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I'm not sure how to handle this situation without being fired, even though I think that would be an extreme measure.

A little background:

I work for a company that frequently requires employees to go on-site to customer locations. When the customer's location is far enough away or it's an overnight stay, we usually rent vehicles. However, that's considered unreasonable for close customer locations. In those cases, we are reimbursed mileage on our personal cars.

The situation:

A big customer of ours and one that I have to go to frequently is now requiring all contractor cars to have magnets on them to indicate they're a contractor. These magnets just have the company name on them. My issue with this is that I just bought a new car not long ago and I'm doing everything possible to take great care of it. I don't like the thought of repeatedly putting on and taking off a magnet. There's a decent chance it could be scratched. I've also seen cars get sun-baked where the paint fades at uneven rates due to a section of the car being covered a lot.

I'd like to be diplomatic about this, but I can't think of a solution to suggest to my boss. Any advice?

I'm assuming this is essentially just there to ID the car as belonging to a contractor in order to allow the client to manage parking?

If so, would it be feasible to display the magnet inside the car? on the dashboard or similar? That way it's still visible but you don't have to worry about attaching it to the paintwork.

If this isn't an option there are steps you can take to protect your car's paintwork (I'm with you on this one.. I can get very picky about protecting my paintwork!).

• Make sure the paintwork has a good coat of wax or sealant on it.


• Keep a bottle of Quik Detailer (similar products from other manufacturers are available) and a supply of clean microfibre cloths in the car


• When you need to apply the magnet a quick spray of the Quick Detailer and buff it off with a clean microfibre and then apply the magnet.


• Sunbaking is unlikely to be an issue (only certain types of paint are affected - Vauxhall's red paint in the 90s and the SEAT OVNI Yellow are the usual suspects) as modern paints are much better at resisting it and the relatively small amount of time it will spend with the magnet on relative to the car's life will mean any difference is negligible. You can always vary the location you apply it too though if you're worried or know that your car is susceptible.

I'd like to be diplomatic about this, but I can't think of a solution
to suggest to my boss. Any advice?

Ask if you can affix the magnet to the inside of a window, facing out.

I've done this with parking stickers that I didn't want to permanently attach to my car. As long as it was visible, they didn't actually care.

Have you looked at ways you could mount it in the window? Explain exactly as you did here.

There's a decent chance it could be scratched. I've also seen cars get sun-baked where the paint fades at uneven rates due to a section of the car being covered a lot.

Then see if there is an easy way to affix it inside your window like a sun-shield. I managed to find magnetic ones on Amazon with a quick search.

You could also try putting a thin blanket between the magnet and the car, but I'd try to window shade idea first.

You could also put a thin material as buffer between the magnet and your car.

Depending on how strong the magnet is, you could:

• Put a really thin fabric under the magnet like one of the soft fleece things people put into their laundry to perfume it or stop colors from bleeding




• A tissue paper might do as well. You can change it regularily to avoid dust scratching your paint



• 
  

  Tape the underside with masking tape. The slightly crincled texture is flexible enough to avoid scratches

  
  
  

  All these materials have to be changed regularily to dispose of dust particles that would otherwise scratch the paint. Especially if you drive on construction sites you want to change the buffer every time.

  
  

First, depending on the quality of the magnet you can get lucky and have a few scratches or sun marks or you can have rust on the location. I would not allow a magnet to be attached.

If the magnet is for security reasons ( i.e. allowing entrance into certain areas ) then you can suggest to your boss that they use your license plate as a form of contractor identification as it is actually more secure than a magnet stuck on a vehicle. If some visible company logo is required, you can suggest a printed ( color ) stock placed on the dashboard. Under no circumstances should you allow any item to be attached to your car's exterior and you can cite probable damage to your vehicle as the reason.