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  1. #1
    Mike Phillips
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    DON'T WASH CAR! by Mike Phillips

    DON'T WASH CAR! by Mike Phillips

    Subtitle: How to prevent your car dealership from putting swirls and scratches into your car's paint!


    Horror Story
    There's a fairly common experience many people suffer through, and "yes" suffer is the correct word because of the agonizing frustration it causes to a "Car Guy" or "Car Gal" plus all the EXTRA work and hassle it causes for the victim of DISO.

    In the car detailing discussion forum world I always call it a HORROR STORY, you can call it what you want but it is a horror story because of the damage it causes to your car's precious thin paint.


    Here's the problem

    You, the nice customer that pays the dealership's overhead, take the car you purchased from them back to them for service, maybe an oil change, maybe some other maintenance procedure.

    As a courtesy to you, they have their lot boy or detail shop WASH YOUR CAR!

    What they don't have is a clue about is you've already polished your car to perfection and you don't want them to wash your car because when they wash your car they will damage the paint by inflicting swirls and scratches into the clear coat finish.

    In most cases, none of the people involved have enough common sense to actually LOOK at the car and notice there's something about this car that's different than most of the cars bought there, and then brought back there for service.

    What they don't see is a finish on the car that in most cases is BETTER condition than when they sold you the car and that's because you hang out on a forum like AGO and you've learned the art and craft of polishing paint and have painstakingly polished the paint on your new car to perfection.

    Then in a single car wash, they destroy the finish by using tatty wash mitts that have probably been dropped a thousand times onto the ground and the picked right back up an put back into service.

    They use towels we wouldn't use to wipe the bottom of our shoes with to dry your car.


    The result... a swirled-out, scratched-up mess.


    Then when you confront them with the damage they've done it gets worse! Next they offer to detail your car and by this I mean they offer to have their in-house detailer buff your car's paint out.

    The problem with this of course is most dealerships have,

    Untrained employees or employees that don't have the "correct" training.
    Tatty wool and foam pads not worthy of being used on the paint of a garbage dumpster.
    Archaic, Caveman Quality compounds and polishes that are more akin to liquid sandpaper.
    And alas... only a well-worn, rotary buffer. Nothing wrong with a rotary buffer but the fact is in the wrong hands with the wrong pads and the wrong products it's going to be used to inflict holograms into your car's paint at the same time the "technician" is removing the swirls and scratches that were instilled when the car was washed and dried.


    Now here's the really bad news....

    When swirls, scratches and holograms are instilled into your car's precious thin paint job, these are VOIDS in the paint where the depth of these swirls and scratches is below the surface.

    Putting swirls, scratches and holograms into paint is REMOVING paint.

    To fix the problem the right way will mean removing a little more paint.


    See the problem?

    The paint was thin to start with from the factory and now due to no fault of your own the paint is now filled with swirls and scratches and fixing the problem will leave your paint thinner that it already was. For what you pay for a new car... you don't deserve this atrocity.

    If you let the dealership fix it and they simply replace one type of scratch pattern with a new type of scratch pattern, then "you" fixing their botched buff job will mean removing paint again.


    Starting to see why these types of incidents are Horror Stories?


    Here's a solution to the problem...

    Here's a simple way to avoid this whole mess, here's a way to avoid being just another horror story posted to a forum somewhere...


    Print out a few signs that say,

    DON'T WASH CAR



    Tape these signs to the inside windows of your car. The more you distrust the people at your dealership the more signs you put inside the car.

    I recommend choosing the option of creating a document in "Landscape" mode versus the normal "Portrait" mode and then bump the font size up to about 140 and use Arial Font and then make the font BOLD. In other words, just like you see I've done below.














    But don't stop here... no no no...

    In a polite but stern manner, point the signs out to the Service Manager. Tell them you now a little bit about car detailing and you don't want them to wash your car, truck or suv.

    Take a moment to point out how nice your car's finish looks. IF you have a Swirl Finder Light, whip it out and shine it on the paint. Educate the Service Manager on how to inspect paint for swirls and then point out that your car DOESN'T HAVE ANY!


