What I learned at a Ziebart store

black bart

black bart

New member
I bought a new car this week and took it to a Ziebart for a rustproofing.

The wife and I were waiting in the area in the front of the store and I said I was going to take a walk.
I went around to the side of the building and saw a guy looked like in his late 20's polishing on a car I ask if he was putting on the diamond gloss this is the stuff that they charge $350.00 to apply and is claimed to last for years and he said yes he was.

I ask him if he had ever used Duragloss products and he had never heard of it he said we use nothing but carbrite.
I ask if that was what he was using on that car and he said yes.

Looks like the last forever expensive stuff that they put on your car is just a sealant from Carbrite.
Carbrite has some long lasting sealant but you could buy it and apply your self and save about $340.00
 
That's almost as bad as the paint protection stuff they try to sell you at dealerships when you're in finance...mark up in that is astronomical!...so rediculous
 
the sad part is people get this done then go brag to thier friends about the lifetime wax job they just got .. funny they sometimes get a little kit with some type of maintenance product ...yea LIQUID WAX ...some dude was telling me about this treatment he got done on his caddy. he snickered at the products i was selling like I WAS THE FOOL..yeah i laughed all the way home ..
 
When I was at the dealership signing the papers for the car the young girl said she had a video that she wanted me to see.
She turned it on and it did not run 15 seconds until I said is this going to be about that lifetime stuff that you put on the paint and charge 500 bucks for and she said yes and started to launch into a sales pitch for it and I told her no I didn't want it.
Well she started again on how great it was and I said no I absolutely will not buy it.
She started her pitch again and i said young lady I told you no I'm not buying it so if you can tell me what part of NO is it that you don't understand and maybe we can work this out.

She shut up and went back to filling out the papers

I was starting to get mad because I knew it was a scam and I told her right to her face it was a scam.
 
Anything the business manager (the guy who gets you to sign all the forms) pushes is big profit items (paint warranty, extended car warranty, etc).
 
I used to work at a place that does all that car protection crap (rust proofing, under coating, bed liners, paint sealants, fabric guard, leather protect, tinting...). We used Auto Armor there though and while the actual stuff was made by Auto Armor, or at least labeled, I would never use it on my own car. It also required a reapplication every 6 or 12 months I believe, if you didn't come in and have it done, the warranty was void.


We did have Car Brite for doing normal details too.
 
Car Brite is owned by Valvoline (Ashland Oil) and does not appear to be associated with Warner Chemicals. I think people give Warner Chemicals / CG more credit than they deserve.

If you look at the Warner Chemical web site, they have these links as services (they do not work):

o Custom Blending
o Distributors
o Reverse Engineering
o Private Labeling

The reverse engineering one is interesting. I wonder why they would do that...:notme:
 
Car brite paint sealant is $70 per gallon. I use it on every vehical I clean, with great results. I guess I need to raise my prices if people are paying that much for a wax job.
 
My black 09 Mustang got the Diamond Gloss treatment from Inskeep Ford in Greenfield, & I'm quite impressed with the finish. (It was already on the car when I bought it) I'm gonna clay it off at some point & give it my Poorboy's treatment, but probably not until July when the Ziebart original warranty runs out. The original owners of my 03 Mach got Diamond Gloss put on it back in 03. Took me forever to clay it all off last year, but what I found underneath was very well preserved paint.
Interesting that it appears to be made by Car Brite. It's on Indy's east side isn't it? I'm a copier tech & I think I worked on their copier last fall.
 
From this link

About Valvoline

Valvoline, a brand of Ashland Inc., has been serving American motorists longer than any other motor oil. The Valvoline family of products includes Eagle One appearance products, Car Brite car restoration products, Zerex antifreeze, SynPower performance products, Pyroil automotive chemicals and MaxLife products created for higher-mileage engines. With more than 850 locations throughout the United States, Valvoline Instant Oil Change is a leader in serving the quick lube market.


I thought it sounded familiar, s a quick Google search popped this right up.
 
Scott P said:
From this link

About Valvoline

Valvoline, a brand of Ashland Inc., has been serving American motorists longer than any other motor oil. The Valvoline family of products includes Eagle One appearance products, Car Brite car restoration products, Zerex antifreeze, SynPower performance products, Pyroil automotive chemicals and MaxLife products created for higher-mileage engines. With more than 850 locations throughout the United States, Valvoline Instant Oil Change is a leader in serving the quick lube market.


I thought it sounded familiar, s a quick Google search popped this right up.
Click to expand...
Looks like it is not just Internet hearsay.

I use some of their products and have been happy with them but never bothered with finding out who was behind them.

I live 60 miles from where they are headquartered and while they cater to commercial accounts the route truck goes within a quarter mile of my house and he delivers to my home when I call and place an order.
 
Very pushy sales persons. Always trying to push strongly the up-sale for unnecessary services. Person even called me on e to tell me about "all of the scratches on the truck" and how they could be removed for an additional charge of $1,000. I declined and he warned me that if the Diamond Gloss was applied without removing the scratches then they would be sealed in. I declined again and he gave up. I closely inspected the trucks exterior when I picked up the vehicle, I looked very hard for all these "scratches" he was talking about, I certainly didn`t see $1,000 worth of scratches. So basically I paid $197 for a wash and wax. Since the Diamond Gloss doesn`t protect a vehicle, just makes it look nice for a few days.

As far as my car- I have window tint with a "Lifetime Warranty". There are air bubbles in the back window. When I brought it in for "annual service" I pointed this out to the sales person. He stated that they would "Try" to get the air bubbles out, but it is a hard thing to do" The air bubbles are still there. I doubt they even tried, so much for a warranty. Foolishly I did buy into the up-sale and paid an additional $252 for some "interior cleaning and sanitation". This will not happen again. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.
 
The last two vehicles I bought. I told the salesman upfront. I don`t want any protection application to the interior or exterior. I don`t want any extra warranty. I told them I`m not being rude. I understand you are told you push these as part of your job. I will however get up and walk out e door if these are pushed at me. I don`t have the time to listen to the pitch. I also from the very beginning state I will not talk payments, I will only talk price of car. I have and will walk away from pushy sales, and not just car sales. I refuse to play that game. There`s to many options out there to deal with that.
 
Coleroad said:
.. I have and will walk away from pushy sales, and not just car sales. I refuse to play that game..
Click to expand...

Glad to hear that. (Regulars here know how I am about this topic ;) ).

m2270e8- Welcome to Autopia! IMO you`re lucky that the truck wasn`t that bad, virtually every vehicle on the road needs significant correction, maybe even more than $1K worth (I don`t know from today`s Pro rates, but I`d never correct a truck for just $1K). OTOH, the Glass Tint experience sounds terrible! Sounds like they didn`t even explain what they (presumably) did to try to fix it...no chance of getting satisfaction through the owner of the business?
 
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