Dealership detailers

S

SmackTard

New member
I have noticed on this forum a general disdain for detailers from a dealership. While I can understand some of the concerns...as a dealership detailer I can tell you that 90% of the problems that come with new cars like orange peel(Yup thats a Ford Factory paint job, we get em off the trailer like that), and 90% of the Rids and marring that you find on your new vehicle were done at the factory.



We are not the first people to touch your vehicle. It gets washed, on average, 7-8 times before we see it. At the dealership that I work at, we as detailers have been blamed for marring on black vehicles that haven't even had the plastic taken off them yet...that means that we're being accused of marring by customers for vehicles that I MIGHT have looked at by then...maybe...



Basically all i'm trying to say, is that 90% of the crap you fix on your new vehicles, is the factories fault, not the detailers. They're not the best by any means (I have a leg up as I have had the painters and bodymen give me instruction), but most places really aren't that bad. Cut em some slack...they only make minimum wage in most cases. Only us Flat-Rate detailers actually get the training and money to be decent at it.
 
agreed.. i was once a dealership detailer..



the vehicles are washed and the transportation wax (the very thick stuff to pretect from sea water) is removed normally by the shipping company which is all done before the dealership sees the vehicle..



the cars are also washed at the loading docks after being unloaded as a part of quarantine measures i beleive..



dealership detailers do, however, (like i used to) use products with fillers to cover the marring etc so the vehicle looked good when the client arrives..



we all know thats how it goes and thats the way it has always been done and always will be done.. at the end of the day it comes down to the issue of $$$ and dealerships arent going to fork out big amounts of money to correct the paintwork on every new vehicle they sell..
 
I would have to agree with SmackTard. Granted I have only bought three cars from a dealership, two were used and on the point of marring and spiderwebbing already trashed. The only new car we have bought they detailed it for us and it looked amazing. They even put a real shiny tire coat on at my request. :bigups We even had a couple of problems and had to go back a couple times for paperwork and they washed it for us again and no problems. Even later on when I did its first wash and quik detail and even later with its first full detail there were still no imperfections. This is about a six month time frame.



In my opinion what causes the most problems are the mobil crews that go and rinse off the cars with no soap and chamois dry. I have seen it with my own eyes. Not all dealers use these guys though, thank goodness.



Maybe I got lucky and got a perfect car. Maybe I got lucky and got a detailer that knew what he was doing. But I will always trust them until they do something to dissolve that trust. :goodjob
 
I just always see in Click & Brag the 'ol "Dealership Detailed" comments everywhere. I personally have never seen a vehicle leave from my team looking like anything I see in that section. Can't vouch for whether the other team cares as much(I doubt it)but thats just how it goes.
 
SmackTard said:
90% of the Rids and marring that you find on your new vehicle were done at the factory.



We are not the first people to touch your vehicle. It gets washed, on average, 7-8 times before we see it. Basically all i'm trying to say, is that 90% of the crap you fix on your new vehicles, is the factories fault, not the detailers.
Click to expand...



What makes you think this? I've toured several Ford plants & haven't withnessed this. They get washed after final assembly by a touchless (no friction) system and get blowed dry. I've also prepped & inspected 1000's of brand new vehicles for 5 Ford dealers(and other car manufacturers) & haven't seen this marring you speak of. A huge problem is dealership's lack of training their people how to properly prep vehicles. If management has no clue, it's the bling leading the blind. Alot of the cheical companies try to train where they can, but it doesn't trickle down to the end user where it counts.



How do the vehicles get washed at your dealership?
 
the VW dealer where I get my car serviced actually has a gas station type wash tunnel. they do the complimentary car wash for oil changes etc and I always decline it. When I bought the car new, they did decent job and avoided swirls etc.
 
ringa_2oo4 said:
the vehicles are washed and the transportation wax (the very thick stuff to pretect from sea water) is removed normally by the shipping company which is all done before the dealership sees the vehicle..
Click to expand...



I have been in the shipping business almost 6 years and I have yet to see or hear of trucking company wash a load of vehicles headed to the dealership. Please elaborate...
 
I don't know, I think I'll have to disagree. Maybe this doesn't happen where you're at, but I've seen a lot of dealerships "detailers" washing and "detailing" cars with old dirty water in the wash bucket as well as rags in there pockets used to dry and wipe down everything from tires and rims to paint..... I dont' consider that quality?



Also seen them out on the lot pressure washing and wiping down dirty cars in the sunlight.



Also seen many times when they drive it though a wash cycle, then pull it into the bay and wipe it down.



On a final note, I've never heard a sales guys or mngmt member say anything good about the quality of work there detailers do.