    Maybe ask them,


    Hey, doesn't it look like I just waxed this car?
    (Especially if you have just waxed it)


    Then say, that's because I did just wax it and it doesn not need to be washed. Then in a very polite and professional manner, just tell the Service Manager that you really don't want them to wash, or wax or do anything to the exterior of your car that it doesn't need it and when it does you'll take care of it.


    Be professional. Be courteous. But above all, be pro-active.

    Don't assume anyone at the dealership has enough common sense to look at "your" car and see that it's meticulously detailed and doesn't need to be washed. These people are use to routines. It's there knee-jerk habit to do a courtesy wash for all their customers and for 99.9% of their customers this is perfectly okay.

    But for you, the person that is educated on the topic of car paint and car paint polishing, it's not okay.


    Hope this helps, please feel encouraged to share the link to this article with all your friends that go out and buy a brand new car.






    ***Update - April 18th, 2018***


    Breaking news! (kind of)


    I think we came out with a laminated Do Not Wash Car hang tag last year, that would be sometime in 2017






    And I'm excited to say that there is now a Don't Wash Car hanging tag available on the AG store.


    On Autogeek.com


    Autogeek's "Do Not Wash Car" Hanging Sign FREE with orders over $95!




  2. #2
    Mike Phillips
    Guest

    Re: Don't wash car !!!!!!!!!!!

    Also, just to note, don't think I don't know that there are some people out there working at dealerships that do care and do know what they are doing.

    I talk about these people in this thread...

    The story of 3 H's - Horrendous, Horror Story and Hack Detailers...


    Just saying horror stories happen, don't let yourself be the victim. Knowledge is power but you need to be proactive with your knowledge.


    Also just to note, I talk about how to wash a care carefully in my how-to book and should you be the victim of this type of atrocity, my how-to book also walks you through the process of removing the swirls and scratches the right way.





  3. #3
    Super Member Evan.J's Avatar
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    Re: Don't wash car !!!!!!!!!!!

    Nice Write up Mike!

    I think someone had mentioned this idea in another thread recently!
    Official Detailing Team Member of Air Force One
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  4. #4
    Regular Member Mercedes350's Avatar
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    Nice to know that Know haha

  5. #5
    Super Member zmcgovern45's Avatar
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    Re: Don't wash car !!!!!!!!!!!



    I keep a couple of these in my car at all times just in case I need to drop by the dealership (or any other service place)... the Lexus service manager knows me as "the guy who won't let us wash his car"..... one time I forgot the sign and they washed it

    Retired Professional Detailer

  6. #6
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    Re: Don't wash car !!!!!!!!!!!

    Nice write up mike...Being a general manager at a dealership for several years, I'm glad you said to be polite but firm. Believe me, we have no mandate to upset you. As the washes are free to you, but cost me a person's time, I'm tickled to not wash your car!! We don't want to pi$$ you guys off, we'll do what you want, we have a CSI score to protect.THE EASIEST WAY TO DO THAT, IS TO DO WHAT THE CUSTOMER ASKS.

    And we will!! But the guy who goes nuclear on us when we have not done anything wrong, is just making a service situation an unpleasant thing it does not have to be....
    Glen -

  7. #7
    Junior Member megacabcummins's Avatar
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    Re: Don't wash car !!!!!!!!!!!

    That is a great write up.... I took my now ex-wifes Tiburon in for it's first service. They washed it and destroyed the paint, it was black with green, red, and gold metal flake in it. It took 6 months for the dealership to fix the paint, some scratches were deeper than the base coat. In the end we never got the paint fixed correctly and the dealership owner asked us to not come back because we were too picky. After a few choice words by me and letting him know I would be contacting Hyundai USA he walked away from me and the manager just stood there and politely asked me to leave. Sorry but we bought a NEW car lol....

    Glen, your attitude is rare at a dealership in our area for sure.

  8. #8
    Mike Phillips
    Guest

    Re: Don't wash car !!!!!!!!!!!

