Visual Check of the vehicle, PRIOR to detailing!

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imported_Luster

New member
I've made it a practice to walk around the car just to check for damage before I start the detail. Sometimes it's hard to see any chips, scratches, scrapes, dings, etc. when the car is dirty.

But it's important to point out any of those areas before you start working on a customer car.

Why? Because you never know when he'll say "Hey, that wasn't there before!!!".:out:

I haven't gone to the point of having them "sign off" before I start, but that's next.
 
Luster said:
I've made it a practice to walk around the car just to check for damage before I start the detail. Sometimes it's hard to see any chips, scratches, scrapes, dings, etc. when the car is dirty.

But it's important to point out any of those areas before you start working on a customer car.

Why? Because you never know when he'll say "Hey, that wasn't there before!!!".:out:

I haven't gone to the point of having them "sign off" before I start, but that's next.
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I can email you my 'check-in' sheet if you'd like, which concentrates on that... has a list of all car panels with a line next to the name... out comes the pen, brinkman and my keen eye haha... paint chip here, deep scratch here, paint burn here, etc. etc. after I'm done, they sign off and I'm good to go.... yes I can just add later something I screw up on if I was an a*hole but that's dumb and beyond the point... I am looking into getting paper so I can give them a copy of the sheet as well to avoid any future confusion, not that there has been any for years...
 
I think a sign-off sheet is a good idea. People are already pre-conditioned to signing off on automotive repair estimates anyway, or from renting cars and declining the LDW which necessitates a prelim inspection and sign-off signature. So I don't think clients would be put off if you implemented the practice. IMO, it gives the detailer an added air of professionalism.
 
SwirlBFree said:
I think a sign-off sheet is a good idea. People are already pre-conditioned to signing off on automotive repair estimates anyway, or from renting cars and declining the LDW which necessitates a prelim inspection and sign-off signature. So I don't think clients would be put off if you implemented the practice. IMO, it gives the detailer an added air of professionalism.
Click to expand...

+1 :thumbup:
 
I agree! Nothing worse than a customer trying to blame you for something you didn't do.


Though sometimes there are things you can't always see durring the initial walk around, or you simply miss them.

An example would be the '66 Vette I did a few weeks back. After I had wet sanded with 2000, and 3000 grit and started buffing, I noticed a few deep tracers/scratches...and they were not coming out easily. I could not imagine I had inflicted such a deep scratch durring my sanding. While I was not concerned about the owner blaming me for it, it still bothered me.


Boy am I glad I invested in a good camera! :D After looking at my before pics I was able to see evidence of them in the paint prior to me sanding. ;)

tracers.jpg
 
Those scratches look like what bad bodyguys do with 80 grit paper after they repair the damage there. They almost always leave it to the Painter to sand down, primer, block, sand, block, and paint. Sometimes the scratches come back up if they used too much reducer or it stayed on the surface too long because it was slow drying product.
This would mean someone just primered the crap out of it without sanding down the scratches first, trying to fill them in. This never works...

DanF
 
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