Comes down to it, as mentioned, there's no proper training or payment. Why should someone care when they are only making minimum wage?



Josh
 
Oh btw, I've detailed and prepped quite a few brand new cars and made sure the owners did not allow them to be prepped by the dealership before hand and I've not had issues with swirls and marring as you claim. And many of these were imported as well as some being made in USA.:nixweiss
 
JoshVette said:
I don't know, I think I'll have to disagree. Maybe this doesn't happen where you're at, but I've seen a lot of dealerships "detailers" washing and "detailing" cars with old dirty water in the wash bucket as well as rags in there pockets used to dry and wipe down everything from tires and rims to paint..... I dont' consider that quality?



Also seen them out on the lot pressure washing and wiping down dirty cars in the sunlight.



Also seen many times when they drive it though a wash cycle, then pull it into the bay and wipe it down.



On a final note, I've never heard a sales guys or mngmt member say anything good about the quality of work there detailers do.



Comes down to it, as mentioned, there's no proper training or payment. Why should someone care when they are only making minimum wage?



Josh
Click to expand...



LOL - I saw this post while I'm sitting at the local Mercedes Dealer watching their lot lizards washing their vehicles. You mean these guys that don't know how to wash cars? You can properly clean a dirty car with just plain water and a chamois??????:think2

:soscared::grinno::har:



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SmackTard, I really do appreciate the work that you do. Unfortunately, your work ethic isn't shared by everyone that does your job. In my lifetime, I have been fortunate enough to own 13 new cars. And without exception, everytime I have had one of them prepped or washed (as part of a service call) they have come out with marring and swirls that weren't there before.



I do agree that alot of paint damage does happen along the way to the dealer. My recent thread on my new car shows a bunch of new Chargers sitting in a parking lot at a place called Ground Effects awating vinyl stickers. They are covered in snow. It appears that when they removed the snow, they did *alot* of damage to my car. That isn't disputed. However, there were also alot of swirls in my paint. Every new car at this dealer's lot had the same swirls. To me, that indicates a problem in their washing department, as the majority of these cars never sat in Ground Effect's parking lot.



Every car owner out there appreciates the work you do. We just wish that *everyone* did it like you do. Until that time, there is no way I will let any dealer's wash or detail team touch my car.
 
I'm not a detailer, but have been in the auto biz 26 yrs. now. I've seen a few dealerships have a high standard and "require" their detailers do the very best work on the vehicles before and while sitting on the lots and when the units are sold. Usually that was due to a GM or Sales Manager being a perfectionist.



On the other side of the spectrum I've known a few dealerships not monitor whatsoever and have some of the ugliest non-presentable cars you can imagine. A few of those lots I made a boatload of money on because if a car had already been detailed and had a few stains left on the seat for instance, I was the guy who came along and fixed the problem for a fee, or painted a bumper or removed wax from trim, etc. So I LOVED those lots! LOL



Anyway, most of the lots I did work for were somewhere in between, and definitely not up to Autopian standards (no offense to the lot detailers among us)



P.S. I never followed the trail of new vehicles from factory to boat to transit to sales lots, but I have to doubt each got washed 7 or 8 times before getting to the dealership.
 
Smacktard, I don't think many people will agreed with you on this issue. Maybe you and the dealership you work at are the one exception but I've never seen a dealership that could sell a car that was not damaged in some way by however preped it for sale. The dealers get away with it because 99% of the buyers don't care or know any better.
 
I wholeheartedly disagree. If the detailer's at dealers were in fact good, then they would be able to remove the marring properly and us non-dealer detailers wouldn't have the work that we have. More than the marring, the problem is the holograms from bad detailers trying to remove the marring. I can somewhat understand not knowing how to properly wash a car (so many people in this category), but if you don't know how to fix it properly, then leave well enough alone and don't introduce buffer trails and stuff that makes it worse.



Oh and I call BS on the swirls and RIDS being introduced prior to the dealership. I've personally seen many, many times car's unwrapped from plastic that is in good condition and swirl free and across the lot, other new cars that have been sitting for awhile and washed many times that have a butchered finish.
 
While the cars may come like that, does not mean they should be sold like that. Competent dealership detailers would take care of factory issues before the sale of the car.



I think this goes to the point that many buyers don't know how to notice a quality car finish. Thus they think if its shiny its a good finish.
 
JoshVette said:
Oh btw, I've detailed and prepped quite a few brand new cars and made sure the owners did not allow them to be prepped by the dealership before hand and I've not had issues with swirls and marring as you claim. And many of these were imported as well as some being made in USA.:nixweiss
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Agree 100% with both your posts. Other than Sewell, there is not a dealership in the Dallas area that does new car prep well, with Moritz being the absolute worst. Holograms from improper buffing are the number one problem I see from dealership detailers. I am sure there are some dealers out there who understand how important it is to have a competent detailing staff but I can tell you in the Dallas area, it is quite rare.
 
