Car showroom detailing

[Pharkus]

So I went to a dealership over the weekend to look at a Polo GTi for my lil bro for his first car (yes he is lucky). We knew they had a drive away special for the 07 build 08 plated models with leather pack for $28,500 driveaway.

However, they did not have the color we wanted left, only a red one.

Now here is the real cringe part of this story. You would expect a 5 year old black car to have some swirl marks on it. BUT for a BRAND NEW car parked in the showroom, this was shocking in terms of the swirl marks evident on the paintwork already. The car did not even feel as though it had been properly waxed and the paint was rough to the touch. Now sure you may have an excuse with water restrictions etc. but the level of swirling on this was beyond comprehension. Worst part was the dealer I spoke to said it was normal You would think that the cars in the showroom should be detailed meticulously so that your clients can see the car in all its glory.

Needless to say we wrote that off the list and are now looking at other cars for our consideration. We weren't willing to have a brand new car polished to get rid of the swirl marks so early in its life.

[philthy]

Friends of mine bought a brand new astra. It was covered in swirl marks and looked terrible when they picked it up. They had it detailed and sent the dealer the bill.

Still I agree. It surely can't be that hard for one of the apprentices to give it a bit of love after its been sitting in the yard in the sun for a couple of months

[Robby K]

Friends of mine bought a brand new astra. It was covered in swirl marks and looked terrible when they picked it up. They had it detailed and sent the dealer the bill.

Still I agree. It surely can't be that hard for one of the apprentices to give it a bit of love after its been sitting in the yard in the sun for a couple of months

If only it were that easy..

The detailers at car yards generaly get paid chicken feed so the cars get treated accordingly ie: terrible!.
With most dealerships all the departments operate as separate businesses, they have their own budgets and charge whatever work out they do to the other departments so its not quite as easy to just get an apprentice to give it some love, because the service dept will charge sales at an exorbitant rate to do so and the sales dept wont want to pay for it... If your looking at a car on the showroom that has swirls then use it as a tool to get a better deal, or make sure the dealer agrees to have the paint corrected as part of the deal.

It will always happen its just the nature of the beast unfortunately...

I worked in vehicle sales for a number of years, Ive also run my own detailing business, and this is not uncommon at all.

[Pharkus]

Fortunately the guy that did my R32 was not on chicken feed. Was quite pleased by the detailing on it.

Sad to see that cost cutting is affecting quality now.