shocked

[sudsbyhubbs]

While sitting at Wendy's today on my lunch break I looked across the street at one of our local Chevy dealers. I noticed a bunch of water being sprayed around and upon closer inspection I saw that a couple of guys were washing (I can't bring myself to call what they were doing detailing) the trucks on the lot. They had an old beat up 70s style Chevy truck with a huge water tank in the bed that I'm hoping at least had some soap in it somewhere, because all they were doing was spraying the trucks down and wiping them off with a big towel. I was too far away to see if they were using any soap, but I sure couldn't see any suds. There was no one actually "washing" the truck, just spray it down and towel it off. I watched them for no more than 10 minutes and they did about 4 or 5 trucks. So I guess it's not really that surprising when people complain about the condition of the paint on their new car. I certainly hope the dealership didn't pay these guys too much!

[Ryan L.]

Re: shocked

Amazing what dealerships do...I saw a professional pressure washing service truck at a dealership once, just blasting all the cars at who knows what PSI. It wasn't a professional detailing service, just a professional pressure washing service.

Ryan

[bookeem]

Re: shocked

i see the same by me all the time, theres strip of highway on rt46 east, with nothing but car dealerships, new and old, and the same scenario, a big van back doors open and a couple of guys, hope out like the A team, wearing aprons, and just start " power wetting" l all the cars, while the others just dry them...

[sdprius858]

Re: shocked

Took my Prius in to have an emblem replaced under warranty(dont ask me how). I tell them specifically DO NOT WASH!

An hour later, yes an hour to put on an emblem, i ask if its done, service advisor says, "its being washed right now, it'll be out shortly"

They're getting a nice letter

[ColonelCash]

Re: shocked

I thought most people who "wash" cars at dealerships get paid on a per car basis? If you can spray 5 cars in 10 minutes, you can make pretty good money. Not saying it's right by any means, but I'm sure there is some driver behind their poor workmanship.

Also, anyone thinks this goes on at nicer car lots? Infiniti / Lexus / BMW?

[Markus Kleis]

Re: shocked

I thought most people who "wash" cars at dealerships get paid on a per car basis? If you can spray 5 cars in 10 minutes, you can make pretty good money. Not saying it's right by any means, but I'm sure there is some driver behind their poor workmanship.

Also, anyone thinks this goes on at nicer car lots? Infiniti / Lexus / BMW?

It varies GREATLY by dealer.

Sadly, I must admit at the tender age of 16 I was a "lot boy" at a detailer and one of my jobs was to "wash and detail" the sold vehicles. We got paid hourly, regardless of volume.

Our dealership did also have an outsourced company on-site that would do "premium" details and prep used cars for the lot on a per-car basis. They were terrible too though

[Renny Doyle]

Re: shocked

Its a common practice and many dealerships are worried about one thing...the bottom line! We have bid on these service a few times in our earlier days and I was and I am blown away at how low these operators are willing to go...that is why the quality of the new car inventory is so poor these days not to mention are they licensed, containing their water or insured?

On the other hand...we do make a number of sales from our best clients calling us and saying "Hey Renny I just purchased a new car and it needs your magic"! Moral to the story...if you are a Pro detailer...there is a sunny side to this story!

Nice post and good eye for the details...

[yalerd]

Re: shocked

Amazing what dealerships do...I saw a professional pressure washing service truck at a dealership once, just blasting all the cars at who knows what PSI. It wasn't a professional detailing service, just a professional pressure washing service.

Ryan

[new2detailing]

Re: shocked

I worked for a small detail company that had an exclusive contract with an auction house. The auction house would pay some people to compound (outside, in the baking sun) then ship these "prepped" cars to us for final detailing. It took us hours to correct the "prep" work before detailing the vehicles correctly.

As far as the lot contractors using the water only "spray and wipe" technique, that is a fairly commonplace practice with many dealerships in this area. Remember, that many people do not know the correct method of cleaning their own vehicles and accept these vehicles in this condition. Dealers deal in volume and this seems to be an acceptable way to "clean" their vehicles. Whereas we are typically OCD about cleaning and maintaining our respective vehicles.

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: shocked

I have seen the same set up in my neck of the woods. It just makes you cringe knowing what damage they are inflicting in the paint.

[redhotchevy2000]

Re: shocked

there are some companies down here that do that, i spoke with one company one day.
they were better then most.

they spray cars with a soap solution (using armor all soap)
then they pressure wash the cars with 85 psi pressure washers
they dry the cars using leaf blowers with a flat narrow tip on them, works pretty well...
mind you these are used car lots, but they seem to be pretty cautious at this lot in particular.

the next lot over they have a big bucket and a deck brush they use.

[Sal329]

Re: shocked

Once a week we have a guy come out and he pressure washes all our cars on the lot. He does the dealer I work at and all the dealers in the area. Not a great practice but he make a killing doing it.

[hondamtrco4life]

Re: shocked

I thought most people who "wash" cars at dealerships get paid on a per car basis? If you can spray 5 cars in 10 minutes, you can make pretty good money. Not saying it's right by any means, but I'm sure there is some driver behind their poor workmanship.

Also, anyone thinks this goes on at nicer car lots? Infiniti / Lexus / BMW?

You guys want the scoop on the washing of new/used cars. I work at a dealership and this is how they do it here.

Here it is: once a week we have two detailers go out in the chevy pickup w/ the water tank on the back and "wash" the new cars in the front lot (approx 150 cars). The same thing is done once a week on the used cars (approx 120 cars). When I say "wash" I mean spray down then wipe off (this is how new cars get scratched up). The detailers get paid for the time they spent doing the cars. Two detailers do 150 cars in about 6hrs. So if they make $10hr they each make $60. Now the new/used car deparments get charged $2.00 per car. So if there are 150 new cars the new car dept. pays $300 to have them "washed".

We also wash the cars on the back lot but those are different. Those cars get what we call a "freshen up" every 90 days. If a car has been on the back lot for 90 days it gets taken into the detail dept. and a "freshen-up" is performed. This is pretty much a regular wash and dry. It's usually washed with a brush too not by hand. Then the car is dried off and tire shine is applied. That's it. The detailer gets paid 1.5hrs for this and the new/used car dept. gets charged $50 for the freshen up. So there you have it. This is how it's done at our dealer.

[Lexus Guy04]

Re: shocked

When I worked at Lexus, this same procedure was done. I couldn't even watch. A pressure washing company would come out once a week, with about six to eight 18-22 years old guys who would just simply rinse the NEW cars off with an extremely high PSI, and them just shammy them off. Each guy had his own shammy, and they never attempted to clean them or get new ones. It was shameful. Now remember, this is a LEXUS dealership, "High-End" $40,000-$125,000 cars. So since these are new cars, imagine how bad the paint is before someone even buys a car for the first time. They don't even have 10 miles on them yet! And then think about when they bring it in for it's service every 3-5000 miles, it gets a "courtesy wash" which is basically a 10-15 minute wash and dry with old, dirty wash mitts, soap buckets with contaminents all in them, and shammys which have not been cleaned in who knows when.... Now how in the world do all these nice cars end up with scratches and swirls all over them?

[Forever New]

Re: shocked

I've had plenty of "fixing new car finish" jobs. People are amazed when their paint is corrected and actually get to see what a clean new finish should look like.