For those of you who thought Dealerships were the worst...

C

Charlies02GLS

New member
Currently I'm employed at a "Detailing Shop" which does 90% pre-Auction work. Job satisfaction is nill on a good day...



First step: Compound the un-washed vehicle whether it actually needs it or not.



Step two: Stand back and stare at all the scratches you can now see/created and also how much trim is burnt and discolored.



Step three: Wash the car out in the midday sun using brushes if it's a light-colored car or a mitt if it's a dark one. Use as much acid as humanly possible on the wheels and make sure to apply it twice but don't worry about any surface discoloration from brake dust (if the acid couldn't get it, you certainly can't do anything about it :rolleyes: ). Also make sure to degrease the doorjambs with Wire Wheel cleaner and liberally rinse the entire thing including the door jambs with a pressure washer running at full tilt. Dry with stained/crusty terry towels and pull it back inside.



Step Four: Interior Time...Grab your Wire Wheel Cleaner and Cherry Bomb and thoroughly saturate the interior but dont worry about agitating anything you'll get to that soon enough. Now snag that steamer from the corner and proceed to scrub as much as you can with the brush head and don't worry about discoloring the instrument panel/dash or whatever else might be sensitive to that type of heat. Use the blowgun to get as much dirt buried in the carpet/speakers as possible and the vacuum out whatever the carpet cant absorb. If there's any easily noticable stains left go grab some lacquer thinner on a rag and have a go at it.



Step Five: Spray the wheel wells/suspension/exhaust with black engine paint using an HVLP gun cranked up to 120PSI (kind of negates that whole "Low Pressure" part of the acronym) and then wipe down any overspray on the fender/quarter panel/tires using lacquer.



Step Six: Grab the buffer again and "polish" the car using an all-in-one polish/sealer/wax and a wool pad. Continue gunking up weatherstripping and burning trim as necessary. Don't worry about the roof of the vehicle if it's anything taller than a crossover.



Step Seven: Try and brush out excess polish from every orifice of the vehicle using a stiff bristled brush and a less than decent quality microfiber towel. Wipe the roof using whatever is handy and clean all the splatter off the windows. Also put the still very wet floormats stacked in the trunk/cargo area in such a way as to hide any major stains that "couldn't" be removed.



I felt bad enough doing this to an F-150 worktruck but just about passed out when I saw the RX300, RS-6 and Targa that were about to suffer through the same treatment. Anyhow, if anyone in the Buffalo area is looking for help I'm all ears since I want to... :bolt
 
Thats horrible.You really don't need to waste your time and ruin your name. Staying with that company will destroy a persons rep pretty quick I reckon. Go try to find work with a respected detailer. Or Steal the above business and do twice the job yourself :D Goodluck and QUIT!
 
Charlies02GLS said:
Currently I'm employed at a "Detailing Shop" which does 90% pre-Auction work. Job satisfaction is nill on a good day...



First step: Compound the un-washed vehicle whether it actually needs it or not.



Step two: Stand back and stare at all the scratches you can now see/created and also how much trim is burnt and discolored.



Step three: Wash the car out in the midday sun using brushes if it's a light-colored car or a mitt if it's a dark one. Use as much acid as humanly possible on the wheels and make sure to apply it twice but don't worry about any surface discoloration from brake dust (if the acid couldn't get it, you certainly can't do anything about it :rolleyes: ). Also make sure to degrease the doorjambs with Wire Wheel cleaner and liberally rinse the entire thing including the door jambs with a pressure washer running at full tilt. Dry with stained/crusty terry towels and pull it back inside.



Step Four: Interior Time...Grab your Wire Wheel Cleaner and Cherry Bomb and thoroughly saturate the interior but dont worry about agitating anything you'll get to that soon enough. Now snag that steamer from the corner and proceed to scrub as much as you can with the brush head and don't worry about discoloring the instrument panel/dash or whatever else might be sensitive to that type of heat. Use the blowgun to get as much dirt buried in the carpet/speakers as possible and the vacuum out whatever the carpet cant absorb. If there's any easily noticable stains left go grab some lacquer thinner on a rag and have a go at it.



Step Five: Spray the wheel wells/suspension/exhaust with black engine paint using an HVLP gun cranked up to 120PSI (kind of negates that whole "Low Pressure" part of the acronym) and then wipe down any overspray on the fender/quarter panel/tires using lacquer.



Step Six: Grab the buffer again and "polish" the car using an all-in-one polish/sealer/wax and a wool pad. Continue gunking up weatherstripping and burning trim as necessary. Don't worry about the roof of the vehicle if it's anything taller than a crossover.



Step Seven: Try and brush out excess polish from every orifice of the vehicle using a stiff bristled brush and a less than decent quality microfiber towel. Wipe the roof using whatever is handy and clean all the splatter off the windows. Also put the still very wet floormats stacked in the trunk/cargo area in such a way as to hide any major stains that "couldn't" be removed.



