ATTN OCDetails: Detail Shops

How can you tell a good detail shop from a bad one?

I want to have my car detailed and I'm trying to find a good shop, but I don't know how to tell a good one from a bad one. My neighbor details cars but I don't know if I trust him since he's fairly new to it. But I do see him detailing Mercedes, Porsches, and Caddies all the time.

-Tyler

You've already named one way to tell a good shop from a bad shop. A bad shop won't have Porsches rolling through on a regular basis. People who spend upwards of six figures on an automobile know how to look for quality. Usually all you have to do is look at where those people go to know where quality lies. Good shops will spend a lot of time detailing Civics and minivans too, so you can't always just go to the ones with the exotics. Probably less than 5% of the cars I do could be considered 'exotic'. I tend to shy away from those simply because they are much harder to do. It takes nothing to get a 15 year old Civic looking better. Ever try improving the appearance on a 2005 Porsche? The payoff for me is seeing the impressive 'before/after' changes and I don't get to see that on exotics that spend a lot of time in a garage. Usually the exotics I detail are trailor queens that rarely see the road and just have me detail them prior to a car show. I don't mind doing that.

The main way I can spot a quality shop is in their processes. Sit outside and watch them work for awhile. If they are using the same towel on the paint one second and then you see them drying a wheel with the same towel a minute later, then that is not a shop I would go to. I would also look at how much contact they allow other items to make with the car. If they are rubbing extention cords on the paint or letting snaps and zippers from their clothing rub the car then I wouldn't go near them. Even personal contact like their bare hands are warning signs for me. I used to use signs at car shows on cars I sponsored that said something like "Unless you are naked I don't want to see you leaning against this car!" Call me obsessive, but I wear gloves while I'm detailing and I always have a towel under each hand when I'm buffing product off. Cars are not for touching. I love to see shops that treat cars that way. Usually the ones who cater to exotics treat cars that way. Its the way the owner treats the car and they only trust it to people who will respect that.

You can also spot qualtiy shops by how long it will take to do your car and how many people are working on it. If 6 teenagers are going to bust out your car in an hour, then that is probably not the shop I'd go to. If they have one guy working on the inside while another does the paint and they say that you should just leave the car with them for the day, then that is a shop I would trust. They know that a quality job can't be rushed.

Another thing that gives them away is the price. There is no way that you will get the same kind of job done for $25 in 30 minutes as you will if you paid $150 for 3 hours. Its not that you are dealing with low quality, its just that you will not be getting the same service. It takes at least an hour to effectively remove swirls on any size vehicle. For $25 bucks I might polish out the hood. It just takes too long. This is a labor intensive job and that is what you are paying for. Most detailers price their services by the hour. A $25 job means that they don't intend on spending a whole lot of time on it. You will get a wash and probably the inside wiped down and vacuumed. Want wax? Add another $30 bucks. Engine? Another $20. Swirl removal and oxidation cleanup or IFO removal? Another $50-$75 bucks. It all adds up. Low price = limited amount of work done. Not necessarily low quality, just limited service.