My experience working at a detail shop...

Most of you know that I'm usually a 9 to 5 kind of guy and do my detailing thing on the side as a hobby. Well, the powers that be decided to lay me off a few weeks ago, so I started putting applications out there and shaking the bushes. One of the things that fell out was an opportunity to manage a detail shop in town that actually has a fairly decent reputation. They have several shops under this one name and the owner had just opened a new shop that he needed a manager for. I've always wondered what it would be like to do that kind of work, so I tried it out for a week. Yeah... H U G E mistake. lol

 

This is a shop that does a lot of dealership work, but they also have their own packages for retail customers. Just to give you an idea, here is a cut and paste from their price sheet:

 

 

I guess I have to raise my prices because I do that on every car I detail and have never charged $300 to do a small car. I would never not condition the leather. I would never not clay the paint. Seriously, who charges extra for that??? That is like ordering a fine steak at the best place in town and getting charged extra for the plate and knife. But the worst part is that they don't actually do all of that on these cars. Most consumers don't know the difference between when their car has been clayed or not or if the dealership used a wax or a paint sealant. I asked the 'detailers' what they knew about the process and not one of them could tell me where the clay was at. Not one of them could tell me what was in the bottles they were squirting on the car. Most of the time they were just using a spray wax and not even touching the paint with a machine. It was a detailing assembly line from Hell if you asked me.

 

Call me crazy, but if i'm going to pay $400 bucks to get my vehicle detailed, then it should come out looking better than what I could have done myself, right? You'd think at those kinds of prices that it would be a professional who knew what they were doing and had an eye for detail. Not so much here.

 

The last straw was when they started sanding and primering cars from the body shop ten feet away from vehicles I was trying to polish. Ever had primer overspray on your car? I just spent the last three hours polishing it off my paint and glass from just having my car in their parking lot. I can only imagine what their dealership customers say when the cars come back with grey spots all over them because they got overspray on them after they were polished.

 

I'm not going to throw them under the bus by giving you their name, but I will just say that I've got new appreciation for what I do and for what some of you guys are able to do as well. There is nothing like getting a job done by someone who has passion for their work. If I can give anybody any advice then it would be to always try to do business with someone who has passion and isn't just a piece of the machine. The job will always come back better.

Go for it, OCD! Manage the hell outta that shop and turn it into something even better!

 

I loved working at a detail shop in my teens. Of course I was the young lackey who simply washed and prepped all the cars, but it was awesome. That's where I also met the custom metal polisher who hired me later on... and I learned that craft for 5 years.

I'm trying to decide if I should post my translation of their services on my site or not. One one hand I'd love to tell everybody to avoid them at all costs, but on the other hand I have sympathy for the guy and hope he can turn it around. All I can really say is that none of what is said is being done is really being done that way. Well, nothing except the vacuuming part. That they actually do. Nobody in the shop could show me the metal polishing products or the rainx or tell me what was in the sealant bottles, or even tell me what they use to condition leather with. They use their version of Armor All on everything and leave it to someone else to wipe the streaks off the glass. They extract the carpets using typical degreaser and cold water. They never clay the vehicles and get irritated if they are told that is the way to get the orange spots off. They would just rather use lacquer thinner and be done with it.

 

I would have loved to be part of a well oiled machine, but this shop was not it. There was a lot to learn for someone who doesn't know much about detailing, but once they learned it then they would almost have to move on so they could perfect their art. It definitely wasn't the kind of shop for an artist. There are better shops to learn in I think.

That's pretty sad. Most of the customers will see a "clean shiny" car and assume they got their money's worth. They won't know the difference between products which is why they are taken advantage of. That's a tough line of work because time is money and it takes time to do it right. It's still no excuse for how that place is operating.

 

My advice- Move to New Hampshire. I need a good detail guy.

Come out here to the San Francisco Bay Area. It's a large geographic area with people who would know the difference. I still haven't found a detail shop that can (or will) tell me what products it uses (except for one). "Wax" is about it.

 

Funny story. A few years ago I stopped at a popular car wash/detail shop and asked the manager if they clayed cars as a part of the detail. He said yes, and pointed to one close by saying that's one we just clayed. I walked up to the car and ran my hand over the paint surface and it was rough. I pointed that out to the manager and he - completely effortlessly - said oh, that's just from stuff out of the air (the car was under a roof).

Those types of shops are for those with too much money and no real care for their cars other than to make it look shiny. That is why I never pay for that kind of service. The only way I would ever do it is if I had someone like yourself to take care of my car once and a while.

 

Any time you look into shops like this or maintenance, the workers generally don't have the love for their jobs. Hence the reason for doing all your own maintenance and cleaning.

 

I say go expand your business and do it right! Leave them far behind and enjoy doing what you do while teaching others the right way to do it.

Ocd, that is insane mass production detailing should be an assembly line, but it should also be done properly. When a car needs clay you cant just try to buff the over spray out I have a distaste for people who "detail" but do not care about the end product. The whole reason for detailing a car is to make it as perfect as you can. As long as I don't lose money I am happy simply with knowing what the car looked like coming in and how it looked like when it left.

Makes me feel better about my pricing. Most cars take 2 days.

 

http://5250performance.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=49&Itemid=58

I think if you did all that work on every car it wouldn't be a sustainable business model.

I'm not surprised many take short-cuts. I suppose some parts of the USA have access to cheap (illegal) labour that could make this model work.

I don't know that I agree with that. I can do all of that to a car by myself just fine. If I wanted to do more than three or four cars a day then I just need to find more people to assist. If they were bringing the cars to me and there wasn't any set up time then I could probably do more like five cars per day by myself. Line them up and have someone stationed on each job and it could be done very well. My biggest problem with this shop was that they advertised services that they didn't actually perform. Don't tell me you clay the car when you don't even know where your clay is and half the employees don't know what it is.

 

I'm not an 'assembly line' kind of detailer anyway. I like working on one vehicle till it is done and then moving to the next. I've been following that model since 1997 and it has worked out just fine for me. I don't have to do it for a living, though so I guess my point of view would change if it was my bread and butter and not just a side gig. I still wouldn't advertise services I don't really perform. That is just stupid.

Mine is a value added service. The car is gonna be at my shop for a least a week anyways.