Moving Target: 2003 Acura TL

[christian900se]

I got the opportunity to spruce up this Acura TL today as scheduled for the owner after agreeing on the service and price. The car had been sitting outside for a few months and was looking a bit sorry for itself so the owner decided that it was time for a cleaning. The poor car was hit by a barrage of bird bombs (hence the title!) and they were well baked on but the etchings were removed in my later steps thankfully. I had discussed with the owner the services I would perform and she wanted the $130 detail with a one step AIO polish so I got to work. I cleaned the car top to bottom and performed a few extra steps complimentary such as getting rid of oxidation in the headlights and lessening some severe scratches. This took 5 hours and upon returning the car, was berated about how she did not want to pay that much and would only pay $75 for the work I completed. I was shocked at such a nasty turnaround but had no choice other than taking what she offered and left it at that.

Anyways, I feel a bit deflated but on with the detail!


Products and Process:

Exterior:
-ONR wash
-Clayed with Clay Magic
-XMT 360 AIO via my PC and a grey CCS pad
-Collinite 845 applied once
-Duragloss Aquawax on the glass
-Meguair's Ultimate Compound on the headlights, sealed with 845
-Optimum Opti-bond on tires
-CG Barebones in the wheel wells

Interior:

-Vacuumed thoroughly
-Carpets extracted
-Leather, rubber, and vinyl cleaned with OPC 6:1
-Protected with 303 Aerospace
-Autoglym Fast Glass on windows



The Befores: the car was much dirtier than the photos lead on with baked on bird droppings and a thick layer of dust and salt spray. One big help for the bird presents: I sprayed them liberally with some ONR at QD dilution which allowed them all to be wiped clean off the paint before the wash stage began.

Headlight before:

Headlight after:

Headlight before:

Headlight after:

 

[christian900se]

Onto the final afters: I was really happy with the way the paint came back from just a simple one step AIO session. The only problem I had was with dressing the tires: for some reason, they would go splotchy no matter how many times I reapplied dressing but eventually I just buffed the tires down to a matte finish and they looked even again.

I was very happy with the way the car turned out but am a bit upset about being hosed on my time and hard work and even going the extra mile on a couple areas. All in all, it was a learning experience for sure!

Thanks for reading as always, hope it was enjoyable.

 

[Shane731]

Man, that blows. Too bad she had to be a cheapskate about it and make you take a hit. Goes to show what kind of character she has. Oh well, next time you can just politely turn her down flat! :xyxthumbs:

Oh yes, great job on the Acura! Much better! rops:

 

[sullysdetailing]

Nice turn around. That sucks I would of kept the car till she gave you the $130 plus you did extra work just to make the car look better.


Today I was contacted by one of my clients fathers, he wanted a wash and wax. Being it summer here I upgraded to sealant for no extra charge, applied 3 coats of Poorboy's trim restore to all rubber moldings around the windows. Before starting foamed the car twice with APC/ car wash soap mix then washed with 2 bucket method. I did all this not expecting to get more then what I charge for the wash and wax. He was kind enough to give me a little extra. We do the extra things to make the final product look it best for what we were asked to do. Now, not giving you the correct amount of money is just wrong

 

[christian900se]

Man, that blows. Too bad she had to be a cheapskate about it and make you take a hit. Goes to show what kind of character she has. Oh well, next time you can just politely turn her down flat! :xyxthumbs:

Oh yes, great job on the Acura! Much better! rops:

It was a bit surprising to say the least as she was very nice up until then, but everyone wants something for nothing which is fine except I already undercut all the boutique detailing businesses in my direct vicinity by a 15% margin while spending more time on the car in the process. You are right on the money though, I don't think there will be a next time!

Thanks for the very nice comment btw.

Nice turn around. That sucks I would of kept the car till she gave you the $130 plus you did extra work just to make the car look better.


Today I was contacted by one of my clients fathers, he wanted a wash and wax. Being it summer here I upgraded to sealant for no extra charge, applied 3 coats of Poorboy's trim restore to all rubber moldings around the windows. Before starting foamed the car twice with APC/ car wash soap mix then washed with 2 bucket method. I did all this not expecting to get more then what I charge for the wash and wax. He was kind enough to give me a little extra. We do the extra things to make the final product look it best for what we were asked to do. Now, not giving you the correct amount of money is just wrong

To be honest, I didn't even have time to process the turn of events and think of those solutions until after the fact. I whole heartedly agree with you; doing a better job at a better price always nets a happier customer in the long run which in turn leads to word of mouth spreading.

I also do something special to every car I work on that goes above and beyond the care I already offer in that service, like the scratches and hazy headlights in this case. If I work on a smaller car, the extra time I save goes into doing something like a second layer of wax, wheel sealant, or polishing. It makes you feel that little bit more passionate about each car you work on and breaks up some of the monotony because passion always creates the best work!

 

[CriticalDetails]

Nice work on the Acura. Did any of those bird bombs etch the clear coat? It is unfortunate you did not get paid the full amount. You should consider having your customers sign a service contract before you perform any work on their vehicle.

 

[killrflake]

Unbelievable the nerve some people have. In my opinion you undercharged her for the work you performed and then you get stiffed? It's understood that many less established detailers are reluctant to hand a prospective client a contract to sign feeling that might scare some people away, but the customer must understand that the prices are not negotiable. Even though you enjoy doing your job, this is work you do to help pay your bills. I wonder if the Acura owners employer pays her weekly wage based on his interpretation of the quality of her work?

