Why?

[RaskyR1]

That's a mighty big brush you painted with.

How about "some" rather than "most".

Not disagreeing that there are "some shops" or "individual's" who hack up vehicles.

Grumpy

I only used "most" simply because I've never seen a high volume shop or dealership in my area that turns out hologram free work. I haven't looked at a lot of the newer ones, but I'd still have to say that it's the majority of the shops in my area so I thought "most" was a better choice.

This could be the dealer as well as it could be off the assembly line or enroute to the dealer... port work, carrier damaged in shipment and stopped off somewhere to do a quick job... who really knows.



At the dealer level it is the management that is causing the problem... they have little respect for the job that is being done and are hiring the wrong persons for the job... Their Ads usually read looking for Lot Porter, Lot Boy, Clean up Man ...in other words they are looking for a jack of all trades, clean the lot, drive the car around, buff the car without any consideration or understanding that they need a qualified person... They also would not know what a qualified person should do or what the job should look like ... as long as he/she says he can buff or he is a detailer ..that means to the dealer he is qualified...



The management directs the work, purchases the products and equipment needed and often they are high speed buffers with wool pad only, .and the time given to these detailers at the dealership are also unrealistic... get this out in 2 hours, or they schedule customer maintenance with a detail the same day... so the detail department will have about 1 hour to 2 hours after the mechanic to get the car done so the customer can pick up at end of day. Consumers must also bear part of the blame they have unrealistic turn around times ...car is in poor shape and want it back right away... so the the shop guys will often oblige the consumer to keep their jobs and give them a whack job right away....



My sense is from what I read if you are not polishing 60 hours you are not "professional detailer" The fact is there are many great shops out there doing excellent work that many Autopian detailers could not match... the body of experience and ability to solve problems so far exceeds what many Autopians have ever been exposed to.. and it should not mean that an one is superior to another...

I disagree



I still think this thread is way off point. High volume shops get a bad name because of the damage we as Autopians see on a regular basis. IMO it has ZERO do to with how much time is being spent on the car or how much correction work is being done. If you hack up the car you get a bad rep, simple as that.



Here are some more pictures of a recent thread I was refereed to in July. The below pics are after the second high volume shop, which actually worked worked on this car twice, failed miserably at finishing hologram free, TWICE! The shop that did this is a large chain with about 15 locations throughout the US and they charged him a rate of $50/hr.

A quick search on the forums can find several horror stories and hack jobs from high volume shops/dealerships. It's not just high volume shops either, there are plenty of random detailers who think they can just pick up a buffer, put up a Craigs List Ad, and then call themselves a professional detailer. We've seen our share of hack jobs from a few forum members too...Blue Lambo...

 

[David Fermani]

For the record, I'm not real familiar with any posters on this forum yet. The two guys you mentioned I do not know who they are but will look them up and read some of their posts. The name of this forum is professional detailer general discussion. I figured this would be a good place to talk shop. I like exchanging business ideas but from the tone of some of the posters it seems like they don't fully understand the calls that professional detailers get. Here's 3 from just the past few months 1. Hi this is Cumberland farms gas station our fire suppression system just went off I have 12 cars covered in foam I need a detailer up here now to clean these things up. 2 I just found out my son left a gallon of milk in the trunk for a few days and it just broke open can you help? 3. We just got home from our summer vacation and my son got car sick the whole way home can you help? bonus call my daughter took my car to camp for two weeks now it is covered in sap can you help? I get the cherry calls also. Can you detail my Porsche I had it done in the fall and have not taken it out of the garage since but would still like it done. I think the professional detailers on here know what I am saying. A paint correction geared detailing operation might be a great idea in South beach but not in most places. Again guys I am here to make friends not piss people off but lets be real about what professional auto detailers do. I'm not a hack I just deal in the real world.

We look forward to and welcome your participation Mike! Anyone that is strong willed in their thought process will certainly have their hands full on this foum. (in a good way).

I think for the most part your question has been answered. I will add another reason is general "Lack of knowledge v. shady marketing" And it's a compounded issue. The "Volume" sales pitch usually (not always but usually in my experience) is something along the lines of scratch and defect "Removal" So the customer also sharing in the lack of knowledge (again generalizing here) of what is in fact removal, thinks they are getting one thing. What gets presented to them a mere 1 or 2 hours later is what appears to be a "defect" free vehicle glazed over and filled in nicely. once the filler is removed the damage presents it's true form in the case of swirls, RIDS, etc etc. (Rasky's pic is a perfect example)IMO it's just like shopping around for cars, a guy walking in saying "Hey I'd like a red one" vs. a guy walking in saying " I see you have a 2012 Red Chrysler with the optional 3.6 liter with leather, heated seats, and an invoice of $xx.xx per the KBB,NADA listing, I'd really like to look at that" An informed customer is always better. I think once the knowledge base on both sides goes up the stigma you mention will start to fade. And like mentioned there are a few out there that people know of that are delivering quality details but those are still in the minority.. But times are ever changing.

Hi Jake - nice to see you checking in and giving your thoughts! I hope you're doing well!

It's not just high volume shops either, there are plenty of random detailers who think they can just pick up a buffer, put up a Craigs List Ad, and then call themselves a professional detailer. We've seen our share of hack jobs from a few forum members too...Blue Lambo...

And let's not forget the Brown Porsche Turbo too......:har:

And also 99.999999% of body shops who have ZERO clue how to buff a car out to a swirl free state (permanantly). 3M could make the simplest system and these guys will still cut corners (literally) and screw things up. They are way worse then the detail hacks in many cases. I cringe every time I walk into a body shop detail area. Just today I was at a shop and the guy was buffing a finish that had an inch of body shop dust on it. The finish had no chance in the world to come out right. But then again, the 3M sales/training rep isn't any better versed in swirl free polishing then the guy servicing the detailers and detail shops. It's literally the blind leading the blind.

 

[salty]

I was at a body shop today to give their painter some 105. He has to remove some dust nibs on some jobs and still using Farcela products. Will see if it works for him.



He and the shop are the first to say that they are not the best at paint correction. Which is why they sub out that to me.