Car Dealerships Don't know ****!!

K

koko_b_ware

New member
A friend of mine works at a local dodge dealership doing car washing and filling the vehicles up with fuel.



He told me that all the new cars there are washed with wheel cleaner like at the coin ops "acid wash" as he called it, to remove contaminents. How safe can this be?



He also told me that they let him work with a rotary, even though he has never even polished a car by hand before. One of the workers at the dealership even burned through the clear coat on a truck. It is now the "shop truck"!

Also, he told me that if a new vehicle is very dirty, they will pressure wash it, then use one of those foaming brushes on the paint to clean it.



The next time I'm buying a new truck, I'm telling the dealer that they can't touch the paint with anyting!
 
It's to bad most vehicles have been washed numerous times before the buyer gets their hands on it. Dealers can't sell(show) dirty cars. I've even witnessed a dealership that after a rain shower, sent boys out to dry cars off with a chamois. No soapy water used at all!
 
You wanna know what's worse...you can train them to do it right but as soon as you leave they go back to their old ways. I've seen it a hundred times before! And two weeks later there's a new guy doing the same thing.
 
When I ordered my 2003 SuperDuty, they called me when the truck came in and I was there to get it before anyone go their grimy hands on it. It was worth cleaning the interior just to have them not touch the outside.
 
I was just walking a lot, thinking about trading in my IS300 for a Grand Cherokee, and now that I look at things through an autopia eye I was horrified at the condition of those vehicles. The dark colors are so full of swirls it's sick.
 
Dennis H. said:
You wanna know what's worse...you can train them to do it right but as soon as you leave they go back to their old ways. I've seen it a hundred times before! And two weeks later there's a new guy doing the same thing.
Click to expand...
I used to have two of those guys......I hired two twenty year olds to wash and prep cars for me......After I personally trained them on how to properly wash, dry and clean up interiors...I gave them each a laminated step by step guide.....They lasted one day. On day two they decided that thier way was better.....It took twice as long and they skipped 4 steps.....One of them actually asked me to train them again.....he had the laminated wash guide folded in his back pocket. I'm by myself again........My soon to be ex-wife says I expect too much from others......:cool: She'll be gone soon too:xyxthumbs
 
When I got my brand new Acura TL-S is had such bad acid rain damage to the paint it had to be repainted!!
 
Hey KoKo, we have to get together one of these days, and have a detailing day. PM me, and we'll talk. Do you have a PC?
 
Yeah they dont know jack. My GF was going to buy a 2003 Mustang til i saw it. :0 there was wax in all the crevices and spiderwebs up the ***. I checked out the sticker and it said additional cost

$498

Undercoating Protedtion

Auto Bathe

Hand applied sealant



im like WTF for hand applied paint sealant. I asked the sales man what an autobathe was and he said he didnt know. I also asked him what a hand applied paint was his response "its the stuff that seals the under carrage"



LOL
 
Hey, I thought maybe I could give you a little inside perspective. I work at a small dealership that sells new and used cars. Just so you know, they base their sales on the relationship with the customer, not fancy this that or the other thing, good deals, or gimmicky radio ads.



Right, on with the show... When I first started working there, I was real hesitant to use their brush. I came to autopia a while before I started working there. I used a wash mitt for everything. Now, I can say that, while it may not be the best for an autopian, it really isn't that bad, especially with a newer head. At least for the tops of vehicles. Today, I did a black Aztek...I did the roof with the brush and the rest w/ a wash mitt. We also wax all the new cars that are sold.



Its all about time. I could spend an entire day doing a car, even a new one. But time is money for them, so I don't really have a problem doing it. People are always happy anyway. To tell you the truth, I'm betting that the vehicles are better cared for by us than most individuals.



We don't do any crazy "acid washes", but the whitewall cleaner is pretty much our "all purpose" cleaner. If there is a really dirty floor mat that needs to be hosed out, it gets whitewall too. The guys there also advised me to use the whitewall cleaner to soften bugs. Really, that doesn't work too bad either. It removes wax, but 99% of the vehicles done there aren't waxed anyway.



