This thread is a detailers dream for justifying why you NEED a "new car prep package" to offer customers. The pictures are priceless and you should water-mark them and use them for your customers.
I had a client recently bring his Porsche GTS to me, then he decided he wanted a Panamera. He went out and purchased one as soon as the desire popped into his head. I told him to bring it right over to me and we'd do a our new vehicle prep including the clear bra. He said, it doesn't need new car prep, that, it's new. I had to show him several shots of cars we did that were ***New*** and how awful they really were before we worked our magic.
The sales team wants the car off the lot and papers signed immediately. The transfer of ownership and titling of the vehicle gets the car off their inventory, makes them profit, and eliminates any debt on the vehicle. The sooner the better. As my buddy says (who's been in the auto sales industry for 25 years), "there is an a$$ for every seat." Sadly, that's the attitude of this dealership.
The cars come off the line, and get stored in a giant lot until the orders come in from dealers. Then they're put on trucks, trains and more trucks until they get to their destination. The service department does an in-take and checks the vehicle out and puts a few miles on the car. Once they know it's sound, it goes on the lot for who knows how long, exposed to everything: sprinkler systems, snow removal, families that come out kicking tires, test-drives, kids paws all over everything, bird bombs, lot guys who occasionally clean them, and landscapers...
There are dealers that are "dog friendly" (I have nothing against dogs, I have two greyhounds), and will let you test drive the car to see if it works with the entire family including dogs. When we bought our Honda, they knew we were buying the car for the dogs, so they said, bring the dogs and test drive with them it it. I loved the customer service and bending over backwards to help me (sell me a car), but what if I wasn't a dog person and I found they missed cleaning dog slobber or dog hair, pee or poop. Or worse, had allergies?
Just because you "order" a car doesn't mean it's coming right from the factory to you. I'm sure they'll poll every dealer to see if there is a make/model/color and options you want somewhere first.
The only difference between a new car and a used car is well, the new isn't titled. It certainly is pre-owned (the dealer), and handled, it has miles on it and it's owned by someone who sees it as "units" or "inventory." I've seen some guys on my Mustang forums complain that their new car has 100 or more miles on them. Someone had to explain, it's not uncommon to have between 35 and 1500 miles on a new car. You'd be surprised how much mileage is racked up form moving them around and test drives.
Case in point, my recent new purchase was a 2016 Mustang EB. The door sticker doesn't lie, it was manufactured on Jan 2016. I didn't buy the car until Jan 2017, an entire year from the date it was produced. Luckily the car didn't move. It had 32 miles on it, battery was dead and tires had flat-spots. All negotiating points.
The dealer is right, they'll hit it with some cleaner wax with fillers and they'll look great at the end of the day. And the more expensive the brand, doesn't mean the treatment of the inventory is any better or worse.
I guess the point here is NOT to bash dealerships. They are "car stores" with inventory... No different than Walmart selling TV's. They have product to sell and make money doing so, with really tight margins and overhead. They have families and food to put on the table too, moreover, they're not car geeks like us... Which brings me back to my first point, this thread is a detailers dream. This is where we detailers come in to save the day!
