Cyclesafe
New member
- Aug 18, 2013
- 13
- 0
Shiny! After pretty much ignoring our two cars for 12 years, other than the occasional one bucket dish soap n' sponge hand wash, those new cars in the show room looked mighty fine. They had four wheels, engines that could go twice the legal limit, and CD players!
But wait. Our current cars each had less than 60k miles, new tires, and consistent, up-to-date maintenance. Furthermore, other than for a few dings, they were in pretty good shape. They were paid for long ago. In-kind replacements would set me back north of $100k and precipitate sales taxes of $8k, depreciation in the first year of at least $25k, not to mention higher insurance yada yada.
So I searched DIY car detailing and found AutoGeek. $700 and 40 working hours later I am pleased to report two 12 year old cars that are indistinguishable from new - except for the cassette decks, of course.
After the dings were removed by a PDR guy, I first learned on my wife's car (no fool I). Two bucket wash, Iron X, claying; WTSR, WFG, and WDGS applied with a 3401. Inside, a thorough vacuuming, scrub down with Woolite, and a slathering of 303. Learnings included waiting for the neighbors to leave before using Iron X and that RIDS would necessitate a more aggressive treatment in the future.
With admittedly far more care with my car, I repeated the process, this time with a great deal more confidence and skill. Again I discovered RIDS that will need to be addressed next time.
$700 for shiny? That was the reaction of my wife when she became aware of what was going on in the garage. But she doesn't want a new car. She even paid me an ultimate compliment when she said that she thought the windows weren't going up. They were so clean that she thought they were open!
Kelly Blue Book lists both of our cars in excellent shape as about $300 more than what they would have been in very good condition. So I almost broke even on the margin too!
Hats off to AGO for serving up the Kool Aide so effectively. You guys are marketing geniuses. Price differentiated bundled private and brand labels served up with objective, credible detailed advice. You should be a Harvard Business School case study.
But wait. Our current cars each had less than 60k miles, new tires, and consistent, up-to-date maintenance. Furthermore, other than for a few dings, they were in pretty good shape. They were paid for long ago. In-kind replacements would set me back north of $100k and precipitate sales taxes of $8k, depreciation in the first year of at least $25k, not to mention higher insurance yada yada.
So I searched DIY car detailing and found AutoGeek. $700 and 40 working hours later I am pleased to report two 12 year old cars that are indistinguishable from new - except for the cassette decks, of course.
After the dings were removed by a PDR guy, I first learned on my wife's car (no fool I). Two bucket wash, Iron X, claying; WTSR, WFG, and WDGS applied with a 3401. Inside, a thorough vacuuming, scrub down with Woolite, and a slathering of 303. Learnings included waiting for the neighbors to leave before using Iron X and that RIDS would necessitate a more aggressive treatment in the future.
With admittedly far more care with my car, I repeated the process, this time with a great deal more confidence and skill. Again I discovered RIDS that will need to be addressed next time.
$700 for shiny? That was the reaction of my wife when she became aware of what was going on in the garage. But she doesn't want a new car. She even paid me an ultimate compliment when she said that she thought the windows weren't going up. They were so clean that she thought they were open!
Kelly Blue Book lists both of our cars in excellent shape as about $300 more than what they would have been in very good condition. So I almost broke even on the margin too!
Hats off to AGO for serving up the Kool Aide so effectively. You guys are marketing geniuses. Price differentiated bundled private and brand labels served up with objective, credible detailed advice. You should be a Harvard Business School case study.
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