Tst 5000?

[ShamWow]

Hello! My name is Bill and I’m a Toyota salesman. I was recently extolling the virtues of TST 5000, a paint and fabric protection the dealership offers, when my customer stopped me in my tracks. For the next 20 minutes, instead of me doing the selling, he was educating me on all of the advancements in paint protection in recent years. He directed me to this forum, and I have to say I’ve been really impressed with the new products available. In particular, the Opti-coat 2.0 and Ceramic Quarts review thread was amazing http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/product-reviews/34883-review-extreme-testing-opti-coat-2-0-cquartz.html . My customer prefers the CQuartz, and my initial impression is split almost 50/50 between the two products.
So, why am I posting this? Well, I’ve sold at this Toyota dealership for nearly 5 years now, and we have used the same TST 5000 protection system for probably a decade. The claim is that it bonds what is essentially Teflon molecules to the vehicle's finish, which forms a barrier which is guaranteed to last for 5 years. There is less info on the net than I had expected when I took it upon myself to investigate how durable and lasting this product is over time. I’ve had older trades come in which had the product applied when new, but in some cases I wonder if the finish appears to be in good shape due to the product, or the customers above average care of his/her vehicle. A lot of customers who get the product we sell care more about their vehicles to begin with… so I don’t know if it’s the product or the customer’s influence that makes for a nice trade many years later.
I’m hoping to gather some opinions from folks such as yourselves who have hands on experience with many of these products. If I’m really sold on my suspicion (which is that our product probably has at least some merit, but is possibly far out of date compared to recent advances in auto finish protection) then I plan on putting together a presentation at the dealership for the decision makers.
I’d write more, but I have to go on the floor soon! I’m not going to list my actual dealership name at this point so I’m a little more free to delve into this. (Especially if there are negative views of our current product haha.)
Thank you in advance for any comments you have to offer!

[Setec Astronomy]

The classic view of dealership-applied sealants on forums like this is that the product is a middling-to-good sealant that probably lasts 6 months. The money is for the warranty of paint protection, which usually has a lot of loopholes to prevent the dealer from having to pay. Even if there aren't a lot of loopholes, the hope is that the buyer will forget they have this warranty or have transferred the car before it comes into play.

IMO since most of what you're (the dealer) is selling is snake oil, there will be no interest in selling a "real" product that costs a lot of money for the product. Then you might have to have a real warranty, have real experienced people to apply it, all that kind of stuff that dealers hate.

[mjlinane]

Think about it this way: if stuff won't stick to Teflon, why would Teflon stick to paint? Pans are baked at really high temps.

[Klasse Act]

I bet these products sell well at dealerships that sell more of their cars to older people who aren't going to ever detail their cars. Not only that, with how few miles they end up putting on their cars and the fact that most are going to be garage kept too, makes selling it to them that much easier.

[Mike Phillips]

What our forum members what is a swirl free finish and to date most coatings, waxes and paint sealants don't stop paint from getting scratches.

So even if you apply a product that stays on the finish for a long time, the finish will still have swirls that are visible in full sun or bright lights.

Like this,





If someone can come up with a product that can be applied by the average person that prevents the above that would be something special.

[OCDetails]

I dunno, Mike. Personally I wouldn't pay the premium a product that lasts forever and protects against swirls would cost. I'm going to polish my paint once in the spring and once in the fall regardless of what I put on the paint. It's just the right thing to do if you are truly 'maintaining' your car I feel. So if the product lasts at least 6 months, then that is fine with me. I wouldn't call someone who waits for the product to wear off before applying another coat a true 'enthusiast' anyway.

Another thing... If a company could make a product that lasts forever, they probably wouldn't do it. The money is in the repeat business. In the car care industry there is money to be made on paint correction too. Why sell a bottle you never have to buy another one of when you can sell something that lasts 'long enough' and sell paint polishes of different grades as well? It just doesn't seem like good business sense. The key to making money is getting customers to come back for a refill.

[Mike Phillips]

I dunno, Mike. Personally I wouldn't pay the premium a product that lasts forever and protects against swirls would cost.

I wouldn't either, I was just sayin...


My point was there's seems to always be someone touting some miracle product and one of the points they make is how long it lasts, the point they don't make is that it still does NOT prevent the paint from becoming filled with swirls and scratches.

The closest ting we have right now are coatings like Dr. G makes and even then the coating can get scratches so now you're back to removing the swirls and scratches out of the coating.

Catch-22

[Hoytman]

I have to admit, I'm surprised by the openess and honesty of the op. I wish more dealer owners/employees would do the same.

[OCDetails]

My brother in law works at a dealership where they sell a protection package. He showed me the brochure and sales materials they have for it. It is also guaranteed for 5 years. ...as long as the owner brings it back to the dealership to have it reapplied every 4 months. If the owner does any work on the car themselves or misses one of their 4 month appointments, then the warranty on the product is void. I'd check your warranty language that the customer signs when they buy this treatment and see if it has similar language. Anything will last forever as long as you reapply it every few weeks.