“Detailing” before delivery/pick up…
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After the vehicle is completed, what are you wash/detailing steps before the customer picks up the car?
For minor jobs, i do a quick wash and maybe some tire dressing. For larger jobs – and for just great
customers – I go a bit further and spend an additional 5 hours or so. Sometimes, i’ll polish the entire
car and clean up the interior thoroughly (Q-tips for vents and crevices). A nice coat wax too after
polishing and/or clay. And the finishing touch is cleaning up the wheel wells and applying a dressing.
If i could get a carpet cleaner/extractor for cheap, i’d do it…5 hours :ohmy: I would never spend 5 hours on a detail job unless I was getting paid good money for it. 1/2 hour to 1 hour at the most to vacuum, wipe down the interior, clean the windows, wash the outside and spray some tire shine on. and with that most customers are so happy they cant stop thanking you enough that their car is clean.
5 hours is a $300 detail job. dont waste your time doing that on a collision repairWe spend maybe 1-2 hours on a good collision job cleaning up really well and doing minor touch-ups here and there. We wouldn’t go to that extreme for a cleanup. We sometimes give them a carpet shampoo too. For the most part with bumper replacement & 1,2 panel jobs its usually a quick wash,vacuum & interior wipe. We get a lot of people impressed with their cars cleanliness just by doing this, I can imagine the look when you give them a car when your done!
if ya have a bad color match or somthing dont come out as good as ya like then i noticed if ya detail the $hit outa em do the whole banana they never seem ta be as critical:exci :exci :exci
[b]bondomerchant wrote:[/b]
[quote]if ya have a bad color match or somthing dont come out as good as ya like then i noticed if ya detail the $hit outa em do the whole banana they never seem ta be as critical:exci :exci :exci[/quote]So, I’m guessing that you detail the $hit outta everything that leaves your shop then, huh? :blush:
thanks bloverby:P 😛 😛 😛 😛 😛 😛 😛 bite me!!!!! actully we all have a job or two we dont wanna brag about out :blush: :blush:their. an old timer taught me that one;);) 😉
so hows the new shop coming??
I know it’s a lot of time and i do this for “good” customers. The type that refers all their family and friends.
Or even new customers that i like. Sometimes it’s a free brake job, oil change, windshields and tires at cost.
Plus, once i start cleaning it’s hard to stop. And over the few years, i can tell where everyone is coming
from and just how much i’ve made from them.So if a customer has brought in 15g’s or so, a few hours doesn’t hurt a thing.
[b]bondomerchant wrote:[/b]
[quote]so hows the new shop coming??[/quote]Pretty good I guess, Almost finished with the wiring. I’ll get the final signed off in the next few days, then I can start on the booth.
It doesn’t have much to do with detailing before delivery though. :blush:
Yeah 5 hours is nuts even on a good customers car.. In my world even with another employee we couldnt do that.. I average 7-9 cars a week.. That would be another full time guy just to detail for free?? How do you make any money doing that?
I don’t average 7-9 cars a week. But again, spending 5 hours or so certainly isn’t every customer/job.
Maybe once or twice a month i’d put in those hours; generally on weekends. I’m not much of a “production”
shop. The majority is scheduled weeks in advance depending on the type of work. And sometimes, i’d
be way ahead of schedule with a day or two gap and that’s another time to put in a few more hours.
Add to the fact that i don’t have kids or a social life to speak of. And i enjoy the physical work; whether
it’s painting, buffing, detailing or just straight grunt work. I try to break a sweat everyday, really.The complaints i seem to hear most about body shops is the general mess after the job. You can read about
this on many other car related forums or from people in general. And a vast majority of shops really don’t
know how to clean up or polish correctly.Yeah I have seen and heard of many complaints.. I actually have a full time detail guy, we give them a good wash, buff as needed, and send them out the door.. All of them are cleaner than when they came in.
Touchy subject I know, but does anyone wax cars before they leave? I know, I know, but there are a few that do including the shop owner I work for. He’s never had an issue so he says. He says if it’s baked it’s ok. I have read that solvents don’t finish leaving new paint for a month or so. He uses Meguiar’s #26.
no :whistle:
I sometimes do with a big but……
We use presta bodyshop wax. It creates a breathable film that is safe for use on fresh clearcoat. it still allows solvent to escape while providing pretty well all the charateristics of a regular wax. However we (at least I) don’t use it to cover up poor polishing efforts.
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