you guys ever get this clunckers, and customers sitll want them done?

Q

quamen

New member
A lady called me recently and said i have multiple vehicles to detail, while im away in another country at my vacation home. She says she has a benz sl500, saab, yukon, bmw and a probe. I am thinking great, some nice cars and more business. I show up today, and the saab, benz and probe where there in the parking lot of there Realtor company. I look at the benz and it has the following: rear convertible window has a rip in the plastic, few dents on the black exterior, inside is pretty damn fifthly. The saab the interior is awful, stains everywhere, leather is trashed, buttons, door handles etc all faded. Outside the one side got side swiped by a car, rims haven't been washed in years so the brake dust is so bad, bumper all cracked, roof antenna looks like it caught on fire before, all 4 bald tires, lights are so faded like i have never seen in 12 years of this business and overall just a mess. the probe the clear coat is shot and the interior isn't to bad, just semi dirty.





i am looking at the vehicles and thinking omg, i really havent had many people ask me to detail things in this shape. the property manager comes out and says year you know there gone on vacation, and want these vehicles cleaned. i politely explain i really don't do vehicles in this condition, and these vehicles need body work and other work done, before there ready for detailing. He begs me to do them, and says these people are very wealthy and own over 200 homes and they would be so disappointed if i didn't detail them. I dont make alot of money, and i would be embarrassed to take anyone inside this car, let alone to actually drive it around. I am thinking anyone who has money like he says, would never be caught dead in these vehicles, plus the benz was over 10 years old. the day was kinda shot since i had to get to a dr appt in the early afternoon, so we just did the interior of the probe and left. The property manager said they just want them better then they are, but im not sure even if i want to touch these vehicles. you guys ever run into something like this, what did you do? i didn't get to see the yukon of the bmw, he says he will bring them down, but i cant wait to see what they look like.
 
Money is money. Just charge for your time and make sure the clients expectations are understood and can be met before starting.
 
RaskyR1 said:
Money is money. Just charge for your time and make sure the clients expectations are understood and can be met before starting.
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That's what I do. When I first started out, there were still a lot of the full sized GMs running around with laquer checking on all the horizontal surfaces (the paint actually cracks and dulls) and one guy insisted that he still wanted his two vehicles done despite the need for a repaint. I made sure he understood that while the interiors and the sides of the cars would look good, I wouldn't even wax the hood, roof or trunk lid because the wax would make it look worse. He agreed, I got busy, got the cars to look as good as they possibly could and it made him happy.



When I run across a really beat-up car, I make sure before I start the customer understands what will and what won't come out. I don't get many calls about trashed cars since I dropped my Yellow Pages listing and went by referral and internet only.
 
RaskyR1 said:
Money is money. Just charge for your time and make sure the clients expectations are understood and can be met before starting.
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Agreed, but make sure you get paid after each one in cash. Smells scammy to me.
 
I'm 90% certain you're going to get scammed (e.g., not paid). I would examine it, do a guestimate on the quote, jack up the price for more profit, then get written contract for the 5 vehicles and request half down.



If he won't give half down, you're going to get jack **** when it's finished.



edit: I know lots of weathly people who drive cars beat to ****. However, what makes me 110% suspicious that you're going to get screwed is how they word it - fact is you're a nobody......wealthly people are not going to call you up to tell you they're going away internationally to their country home, or that they own 200 houses, etc... etc.... unless you know them well, that's none of your damn business and they arn't going to share it if they don't have to ..... what those lines sound like are hook lines to try to get you interested and greedy.....and watch the cheque bounce because of a processing error in their Cayman island account ... but dont' worry, it'll be cleared up tomorrow. Oh wait, sorry, the Cayman Island banks are closed M-Su from midnight until 11.59pm.
 
if you take on the job take a bunch of before pics with the manager right there to verify everything. Take pics of every defect and document it. (all on the clock of course) that way when they come back and try to blame a bunch of crap on you, you can then show them the before pics. Always Cover you arse when detailing.. Especially if it's a fishy set up like this one seems to be.
 
I recently had a guy call me about a golf gti that he said had a leak in the sunroof and the carpet had gotten wet. He is located about 65 miles from me and agreed to pay an additional travel charge. I had asked him the usual questions about the car and told him that if the carpets had been wet for a long period of time that he'd be better to just replace the carpets. You can't get mold and mildew out if it's been sitting a ling time. He said just a week or so. So I drive all the way there, don't book like I would usually do due to the time with this job and arrive to find the whole damn car is soaked. Carpet has standing water, inches of water, the seats are SOAKED, the headliner is soaking wet. I told his wife, He wasn't there, that I couldn't help them. They need to find a new interior in a junkyard or pay for a new interior. She asked, "he didn't tell you?" I said NO. She offered to pay me the travel fee and I said of course, but was polite. Her husband called me and begged me to come back and clean it up so they could drive it. I told him I couldn't help him and that I would have appreciated a TRUE assessment of the problems. He got mad and hung up on me. This car was just like what you would have pulled out of a river!
 
