Do you guys ever get sick of all of the misconceptions surrounding the business?

Bob

Bob

New member
In the last two days I have had people get mad at me because they thoguht they were right and I was wrong. But the people getting mad consider detailing their cars to be washing it with dish soap and a dirty rag.

The first was a guy wanting to know how long after a paint job he had to wait until he used polish. I told him that he could use a bodyshop safe polish right now. That response was shot down by some people and they told him he had to wait 3 months for polish or the paint would come off. Finally I got through and was able to convience him that the 3 month thing was bull for bodyshop safe polishes and that his car was most likely wet sanded and polished when it came out of the paint booth anyway.

Then, this weekend a buddy of mine was showing this guy how to detail and when he hit his hood with clay the guy went nuts and starting screaming that clay scratches and should only be used on white cars. I am still lost at his reasoning that clay would scratch any color but white. Then today, on a local car board, I mentioned clay and they went on to tell me how bad clay was and it scratches the paint like crazy and blah blah blah.

It just drives me nuts that these people that have no clue all of a sudden become experts in the field. I think it drives me even more crazy when I hear them give totally wrong advice to another person.

Ok, my rant is done and that felt good. :lol

Anyone else know what I mean or experience the same thing?
 
The MISCONCEPTION that I get the MOST is that detailing is a WASTE OF TIME and subsequently, a WASTE OF MONEY.

It is darn near impossible to keep a car sparkling clean after even just one day of normal driving. So how can it be justifiable to charge upwards of 100 dollars for a job that will last a day? This is how others see it.

So they resort to the dish soap and peanut sponge routine and fall prey to the NEVER WAX AGAIN product hype. They use the automated carwashes at the gas station and use Windex on their windows. And as a result, dull their finishes and devalue their automobiles.

Then there are the types that Bob mentioned...

It works better for me to just let them BE unless they show a willingness to LEARN the proper technique. It is this type of person that I want to help and talk to. The ignorant and uninformed are hopeless...

So I just tell these people yeah your car looks really good and leave it at that.

It makes me enjoy my process MORE. I LOVE to drive and I don't mind spending extra time and money on making the experience more enjoyable. Now to find others with the same passion....

That's Detail City baby....
 
It's not just business... Things would be much easier if the world would just accept the fact that I'm always right.* ;)

---Eric

*unless I'm dating someone - then she's always right and I'm always wrong.
 
I was thinking about this today on the way home from work. I wouldn't pay $100+ to get my car cleaned. What are our clients paying for. A clean car, yes. Our training and experience, yes. Saving their time, yes. Some folks feel empowered that they have someone doing work for them. That's fine by me as long as I'm getting paid.

After a detail the results go away pretty quick. Those same results are restored very quick with just minimal upkeep. A detailed car looks ten times better after a routine wash than a neglected car after weekly washes. That's what I try to sell to my clients. My services make routine washes easier and look better. Why do we try to get clients on maintenance plans?

I have a buddy at work that paints cars. According to him, any car that has had wax applied to it is going to have the paint fall off any time!

In my brief time here at DC and on earth I've learned a few things. You can't persuade / argue with people about religion, politics, car waxes, and long distance phone service. Pretty much everyone is an expert in those areas.

All we can do is educate those that are willing to learn. Heck we were all newbs at some point. Its the business man that educates his clients the most and creates more value for his services for his clients that will come out ahead.
 
It's a combination of arrogance/ignorance. If someone can work on cars, they think they're an expert. Everybody knows people like this. Then the rest of the brainless people who they're friends with go along with everything this know it all says and that's where all this wackyness comes in. Then they tell their friends and so on down the line.
Most people pushing these 5 year paint sealants fall into the ingnorance catagory. They actually believe it works because some salesman told them, gave them a bunch of BS, and they fell for it. If you read the literature they have at work about it, if you didn't know any better, you'd believe it. I've even had my job threatened because I've said it doesn't work.
 
There was a guy around my way that used to do "details" with windex,
and Pledge. He charged about 50-60 bucks per car, and folks flocked to
him. I on the other hand, am lucky if i get 1 person in the neighborhood
to let me do their car. They simply say that what I ask is too much,
and they can get the job done cheaper somewhere else. If not for
the work my dad throws my way, I would only have my car to mess
with. Guess I need to work on my "people skills" more and sell better
than the pledge guy.
 
My main business comes to me from people that see the results of my work. 98% of the cars I do would be in the "Extreme Makeover" catagory. They are so bad that just wiping on a pure polish like #7 and leaving it there makes a HUGE improvement.