The used cars need to be kept clean too. I have no hesitation to do brush washes on them. Even when they come in, the are pretty swirled. OTOH, one of the owners has a black car, and always does brush washes with it. It is pretty scratched or swirled, but I'm thinking hes not the most careful person doing it either. He has better things to do than wash the car. It also rarely gets waxed, so that contributes to the dulling problem.



For Autopians, I invite you to come and do your own vehicle! Where I work, I'm guessing that if you made that request, the would let you come in saturday and do your own car! If your dealer won't let you do that, maybe you're going to the wrong place. I have a feeling that dealers with the attitude of mine are pretty rare, but there are some out there.



a few quick notes:

~time is money

~most people are more than happy w/ my work

~cars come from the factory w/ buffer swirls on occasion...I think that it was probably for a repair of a dust mark from painting, or a scratch

~Repaints and touchups also happen. I saw a car the other day which had been painted on the "a" piller or fender, can't remember. There was overspray pretty bad on the car, it made me sad. I did the best with what I had, using our c/w on the paint, and a razor on the glass. I still felt bad for the people getting it, but they didn't complain, or notice I don't think.



One other thing...when we recieve the cars, some seem to be in great condition, beading water and all, others are heavily coated with either overspray or industrial fall out. I'm thinking it has something to do with how long shipping takes. One recent thing that I saw was a plastic coating on the hood of a Buick. IMO, they should do that on all cars, and more of the body.



Thats it, I'm sure only 1% of the members will read it all anyway. ;) peace be with you.



Kevin
 
i work at a dealer. the new cars get dropped off at a detail place and then they are driven over to my location. cars seem pretty nice when brought in. but once they sit out on the lot and then get washed or once they are sold, the car gets washed with an auto wash with those little hard plastic bristles. one wash and the swirls, and even scratches are there. really bad, i just use the bay for the water, got to love hand washing :xyxthumbs
 
I think Scottwax is absolutely correct. In general, in the public masses the "Autopian" is a very rare bread. Most people associate "detailing" with washing and waxing a car. The thought of usings a couple of different polishes to remove "micro marring" would never occur to them. The general public also accepts, what most here consider "heavily swirled" to be the norm for a car, especially black, after a some use. Clean = detailed to most.



There are countless examples of this. For example...Home Audio/Theater. There are people into Home Audio/Theater that spend countless hours calibrating their rooms sitting in different locations with SPL meters (sound pressure level) to figure out the best location for their sub woofer - sort of an autopian approach to home audio. However, I bet there are some, if not the majority, on this board that just place things equipment and speakers they fit are perfectly happy with the sound and experience they have (sort of the delearship detailing approach to detailing). One method is better but not for everyone.



Landscaping is probably another example. For me I want it to look nice but I basically just mow, trim and occassionally edge and even more rarely throw down some weed/feed I get from Home Depot. I am sure some probably cringe at this process. I know there are multi-step processes and better equipment and techniques than I use but I achieve the results I am looking for in the time it takes me. Yes there are better looking yards but the incremental difference doesn't matter to me.



The point of this long ramble is there are some who appreciate the delearship for what they do. I have a lot of friends that think the coolest thing is to take their car to the dealership for service and to get it back freshly "detailed." I gave up the argument a long time ago and just say...yeah your car looks nice.
 
You can understand why dealers don't do a 'proper' detail on all their cars - why bother to turn out every car to an 'Autopian' standard when 99% of the public aren't 'Autopians'? The majority always rule.



When you think about it, 99% of owners are only going to start the process of wrecking the paintwork the first time they give it a wash, so why would the dealers really worry about inflicting some swirls themselves?



All us Autopians can do is continue to ask for our cars to be supplied 'untouched' and try not to worry about all the other poor vehicles.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top