAP and even have him/her put it in writing in your paperwork. They will need to tell whoever does the final inspection on your vehicle to not drill the holes for the front license plate. I had this (no holes in my bumper) as one of the 3 requests that I made of the dealership. The other 2 were no decals of any kind on the vehicle, and no extra miles (test drives, etc.) Luckily, all three were taken care of.

- Desi

shimmy

Give me the car...not your propaganda! leave the ___ stickers and license plate brackets off the car. I told them right off the bat not to drill. Even if there are holes behind the paint, I still don't want the dam bracket...who ever thought of making that a law? damn retards!.....

tC_Dragon

Ok... let me try to address this as best as i can... i have worked at a dealership before for a good amount of time so let me tell you the process. Please bear with me... this will be long.

Many vehicles that require mounting physically to bumpers and such like our tC or the nissan 350Z do NOT come from factory with the front holes drilled. They are marked by indentation so that they can be drilled. This is generally because whlie some places like California require the use of a front plate, many states and countries do not.

It is the responsibility of the dealership to conduct what is called a Pre-Delivery Inspection or PDI as we say in the business. The tech's will then verify on a checklist that once coming off the trucks that the vehicles are in proper condition. They check things such as :
1. Motor Oil, Coolant level, & other essential fluids
2. Tire pressure(Tire pressure is set very high for more secure transport on trucks so this must be released)
3. Inclusion of all accessory/options listed on sticker.

In addition to this and some other basics, they also usually in calif. drill the necessary holes or what not to mount the front plates. They usually do this to install any necessary bracket the customer will need once plates come in the mail and also to put their own ugly ___ license plate frame advertising their dealership.

Is this a requirement by law? Obviously not in those states where front plate is option. However, in those that are, i believe the letter of the law states that the dealerships are responsible for providing a method of appropriate mounting of the plate. That means all they really have to do is give you any brackets if needed, some screws, and thats about it. They are free n clear of any further legal burden.

Most dealerships however, usually have a couple techs assigned to doing the PDI's on new vehicles and they always just go ahead and attach themm because its relatively rare when customers complain and say they don't want it on. Its usually the other way around, when they come back and complain to salesmen and say they have no way to mount it, makin a fuss and complaining about another trip down to the dealership.

So whats the remedy to the situation? Only thing you can do is talk to your salesperson and hope he's on top of it with the pdi techs when your specific vehicle comes in. Thats what i did... and i repeatedly told him. Beyond that there really is little you can do. Here's a bit of good news, many high volume dealerships have so many cars in inventory and coming in for service that sometimes pdi's aren't done till days after they arrive. In such cases, the techs will be told by the salesmanagers to get em done right before delivery to the customer, so you can tell the people at the dealership when u get there again as a reminder.

Personal note: Ok now that you know... for all of you chumps who are saying that you won't take a car if it has the front plate holes drilled, I think thats a load of crap. As much as we all would like that, i seriuosly doubt any of you if YOUR car came in to YOUR specs, after YOU waited WEEKS for it to come in would just turn it down. With the kind of demand and corresponding waiting period, i don't think any of us would turn the car down. All we can do is speak to our reps at the dealers and be cool.

shimmy

lucky for me, I had a choice of Tc's and drove it home the day I bought it. It should be common sense not to install anything extra on a sporty car. I was a porter for 2 years and installed license plate frames all the time. It really ____es people off when you don't ask them before you do it. I really dont care about stickers...they come off. The reason we installed frames was for advertising only. Adds on the front, back, and trunk lid.

TheScionicMan

They don't have to actually drill the holes, The license plate screws are self-tapping and will go right into the indents. Although when you take them out, it gets uglier.

The dealers do for advertising - plain and simple. They are not liable for you not having a front plate displayed. When you are driving it off the lot, you probably don't have plates anyway.

The reason for them being required on the front is so they can use redlight cameras to create more revenue, although they'll claim it's for safety. Studies have proven that lengthening the yellow light by about a second in most troublesome intersections is a much safer alternative. Also, getting a ticket in the mail doesn't have the same deterrent effect of tons of people seeing a cop with someone pulled over getting a ticket... [/rant]