dipolley Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Hey everyone, My best client called my up to have her daughter's 02 Ford Escape detailed inside and out. When she called she said it was disgusting and expected this to be the most expensive detail she has bought. The truck came up to Denver from Texas, where the daughter goes to school and does some off roading. First thing I saw was well, it needed to be washed. Once washed I saw the paint transfer on the passenger side. She said it had been side swiped. It appeared that she had also been driving down dirt roads with the windows down or the recirculator off. And let's mention the smoking, the dog, and the spilled and not cleaned up Coke spills. Plain and simple, it was nasty. I took it from her at 10 AM and said I would call her when it was ready the next day. On the way to the garage, the oil light was blinking at low RPMs. When I got into the garage, I checked the dip stick, it was clean. 100% shiny and dry. Not one drop of oil. So I had to add 2 quarts for it to register on the stick. took it to the local oil change place, where they drained "less than 3 quarts" out of the engine. Here is what we did: - High-presure water wash at the local hand coin up (Don't have the ability to handle that much mud). - Tires, wheels, and exhaust tips cleaned - Engine cleaned with APC, water, and light brushing - Two bucket wash - Clayed exterior - Interior vacuumed - Leather and interior clenaer on all nonfabric surfaces - Removed and cleaned cargo mats, covers, spare tire, and spare tire equipment. - Pretreated the fabrics with carpet and upholstry cleaner, and aggitated with a carpet and uppholstry brush. - Dressed engine and trim - Extracted the carpets using hot water once in problem areas and then again with carpet and upholstery cleaner (1/4 cup per gallon). (It was that bad). - Interior cleaned again with 50/50 leather and interior cleaner/water - Interior dressed with leather and interior conditioner. The cup holders and other holders dressed with SVRT. END DAY 1 Day two - Quick waterless wah - Polished with Flex Gen 3 green pad and Servere Swirl Remover, Gen 3 Orange pad and Swirl and Haze Remover, Gen 3 White pad and Fine Machine Polish. - Focused paint correction using corded drill and 4-inch pad using the same steps as the Flex paint correction - wipe down with single soft towel - Quick Sealent application - Redressed trim where needed. - Brillniat glaze application on the paint and exterior glass - Americana Wax application - Interior glass cleaning - Oil change - Delivery Here are the pics. One before pic then one after pic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE Mook Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Your best client's daughter needs a lesson on cleanliness. That was awesome work David. I bet her dorm room is immaculate also. :throwsupinmouth: Nice kill! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dipolley Posted May 2, 2012 Author Share Posted May 2, 2012 Thanks Mook, It was the oil that killed me. I had to take it for an oil change becuase I wasn't convinced it would make it back to her house. It was 13,000 miles over due. On the good side, the client wanted all of this done so she could sell it. Not she is considering keeping it since it looks good now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3PedalMINI Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 wow, nice customer service! im sure it didnt go unknoticed as far as the car, nice job.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichiganSRT8 Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 reminds me of almost every girl i knows car...including my girlfriends . Glad to see you got her all cleaned up, cool thing you did about the oil too, its the stuff like that customers will be amazed with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Team Adam's Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Wow, what a turn-around! That thing was NASTY! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Boz Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Holy Schnikes....... Awesome turnaround!!! I still can't believe some people treat their cars like that. I'm not saying people need to be OCD about their cars (like most of us on this forum), but moderate care and cleanliness should be common sense. Anyway, great work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dipolley Posted May 2, 2012 Author Share Posted May 2, 2012 Going the extra mile always helps. I do a lot of that (sometimes too much). I give each client as much as possible to praise me about. Do a bad job and they tell 7 people, do a good job and they tell 3. I aim to get more than 3. I will admit, the oil change did have a CYOA aspect to it. I got authorization from the client first and she did pay for what it cost me. But I did not want to risk seizing the engine. Which I think was a distinct possibility. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichiganSRT8 Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Going the extra mile always helps. I do a lot of that (sometimes too much). I give each client as much as possible to praise me about. Do a bad job and they tell 7 people, do a good job and they tell 3. I aim to get more than 3. I will admit, the oil change did have a CYOA aspect to it. I got authorization from the client first and she did pay for what it cost me. But I did not want to risk seizing the engine. Which I think was a distinct possibility. i hear ya, im the same. things even as little as leaving all the change/cash i find in the car in a plastic bag in the cup holder. those little tiny things go a long way when getting those return customers. That would have been rough if the engine cut out on ya when your working on it, definitely would be a bad moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dipolley Posted May 2, 2012 Author Share Posted May 2, 2012 i hear ya, im the same. things even as little as leaving all the change/cash i find in the car in a plastic bag in the cup holder. those little tiny things go a long way when getting those return customers. That reminds me. there was a news piece a long time ago on one of our local TV stations about money in your cup holder. They counted the money and took the car to several area carwash/detailers. They had cameras mounted in the car and counted the money when they were done. Busting people for taking a dollor in change. But if they do that to every car and you can make a couple hundred bucks every week. I always keep that news piece in mind when doing an interior. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Tegeler Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 that interior would make me throw up if I got in there! wow nice save though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z71_Denali Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 amazingly this is how most teenage/early 20s girls/women treat their vehicles... like a garbage can!!! very nice save, i woulda told them to save their money and take a wrecking ball to it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris@Adams Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Nice save! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GXPaycheck Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 Great job! I hope you explained oil changes to her:jawdrop: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TK427 Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 Great job and what a crazy awesome turn around man, that thing looked to be her personal trash can!! Check out all the retail detail cars I do everyday, everything you see is mostly me, one and a half (car/trucks/suv"') are done inside and out per day. That is my average so far, and they all looked like the escape before I start, needless to say I’ve learned some tricks! eFleet Direct: Denver Inventory of Used Cars for Sale, Commerce City, CO, 303-757-1300 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueGenCoupe Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 Great Job David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrpA Calais Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 Wow! Nice job! This fills me with both hope, and dread..... the state that was in reminds me of my sisters car (only her paint is worse, and black!!). It looks like I have somehow volunteered to fix her brakes, service the engine, and now she's seen the results of my paint correction, correct her paint. Why is it that a large majority of females treat their cars like this?? And I'm from New Zealand, so it seems to be a world wide problem!! Again, nice job, I can see why they might be having second thoughts on selling it now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacificNWBuckeye Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 Sweet turn around! My wife understands you need oil to keep your engine running, but she has treated the interiors of her last two cars this same way. She had a 1 seat Mustang for awhile. It must be a female thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diggerdan11 Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 Great job on the Escape I dont think its just females, I know plenty of guys who are the same way. Luckily my wife is not one of those females who trashes cars, she keeps her car as clean as possible, she gets that from her mom who is the exact same way. My mom and sister howerver trash vehicles. Some people just see vehicles as a thing to get them from point A to point B and do not care if they get trashed or not, and then there are people like us that feel that a vehicle is an extention of who we are and treat there vehicles as such. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasssc Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 What a great job! I did a double take on the before and after roof picture! Fantastic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianT Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 It's a shame the engine is going to be toast very soon if she was that low on oil. The finish is gonna last longer then the engine. Nice turn around!! Now go get some needed sleep!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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