What are consumers thinking?

[Automania]

Do consumers believe they can destroy/thrash their vehicles turn them into garbage can on wheels and then expect to have it cleaned thoroughly real cheap? .. is this problem being created by detailers who are unwilling to charge consumers the real cost of cleaning their cars ..where is this thinking coming from?

[TOGWT]

The problem lies partly in a detailers mind; he wants’ to do the best detail he can, regardless of what its cost him; many have no idea buisness management, but they are very good at what they do; but a business needs to be profitable to exist. No real buisness can compete on this basis, many so called detailers are working for less than their costs

This industry struggles to standardize what a detail consists of, so you have ads that read “Full detail $200”- Detail $150, and etc
So some potential customers have a mind-set that thinks ‘so what if I trash my / lease vehicle, $150 or so will make it like new again’

Education, education, education (we need to become educated and we also need to educate our customers)

[Nth Degree]

I think it is the same mentality that makes people think they can eat whatever they want, drink, smoke, etc. and then just stop to become suddenly healthy. Is ignorance and laziness. And those budget detailers are like the "magic" diet pills.

I often explain to people that the car is going to cost you money one way or another. You can neglect it, live with the dirty look and lose money on the resale, you can neglect it, live with the dirty look, spend a ton of money making it look nice for someone else to enjoy or you can spend the time/money maintaining it, enjoy the benefit of having a nice looking car and retain a higher resale value. Sure, it may cost a little more to maintain but you are getting to enjoy the clean car for that price. If a regular car wash only cost you $1 would you do it more often?

[David Fermani]

It's all about how cheap you can price yourself to hack up your client's cars and still call yourself a professional. Seems like you get all the live ones Gina?

[215Detailing]

The problem lies partly in a detailers mind; he wants’ to do the best detail he can, regardless of what its cost him; many have no idea buisness management, but they are very good at what they do; but a business needs to be profitable to exist. No real buisness can compete on this basis, many so called detailers are working for less than their costs

This industry struggles to standardize what a detail consists of, so you have ads that read “Full detail $200”- Detail $150, and etc
So some potential customers have a mind-set that thinks ‘so what if I trash my / lease vehicle, $150 or so will make it like new again’

Education, education, education (we need to become educated and we also need to educate our customers)

What about PAINT CORRECTION PRICING some consumers assume DETAILING is using a BUFFER/POLISHER outside of WAXING I say Detailing is a THOROUGH CLEANNG but PAINT CORRECTION is refining/removing DEFECT from the paint and cost from $30.-$50. per hour

[TOGWT]

Sure but does the average consume understand exactly what 'Paint Correction' is, 80%+ customers just want a clean, shiny vehicle

[Automania]

What I am seeing are completely ridiculous consumer expectations... Imagine not cleaning your vehicle for many years and it is a disaster... and you are upset it does not take an hour to clean because you have no time to wait... and you only want to pay $50.00 ...

Sure but does the average consume understand exactly what 'Paint Correction' is, 80%+ customers just want a clean, shiny vehicle

[RaskyR1]

Do consumers believe they can destroy/thrash their vehicles turn them into garbage can on wheels and then expect to have it cleaned thoroughly real cheap? .. is this problem being created by detailers who are unwilling to charge consumers the real cost of cleaning their cars ..where is this thinking coming from?

Those are the ones I have no problem sending down the road to local high volume shops. You can try explaining the difference to them until you are blue in the face but they simply refuse to pay the kind of money it takes to do it right. I contribute it partially to low ball hack detailers and places like Groupon.

Personally, based on my own clients, I find the ones who are willing to spend the money to do it right actually keep their cars pretty clean and in relatively good shape. It's usually the ones that bark about the price tag that require the most work IMO.

[IHA Mark]

I think the problem might not be with consumers... but with us. We think all consumers should want and be interested in paying 250+ for a detail when that is simply not the case. Most people don't care about swirls, engine bays, or a lot of the smaller things we "professional" detailers pride ourselves upon.

Most people are more interested in having the interior super clean, and the exterior "shiny". Why do you think so many what we consider "hack job" detail shops that are extremely busy?

There is a local detail shop in my area, arguably the busiest, that does NO machine polishing at all. All they do is wax.

Maybe we need to stop expecting all consumers to start wanting our services, and start focusing on either building our niche clientele, or expanding ourselves to more "general" detailing in order to pay the bills.

[RaskyR1]

I think the problem might not be with consumers... but with us. We think all consumers should want and be interested in paying 250+ for a detail when that is simply not the case. Most people don't care about swirls, engine bays, or a lot of the smaller things we "professional" detailers pride ourselves upon.

Most people are more interested in having the interior super clean, and the exterior "shiny". Why do you think so many what we consider "hack job" detail shops that are extremely busy?

There is a local detail shop in my area, arguably the busiest, that does NO machine polishing at all. All they do is wax.

Maybe we need to stop expecting all consumers to start wanting our services, and start focusing on either building our niche clientele, or expanding ourselves to more "general" detailing in order to pay the bills.

I get that, at least for the full time guys, but To Gina's point, she is referring to people who trash their vehicles to the point you don't want to get inside without a rubber suit on, and then they expect it cleaned spotless for almost no money at all and they want it done yesterday. We simply have to charge more for cars like that or we loose money.

[TOGWT]

[Maybe we need to stop expecting all consumers to start wanting our services, and start focusing on either building our niche clientele, or expanding ourselves to more "general" detailing in order to pay the bills]

This...

[Thomas Dekany]

In this case I think you are missing the point. There is a difference between us expecting top dollar clients only and what Gina is saying. I know Gina personally, heck, she detailed my car (paint correction) 12 years ago.

If Gina complains, it IS very bad. So I agree with her, who are these people that expect "perfection" for chump change.

I think the problem might not be with consumers... but with us. We think all consumers should want and be interested in paying 250+ for a detail when that is simply not the case. Most people don't care about swirls, engine bays, or a lot of the smaller things we "professional" detailers pride ourselves upon.

Most people are more interested in having the interior super clean, and the exterior "shiny". Why do you think so many what we consider "hack job" detail shops that are extremely busy?

There is a local detail shop in my area, arguably the busiest, that does NO machine polishing at all. All they do is wax.

Maybe we need to stop expecting all consumers to start wanting our services, and start focusing on either building our niche clientele, or expanding ourselves to more "general" detailing in order to pay the bills.