I work in a body shop full time and detail on the side and my boss is pretty cool cause he lets me use the shop when ever I want for side jobs. I am working on a Ford Edge at work and my boss tells me that the owner would like to have the rest of his car detailed ( I replaced a door and blended the paint both ways ) So I talked to the owner and he came off kinda cocky. He wanted to have the car waxed and cleaned up on the inside. Ok, no problem. So I gave him a few options, like does he want any paint correction done, does he want the leather cleaned and treated ect. After I explained to hima a bit about having the car polished and clay bared he was like well the car is pretty new so it shouldn't have any scratches in it so I don't want to have that done ( plus he was being cheap about it ) I'll give him the car is a horrible off white color so you wouldn't really notice the scratches unless you know what to look for, but trust me they were there. So ok, no problem then I will just wash, scrub the wheels and tires plus dress the tires, clay bar and then wax the car. I then started to explain what a clay bar does. He said well I don't understand why I need the clay bar, the car is pretty new and I had it wax over the summer. I told him I have done cars only a few weeks old and pulled dirt off with a clay bar before. He was getting kinda huffy with me and said I just want it waxed and wipe down the interior with some armor all. ARMOR ALL!!! I thought to myself, thats when I really realized this guy has no clue, I don't expect everyone to know about detailing properly but most people know armor all is crap and should never be used. So after he talked me down a little on the price, which I'm not happy about but what ever. I did end up clay baring the car weather he knows it or not, and I wiped dowm and cleaned up the interior using Einszett cock pit cleaner, not armor all haha. I figured I would clay the car and hope to get a repeat customer and maybe some referals out of him even if he is clueless and cheap. Just wanted to rant a bit, I have been really busy and the guy kinda made me mad. Thanks, Ian
Instead of getting mad or huffy that he's being cheap... explain why you charge what you charge, and why armorall is bad. If we don't educate our customers to the RIGHT processes, he's going to think all you did was wax and armorall, he won't know the difference either way. Education is what spreads the word about people even seeking our services in the first place..
Well thats just it, I was explaining it to him but he was making it out like I was trying to screw him over
not everyone understands i guess. demonstrating your abilities and what products do is a great way to showcase where the money is being spent to a customer. a 50/50 is cash in hand if your customer gives you the time of day to sell your abilities. don't get down about customers. people don't buy what they don't want... unless you make them want it.
Like I said, I don't expect everyone to know or understand the amount of work that we put into detailing a car. I also know not every customer isn't just going to say OK to what ever price we give them. It's just this one guy didn't even want to understand. He didn't pick up his car yet ( I still have to paint his bumper ) so I'm hoping when he comes in I will be able to show him what I was talking about. I have had customers in the past that have listened to me with interest and let me explain what we do. Those are the people that feel better about having pro's like ourselfs cleaning their car.
can somebody tell y armor all is bad? dont use it on my car or customers but i have it from couple years ago
Ian, have to say I LOVE your avatar. Cracks me up every time I look at it. What you should do is, seriously, take a piece of clay and go over about 4 cars in your parking lot with it. When this guy comes back, show him the clay, explain this came off one fender and get him to feel how smooth his paint is. Its overkill for sure, but he'll understand then.
Its not bad anymore like it used to be. Back in the day it was solvent based thus would dry out vinyl and make it crack. Also would kill soft plastic. They have changed the formula a while back and is now water based. Someone on Autopia or AG had a bottle of it freeze this winter. But the new formula is water based and ALOT safer than old versions. Many people dont like it as it is kind of shiny. Shiny dash = cant see anything in the sun.
Two types of silicones in this world Misha. Active and inert. Inert silicone, the kind high end products like Autoglym may use, will sit on top of the surface and form a barrier, protecting whatever its on. Inert, the kind used in products like Armor All, will penetrate the plastic etc and dry it out. Thats why you see 80s Hondas with those big plastic bumpers that are all grey/white. Even I used to use Armor All a long time ago. Hey, we all make mistakes! LOL
But as you guys may know, the new water based armorall is an aqueous silicone emulsion and not a petroleum solvent carried silicone. Which is why its much safer and similar to many other water based dressings... The difference is the quality and carrier.
We have to realize that the average person could care less about tiny little scratches on their paint, whether they need a vehicle clay barred, or even waxed. For the vast majority of the population, a simple wash, dry and some tire shine is PLENTY. Look at it this way: imagine if I was working in my garden, mowing the grass or something and some garden BUFF rolled by and just shook his head and said " ohhhhh my GAAAAAAAAWD he is LIKE mowing that grass SOOOOOOOOO wrong"... Same principle...
Haha! Thanks, my avatar cracks me up also. I actually thought of doing some thing like that or show hime an old used clat bar I have and say its from his car or take him out to a car and do a demo.
maybe you should of gave him some armor all, the greasy one... I've noticed that a lot has to do with a car you are detailing too...when you are detailing a camry or a taurus, which is a work horse people think armor all is the best and the only option...or they might try some turtle wax instead... when you are detailing M3, everything is different...owner obviously understands the bright colours of life (sees it in HD), and usually even specifies that he doesn't want any armor all...
This would be a good approach to educate the ignorant and hopefully give you a chance to explain the entire process involved.
hey AA tire foam is pretty good not for tires but wheel well +1 adoves .. demo a panel would open his eye
explaining to customers can also show them your abilities and make them realize that you actually really DO know what you're talking about rather than their off the bottom shelf specials that theyve been using
+1 The hardest part of detailing for an OCD is instead of chasing perfection is giving the paying client what he's prepared to pay for and most importantly 'what he wants'. I also agree on trying to educate Joe Public on what detailing really involves, but... see above
oh ok. couse i used it on my car when first got it and it worked well didnt see any cracking. my dad likes it on his interior, i know what you mean about being shiny on sun. i do like their one time foam wipes for purpose of using them for putting sealant on rims (after washing all that stuff out of foam), its very soft and works good to put black wow on trim as well. want to get it just for that purpose back to OP. i know how you feel about those kind of ppl. but think of this way, 99.99% of car owner care about their cars, you cant get upset couse all them dont care
