Opticoat 2.0 discontinued, OptiCoat Pro sees price increase

[allenk4]

You didn't get this e mail from DR G?

I did

Interesting that you have it as well?

I should also, guess that you have a copy of the email I sent him as well

If you do, you understand that the questions I asked were not answered

[FUNX650]

I did

Interesting that you have it as well?

I should also, guess that you have a copy of the email I sent him as well

Unbelievable!! :smh:


Bob

[Setec Astronomy]

Setec, hello and good to chat with ya and I very much appreciate the great questions.

I'm always happy to see you around here, Anthony. You know it's just that I'm jealous that you get the good stuff, and I don't. I'm sure there's a lot of me's out here who just do this for fun, never detail for money (even if we sometimes do friends/relatives cars to use up some of the stuff they sell us here at Autogeek), but would never take our car to a pro detailer just to get Opti-Coat. Maybe someday after this all gets sorted out OPT will be able to sell some sort of permanent product again to the consumer market, maybe it will be called Consumer-Coat, or Fake-Coat, or something like that.

Anyone remember the detailer that went to Florida pretending to be a paint correction specialist and jacking up some guys Lambo?? It was all over the forums some time ago.

You know I just came across a picture that I had saved of that guy smoking a cigar after duping that poor customer, but I didn't remember the whole story until you mentioned it! LOL!

My biggest irk....is Then again I am older now and just grumpy!

Yeah, you and me both.

[tdekany]

Unbelievable!! :smh:


Bob

What is unbelievable? I alerted Dr G that Allen received conflicting info when going to the source. Some of you guys should really try to find a hobby or something, because from where I am sitting, your involvement in a product that you don't use is making you look pretty bad.

[cardaddy]

People are or were applying 2.0 and CALLING IT THE PRO VERSION and then charging a PRO PRICE.....yet they were not getting what they paid for.

I hear what you're saying Anthony. Although.... the same people that would call 2.0 OCP will still call whatever they want, whatever they want (whenever they want).

Changing the formula (unfortunately) isn't going to stop such practices.

...I have seen the brief description of the certification process that OPT uses to assess whether someone can become an authorized professional installer. It does not appear that the bar is very high, to be deemed a Pro.


Regarding the mandated price-point; that is done in lots of industries. The real reason is so that the Supplier can maintain their high price to the end seller. It works as long as your product can be effectively differentiated from its competitors. In my opinion OPT has lost this ability with the warranty change on OCP. The conversation with the Customer is very different when asking them to pay $495 for a coating that is guarantees for the life of the vehicle versus the same $495 for a product that is guaranteed for 5 years

Are you talking about the past practice of having the insurance and a business checking account? Or the new one of checking social media posts (good, bad or ugly)?

Seem neither is exactly a bellwether to determine the true quality of the work the individual performs.

For instance; there are two high-end detailers about 30 minutes either east or west of me, one has been flown all over the world to do vehicles and has personal relationships with the movers and shakers in the detailing world, the other does the same type of work (at least price wise) but doesn't run in the same circles and doesn't fly across the world to do vehicles. For years neither had a commercial space, the first one still doesn't (but may well be the better choice), the other one (until recently operated from his in-laws garage) but does now have a shop. However #2 is all over social media, puts up S&S threads all the times & seems to have the time for it. Yet #1 has been doing it for much longer.

NEITHER should be denied access to the product though.
(Although I would argue that as long as your work ethic is in line with OPT's standards AND you still have the prerequisite business/insurance requirements that as long as you are willing to stand behind your work that you should be installing the product.)

What do the recent changes by OPT do to prevent these unscrupulous detailers from applying Gloss-Coat and charging the Customers the OCP price

I was following you, but you lost me

Me wonders the same.....

1: Why would the shorter life-span of whatever I lie about and put on prevent me from saying, "Ma'am, for $495 I will coat your car with Opti-Coat Pro". And then proceed to use whatever I want.

3: That consumer would have to bring that car back to the detailer, 3 times over the next three years at $100 a pop (minimum) to fulfill the terms of the warranty

3: Google Opti-Coat 2.0 and you will see that there already lots of detailers who offer OC2 at above the OCP minimum price mandated by OPT. Consumers do not know the difference between Compound and Polksh, much less OCP and OC2

1: Without having an invoice stating SPECIFICALLY that OCP was installed, I wonder if perhaps people just heard the words "Opti-Coat" and *not knowing any better* assumed their vehicle was indeed coated with OCP. Hmmmmm??????

Pricing alone isn't going to say that OCP was installed, EVEN IF the owner paid $495. I know we've never done all the prep it takes to get a vehicle ready for ANY coating and not charged AT LEAST $495. In fact one of the last coatings we did was $645 and I assure you it was not OCP, or 2.0 for that matter.