I worked in new car prep at a dealership when I was a college kid, and I did it *right*. And Stoddard Imported Cars used to have a *VERY* good guy who could do my cars any time (but once he got through graduate school he was outta there). So sure, I believe there are conscientious guys out there doing it right, but unfortunately they're the exception.



Sadly, I can't recall seeing a single undamaged vehicle at a dealership in the last ten years, not *one*; people mar 'em up when they unwrap/wash them. Hey, it's *hard* to wash without instilling marring and I see very few dealerships removing the transit wrap properly. On top of that, dealership people simply touch the paint :rolleyes: I've had to teach thirty-year employees how to service my cars without touching the panels in a potentially damaging manner.



Audis (and, IIRC Porsches) are shipped either "in the plastic" or "in the envelope" (depending on the model) and arrive at the dealership that way unless they're "story cars" that sustained damage (which good dealerships often relegate to use as service loaners). Unless it's one of those damaged one, these vehicles can be obtained in the perfect condition in which they left the factory. Stoddard will only deliver *my* new Audis "in the wrapper" as they know it's the only way to ensure that I'll be satisfied.



The Cadillacs, Subarus, Mazdas, and Corvette that I've bought new in recent years were also delivered to the dealerships in the factory-applied transit wrap.



This is from first-hand experience as I've been there when they arrived and I've sometimes removed the wrap myself. I've also allowed dealerships to remove the wrap a few times and in every instance they instilled at least one scratch that was too deep to be safely removed...so from now on I'll only accept new vehicles still in the factory wrapping; at least I know how to remove the stuff without marring the paint.
 
As many have shared, (“DAVID FERMANI� a respected contributor does it with the graceful bullet of having pictures speaking a 1000 words :chuckle: ), I too will share my agreement regarding the finish of my brand new Porsche last week. This dealer prides themselves in promoting “indoor storage� of all cars. They walk you through the detailing and storage center so you can see how “they’re better than all the rest�. As I looked over the field of cars they had prepped for delivery to owners that week I stopped my tour and asked that my car not be touched by anyone in their detail center and only be delivered to me in the protective plastic. Their mouths were agape. The General Manager said I had insulted him and his team. I asked them to stand next to all the cars they thought were ‘perfect’ and ready for delivery and wait for me to return with my girls Mercedes. After pulling into the building and up to them, their arms folded in defense, I proceed to show them what a car looks like that are professionally detailed. I showed them all the buffing holograms on the Porsches, all the pad circles that the light refracted off of ... instead of the reflection from the depth of the paint as on my girls Merc. Once I pointed out all the little details, we walked over to the Merc. I challenged them to find anything but deep, wet-shine, light refraction better and clearer than any car in the building.

They had their entire crew come over and look at the wet-shine-luster dripping off my girls Merc. All agreed they didn’t know how I did that and the comic among them said I better get my car out of the building before other customers expect the same. It was funny at the time, but it’s a sad state of how acceptable a secondary detail is today.

And yes ... I did get my car delivered with all the protective film on it and the interior.



You’re taking this too much to heart “SMACKTARD�.

As long as you’re doing the best job humanly possible and it’s better than everyone in your crew and/or the area, you will always be a rarity. This won’t matter if you’re at the dealership, at a detail shop down the street where price-point sells more than quality.

This site is “mostly� extraordinarily, nit-picking, anal, perfectionists who will always recognize when someone else’s job is inferior. The nicest thing about this site is the willingness and generosity of the members to share their expertise ... and with their generosity ... you will also hear/read their distaste for the “primary� source for complaint.

There’s no one (almost no one) on this site that doubts “SMACKTARD’S� ability as a detailer. I hope you take a step back from your job and look at the “dealer prep industry� as a whole ... then compare it to any of the work of regular contributors that post here ... and you’ll see why we say what we do.



All the best in your venture into the advanced detailing world as found on this site.
 
It is a sad state of affairs ... but being a “profit-minded-business-man� I do understand it ... why give more of yourself than the ‘general populous/:ignore/masses’ considers acceptable? "Pennies Make Profits"

I am happy to say that one of the detailers (out of a dozen I guess) asked me how I did that and you could tell he truly wanted to learn more. I handed him my business card, and he’s called me. I’m meeting him at the shop Saturday morning. I hope, after his tour, he’ll join the team. I love recruiting this way. :bigups
 
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