[JOYRIIDE1113]

Unless this guy is ripping the guts of the car out, cleanign and dressing each piece, $1200 is on the expensive side. Seems like 3 years ago I'd go into forums and talk detailing to folks and it was sort of an insider type game, now seems its caught on to being more of a therapy and must thing to do. With more people in the game, the more people who feel they ahve to push the envelope that bit further and charge rediculous prices. Sure, it helps me out because I'll get to charge a little bit more in the future when people catch on to the "average" pricing, but its not fair to the consumer.

This is a service that requires nothing other than time and effort spent. You don't need a surgeon's hands, the eye of a hawk, or the sense of a blind man, you just need to spend time and make mistakes, along with learning from a reputable source.

My .02

[HPIA4v2]

Originally Posted by JOYRIIDE1113

Unless this guy is ripping the guts of the car out, cleanign and dressing each piece, $1200 is on the expensive side. Seems like 3 years ago I'd go into forums and talk detailing to folks and it was sort of an insider type game, now seems its caught on to being more of a therapy and must thing to do. With more people in the game, the more people who feel they ahve to push the envelope that bit further and charge rediculous prices. Sure, it helps me out because I'll get to charge a little bit more in the future when people catch on to the "average" pricing, but its not fair to the consumer.

This is a service that requires nothing other than time and effort spent. You don't need a surgeon's hands, the eye of a hawk, or the sense of a blind man, you just need to spend time and make mistakes, along with learning from a reputable source.

My .02

+1

$1200 detailing job!, and I thougt Flex3401 for $280 was expensive

[satakal]

Picus, your feedback is excellent. Its helping me put everything into perspective.

Your point of "the quoted rate feels ok, but the time estimate doesn't" has me hung up. Maybe if that time is going to be spent colorsanding it's not out of line. (I imagine its not rookie level stuff and there are big consequences if done wrong.)

I thought that I had my mind made up that I wasn't going to accept this quote. But, to have the paint better than new is desirable. I'm finding myself asking a series of questions. First, is the rate ok? My answer to that is, "if its really expert work, a true professional deserves that price." Is there that much work to be done on the paint? "I don't know enough to know." Maybe when he looks over different body panels, he sees blemishes that he can fix. And, maybe its the case that I either can't see them, or choose to not see them.

If there really is 16 hours of work to do, I could find another pro that would have a less "premium" rate. I could ask this guy to only spend 8 hours instead of 16. This would mean less attention to detail on the blemishes that I can't see but he can. (Ultimately, thats the heart of the issue. I'm paying for what I can see and what I care about. If he repairs/shines the paint to his best, it's likely that his best is orders of magnitude better than what I consider perfect. Why would I pay someone to continue to work after they have already done the job perfectly?) Possibly a bad analogy, but why would I ever pay 100s or 1000s for a bottle of whine when I can't even tell the difference between the $5 stuff and the $30 stuff? That said, I can definetly tell that my paint needs lots of help, and viewing it as "repair" is close to accurate.
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[satakal]

Yeah, the swirls are out of control. Its not that big a deal because everyone has them. But, I know that they can be removed and the paint would look amazing. Downside would be that I would have that feeling of protectiveness with perfect paint. Actually, when I was drying the car this weekend with a new microfiber, I was pushing moderately hard on the paint trying to rub out the streaking. When doing that, I noticed I was making the swirling worse.

Deep scratches, there are 3 that I can see that are white. Essentially, not paint color. Oh, by the way, the car is Monaco blue. The blue that everyone asks, "is your car blue or black?"

There is one area where some total rookie, mobile car wash guy scratched my bumper. I think he had a mini shop vac on casters that rolled into the bumper and gouged the paint into the plastic. Its a cluster of scratches. It is was all combined, it would be about 5 to 10in.

There is one good size chip in the hood. I don't know how to describe it, but is this small area where there is no paint, no primer, straight down to the metal. I have no idea how it happend or why layers of paint would just come off like that, but it bothers me. By no means am I comfortable with trying my hand with the BMW touch up paint. There are probably other blemishes on the hood and fenders. Not to mention the pitting and chips that are occuring in the front plastic bumper. My car sees a lot of freeway and canyons.
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[RM-6302]

I would not pay more than $400-$500 for a detail. Any more than that is a waste of money. It's obviously your call, but in my opinion, a $1200 detail is ridiculous.