2: FINALLY.... I say F-I-N-A-L-L-Y someone brought up the "terms of the warranty"! I know somewhere around here I have that warranty, and that alone is what can get pretty much any installer out of backing said warranty. Don't bring the car back regularly for timely inspections, maintenance and proper washings.... WHAM the warranty doesn't apply.

3: Which brings us to part 3.
And honestly why I think so many out there started offering 2.0, not perhaps OVER OCP but INSTEAD of OCP. Sure, there are the ones out there that would allude to one being the other and honestly.... we'll never rid ourselves of those types. But it had (past tense) a place in the market.

The market for paint correction is small enough as it is, but when you factor in an additional $495 it gets even smaller. The owner that'll pay $595 for a paint correction and a coating (of some sort) is much easier to find than the one that'll pay much more, possibly three times that.

Considering the MAP price ($495), then add in all the labor involved for properly prepping a vehicle (other than a brand new one) to be ready for a "permanent" coating and it's not hard to see a good detailer charging $995 for OCP. I know I'll be charging $495 for ANY level of paint correction, no coating involved. Also I can tell you at least one of the ones I mentioned above will charge a good bit MORE than that $995 figure. (Check his web site, it's fairly price intensive.) Why charge so much? Because it's very possible that there is 15~20 hours involved in getting all the 'other' detailing and paint correction done. So yeah... OC 2.0 for $495 really isn't that much of a stretch.




All that outta the way; Perhaps though the reason for the new formulation is much more driven by all the other offerings on the market these days. Everywhere you look, that magical 2 year period is attached to all manner of coatings. (It's been argued that some are nothing more than glorified sealants, who knows.) None the less, when all your competition is selling "2 year" products and you're selling 5 year and "permanent" (or lifetime) seems that one of your products is offering more than it needs to.

Who knows, maybe it'll (the new formula, lack of 2.0 AND cutting down on installers) end up causing the loss of business. In todays market of 24 months coatings all over the place it surely isn't hard to find one to offer both the consumer as well as the buyer (if you're in the business to either sell coatings or install.) Only time will tell.

[tdekany]

I did

Interesting that you have it as well?

I should also, guess that you have a copy of the email I sent him as well

If you do, you understand that the questions I asked were not answered

Which questions did he not answer?

[FUNX650]

What is unbelievable? I alerted Dr G that Allen received conflicting info when going to the source.

And he shared it with you? Unbelievable!!

Some of you guys should really try to find a hobby or something
, because from where I am sitting, your involvement in a product that you don't use is making you look pretty bad.

•One of my hobbies is shucking shills
•Let's make that a product I will no longer be using!

•OK...If that's your opinion...Then, in my opinion:
-You need to get up "from where you're sitting", and move on to some other far, far away location.

•As far as I'm concerned:
-Somebody that would ever think that they're privy to my emails: then that somebody belongs in the privy.

Bob

[builthatch]

i think the warranty requirement as part of the OCP purchase helps against dishonesty, because in a way it's a log to tie the car to the OCP purchase with OPT. i'm sure it is something that has to be filled out by the detailer and/or registered with OPT, right? if not, then forgive me.

also, the quota helps as well. hard to post a bunch of OCP installations on your facebook page or via internet write ups that aren't actually OCP if you aren't making the purchases from OPT to correspond.

the quota idea also seems to help against detailers using OPT's authorized installer status to bait customers and then switch them into something else, even a product that isn't OPT's. will that happen no matter what? of course, because of many reasons (and not all of them involving any dishonesty), but at least the quota somewhat guarantees some sort of legitimacy to staying on that installer list and being referred by OPT with the hopes that the customer will actually get OPT stuff. it's a way to tie everything together in my eyes.

sorry to keep butting in here with these thoughts as i'm not a pro installer. but, i'm in an end of the industry that has a ton of parallels to this exact type of situation.

[FUNX650]

Now when I think of OCP warranties...
The thoughts keep going back to, and about, all the people that had their vehicles OCP'ed (by one of Optimum's certified OCP-appliers) prior to this latest change in the once permanent, to the current 5 years warranty aspect.

Bob

[tdekany]

And he shared it with you? Unbelievable!!


•One of my hobbies is shucking shills
•Let's make that a product I will no longer be using!

•OK...If that's your opinion...Then, in my opinion:
-You need to get up "from where you're sitting", and move on to some other far, far away location.

•As far as I'm concerned:
-Somebody that would ever think that they're privy to my emails: then that somebody belongs in the privy.

Bob

What are you a 2 year old? The e mail had the very same content he has been asking on this forum.

Not sure what is up your pants but man you are sounding worse by the posts.

How about this thought? Taking your on advice? I mean what do you mean by moving away to a far away location? What is that have to do with any of this? Try to caaaalllllllmmmmm down. After all, you are working yourself up over a product that you don't use, a product that went up in price. If you still can't understand why the 5 year warranty vs lifetime, there is not much anyone can do for you.