Most of them don't care what I do as long as they get the same "Oh My God, What a Difference" finish. I've tried to explain the multi-step process, but with the cranial density of most people, I found that it's a whole lot easier to tell them that I had to "buff the paint 'X' number of times" to "fix" it. I don't even bother with the complex things like "clay," or "car wash soap, not dish soap."

When I mention that it can easily take me two hours just to wash my own car, their faces go slack, one eye will twitch and drool starts to come out of the side of their mouth. I think that means the concept is beyond them...that or a swimsuit model just walked behind me and I missed seeing her.

So when they tell me they want me to "detail" their cars, I just say "Sure," then start thinking what to charge them. I always tell them that black paint or trucks automatically puts it it the $125+ range (That ususally gets them a 2-step + sealant...I'm not killing myself over a car that isn't going to be maintained)
 
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I think it's important to remember that EVERYONE thinks they know EVERYTHING about cleaning and detailing cars. This is evidenced by how many people out there are "detailing" people's cars for money and have no real technical knowledge of the materials that a vehicle is made of. Oh yeah I wash my car at home and slapped a wax on with my trusty porter cable so that makes me a pro! Sad but true. It isn't going to change either. Women are truly the worst to deal with because they have VERY different shopping habits and motivations than men. I would say that 90% of the people that are "calling around for prices" are women. No questions other than the price and they will take the lowest one. This from the same type of person that will drop $150 on a hair appointment EVERY month. Scary.
 
ShineShop said:
I would say that 90% of the people that are "calling around for prices" are women. No questions other than the price and they will take the lowest one. This from the same type of person that will drop $150 on a hair appointment EVERY month. Scary.
Click to expand...

I do SO WISH I could REC this post! (I'm a Motley Fool regular and I'm in the habit of RECing a post when I think it's excellent! The more RECs (recommendations for the daily BEST OF list) a post gets, the more chances it has of appearing on the BEST OF list, and thus of getting more people to read it!)

:bow This particular smilie will have to suffice, ShineShop.

Charles
 
Bob said:
Then, this weekend a buddy of mine was showing this guy how to detail and when he hit his hood with clay the guy went nuts and starting screaming that clay scratches and should only be used on white cars. I am still lost at his reasoning that clay would scratch any color but white. Then today, on a local car board, I mentioned clay and they went on to tell me how bad clay was and it scratches the paint like crazy and blah blah blah.
Click to expand...
Maybe the guy has tried to clay, or else has heard of others who've tried to clay, a car who didn't lubricate the surface first. Or, perhaps they overworked the clay so that it contained too much dirt, thus scratching the paint. At any rate, you can bet that what the guy heard was the result of someone messing up the correct detailing process.

Charles
 
Bob said:
Then, this weekend a buddy of mine was showing this guy how to detail and when he hit his hood with clay the guy went nuts and starting screaming that clay scratches and should only be used on white cars. I am still lost at his reasoning that clay would scratch any color but white
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The reason for this is they can't see any scrathes on white or so they think. To a lamen clay looks like it would tear up the surface of the paint. I've spent countless hours over the year explaining this to customers, I've all but given up and just do it now.
The amount of work that goes into bring a car back to quality for me is worth every penny I charge and all my customers think that, getting a new one to think that takes about 5 hours and 150 plus bucks once they have seen the finished product they are belivers then. For those that think its to expensive then fine let them take their cars threw the egg beater style places and once every two years or less they get conned into put on some high gloss filler wax and think that they just did what you did for a thrid the price or less......LOL
 
crobinso said:
I do SO WISH I could REC this post! (I'm a Motley Fool regular and I'm in the habit of RECing a post when I think it's excellent! The more RECs (recommendations for the daily BEST OF list) a post gets, the more chances it has of appearing on the BEST OF list, and thus of getting more people to read it!)

:bow This particular smilie will have to suffice, ShineShop.

Charles
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I don't know about belonging on any best of lists but I am glad you appreciated it. It's not a knock against all women either. Unfortunately I simply feel that keeping up a car properly is just not of importance to most woman (my mother being a hard care case and I own a shop and will do her car for free!). Men tie their identity to what kind of car they drive and usually want the car looking good. For most women I know a car is just transportation and they could care less how it looks until it just gets unbearable. I actually had a woman come in and want us to wash, vacuum, shampoo and clean the windows on her (are you ready for this?) 1990 Pontiac Grand Am for $15. She just couldn't fathom how our price started at $89.95 and went up from there based on how much work we have to do. Perceived value I guess.
 
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