Shane731
Active member
- Dec 25, 2009
- 3,498
- 0
OK, so here's the thing. I hear a lot of talk on here about how dealership "detailers" are, and how they mess up a car's finish, use crappy silicone dressing, this and that, blah blah blah. I ought to know - I've been working in the "detail department" of a Honda dealership for 5 years now. I know about (and admittedly, have used) the crappy brush in the one bucket on numerous cars, the dirty chamois, the applicator and towels that have been used for who knows what, the crappy compound that does about as much good as a Scotchbrite pad, the greasy interior dressings, the "detail" that got half-assed because a salesman was in such a big hurry. Oh I could go on. We don't use any buffers though (thank God). But what I want to know is this: whose fault is it that this is the case? The detail guys? Maybe, but they have received little to no training, as I did. "Hi, ho, learn as you go, clean and shiny is all we know!" How are they expected to do a good job when nobody is willing (or knowledgeable enough) to teach them? Before I was fortunate enough to find car care forums such as Meguiar's Online and Autogeek, I thought I was doing a pretty good darn job myself. I thought I had good products in my "collection" (check out this thread - these were the non-Meguiar's products I had as of about 3 months or so after I joined MOL - All my detailing goodies/non-Meg's stuff - Car Care Forums: Meguiar's Online); it wasn't until after I got informed that I found out otherwise and gave away or otherwise sold the products you see in that thread, switching over to Meguiar's and later products from Autogeek. I had no idea about swirl marks until reading an article about them. Is it the managers' fault? Maybe, but they don't care about cleaning cars, they care about selling cars, and they want the quickest and cheapest route to get the car off their lot and into the customer's driveway. This maximizes their profit. Plus, they don't know about proper car care nor do they want to know. As I stated, they are a dealership, not a detail establishment. In my experience, most customers do not know about proper car care either. Is it then the customer's fault for failing to comprehend what the dealership detail has done to their car and not making sure it is done correctly? Perhaps it is the fault of all three parties. I just feel that it is rather unfair to accuse somebody of being stupid and uncaring when they use a brush or dirty chamois to clean a car, when they lack the knowledge and/or skill to do it properly. Or in my case, I have the knowledge and skill to do the job properly, but am not given the tools or the time in which to do so. For example, on a brand new car, say an Accord, we have about 30 minutes to:
1. pull the plastic from the interior (all the plastic on the outside and most of the plastic from the inside gets removed before the car goes on the lot)
2. vacuum the interior
3. wipe down the plastics either with a dry rag or a light citrus cleaner, depending on which one it needs
4. pull the floormats out of the plastic and put them down
5. remove the stickers from the windows and clean the inside windows
6. clean the face of the wheels, the tires, and the wheel wells
7. rinse the wheels and tires off and rinse the car down
8. wash the car with one bucket and a brush
9. rinse the car
10. blow out the main crevices and wheels and tires with the blower attachment from the vacuum
11. dry the car, including door jams
12. clean outside windows
13. dress the tires
Vans and SUVs take about 45 minutes. And for some salesmen, this is too slow. I know it takes me 1 and 1/2 - 2 hours to do a maintenance wash at home, and that's to do everything right. I can only imagine how well that would go over at the dealership. Do I feel guilty doing it the wrong way? Absolutely, but I know that most of the time, the salesmen, the managers, and the customers don't care. As long as it's clean and shiny, that's the main thing. I am just glad that our cars don't get treated that way. I could quit, but it is a job, and the person who takes will probably do a worse job than I do. So I am providing a need for a certain portion of the market. To me, it's kind of like calling the burger flipper at McDonald's an idiot because he doesn't know how to make a filet mignon. The fact is, he's not a professional chef, nor does he pretend to be one. He merely fulfills a need for the fast food consumer. Same with detailers/"detailers". Anyway, I've made this longer than I meant to, so I will stop there. So give me some feedback. What are your thoughts on this subject, and whose fault is it, really?
1. pull the plastic from the interior (all the plastic on the outside and most of the plastic from the inside gets removed before the car goes on the lot)
2. vacuum the interior
3. wipe down the plastics either with a dry rag or a light citrus cleaner, depending on which one it needs
4. pull the floormats out of the plastic and put them down
5. remove the stickers from the windows and clean the inside windows
6. clean the face of the wheels, the tires, and the wheel wells
7. rinse the wheels and tires off and rinse the car down
8. wash the car with one bucket and a brush
9. rinse the car
10. blow out the main crevices and wheels and tires with the blower attachment from the vacuum
11. dry the car, including door jams
12. clean outside windows
13. dress the tires
Vans and SUVs take about 45 minutes. And for some salesmen, this is too slow. I know it takes me 1 and 1/2 - 2 hours to do a maintenance wash at home, and that's to do everything right. I can only imagine how well that would go over at the dealership. Do I feel guilty doing it the wrong way? Absolutely, but I know that most of the time, the salesmen, the managers, and the customers don't care. As long as it's clean and shiny, that's the main thing. I am just glad that our cars don't get treated that way. I could quit, but it is a job, and the person who takes will probably do a worse job than I do. So I am providing a need for a certain portion of the market. To me, it's kind of like calling the burger flipper at McDonald's an idiot because he doesn't know how to make a filet mignon. The fact is, he's not a professional chef, nor does he pretend to be one. He merely fulfills a need for the fast food consumer. Same with detailers/"detailers". Anyway, I've made this longer than I meant to, so I will stop there. So give me some feedback. What are your thoughts on this subject, and whose fault is it, really?
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