No More mini vans

I

imported_turbomangt

New member
I will admitt, I;m spoiled, doing so many luxsury and exotic cars, yesterday I got the mini van from hell. This was a night mare. the carpet had every type of stain you could imagion. When I took out the seats, the floor brackets that hold seats in place had a complete menu of items from every food group in them. I'm thinking of posting a sign on my door, no mini vans please, take them to Turtle wax. gary :wall
 
turbomangt said:
I will admitt, I;m spoiled, doing so many luxsury and exotic cars, yesterday I got the mini van from hell. This was a night mare. the carpet had every type of stain you could imagion. When I took out the seats, the floor brackets that hold seats in place had a complete menu of items from every food group in them. I'm thinking of posting a sign on my door, no mini vans please, take them to Turtle wax. gary :wall
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I’m assuming she will talk you up in the PTA meeting or Soccer camp. Was the lady Hot?
 
Ohh come on guys, are you detailing whimps or what :D We recently sold the minivan and now the mom mobile is a 2004 Taurus wagon but, it gets the same abuse the van did. We have two kids and the wife sees the car as nothing but a means to get from point a to point b. Nothing wrong with that but, it does make my task of keeping the car looking good a bit more difficult and time consuming...



I am going to be detailing it this weekend. I will post some before and afters....
 
My kids don't eat anything that will do anything other than drop crumbs. Easy to clean up. Oh and water only. If we need to eat on a long trip, we stop and eat as a family. Keeps the van looking pretty good inside after 6 years.
 
I used to do that with our kids. I guess I have mellowed my Autopian ways these days. I still enjoy detailing and I keep my car clean but, I don't stress if one of the kids spills a juice pack or drops food in the car. I carry an emergency detailing kit to handle those situations.
 
Ehh, it's not me, it's the wife that insists on the inside of the car being kept clean. I just know better than to disagree!;)
 
To me, the only job that is a nightmare to work on is the one that I did not price right. Make it worth your while, instead of seeing dirt you'll be seeing $$$.
 
I don't get it...why do people treat their minivans differently from any other vehicles :confused: I'd no more let the MPV get nasty than I would the S8 :nixweiss
 
Yeah, I agree. My kids are 20 and 17 now, so I'm out of the minivan stage, but I always kept things as clean then as I would now.



I never got itchy about eating and drinking, but I would get creative about road food. Bite-sized items like mini-pretzels and grapes left far less of a mess.



But of course, some people don't care. That's why they oughta pay accordingly if they want their vehicle detailed. Any job is worth doing if it is priced right.
 
Personally I don't care what it is or what kind of condition it's in as long as I am getting paid accordingly. In my opinion most of the minivan are actually pretty easy to clean even when they are dirty as you can pull the seats out pretty quickly and there's lot's of room to work as opposed to a car. Just charge what you need to and if they won't pay send them packing.
 
I HATE minivans too. Soccer mom suv's are huge PITA too. Fortunately for me, 90% of my clientele drive m3's, m5's, porsches, etc. :D
 
ShineShop said:
Personally I don't care what it is or what kind of condition it's in as long as I am getting paid accordingly. In my opinion most of the minivan are actually pretty easy to clean even when they are dirty as you can pull the seats out pretty quickly and there's lot's of room to work as opposed to a car. Just charge what you need to and if they won't pay send them packing.
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Same here. Once the seats are out, the carpeting isn't too bad to clean, depending on starting condition, of course. I still cringe when I first see them. Then I look at is as a challenge. :)



Soccer Mom SUVs are about as bad. I detailed an '05 Escalade today that had just under 10,000 miles on it and the carpet was covered in debris. Luckily, no major stains so it turned out very nice. The owner certainly understood the upcharge for the interior.
 
I cringe when the phone rings with a request for an 'interior only' Minivan detail.

Like Scott P, as long as we're getting a fair fee we'll do the work,but... :hairpull



Jim
 
Anyone can detail a new high end car and make it look great. The skill of the detailer is restoring a beater!!!
 
Jimmy Buffit said:
I cringe when the phone rings with a request for an 'interior only' Minivan detail.
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Even worse when you hear kids screaming in the background. I add $50 to my rough estimate when that happens.
 
turbomangt said:
I will admitt, I;m spoiled, doing so many luxsury and exotic cars, yesterday I got the mini van from hell. This was a night mare. the carpet had every type of stain you could imagion. When I took out the seats, the floor brackets that hold seats in place had a complete menu of items from every food group in them. I'm thinking of posting a sign on my door, no mini vans please, take them to Turtle wax. gary :wall
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I never never take minivans because you know if somebody owns a minivan they don't CARE! I had the same problem. I told the guy I wouldn't touch the inside because it was a disaster. It looked like they didn't clean it all week because they new it was going to get detailed. The paint hasn't been cleaned since they bought it and it was 6 years old! I gave the guy a quote was of course pricey for a family of 4 that owns a minivan and he got pissy and i told him if you would get it detailed at least twice a year and vacumed it it would be half. He stormed out. I don't detail because I have to I do it because I love to!



I do 1 or 2 cars a week and there of my choosing. I basically have set customers and the strays I get are from references.



People I know always ask me about cars and if they ever say "I'm looking at getting a minivan". I do everything, and I mean everything to get them not to get one. If they say, "I need room for the kids". I find them something in equal size.



DEATH TO THE MINIVAN!
 
This one turned out alright.....but my brother isn't a disgusting pig either.



2004_Honda_Odyssey_front1.jpg
 
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