First - I never care if someone brings up an older thread. The reason why is because I have a lot of older posts. Many of my "older" posts are full-blown how-to articles and the information I share is usually just as accurate today as when I wrote it.
So I never had a problem with brining up an old thread.
For those that did not look, the first post in this thread was posted on
July 9th, 2012.
Just to point this out...
And the post to bring this thread back to the forefront is below... posted
January 4th, 2017
If I corrected to perfection every customer's car that came to me for a wash I'd be a broke detailer.
Just something to consider when looking at the specifics of a situation like some of the above. I don't always successfully sell that needed paint correction, but I won't refuse to properly wash a swirled car because I am afraid someone is going to judge me as a hack without having all the info.
Everything you wrote is great, if fact it's smart business. Detailers should not be trying to put a flawless show car finish on every car they detail. In fact I teach this in my classes. In my classes I teach,
- Production Detailing
- Show Car Detailing
There's a
huge difference and to be successful and thus make a profit a detailer has to know when to use either approach.
Here's an article I wrote on this topic back in August of 2010 - 7 years ago. It's just as accurate today as when I wrote it.
A few tips on starting a part-time detailing business
Match your services to your customer
The original post to this thread was that the brand new detail shop put swirled-out cars in their showroom.
While a detailer or a detail shop doesn't have to and shouldn't put a flawless show car finish on every car they detail, if they have a showroom then at least to me it makes sense to display cars that in fact do have a showroom or show car finish, not a swirled out mess.
Here's the original post...
Here's a story for you AGers. Knowing how most of you are geekers like me, you'll laugh and cringe at this story.
We went to a town about 90 miles away from us, to visit family. We drove Oprah (Odyssey) to get there, so we had both kids. Baby started to cry so I drove around the area to get him to sleep before dinner.
Anyways, I see this BIGGGGGGGGG NEW "Detailing Shop". It had 10 or more wash bays, and a showroom floor in the middle.
I thought to myself... I HAVE to check this out. LOL.
Baby started dozing, so I pulled in and told wifey "This will ONLY take a second.".
I brought a flashlight with me just in case, but I thought, what better way to see what this shop can do than to check out their "Show" car, right?
I walk up to the car.... it was a gorgeous 65 Stang, flashlight in hand (my Brinkmann was at home of course). Turns out, the sunlight was ample light. I find SWIRLS, SWIRLS, and MORE SWIRLS. Within 30 seconds, I was out the door, before the shop people could say something to me. I shook my head all the way out the door.
I look at the signs and brochures on the way out. "Full Detailing, including wash, wax, interior, engine bay, etc.... and buffing if needed = $400".
I'm like WOW. Are people really this naive? I mean... maybe it's the owners themselves who don't REALLY KNOW HOW to detail... and think swirls are normal? Heck, they probably don't even know what swirls ARE. And it sickens me, that some people/customers walk in there, and think they do a GREAT job, and actually PAY them 400 bucks for this alleged "quality" work. Unbelievable.
Anyways, just had to share this story. Am still shocked.
A SHOWroom vehicle to showcase their work..... an iconic pony, covered, no DRENCHED in swirls. Wow.
So I completely understand the point you make in your post...
If I corrected to perfection every customer's car that came to me for a wash I'd be a broke detailer.
But the context of this thread that you posted to was a new detail shop, with a SHOW ROOM to show case tier work, and the work they showcased was not they kind of car or work that anybody in this business should put on display.
It just doesn't work.
It does show the knowledge level of the person that owned or ran the shop with the swirled out Mustang on display and the sad thing is, with so much FREE how-to information available and so many great tools, pads and products available, there's no reason to have a swirled out car in a show room to showcase a shop's so called expertise, skills or abilities.
In fact it's laughable.
Just thought I would chime in after seeing this thread pop back up on the forum homepage in the Recent Threads column and after clicking on it and reading it, discovering it's 5 years old and the post that brought it back to the forefront while sharing great insight, the point of the entire thread was not about matching your services to your customer but that a detail shop with a showroom for displaying their craft should at a minimum put a car on display that looks good.
Make sense?
Great discussion....
