How does a hack do it?

[the_invisible]

Originally Posted by Scottwax

Local BMW dealership was impressed with the Ultrafina demonstration put on by my local 3M dealer (English Paint and Supply) but said UF is too expensive. Just another reason cars that leave their body shop or make ready department look like crap.

Yes, there's no dealer or bodyshops that would use Ultrafina or M105/205 on your car. None. Period. Of course, some may carry it, but a regular body-repair or complimentary detail would not use anything remotely close to Ultrafina.


What makes a hack, a hack?
Economically speaking, inadequate compensation also contributes to a hack.

Well, a local Porsche Store offered me a detail job for $800... they split the revenue 60/40 with the detailer. Now, an inaequately paid detailer is probably not going to do his best when his profit is being stripped away. Also, an underpaid detailer probably cannot afford quailty products.


One could probably replicate the results of a hack job with the most quality products. Seriously it's not that hard if you think about it. I have seen many detailers go straight to compounding without even washing the car!

[Jakerooni]

Originally Posted by the_invisible

Yes, there's no dealer or bodyshops that would use Ultrafina or M105/205 on your car. None. Period. Of course, some may carry it, but a regular body-repair or complimentary detail would not use anything remotely close to Ultrafina.

You'd be very wrong on that statement then. All 3 of the dealerships I'm training in right now (Toyota, Ford and Kia) use all 3 products and were doing do before I got there to tell them what to use. Don't be so quick to assume such things.

[bert31]

Originally Posted by fergnation

M105 and M205 are pretty expensive when it comes to high volume shops. A hack shop is not going to pay 100 for a gallon of m205 or m105. There are a whole lot of other polishes that are a lot cheaper than those.

What these dealerships don't understand is 105 and 205 work sooo quickly. The extra cost of the product would be made up by the decrease in labor cost since they could move cars through faster.

[the_invisible]

Originally Posted by bert31

What these dealerships don't understand is 105 and 205 work sooo quickly. The extra cost of the product would be made up by the decrease in labor cost since they could move cars through faster.

I cannot speak for all dealerships or car stores, but at most of the places, the specialized personnels such as the in-house detailers, technicians, service advisors, etc, get paid on the number of cars they get done. They do not get paid by the hours, and there is a preset number of cars alloted a day, and time saving does not necessairly mean money saving on jobs getting done.

Originally Posted by Jakerooni

You'd be very wrong on that statement then. All 3 of the dealerships I'm training in right now (Toyota, Ford and Kia) use all 3 products and were doing do before I got there to tell them what to use. Don't be so quick to assume such things.

Hi, You are misreading my statement and taking it out of context. I said that dealers do carry some of the more expensive polishes. For example, my Porsche Store carries Swissvax and Zymol polishes waxes. But they would never use those on my or other customers' Porsches for the complimentary detail. The only way they'd use the expensive car polishes on customers' cars is when they could transfer the cost to and make a profit from the customers by using the expensive products. Would the dealerships you are training in use said products on customers' vehicles as a free complimentary service? If so, then the dealerships you are training in are not very profitable.

Much of the dealers or stores DO carry high end products like Ultrafina. But there's no way they would ever use thos on customers cars without transferring the costs to the customers. If the dealer is reluctant to use a brand new bucket of soap to wash each customer's vehicle, do you think they'd use some of the most expensive polishes on the customer's vehicles for free?

[Migue]

Originally Posted by unleashedfury

3. The I'm paid to be a hack - Dealership/Car lot wash guys. I get paid 8 dollars an hour to wash a car. They give me crap to use. They get crap results. As long as its clean. Thats all that matters. Its not their fault. I've worked at a dealership too. And Its all about clean that car. I want this many cars out today. And so on such. Quantitiy vs. quantity. As long as its kinda shiny when the customer picks it up

I'm sorry to say that most hacks usually fall under category 1. Categories 2 & 3 are people who usually end up deciding that professional detailng is not for them and move on. Or Decide to go and get more educated and start getting much better results. For category 3 They usually have to leave the quantity world first though

That's me on #3( $11hr,no way i'd do it for $8),i work in a bodyshop and they want cars to be cleaned in 20min,it's ridiculous. We don't do detail we only just wash them but still....they give us crap materials and conditions so that's what they're gonna get. I have told them many times before but they don't care,they just wanna grab that quick buck.

I do detail on weekends for some of my co-workers cars and family and i take my time and follow all the steps to get the results. Why am i still working as a hack during the week? 1- the job's 2-3 miles away from my place , 2-i'm kinda lazy and don't feel like looking for another job right now since i will be moving to another state in a couple of months,so i decided to endure this crap dealership for a few more months and it'll all be over.

There is a "Detail" department on the other side of the building and MAN those guys suck!!,dirty wool pads,no microfiber towels in sight,compound top half of car and glaze everything after...it's sad,and they have the nerve to charge around 200 dollars for this.

I do plan on pursuing a career on detailing or something close to it,at least get my own place and work out of my garage for the weekends and just work a regular part-time job during the week just in case.

