Having visited Midlands Car Care with a friend I can also vouch for the excellent work though that has resulted in them becoming difficult to get hold of.

There is a detailer nearer to me in Worcestershire who friends also highly rate so I intend to pay him a visit in the spring. He too has started using Gtechniq products 2010 RRS 3.0 TDV6 - Bali Blue / Ivory Leather / Extended Leather / TV / Rear Entertainment / Privacy Glass / Timed Climate
Mods - 21" Style 101 Alloys / Sidesteps / De-badged Rear / LED Lighting / Autobiography Grill & Vents / Remote FBH w/GPS

Do you then all wash your cars yourselves?? I'm thinking of having crystal serum however I wash mine with the polish lads at the end of the road 2006 RRS Supercharged 4.2 HST muthuaflecka!

I had mine done recently following a recommendation on here. The bloke had it done in a day on the drive, I think it was about £250.

To be honest, it seemed a lot of money to pay a car cleaner for a days work. Even counting his chemicals and a bit of travel. But to be fair to the lad, he did work quite hard on it. But still, £250.

The car looked well afterwards, but after a week it looked like it always has. For me, the Albanians around the corner make it look well enough for £15 every week or two.

Reading the comments above, maybe I am missing something. But really, how well can you mint up a five or ten year old car? And more to the point, how long will it last? Get a 2005-2009 RRS (FAH500210) sat nav/dash mat here - the one that wasn't there when you bought the car.

Spiffing wheel centre caps available

My sentiments exactly 2006 RRS Supercharged 4.2 HST muthuaflecka!

TDV8Mat wrote:

Also, you will need to rethink your whole outlook on washing your car - everything you currently know about washing your car is probably wrong! A good detailer will take the time to show you how to care for you car (ie. how to wash, what products to use, how to throw away your sponge and chammy leather!) The last thing you want is to undo all the good work a detailer has done to your vehicle.

Reading some of this makes me wonder what some of us are about.

Isn't the bloke who spends Sunday morning with his toothbrush on his alloys and a bottle of Perfecto Super Jazzy Whale Skin Extract Serum Polish just a bloke with nothing better to do?

People are speaking of £1500 and five days to mint up a car?

Where do people find the time for this stuff? Why not pay the local Albanian £15 to clean your car and the other £1485 on a weekend away playing with your kids, swimming in a pool, quaffing wine and putting 50 Shades to shame with your wife?

Added to which, aren't most of us self employed? I spent the last two weeks, when not working, wondering when I will find time for a haircut and dealing with tradespeople about my new kitchen. Yes, I have a dirty car on the drive. It didn't enter my mind to give some bloke 1500 quid of my hard-earned, and me drive my van for five days while he cleaned it.

Having some bloke who wants to make me "rethink my whole outlook on washing my car" is right up there with those who call me up about PPI claims, those wanting to solve my "logistics difficulties" or sell me ink cartridges. Get a 2005-2009 RRS (FAH500210) sat nav/dash mat here - the one that wasn't there when you bought the car.

Spiffing wheel centre caps available

@ stuart - I like having my cars mint so for me, personally I think it's worth it. I do very few miles in my cars so they are pampered. If I did do a lot of miles there is no way I'd have a car detailed, and I certainly would never pay £1500.

I am self employed - so I have very little free time, but I do have a spare few quid now and again, so to have a professional look after my cars is a no brainer.

And if I had paid £250 for a days work from a Detailer I would be very unhappy too.

By the way, whatever coating he spent all day making your car look better with, the Albanians will have stripped it off with their industrial detergent in 2 minutes flat.

Get yourself over to the detailingworld site, they will point you in the right direction.
As has been said, you cannot get an accurate price until the car has been seen, might need a lot of paint correction, or just minimal, as for products, where do you start, everyone has their favourites, but it's certainly not fairy liquid! 2005 Vesuvius 1st edition ( now sadly gone ).

Stuart wrote:

I had mine done recently following a recommendation on here. The bloke had it done in a day on the drive, I think it was about £250.

To be honest, it seemed a lot of money to pay a car cleaner for a days work. Even counting his chemicals and a bit of travel. But to be fair to the lad, he did work quite hard on it. But still, £250.

The car looked well afterwards, but after a week it looked like it always has. For me, the Albanians around the corner make it look well enough for £15 every week or two.

Reading the comments above, maybe I am missing something. But really, how well can you mint up a five or ten year old car? And more to the point, how long will it last?

It's not about materials used (or not so much).. it's like most other things, you pay for "knowledge".

The company I work for charges ~£750 a day for my services (web developer).. not that I see that kind of money, but private work will net me ~£300 a day too... why? because I'm a "professional".. and you pay for my time and knowledge. Sure, you can grab a copy of Wordpress, click a few things in the admin panel to change the colour of text and backgrounds and upload a few images, but it's not a professionally designed website and will most often look like that.. much the same as the £10 wash by the illegals will "do the job", but it won't look very professional (do that a couple of times after a detail and you'd never know it had been detailed with the swirls they would have put back into it).

This is what the Albanians will do for you, guaranteed within a few washes:





That's a 2008 Fiesta that's been "lucky" to see a bucket and sponge more than a handful of times.. after some TLC:





My mate wanted to sell it for his mother-in-law so wanted it looking as best it could... which would you prefer to buy? and if it's looked after, it'll look not far from that next year.


This was my previous 4 year old car at the time just after I'd finished detailing it:



I spent 2 weekends spanning about 28 hours total washing and polishing it ready for Ford Fair.

By the time the following year came around, I spent about 10 hours just "sprucing" it up as I'd spent the year washing it properly and generally looking after it (even though it was my daily).

A good detail / correction done properly and then maintained properly afterwards will more than likely last 12 months or even more, depending on where you live (road conditions and the likes as some scenarios will obviously take their toll more than others).

I think a big problem with detailing and the "average Joe" is that "there's no way I'm paying £whatever for someone to wash my car".. without fully realising that it's not just "washing the car" or anything close

Just my 2p anyway.



Cheers..

Ian