4 General Automotive Surface Care and Appearance Markets

[Mike Phillips]

4 General Automotive Surface Care and Appearance Markets


OEM Industry
That would be when your car is being manufactures and at some paint if their is a problem with the paint the car is moved off the assembly line to what is called a polishing deck and then "products" formulated for the OEM industry are used to fix the problem.


Refinishing Industry
This is your local body shop and custom paint shop, for example after you wreck your Honda the body shop installs a new fender and paints the fender to match the car or like Max, you take your classic Mustang convertible to a Custom Shop and a guy like Wayne Carini has his guys rebuild the car and then spray a custom paint job on it. These two types of business are the "refinishing industry" as they are "re-finishing" the car.


Detail Industry
This primarily includes "Production Detailing" but also includes Show Car Detailing, we have both types of detailers on this forum and they use products formulated by just about everyone.


Enthusiast Market
This is the guy that just wants to take care of his own stuff, he's a do-it-yourselfer. Often times the do-it yourselfer does as good of work as a Pro Detailer that specializes in show car detailing and even better work than you can get in the re-finishing industry and the simple reason for this is he cares about his car and thus his work.



There are companies that make products for just one category and companies that make products for a few categories and even some companies that make products for all 4 categories.

[FUNX650]

4 General Automotive Surface Care and Appearance Markets


OEM Industry

Refinishing Industry

Detail Industry

Enthusiast Market



There are companies that make products for just one category and companies that make products for a few categories and even some companies that make products for all 4 categories.

Hi Mike...
Thanks for providing this information!

In your opinion...
Into which of the above category/categories, if any, does the following "vehicle-detailing-remediation-services" fall:

-Animal urine/feces
-Human urine/feces
-Human blood/other bodily fluids
-Gross Filth
-Infectious Waste
-Syringes/Needles
-Odor Removal and Neutralization
-Mold and mildew
-Other Biohazards

Thanks.



Bob

[Mike Phillips]

Great questions Bob...


The Detailing Industry category, out of the 4 general categories listed and this is why I included the word general when I wrote this copy. The kind of cleaning/detailing you listed takes some very specialized training and equipment. It might possibly require some type of certification and special insurance as well.


The cleaning issues you've listed are not the norm for any of the for industries I listed but the exceptional cases that most detailers would either charge more for or take a pass on and let someone more specialized for that type of work take on.


As for me when it comes to cleaning cars with the issues you've listed? I would tend to take the advice I shared in my sections in Renny Doyle's book on the learned art of turning work down. That is...

Let someone else have the blessing...

[DDay61]

Still remember the episode of Mythbusters where they left a dead pig in a hot sealed car for a couple of weeks. They were still able to sell the car...but, the stink never went away.

MythBusters: Stinky Car MiniMyth : Video : Discovery Channel

[FUNX650]

Thanks for the reply Mike.

I agree about letting someone else have the blessing...
Especially if one feels they are not adequately (includes legally) trained/certified to do so.
(Proper disposal of "hazards" must also be legally dealt with.)

Blood-borne pathogens, for one example, is one scary arena to enter nowadays.

Molds: So far, over 500 (out of thousands) have been identified as being very harmful/toxic to Humans' health.

But I digress.


To be sure...
There are a slew of specialized-remedial-services organizations out there that have the training/certifications,
tools/equipment to meet the challenges of the "detailing arenas" I've already mentioned.

Outsourcing, then, of these types of detailing-tasks, is often the: "best practice".
But...On the other hand...
This is a highly well-paid industry of which to belong. Profits are off the chart.




Bob

[Mike Phillips]

.


Shout out to Dan Tran - thanks for "Thanking" this thread and bringing it to my attention.

I knew I wrote this article but I forgot where I posted it (which forum group) as well as the title.

It kind of went a direction I didn't expect but that's okay.

[pcford]

We had two F650's that were parked on the back of the lot and were infested with mice. It was around $2000 per vehicle for hazmat cleanup and all that was left of the interiors were the steering wheels and pedals. It was less of a remediation and just part of the process before they were stripped of useful parts and then sold by the pound.

If I was in the detailing business and it involved a biohazard I would pass and not have any part of my reputation connected with potential destruction of a vehicle.

[pickles]

Hi Mike...
Thanks for providing this information!

In your opinion...
Into which of the above category/categories, if any, does the following "vehicle-detailing-remediation-services" fall:

-Animal urine/feces
-Human urine/feces
-Human blood/other bodily fluids
-Gross Filth
-Infectious Waste
-Syringes/Needles
-Odor Removal and Neutralization
-Mold and mildew
-Other Biohazards

Thanks.



Bob

The issues you listed fall under the "Automotive demolition" or junk yard/ salvage industry.

[Mike Phillips]

If I was in the detailing business and it involved a biohazard I would pass and not have any part of my reputation connected with potential destruction of a vehicle.

I agree. In fact I wrote an article on this type of thing...

The learned skill of turning detailing work down by Mike Phillips



And for what it's worth - the topic of this thread was never intended to be about doing crap-work detailing. Weird.

[pcford]

I agree. In fact I wrote an article on this type of thing...

The learned skill of turning detailing work down by Mike Phillips



And for what it's worth - the topic of this thread was never intended to be about doing crap-work detailing. Weird.

That's a great explanation for why my lawn mowing business failed. I developed a reputation for good and inexpensive work. I couldn't afford to do both, and customers would be indignant about paying me more for the same work, but would readily pay someone else a higher rate for the same job. Once they had it in their minds that I wasn't giving them a great deal, I was just ripping them off. I was burnt toast at that point.