[J.P.]

dont do it because

[ScheerSpeed]

i wish i could charge that much for a detail... like joyride said, then i just feel bad that im ripping off the customer. im not going to lie, my going rates are pretty damn cheap compared to most other people for the amount of work i do...

[Takumi587]

Jesus Christ $1200 for a detail? Don't do it man. Think about this for a second. UNLESS they are going to wetsand ur car to remove the orange peel and swirls thnn by all means that seems worth the money! But remember your car is not a Lambo or ferrari or even a Porsche GT. With $1200 you can get all the supplies you need to detail your own car.

[Takumi587]

Just got ur PM and yes i think it is worth the price. It is going to be wet sanded which is really what i think you are paying for. That takes time and skill to work with wetsanding.

[Neurorad]

If you can't find someone else to do it, that you trust to do a good job, then do it.

I'm stuck here in Nashville without a good detailer.

Personally, I'd try real hard to find some other estimates first. Shouldn't be a problem in SoCal.

[Raja Ventureshield]

all depends on what is getting done.
I have a 850$ detail coming my way in a week that will need about 15 hours worth of work. All work is going to be done by hand (not machine). Also depends on what kind of wax goes on the car, how much cleaning is going to go into interior etc.

Honestly, to answer your question without pix just isn't fair IMHO.

[Haywire]

I think a lot are missing the point of this thread. This guy wants to know if $12oo is too much for a detail, not whether or not we think its a good deal, LoL!

I personally wouldnt pay 12oo to have my car detailed, then again...i hope my car never ends up in the condition your car did I agree with the professional detailer that you dont need TWO people working on the car.

and...

if what you say is true, about this guys reputation...then youre probably going to get what you pay for. so if you want your car to look like someone put 1oooG's into it, hell...go for it, its your money. Feel free to shop around too, im sure there are other detailers that come with a pretty good rep, see the price they give you before you just slam all that cash on BUDDY.

Then when you post your pics of the final job, chances are, people are going to say it was money well spent of course, if it tanks... we wont know about it because you wouldnt want to look like an idiot, believe me, ive been there.

I say go for it buddy!

GL.

[picus]

Originally Posted by satakal

Picus, your feedback is excellent. Its helping me put everything into perspective.

Your point of "the quoted rate feels ok, but the time estimate doesn't" has me hung up. Maybe if that time is going to be spent colorsanding it's not out of line. (I imagine its not rookie level stuff and there are big consequences if done wrong.)

I thought that I had my mind made up that I wasn't going to accept this quote. But, to have the paint better than new is desirable. I'm finding myself asking a series of questions. First, is the rate ok? My answer to that is, "if its really expert work, a true professional deserves that price." Is there that much work to be done on the paint? "I don't know enough to know." Maybe when he looks over different body panels, he sees blemishes that he can fix. And, maybe its the case that I either can't see them, or choose to not see them.

If there really is 16 hours of work to do, I could find another pro that would have a less "premium" rate. I could ask this guy to only spend 8 hours instead of 16. This would mean less attention to detail on the blemishes that I can't see but he can. (Ultimately, thats the heart of the issue. I'm paying for what I can see and what I care about. If he repairs/shines the paint to his best, it's likely that his best is orders of magnitude better than what I consider perfect. Why would I pay someone to continue to work after they have already done the job perfectly?) Possibly a bad analogy, but why would I ever pay 100s or 1000s for a bottle of whine when I can't even tell the difference between the $5 stuff and the $30 stuff? That said, I can definetly tell that my paint needs lots of help, and viewing it as "repair" is close to accurate.

OK, I read the second post regarding the condition of your paint too. It sounds like very typical paint for a BMW that has been improperly washed a few dozen times. Honestly, most of the pro detailers here see stuff worse than I bet your car is on a weekly, or daily basis. Nothing you've mentioned so far says to me "this is going to be a 16 hour job". If *I* were quoting you over the phone I'd estimate 8 hours. For real.

On the time thing. Yes, if they are color sanding the entire car $1200 is very reasonable; 16 hours is right in line with what I could quote for on a color sand of an entire e90/e92. Yes, it is skilled work, no it is not rookie level, and yes, a lot can go wrong. That said, I don't think that is what they will be doing (correct me if I'm wrong). I don't personally recommend people color sand OEM paint (it's thin to begin with anyway), but it's your car.