Yeah that is the whole thing with this job that it does seem very fishy. I did the probe interior as i stated, and go give the keys back to the secretary. She says who is this for, i said Paul the property manager you work with. She says okay, and states he doesn't drive a ford probe. I say, " he just told me that was his car he drove, and asked me to clean it". I try to find Paul and he left and wasn't anywhere to be found. he offered to pay up front, so i am not to worried about that money, but if i do these cars i will only do them with cash handed to me.
 
So how do you guys make sure you're going to get paid, and not scammed, or shafted?



It seems I'm hearing more "horror stories" lately about detailers getting shafted after the work is done.
 
nosbusa1700 said:
So how do you guys make sure you're going to get paid, and not scammed, or shafted?



It seems I'm hearing more "horror stories" lately about detailers getting shafted after the work is done.
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Simple, signed, contact that states what being done and an estimate. No pay, no give car back.
 
^^^ yup. the more you treat yourself like an actual business the better off you'll be. The people that get ripped off like that are the ones not acting like a legit business. You have to protect your business first and foremost. Signed paperwork and proper documentations is the only way to go. It's extreamly vital if your a mobile set up. Set locations you can simply lock up the car inside until payment is recieved. with the signed contracts you have legal avenues at your disposal now. You should always walk around the car with the customer getting their idea of what they want done and explain anything you see that might be a problem, Take lots of pics during the walk through, and then have them sign the contract stating everything you discussed. If you're not doing this everytime you really need to change up your business practices. make sure your protected first!
 
I have a limited detail business and I know 99% of my clientele (cops, firefighters, paramedics and or family members of those three lines of employment, plus a few neighbors).



I never accept a new client without first looking at the vehicle. While I do like a challenge, I have outright turned down work because of the conditions made by the original poster.
 
thanks guys for the replies. I guess this might be a stuck up way of looking at it, but i also am known for doing more nicer cars then junkers, that is my reputation. I hate doing a car i cant make look good because of dents, needed body work etc, i just feel unaccomplished for the day. When i first started out, i did everything to get a reputation, but now i just focus on items that i easily make look nice to i could also maximize my profit. I actually felt embarrassed even being at the site near these junkers, they were that bad. I have tons of work and have a Carrera GT to do on Saturday so im really stoked.
 
Then again,



I've done details on dirt and gravel. Thats horrible.



For an auction-house.



Under a busy overpass..



Bad neighborhood, ugly area, muddy...



But, friend recommended a friend and wanted me to do a few cars... sure why not





Well I ended up meeting someone there, just passing by, that liked my setup and asked me to detail...something... can't remember what... the guy had so many cars.. hah!



This scummy dirty parking lot helped me meet a millionaire with 5 cars at any time, changing often...



Oh and 2 boats!



I'll never turn down a job because of where it is after that!
 
50% of vehicles that I detail have serious exterior problems (including body work needing to be done, clear coat failure, scratches and marks down the sides that can't possibly be corrected, etc). Probably 60% of the vehicles I detail have cracked windshields (even 1 and 2 year old vehicles... we can thank our Territory that throws gravel on the road during the winter when it snows). Probably 30% of vehicles have some significant interior damage (a broken vent, broken cup holder, etc.)



I'll detail anything that comes in the door, with proper customer expectations set of course.



To put my geographical area into context, the Territory I live in has no Mercedes dealer, BMW, VW, Porsche, Lexus, Infinity, Mazda, Acura, Lincoln, Mitsubishi, Saab, Saturn or Volvo. The nearest dealerships of those makes is about 2300km away (roughly 1500 miles).



70% of all vehicles I see are SUVs and pick-up trucks, primarily Ford, GM and Chrysler.
 
quamen said:
.. I dont make alot of money, and i would be embarrassed to take anyone inside this car, let alone to actually drive it around. I am thinking anyone who has money like he says, would never be caught dead in these vehicles, plus the benz was over 10 years old..
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The '93 Audi I'm buying from the original (elderly female) owner is in awfully rough shape and was *really* bad when I first borrowed it last year. I spent days on it before letting my dealer work on it for her because it was just too nasty to take in the way it was.



Here's the kicker: she's a woman of otherwise impeccable taste/class/etc. who has, as they say "more money than God". She usually drives a new Benz that the Mercedes dealer "details" for her. But she thinks of that (leased, new one every few years) Benz as "their car" whereas the Audi is "her car" (and still will be even after I buy it); she simply loves it even though she sure let it deteriorate. She'd never wear a blouse with a stain on it, but the cars...eh, she just doesn't care.
 
efnfast said:
Simple, signed, contact that states what being done and an estimate. No pay, no give car back.
Click to expand...



I agree 100% and practice this as well...



No different than if you get mechanical work done on your car and don't pay for it. What happens? The mechanic keeps the car (lean).... That's what would happen if I ever encountered the situation.
 
nosbusa1700 said:
So how do you guys make sure you're going to get paid, and not scammed, or shafted?



It seems I'm hearing more "horror stories" lately about detailers getting shafted after the work is done.
Click to expand...



Most of my new business is referral either through current customers or the internet. Since not paying can make that person look bad either from their friend who referred them or bad publicity on the internet, it hasn't been a problem. If you get business through the yellow pages or something like craigslist, it appears the chances of getting scammed are higher.



Regardless, I hold the keys until they hand me payment.
 
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