Customer asked for a quote on a hand wash and wax (Claying if needed) - how should I respond to the following?

[Dan Tran]

How should I reply to this email.

"Hi Dan,


I spoke to my brother he said that they clear coat the vehicles so much that I would not need to do anything to my new truck, so with that said I will do this in the spring please put me on a follow up."

Should I take the time to educate her or just let this go?

[Cruzscarwash]

well your wash and wax should (normally) include the price of a clay so that will be included in the price either way

[Cruzscarwash]

also you should quote during inspection and at that time educate the client on why you will preform whatever task is needed so she can understand why the factory paint work might not be up to snuff, also that's why I use analogy's like face washing so its easier for the majority of my female clients to understand

[Dan Tran]

Well it's funny because I was at my insurance agency and my agent introductions me to this woman. Long story short she went to a place where four guys detailed her interior and wash the exterior and did an incomplete job for $100 today. In top of that she mentioned they LITERALLY waxed her car in 5 minutes.

Either way, I actually did explain her everything and I mentioned to her I will look at the car and then give a quote. Since she had my email, I got this message.

I at the time mentioned it would be a good move to put it on before the winter. Also explained IF over time she does CAR for the exterior, such a thing as clear coat failure can eventually take place.

She was also turned off about the fact I use meguiars. I explained I don't use big box store stuff etc.

::sigh::

[bill110]

Tell her how to do the baggie test after a wash.

[Dan Tran]

BAGGIE test speech and everything!

[Cruzscarwash]

when I tell clients I use megs for whatever use, im sure to say megs pro or megs detailer lines, so they know its not the wal mart special

[SATracker]

I have been detailing cars for about 12 years. One family, who are customers, buy their cars brand new, they drive the cars from the dealership to my house. After I wash these new cars by hand, I treat the cars with Iron-X and I take pictures of the purple running down the car, I clay the cars and take pictures of the pollutants on the clay. People don't even ask anymore. One guy simply said, "Give it the new car treatment."
As I understand it, the freshly painted/clear coated cars still sit outside the factory where industrial pollution affects the clearcoat, the cars still get put on rail cars where rail-dust and other pollutants get impaled on the clearcoat, the cars get sprayed down and wiped with who knows what kind of towels while sitting in the dealership. The best thing a new car owner can do is get their new car to a detailer to get the paint properly washed, decontaminated, and waxed-sealed-coated.

[Cruzscarwash]

there was a detailer here who posted pics of his "inventory" and it was all armor all and blue crystal items

[DaveT435]

Yes I would educate her. Shouldn't be too difficult, I'm sure she has seen cars with clear coat failure just didn't know what it was. Personally I would tell her it's a new truck so if she wants to wait til spring that would be ok. Then explain things to her. You'll gain her trust and hopefully she'll decide to go ahead and have work done. That way she won't feel like your feeding her a line of BS to get some work. Just my opinion