How much to polish a car?

[srivett]

I was down to a local independant undercoating/oil change/detailing shop today enquiring about getting my car buffed. The price was 160 CDN for a process where they wash the car a couple times, degrease it, detar it, etch it, clay bar it, and polish it. They also polish the windshield for this price and I need that service badly.

He said he could wax it for less but the work would only last a month versus a year for a polish.

Is this about right for the price? My paint is heavily oxidized (red car turning white) so I want her looking red for atleast a year after getting it polished. I am not trying to find a super deal or anything, I just want to be sure the price is in the right ballpark for a smallish VW Golf.

Thanks, Steve

 

[hk33ka1]

For a good going over (inside and out) most shops around here are at or over $100CDN. Like anything some services will bring more $ in some markets/cities.

 

[Patman]

In the Toronto area there is a chain of detailing shops called Fine Details. They charge $59 to put on a coat of Meguiar's wax with their buffer. For $99 they'll do the same thing but with some sort of paint sealant. Or for $199 they'll do a high speed buffing job, which is even more in depth and removes a lot more oxidation and brings out the shine more on cars which need it.

 

[srivett]

Cool, it sounds like I'll be getting what I pay for in that case. I am having them undercoat my car on Friday so I'll see if I can get them to throw in a free carpet shampoo with the polishing job. I have some pretty nasty salt licks forming in my carpet and I am not interested in removing them myself... I saw them working on a car in a white room with lots of halogen lights so I know it will looks just as good outside as it does in a garage. It's too bad VW uses white primer under red paint because I have a lot of paint chips...it'll be interesting to see how it looks shiny. Before and after pics will be shown in a few weeks. The owner said he likes to wait a week between undercoating and polishing so that the customer can see that he's getting his money's worth on both occasions.

Cheers, Steve

 

[Patman]

I actually had Fine Details do a carpet shampoo on my wife's Civic last weekend! They charged $40 and it looks like new now. There were crusty salt stains in there which were there for at least two years too!

 

[1 FMF]

old man was in the detailing business for 20 or so years, semi-retired now. his going rate here in CT is on average $100 inside & out. Detail shops are charging $150-200 for the typical complete service, not sure what they use for products or what their procedures are but typically the car isn't wet washed, just a cleaner type wax or solvent used to clean exterior then sealant/wax.
If they are actually polishing it, such as doing a real detail job wet washing and using a claybar, then doing a polishing with a compound, then applying a sealant/wax, I think you're getting a fair deal at $160 CDN (~$133 US). Especially if your red car is white.
I detailed a guy's red firehawk with zaino for I think $120 once, was in good shape but wasn't garaged, came out great but the effort and time I had to put into it was worth more than $120, not including materials and overhead.


Find out what the detail shop is using for products and post for me, I'm curious.

What brand claybar?
What type compound or polish? Guessing it's 3M.
What they use for final wax/sealant?

- just noticed you mentioned it's an independent shop. That's usually the way to go. When that's all they do then it's the quality of work keeping them in business, unlike the carwash chains who hire teenagers or dealerships that contract out someone to wax vehicles.

 

[srivett]

The products that they use are labeled AutoMagic. After a bit more prodding I was told that he wouldn't be doing any interior work for that price because it takes 4 to 5 hours just to do the outside.

Steve