$25 to polish a car!!!!!!!

CLEARBLUE

CLEARBLUE

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Just found out that another "detailer" in town is charging $80 for a "full" detail and an extra $25 to polish. Just wondering if I'm missing something here, haha. :confused:
 
Take your car to him and let him trash it. Then dedicate a page on your website on how you fix up work by other detailers, citing him specifically. That way when a customer brings him up, you can show them what a butcher he is.
 
I wouldn't worry about it too much. Odd's are people will go to them once and not return due to poor work. You don't want to cut your throat to get work. There are plenty of people willing to pay for quality work.
 
sure his idea of polishing isnt taking a $30 orbital and put polish on it and spread it around like a wax job and be done in 25min and accomplish nothing. But calls it polishing
 
As Kevin stated... the people that go there are clearly not seeking quality work.

You'll find out that the people who charge $50 for a "full detail" get customers who only think their car needs a $50 detail... you don't want to do work for those types of owners.

People seeking quality work will have no problem paying for it, and they will appreciate your skills and results much more than someone who thinks they can get the same service for $50 down at "Joe's Car Wash."
 
KneeDragr said:
Take your car to him and let him trash it. Then dedicate a page on your website on how you fix up work by other detailers, citing him specifically. That way when a customer brings him up, you can show them what a butcher he is.
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Kinda did that with a customer. He has a 2500HD crew cab and wanted the swirl marks out, I quoted him a price of around $400 for full detail and paint correction. Said This guy would do it for $25. He came running back after wasting $100 with more swirl marks on his rig this time. So far I have 10hrs into it. :buffing:
 
Does that include the new sandpaper wash? I'd get a junkyard beater and take it up, tell him you want it like new for his quoted price!
 
I would love to see some customer reviews on that business. Should make for some interesting reading. But then again, if someone thinks they can get that for that price, they probably don't know the difference.
 
Par for the course. I get the same thing with chemicals - cheap and nasty sold as something special. The worst thing is that most people actually don't know better. You say that people will see that they get crap, but the truth is that, to most people, they will pay the money and never know to look closely enough to find there is a problem. Net result, devaluation and a proper detailer loses out because the perception is that $25 is all it takes.
 
PiPUK said:
Par for the course. I get the same thing with chemicals - cheap and nasty sold as something special. The worst thing is that most people actually don't know better. You say that people will see that they get crap, but the truth is that, to most people, they will pay the money and never know to look closely enough to find there is a problem. Net result, devaluation and a proper detailer loses out because the perception is that $25 is all it takes.
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Exactly, I live in a very rural area where no one has even really heard of paint correction or even what it is. I point out swirl marks to my customers and they had no idea they were even there. Or they think only a body shop can take care of it. Doing my best to go through and educate every customer. One guy told me after dooing a 3 step to his truck that he didnt want a maintenance plan he'd just run it through the local swirl o matic all winter and have me do it again in the spring. :doh:
 
I passed by a sidewalk sandwich sign here in Stuart advertising

Hand Wax - $99.00


Part of me thinks maybe they're just trying to appeal to the average "Joe Consumer" who thinks that's all there is to this thing called detailing.

A simple machine application of just about any one-step cleaner/wax would not only be faster but do a better job than to actually apply and remove a wax by hand.

Any car or better yet, any daily driver that actually needs to be waxed also very likely needs to be clayed also. No wax is going to last as long on paint that needs to be clayed as it would if the paint were first clayed or some other way mechanically decontaminated.

To the OP...

Don't compete with the low end, target and go after the middle ground and high end.​

:dblthumb2:
 
He gets paid and then you get paid to fix it. Sounds like a win/win for both of you?
 
Mike.Phillips@Autogeek said:
I passed by a sidewalk sandwich sign here in Stuart advertising

Hand Wax - $99.00


Part of me thinks maybe they're just trying to appeal to the average "Joe Consumer" who thinks that's all there is to this thing called detailing.​

A simple machine application of just about any one-step cleaner/wax would not only be faster but do a better job than to actually apply and remove a wax by hand.​

Any car or better yet, any daily driver that actually needs to be waxed also very likely needs to be clayed also. No wax is going to last as long on paint that needs to be clayed as it would if the paint were first clayed or some other way mechanically decontaminated.​

To the OP...​

Don't compete with the low end, target and go after the middle ground and high end.​

:dblthumb2:
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You are totally right but I empathise with him. I live in a part of Montréal where almost every street has a 10$ hand wash car wash. Most of them will do a full wash, interior, armor all, and wax for 20$ total. So yes I do not want to compete against those guys but when a Customer drives by 10 of those places every day I can fully understand why they don't understand my price structure.

I have no interest of offering what they are offering, if I want that kind of wages I will go work at McDonalds, at least I will have a discount on food (if you can call it that LOL)

But ya, it's a bummer those places are all over the place for detaillers. Having to educate people to get them as Customer means a lot of potential customers are lost before they even call.

Oh well, did my first job today so I am happy (and really sore) about that ;) Full interior plus exterior wash and windshield polishing. I need to find a better way to shampoo seats, my back is killing me right now LOL! I will make an other thread about that. Don't want to highjack this one.
 
CLEARBLUE said:
Just found out that another "detailer" in town is charging $80 for a "full" detail and an extra $25 to polish. Just wondering if I'm missing something here, haha. :confused:
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I figure I owe myself more than $25 when I do my own car.
Don't get into that race to the bottom, it's a fools game.
good luck
 
statusdetailing said:
Don't worry about that guy at all. He'll put himself out of business really fast.
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For now I am going to stick to washing and detailing the interior. What is the avg time to wax a car by polished and avg price? I def want to be trained with a variable or high speed buffer before I attempt it alone. How much is a class? Is there one in the Atl area?

Sent from my Prism II using AG Online
 
Ive attendes some meguiars seminars that are very helpful. Perhaps the megs guys will be in your area in the near future. Start with a da polisher and learn by watching videos and resding post on here.
 
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