[nonsensez9]

One of my co-workers picked up a second-hand black Ford Edge in the spring. He took it to a local detail shop for a "full" detail including a "cut polish" for $300. I didn't see it before, but the after looked like crap. And he was happy with it!! so who am I to tell him that he frittered away 300 bucks? I hope they did more than vacuum the interior. If he takes it back there next spring I might have to give him a demo of what a PC can do.

[Scottwax]

Originally Posted by Jakerooni

You'd be very wrong on that statement then. All 3 of the dealerships I'm training in right now (Toyota, Ford and Kia) use all 3 products and were doing do before I got there to tell them what to use. Don't be so quick to assume such things.

The body shop I recommend to my customers uses them too.

[Jakerooni]

Originally Posted by the_invisible

Hi, You are misreading my statement and taking it out of context. I said that dealers do carry some of the more expensive polishes. For example, my Porsche Store carries Swissvax and Zymol polishes waxes. But they would never use those on my or other customers' Porsches for the complimentary detail. The only way they'd use the expensive car polishes on customers' cars is when they could transfer the cost to and make a profit from the customers by using the expensive products. Would the dealerships you are training in use said products on customers' vehicles as a free complimentary service? If so, then the dealerships you are training in are not very profitable.

Much of the dealers or stores DO carry high end products like Ultrafina. But there's no way they would ever use thos on customers cars without transferring the costs to the customers. If the dealer is reluctant to use a brand new bucket of soap to wash each customer's vehicle, do you think they'd use some of the most expensive polishes on the customer's vehicles for free?

The only products in the shop are Perfect 3000, Ultrafina, Meg's 105/205/UC and #26 yellow wax. (as well as some cheap automagic paste wax they seem to like for some reason) And that's it. Every car that gets detailed (and I have no idea how they charge/ what they charge or even if they charge) get's those products and those products only used on them.

The funny thing is Up in Michigan every dealership I worked with either delt with "Production car care products", Blue Coral crap, or Vesco (aka Car Brite) All sold in mass quanities and all pretty much junk...So when i came down here to South Carolina I fully assumed I would have to deal with these products or their equivilent yet again. So far none of the dealerships I've delt with or even visited use such cheap products.

[the_invisible]

Originally Posted by Jakerooni

The only products in the shop are Perfect 3000, Ultrafina, Meg's 105/205/UC and #26 yellow wax. (as well as some cheap automagic paste wax they seem to like for some reason) And that's it. Every car that gets detailed (and I have no idea how they charge/ what they charge or even if they charge) get's those products and those products only used on them.

The funny thing is Up in Michigan every dealership I worked with either delt with "Production car care products", Blue Coral crap, or Vesco (aka Car Brite) All sold in mass quanities and all pretty much junk...So when i came down here to South Carolina I fully assumed I would have to deal with these products or their equivilent yet again. So far none of the dealerships I've delt with or even visited use such cheap products.

That's good to hear! These are fine products your workplace is carrying. UC is actually an excellent product for a wide variety of applications, with the good price to boot.

Blue Coral is an acceptable consumer grade product, although it certainly doesn't belong in the production or dealership environments.

[David Fermani]

Originally Posted by the_invisible

Yes, there's no dealer or bodyshops that would use Ultrafina or M105/205 on your car. None. Period. Of course, some may carry it, but a regular body-repair or complimentary detail would not use anything remotely close to Ultrafina.

Originally Posted by the_invisible

I said that dealers do carry some of the more expensive polishes. For example, my Porsche Store carries Swissvax and Zymol polishes waxes. But they would never use those on my or other customers' Porsches for the complimentary detail. The only way they'd use the expensive car polishes on customers' cars is when they could transfer the cost to and make a profit from the customers by using the expensive products.

Much of the dealers or stores DO carry high end products like Ultrafina. But there's no way they would ever use thos on customers cars without transferring the costs to the customers. If the dealer is reluctant to use a brand new bucket of soap to wash each customer's vehicle, do you think they'd use some of the most expensive polishes on the customer's vehicles for free?

I'd say your very wrong. I've been to 100's of body shops that work and cater to all types of clients and I can count on 2 hands the ones that didn't carry and USE 3M Ultrafina on dark colored cars. Where do you get it as being a "high end" product? It's commonplace at body shops and the 3M Reps do a pretty darn good job of instilling the importance of it's use to not just the detailer, but their manager.

Originally Posted by the_invisible

I cannot speak for all dealerships or car stores, but at most of the places, the specialized personnels such as the in-house detailers, technicians, service advisors, etc, get paid on the number of cars they get done. They do not get paid by the hours, and there is a preset number of cars alloted a day, and time saving does not necessairly mean money saving on jobs getting done.

Pretty much all the people in the Body Shop & Service Departments get paid on total # of hours they turn. I've even seen many of the guys that just wash and prep New, Used and Body Shop cars get paid that way. The more hours they turn, the more they earn. If they stray from the shop's SOP and choose to cut corners and they job comes back on them, it can cost them 2-3 times their original earnings to correct it.