 

[Shane731]

Yeah, it really wouldn't be a bad idea having the customer sign a service contract before you do any work. If they refuse to pay part or all of the bill, put a steering wheel lock on their car and refuse to turn it over to them until they pay up.

 

[Apokiliptik1]

that is the nature of human beings a sense of entitlement, what a witch sorry your hard work didnt pay off with a little extra cash but it may pay off when she tells her friends who did it. great job btw, one of my fav cars can't believe people trash em

 

[SuperSport]

Looks like you did a very good job and totally deserved what was agreed on if not more. Like others have said, I wouldn't of let her slide away so easy. I can just picture myself getting out the IPA and telling her I am at least taking my wax back then, lol.

 

[christian900se]

Nice work on the Acura. Did any of those bird bombs etch the clear coat? It is unfortunate you did not get paid the full amount. You should consider having your customers sign a service contract before you perform any work on their vehicle.

They did leave some minor etching but one hit with XMT 360, a white CCS pad, and my PC removed them completely along with very slight marring the paint had. I will definately be doing a service contract for all my future details because I really would like to avoid this from happening again. I felt like standing my ground when it happened but I determined it was most likely best to leave her happy and avoid all the issues that could have occured. Thanks for the comment!

Unbelievable the nerve some people have. In my opinion you undercharged her for the work you performed and then you get stiffed? It's understood that many less established detailers are reluctant to hand a prospective client a contract to sign feeling that might scare some people away, but the customer must understand that the prices are not negotiable. Even though you enjoy doing your job, this is work you do to help pay your bills. I wonder if the Acura owners employer pays her weekly wage based on his interpretation of the quality of her work?

I do have to make my services better than the competition at a lower price which I understand as the nature of the area I live in which is Newport Beach, CA. The detailing market is flooded here with both established businesses as well as fly-by-night mobile detailers who really cut you down by doing $15 washes which lowers price point expectations for emerging detailers like myself (I recently moved out to Socal from CT).

I have started a number of businesses and have always been entrepreneurial so my main purpose for detailing as a job is to gain experience in dealing with different customer demographics, adapting to expectations, competition, and creating a successful business. I have no intentions to make detailing anything more than a informal job but I do like to try and be successful at it while I do operate.

Yeah, it really wouldn't be a bad idea having the customer sign a service contract before you do any work. If they refuse to pay part or all of the bill, put a steering wheel lock on their car and refuse to turn it over to them until they pay up.

Haha, I wish I could do that but I feel like that could get me in more trouble than it is worth. I am, however, going to create a service contract for all future details to protect myself a bit more as it was one of those things I didn't think I would ever need but it only takes that one customer to make it worthwhile.

that is the nature of human beings a sense of entitlement, what a witch sorry your hard work didnt pay off with a little extra cash but it may pay off when she tells her friends who did it. great job btw, one of my fav cars can't believe people trash em

Thanks for the kind words! I believe that this is all in the learning experience in terms of starting your own business and operating in a work environment such as this. This is definately a sharp looking car even today and I was very happy with the way the car came back so in the end of the day, I am proud of my work regardless of the circumstances!

Looks like you did a very good job and totally deserved what was agreed on if not more. Like others have said, I wouldn't of let her slide away so easy. I can just picture myself getting out the IPA and telling her I am at least taking my wax back then, lol.

Hahaha, that made my morning... That would be hilarious if you could hypothetically just melt the wax off the car, collect it, and be on your way. Thank you for the very nice reply, I just didn't feel like taking up issue with her would have been to my benefit so I simply kept being nice and tried to hide my disappointment.

 

[ziggo99]

Nice work. I like that generation of TL. I had an Accord of the same year, but the TL's just looked better.
Quik question-I was reading your process, and you used AIO with grey. Why not bump it to white for a little deeper clean? I know you were just doing a wash and wax, but with the gray having no cut, I would've figured an AIO on white would be the route.

 

[christian900se]

Nice work. I like that generation of TL. I had an Accord of the same year, but the TL's just looked better.
Quik question-I was reading your process, and you used AIO with grey. Why not bump it to white for a little deeper clean? I know you were just doing a wash and wax, but with the gray having no cut, I would've figured an AIO on white would be the route.

This paint was very soft, and as a few of the closeups show, was enough to clean up some light marring the paint had and produced a very good paint finish. XMT360 is not really made to do any real correction anyway so unless I feel a need to step up to a white pad, I just stick with grey to amp up the gloss.

I have used white CCS pads many times for details and have even paired XMT360 with an orange pad.

 

[ziggo99]

Good point. I never really think of going back over with a polish or AIO to bring out some more gloss.

 

[WRAPT C5Z06]

You did all that in 5 hours??!! Wow, fast!! Looks great!! Sorry to hear about the money situation.

 

[christian900se]

Good point. I never really think of going back over with a polish or AIO to bring out some more gloss.

That is what I find XMT 360 best for. You can force it to do some correction with a more aggressive pad but I find that for the type of service I am offering, it is just better to stick with something more inline with the AIO purpose.

You did all that in 5 hours??!! Wow, fast!! Looks great!! Sorry to hear about the money situation.

I have really been getting very good at streamlining my process when working on a car. I now start with the interior and do all the vacuuming and stain removal first, following that up with dusting down and cleaning the seats, dash, and door panels. Once that is finished, I do an ONR wash and then clay it after the ONR was dried off. I then ONR it again and dry it for a second time, moving right to XMT 360 and my dedicated primed pads.

In my opinion, the biggest advantage of using XMT 360 is that it makes it much easier to apply any LSP which makes that stage go quicker as well. I guess practice will eventually make perfect!