5 Things to Consider when Choosing a Car Detailer
If you’re looking for a detailer to address some issues on your car or give it a “makeover”, it’s safe to say that you’re serious about you car, but who isn’t?
Choosing the right professional to detail you car can be a tough decision,
There are a number of factors to consider, and being your pride and joy, the last thing you want is for someone to destroy your paintwork!
Don’t get me wrong, car detailing is an expensive solution to paint defects, but some say buying a car is the 2nd most important purchase of your life, right after your home.
So it’s super important to take care of. Especially if you love your car and want to keep the paintwork healthy.
Detailing isn’t just a quick job around your local valeting garage, it’s a highly skilled and crafted process used to keep your car in prime condition for time to come.
Now, the title “detailer” tends to float around a lot these days, and you need to be careful when choosing who to take care of your car.
There are plenty of people out there who claim to be a detailer but don’t possess the high level of skill and equipment needed to perform such a job.
So, taking all that into consideration here are;
Everyone looks around to find the best deal, that’s a given, but be careful as some businesses may charge a lot less than others.
And as with any professional service, a significantly lower price range usually indicates a lot lower level of care, commitment, and skill involved in the process.
You also may not know, but the correct tools and products used to professional detail a car, come with a hefty price tag,
so if someone is charging a lot less than their competitors, i think it’s safe to say a substandard level of tools are being used.
And you know don’t need us to tell you that the cheaper the products used, the lower the quality of output.
Car detailing is also an incredibly long process when performed correctly, so for someone to charge so little could also mean they’re not spending as much time on the vehicle as they should be.
If a business gives you a quote without even seeing your car this should also set off alarm bells.
Even if the business is just asking for a photo, this is perfectly normal,
but when a quote is given without any knowledge of what works needs to be done and what the car looks like, don’t expect a professional detailer to give you a price over the phone.
Remember, if your vehicle has specific problems or something that we wouldn’t usually expect, this can result in higher costs, and may require extra time for the work to be carried out.
Which inevitably increases the cost.
Long story short, is is always important to price shop, but as the saying goes, “you get what you pay for”, and i know here at Black Country Detailing, our prices are justified.
Just see for yourself…
As we mentioned above, a professional detailer should always have a set of high quality tools.
Cheap sets, or just generally people who have little knowledge of tools, won’t leave your car in the pristine condition that was promised.
For example, a cheap buffer, or machine polish will leave your car with swirl marks or scratches, two things in which you paid to be removed.
Now we know a worker should never blame his/her tools, but at the end of the day, a car detail is a combination of a person’s skill and the tools/products used. A masterpiece can’t be achieved with just a bucket and sponge now can it?
A full detail on a vehicle, interior and exterior, can take anywhere around a few days to complete,
so any “professional” who tells you the job can be done in an hour, no doubt offers a poor quality service.
Time tends to go hand in hand with the cost of the service, the longer the job takes, the more it will cost.
And the longer a job takes, the more care the detailer takes with your vehicle.
That being said, don’t let anyone take you for granted and claim the job will take longer than expected, make sure you grab a few quotes before you go ahead to make sure everything seems in order.
It’s not just a full detail however, that takes an enormous amount of time,
Even if your vehicle is just booked in for a valet, don’t expect the car to be ready for collection in 10 minutes.
Your local garage might but beat us on time, but when it comes to the quality of service, we’re unbeatable.
Customer reviews are often the cornerstone to the majority of buyers.
They can be helpful, but also extremely insightful.
As with any business out there, no matter the profession, it is next to impossible to achieve rating perfection,
so don’t always expect a 5 start rating.
Instead or staring at the stars or number of reviews, read some of them.
Weed out the ones that read “best car detailer ever” and so forth,
and find some actual, real, insightful reviews, and see why people love this business, or on the contrary, why they do not.
And if your unsure of the legitimacy of these reviews, most platforms tend to have a comment section, so don’t be afraid to reach out to some the previous customers,
and see how impressed they are with the work.
Nowadays, with the digital world we live in, it is becoming increasingly easier to pay for good reviews.
which will generally be written out along the lines of the one we laid out above for you… “super amazing work”, “best car detailer ever”.
So always be cautious when reading a businesses reviews online,
this is why it’s really useful to reach out.
The same can also happen to it’s competition, it’s just as easy to buy bad reviews as it is good.
So make sure you don’t fall into the trap of fakes reviews and ratings.
This is something you should try to avoid anyway, a good detailer will learn from any genuine mistakes and take care of every vehicle that drives through it’s doors, thus, never have to pay for reviews.
Now, a car detailer should be incredibly good at what they do, but it doesn’t mean they won’t make mistakes,
we’re all human after all.
But it’s good to know when these mistakes do happen you have some sort of guarantee.
A guarantee is in place to ensure a customers satisfaction, and when something goes wrong, the detailer will make effort to put this right.
For instance, if your vehicle ends up with a scratch mark or swirl that was made by us, we will make it our highest priority to correct our error before that car is ready for collection.
On the other hand, if the car is brought in with deep scratches, they may not be able to be removed.
The detailer should never guarantee anything like this can be removed, when sometimes, it is next to impossible to achieve such a result.
We will also be clear with what we can and cannot do, and express when something is unlikely to be fixed.
So if a detailer gives you a guarantee that your car will be 100% swirl mark or scratch free, we would recommend to stay clear.
This lacks professionalism and the required knowledge for our industry as all professionals would agree this is not possible.
A car detail should always be carried out with the highest amount of care and skill by the individual.
Never mistake a cheap service or valet for the quality of a full car detail.
As we mentioned the process can be costly, but the work achieved by us at Black Country Detailing justifies the price tag, and put the showroom shine back in your car.
With the services we offer, you will never be disappointed with the result.
You can find out more about what we offer over at our car detailing services page.
Alternatively, If you need any help with anything, or need a quote for your car, drop us a message via the contact page!
richdonlevy
Professional car detailer and ceramic coating installer. Owner of Black Country Detailing based in the West Midlands. Over 16 years experience detailing some of the rarest and most expensive cars in the world. Winner at Concourse D’Elegance 2018
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