    Quote Originally Posted by glen e View Post

    Nice write up mike...Being a general manager at a dealership for several years, I'm glad you said to be polite but firm.


    Exactly.

    I didn't want the recommendation or my characterization of how these types of issues play out to be taken the wrong way so I stressed the be professional and courteous.

    The industry is what it is and I don't ever see it changing and I have experience dealing with dealerships.

    It's also nothing personal, some people are "car people" and some people are not. And just because a person works at a dealership doesn't automatically make them a "Car Guy" or "Car Gal" with a background in detailing.

    As the saying goes...

    It is what it is...


    I've been typing out help replies for years now on forums to help people who have had a bad experience and even shared the above advice numerous times in my replies but I've never taken the time to take pictures showing what to do. So after writing an article on how to polish exhaust tips and since Max's AMG was clean as a whistle, I printed out a few copies of "Don't Wash Car" and taped them on the inside and took the pictures.


    Then today, since I'm getting behind in pictures waiting to be used for pending articles, I pushed this article through.

    I hope it really does help people. I'm sad to say that to often someone will get their car washed and scratched and then join a forum like this and after the fact, find this article.


    Sometimes all you can do is all you can do...


    That's why I also instantly replied to this thread and included my article about hack work, for anyone that has read it and for anyone that will read it, not how I worded it VERY carefully not hurt anyone's feelings, step on anyone's toes or wrongly painted everyone that details cars with a broad stroke of the brush...

    I know that sometimes it's not a person's fault for the work quality they do. Been there, done that.



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  10. #9
    Super Member oldmodman's Avatar
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    Re: Don't wash car !!!!!!!!!!!

    Last century a client of mine bought a brand new BMW sedan. A seven series. He had specially ordered it from the factory with a special paint color.
    He had told the dealer not to prep the car until after he had inspected it. Leave the protective paper on the paint and the plastic on the seat and so on.

    He went down to the dealership and carefully removed all the protection and found the car to be flawless. Not a swirl anywhere.

    He went into the dealership to finish the paperwork and when he went outside with the salesman and the dealership manager to receive his new car the "lot rat" had run it through a mechanical wash bay and the finish was ruined.

    After he re-attached his head they all went back into the dealership and tore up the paperwork. And he left without a car.

    It had to be re-ordered and took another seven months.

    And yes. There was a lot of discussion about "fixing" it for him, "buffing" it out for him and all the other "fixes" for the negligence but he stood his ground and refused the car.
    He told me he was lucky that this had happened before he ever drove it off the lot.

    He kept the next car for eight years and it looked like brand new on the day he sold it.

  11. #10
    Mike Phillips
    Guest

    Re: Don't wash car !!!!!!!!!!!

    Quote Originally Posted by oldmodman View Post
    Last century a client of mine bought a brand new BMW sedan. A seven series. He had specially ordered it from the factory with a special paint color.
    He had told the dealer not to prep the car until after he had inspected it. Leave the protective paper on the paint and the plastic on the seat and so on.

    He went down to the dealership and carefully removed all the protection and found the car to be flawless. Not a swirl anywhere.

    He went into the dealership to finish the paperwork and when he went outside with the salesman and the dealership manager to receive his new car the "lot rat" had run it through a mechanical wash bay and the finish was ruined.

    After he re-attached his head they all went back into the dealership and tore up the paperwork. And he left without a car.

    It had to be re-ordered and took another seven months.

    And yes. There was a lot of discussion about "fixing" it for him, "buffing" it out for him and all the other "fixes" for the negligence but he stood his ground and refused the car.
    He told me he was lucky that this had happened before he ever drove it off the lot.

    He kept the next car for eight years and it looked like brand new on the day he sold it.

    Great story!

    Thank you for adding it to this thread.

    I have at least 2-3 threads in the discussion forum world where I have walked the owner of a car that has been through the above experience through what the damage really means and I'm happy to say at least two of these people have returned the cars and obtained their money back or a different car that had not had anyone touch it yet.



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