I felt bad enough doing this to an F-150 worktruck but just about passed out when I saw the RX300, RS-6 and Targa that were about to suffer through the same treatment. Anyhow, if anyone in the Buffalo area is looking for help I'm all ears since I want to... :bolt
Click to expand...





For those who want to do dealer work, this is similar to the detailing procedure that I have paid for a million times. But this is what I expeced. I'd rethink taking dealer work if I were a quality detailer. I read posts of guys doing great jobs for dealers and then getting pissed that the dealer only wants to pay $100 per car. If you want their business, you have to give them dealer quality results, junk!



Also I used to buy hundreds vehicles butchered like this at the auction and send them bto a detailer when they got delivered to my store for more abuse. The retail customers DO NOT KNOW BETTER. They think the cars are clean, thats the sad part.
 
awahl63 said:
Wow...I'm hoping this is a joke because I'm laughing pretty hard
Click to expand...



In all honesty this is how it's done. The whole thing drives me absolutely nuts especially given that I realize what is happening to the cars there. Believe it or not the other guys there don't think twice about it and really do believe they're doing nothing wrong :sadpace:
 
I remember dropping cars off at a detailing shop that havent been washed in months. The detailing shop had 2 guys with Makita rotary's and wool pads on each side using 3m heavy paste compound. They would use a wooden paint stirrer to get the paste out of the gallon pail and directly on to the paint. They would then mash the rotary around at 3000RPM until the compound either flung all away or dried and got absorbed by the pad.

Down the line after the compound were 2 more guys with Makita polishers and foam pads. These guys would pour Malco glaze directly on the paint and mash the rotaty around until the product was gone.

After this, the car was washed with hot water and a 2500psi pressure washer.



The finale:

Gliptone wax by hand, gloss black spray paint on the muffler and wheel wells, clear spray paint on the engine, quick vacuum/extract, greasy dressing on EVERYTHING, wipe the windows with Windex and Voila, a properly detailed dealer vehicle.



From 1989 to 1999 I paid $75 for this per car. The price is now $100.
 
Wow I thought the dealership I worked at was bad but even we're not that bad. I'm not even going to go into the kind of abuse I'm forced to give cars, but I try to use my knowledge to do as little harm as possible with the crap equipment we're given.
 
That is so sad, but I gotta believe that is more commonplace than we realize. The general public wouldn't know the difference, but people who care about their vehicles would.



Sometimes, we are forced to work at a job that we hate, but we must because of various obligations in our lives. Having said that, Charlie, I would add, when the day comes that you can run from that job, please do.



There are better opportunities for you to care for vehicles in a better way, one which you would enjoy much more.



The sooner you can distance yourself from that rathole, the better. Good luck!
 
I've worked in and around car dealers most of my life, and the opening post is not suprising to me in the least. Dealerships are all about speed, not quality...just making them look good enough. When they do get a detailer that does a good job, he will generally get either yelled at or fired for taking too long to clean each car. Many times I've used the wash bay to clean my own car after hours (always bringing my own wash mitt, soap, and drying towels) only to find nearly an inch of mud in the bottom of the wash bucket. I've even seen the wash mitts laying around on the ground, and absolutely filled with sand if you look at it close. I've long since given up on pointing out these things, it just falls on deaf ears.



If I were buying a new car, I'd ask to see the wash bay. Take a close look at the wash mitt they're using and that'll probably tell you everything you need to know. Then just ask for the car to be delivered as it comes off the truck, plastic still on it.
 
Just an example:



If I saw my clean up guy "making love" to a car that I need on the front line to sell, I'd ask him if he was going to buy it. We are profesionals here, not artisians.

I needed the clean up's done quickly, if I thought the car needed special attention I would have put it in my body shop and planned ahead.
 
In the early 1980's, I had just been appointed to the fire department and was looking for an additional part time job to save money for a down payment on a house. There was an ad in the newspaper for the Acton/Concord Auto Auctions (later to become part of Adessa Auto Auctions) looking for full time and part time detailers. Since I was clean car fanatic and had started detailing for family and friends.. I thought I would give it a shot.



I was interviewed, then taken back to the "detail area" to see the operation.



It was assembly line, meatball detailing. The cars were washed with a pressure washer, blown dry, vaccumed, then off to the detail section to be "buffed" with a wool pal and a cleaner wax, wiped down with old towels and shop ragsglass cleaned then shipped onto the lot to await auction.



The pay? $8 per car! I remember the head of the detail area saying "If you're fast, you can make some serious money if you want".



I said thanks but no thanks.
 
When I bought my 1997 Aurora from a dealer in 2000. They"prepped" it before I picked it. It was an unmolested car that needed my attention to be gorgeous. They sprayed some glossy crap under the hood. They covered everything. It was nice and shiny. I'm sure they felt they were making it look nice. It ended up turning yellowish. I never was able to remove it. I think it was some cheap clear gloss from a foo foo can.
 
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