PDI (Pre-Delivery Inspection)

[RedBadge]

Did a search for thread titles on PDI and didn't find anything.

So I gotta ask, for those who have purchased an FL5, what was your PDI experience? I know Mark from Savagegeese made it a condition of his purchase for the dealer not to PDI his Type R. Has anyone else been successful with this? Or were there certain items/tasks that you succeeded in your dealer not doing?

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[Clark_Kent]

No issues whatsoever. I requested the dealer to do nothing to the car. I was told they cannot turn the vehicle over to a customer straight off the truck, so they agreed to perform the bare minimum. They performed the following:

Fuse installation
Canceled Maintenance Mode
Set Tire Pressure
Calibrated TPMS
Removed Shipping Blocks
Battery Check

After the above was performed it was loaded on a carrier and shipped to me. The car was delivered with all wrapping on the interior and exterior, shipping blocks were placed on front passenger seat, mats in the plastic in the hatch, Monroney Sticker attached to the window, and QA/QC docs from Japan.

 

[Fanatic]

Nicely done @Clark_Kent

 

[Shankmeyster]

Dealers have to perform a PDI regardless of what they tell you, otherwise they could get fined massively. I've worked as a PDI department manager for 6 years. We can't even let salespeople drive cars with customers that haven't been PDI'ed due to this. Now what all that entails differs between brands but it still has to happen at the dealer.

 

[CaryH]

Yep just tell your dealership not to touch it when it come in...shouldn't be a problem when my fl5 came in they didn't touch anything because I told them not to.

 

[Nothing]

I get not washing the car, and maybe you want to be the one to unwrap your present to yourself, but what is the deal with no PDI? Unless you're planning on storing it as a collectors item?

I wish I knew to ask about QC docs. That would be a cool artifact.

 

[RedBadge]

No issues whatsoever. I requested the dealer to do nothing to the car. I was told they cannot turn the vehicle over to a customer straight off the truck, so they agreed to perform the bare minimum. They performed the following:

Fuse installation
Canceled Maintenance Mode
Set Tire Pressure
Calibrated TPMS
Removed Shipping Blocks
Battery Check

After the above was performed it was loaded on a carrier and shipped to me. The car was delivered with all wrapping on the interior and exterior, shipping blocks were placed on front passenger seat, mats in the plastic in the hatch, Monroney Sticker attached to the window, and QA/QC docs from Japan.

Excellent. Glad you were able to find a dealer willing to do the bare minimum (never thought I'd hear myself say that). I'm hoping I can find one, too, that will not do everything on their checklist.

 

[RedBadge]

Dealers have to perform a PDI regardless of what they tell you, otherwise they could get fined massively. I've worked as a PDI department manager for 6 years. We can't even let salespeople drive cars with customers that haven't been PDI'ed due to this. Now what all that entails differs between brands but it still has to happen at the dealer.

Hey, thanks for your insight. Really appreciate hearing from someone who dealt directly with this stuff directly.

 

[optronix]

I think it's just me but I'm feeling like the pretentiousness is dialed up to 11 the past few days on these boards.

Savagegeese also mentioned something along the lines that Honda dealers aren't used to this type of entitled behavior from customers who just assume everyone are idiots.

It's a $50k car, built to last hundreds of thousands of miles, with almost zero factory options. The dealer isn't going to ruin it as it's being driven off the truck, or peeling stickers off of it, and if you're worried about every little scratch and blemish maybe go find a coachbuilder like Singer or Alfaholics to build you a custom restomod where you choose every little detail about the car. Or have Ferrari build you a one-off like Eric Clapton.

I get not having holes drilled in the bumper, even though it may actually be a requirement for them to do this so even in this regard expectations are probably unreasonable to ask them not to do it. Other than that, ask yourself why you really give a shit? Are you going to hermetically seal the car and never drive it?

No, the answer is no.

If no one else agrees and I'm alone in my crusade to be the voice of reason, just ban me then. This feels ridiculous. For a CIVIC (or Integra).

 

[Mordotz]

I think it's just me but I'm feeling like the pretentiousness is dialed up to 11 the past few days on these boards.

Savagegeese also mentioned something along the lines that Honda dealers aren't used to this type of entitled behavior from customers who just assume everyone are idiots.

It's a $50k car, built to last hundreds of thousands of miles, with almost zero factory options. The dealer isn't going to ruin it as it's being driven off the truck, or peeling stickers off of it, and if you're worried about every little scratch and blemish maybe go find a coachbuilder like Singer or Alfaholics to build you a custom restomod where you choose every little detail about the car. Or have Ferrari build you a one-off like Eric Clapton.

I get not having holes drilled in the bumper, even though it may actually be a requirement for them to do this so even in this regard expectations are probably unreasonable to ask them not to do it. Other than that, ask yourself why you really give a shit? Are you going to hermetically seal the car and never drive it?

No, the answer is no.

If no one else agrees and I'm alone in my crusade to be the voice of reason, just ban me then. This feels ridiculous. For a CIVIC (or Integra).

Just like how you have your own opinions, others can have their own as well. There’s no right or wrong answer in this instance, forums exist to have open discussions on such topics.

 

[VLJ]

I'll add my two cents....

What was my FL5 PDI experience?

They set my cold tire pressure to 53 PSI on all four tires. Yep.

Somehow, I find that to be even more egregious than forgetting to remove the spring spacers, or things of that nature. At least those can be chalked up as an oversight...simple forgetfulness. To get the tire pressures all the way up to 53 PSI, I'm thinking someone had to go out of their way to add air pressure on top of the overly high pressure they're already given before shipping.

 

[hhkb]

I'll add my two cents....

What was my FL5 PDI experience?

They set my cold tire pressure to 53 PSI on all four tires. Yep.

Somehow, I find that to be even more egregious than forgetting to remove the spring spacers, or things of that nature. At least those can be chalked up as an oversight...simple forgetfulness. To get the tire pressures all the way up to 53 PSI, I'm thinking someone had to go out of their way to add air pressure on top of the overly high pressure they're already given before shipping.

Perhaps they were dyslexic and thought they set in 35 psi

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