I think what they are quoting for, given your posts so far, is the following:

Wash the car, clay the car, fill in and sand down any scratches/chips that need it, compound as needed to remove 99% of blemishes, apply sealant and then all the peripheral stuff (wheels, metal, trim, windows, etc, etc, etc...) The bulk of that kind of job is the compounding. On a very rough car, say a 8-10 out of 10 on the "screwed up" scale, I can easily spend 12 hours. I don't think your car is that bad (again, I might be wrong). I mean, are we talking this:

http://****************/pics/jetta010108/

or this:

http://****************/pics/xtype042708/

?

My guess is the second, or maybe not even that bad. I guess what I am saying is that unless your car is seriously marred, with lots of deep scratches and chips, 16 hours is just a really long time to fix the kind of damage I think you have. Do you have any pictures of your car in the sunlight, or pics of the chip/scratches?

As an aside, a few things you said concern me. You said everyone has swirls so you aren't worried about them? When you're doing this kind of detail, honestly, swirl removal is 95% of the final outcome. You know that super wet/deep look you're after? That's swirl free paint. Worry more about that than the deeper scratches; trust me, that's what really detracts from your cars appearance. And if you do get a detail done, do your damnedest not to get swirls again; because you'll just throwing money at the car again a year from now.

Oh, one last thing. FWIW, if I was having someone detail my car, and I had any sort of paint damage (swirls, scratches, chips, etc..) I would be more concerned if they were working by hand than by machine. A machine is all but a requirement when doing paint repair.

[satakal]

Now that I'm posting this, I feel like its worse in my mind than it is in reality.
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[shimshimhada]

16 hours for THAT!? Hey, pay for my plane ticket out to Cali, I'll do your car for $400.

[just4kickz]

Originally Posted by SLV335I

You’re crazy. That's terrible advice. Someone not knowing what they’re doing can make it much worse. If you don't know what you’re doing leave to someone who does. It’s not just a Sunday afternoon washing and waxing your car. He needs professional work.

dont think he read the entire thread...

[328i]

After seeing the pics, I have to say that 16 hours is too excessive. I would say 8 hours for a pro would be fair, but your paint isn't trashed enough for a 16 hour detail to be necessary. I think you could fly many competent detailers out for you and have them do your car for less and still be under $1200.

Originally Posted by Raja Ventureshield

all depends on what is getting done.
I have a 850$ detail coming my way in a week that will need about 15 hours worth of work. All work is going to be done by hand (not machine). Also depends on what kind of wax goes on the car, how much cleaning is going to go into interior etc.

Honestly, to answer your question without pix just isn't fair IMHO.

IMHO you charging your client for 15 hours of work isn't fair, because working with a machine you can achieve better results working in half the time.

[theDude]

Originally Posted by satakal

Now that I'm posting this, I feel like its worse in my mind than it is in reality.

I'm afraid I have to concur with your assessment. Seriously, you could pay a decent detailer 300 bucks and make 98% of that go away. If the guy has never seen your car (and you made it sound much worse than it is), I can understand their quote...otherwise he's just ripping you off.

As far as your first question goes, I do think that in some cases a $1200 detail is fair.

However, in your case I'd pay for a $300 detail tops.

Just my opinion...

[328i]

Originally Posted by theDude

I'm afraid I have to concur with your assessment. Seriously, you could pay a decent detailer 300 bucks and make 98% of that go away. If the guy has never seen your car (and you made it sound much worse than it is), I can understand their quote...otherwise he's just ripping you off.

As far as your first question goes, I do think that in some cases a $1200 detail is fair.

However, in your case I'd pay for a $300 detail tops.

Just my opinion...

I'm going to have to disagree, for wet sanding and chip repair, $300 is an unfair price. However, charging more than 6-700 is a little unfair.

[FMINUS]

Whats wrong w a $1200 detail?

[J-Sud]

Originally Posted by FMINUS

Whats wrong w a $1200 detail?

i knew you would say that

[shimshimhada]

I once posted an ad on Craigslist for a $5,000 detail. Just for kicks of course.