Hi, I'm from Maine and have a 2005 Nissan Sentra. I have taken special precautions with my car since the day I bought it and it's nearing time to have it inspected. Since I find the car a little bit easy to scratch, and easy to mishandle, I wanted to know what my best option was. Do you think bringing a new car to the dealership to have it inspected is a good idea? What does an inspection normally involve? Do they pretty much just visually evaluate or is it hands on? It makes me sick to my stomach to think about taking good care of my car for an entire year only to have it messed with by the actual dealership. I'm not looking forward to this, I've heard horror stories about mechanics at even dealerships causing damage to somebody's car an d not taking reponsibilityy for it. I feel like the best way for me to prevent anything would be to actually stay with the car during the inspection. On a new car like this, the inspection shouldn't take long anyway. And I find that my local dealership is rarely really busy so I feel like I might be doing my car a favor by doing this. At least if I discuss with them how worried about it I am, they might take special care. And if they know I'll be around during the inspection, they will know how serious I am about keeping it away from ignorant people that dont' care if they hit it. Is this a smart idea? Would you say the dealership is my safest bet? I mean they are in charge of the pre-inspection of every new car on the lot, so obviously they must have some experience with being "careful". What do you guys think? Will I be allowed to stand watch of my car in case something unexpected happens? I have a big fear of a PROFESSIONAL scratching my car and then making excuses why it's not their fault. I'm more nervous about mechanics than I am about the average stranged because mechanics seem to think all cars are the same. At least at a dealership, they have EXPERIENCE working with brand new cars. Plus, they charge more for an inspection. I'm NOT going to spend an unusual amount of money on an inspection that might ultimately damage my car in some way. I am just trying to get a second opinion to see if it's reasonable for me to expect the kind of customer service that allows me to be aware of what's going on with my car at all times. I'd rather go months without inspecting my car than to go to a trusted mechanic and leave very unhappy because they didn't take the same precautions with my car that they would with their own. These people make a living off trying to keep cars nice and it continues to blow my mind how ridiculously neglegent some mechanics are... I cry a little inside everytime I hear about somebody dropping their car off for a routine maintenece and leaving with a scratch that shouldn't have happened. I think customers should always reserve the right to stand watch of their car in any circumstance. If they are going to be ignorant about the care of a car, then the least they can do is let us keep an eye on it, at least for prevention purposes.

thanks for any replies I may get.