Mobile detail to good to be true?

[PaulED30]

Hope this makes sense.... The company I work for was recently bought out by a bigger company which resulted in the works van had to be resprayed and new company's logos and all that stuff. Anyway work used a local mobile detailer/valeter to do inside and out for some reason, and one of the lads was saying how cheap it was to be done. He said £50 for wash, clay bar, machine polish, protection and inside valet. (I thought it was too cheap) but then a friend has moved to Australia and had to sell his TT, so he got the full detail done also, I only seen photos of his car when it was for sale but it looked very good and he said it was amazing how good it was. 

I am intrigued, could this be right? Or is it just someone who can come and clean a car and just so happens to have a machine polisher but doesn't know how to use it properly? Or could this be a genuine detailer who knows what they are doing?

[StuF]

£50 seems very cheap!

[Apollo]

Washed, polished and inside cleaned for £50 is not in any way detailing - It is a Valet with a machine polish added on. Bear in mind your average corner hand wash do similar for £30 less the machine polish its a fair price for what it is but it doesn't sound at all like a detail to me.

Did your friends TT get the same treatment as you say he got 'the full detail done'....?

Lastly if your mates car and the van looked good maybe the guy is handy with a polisher, either way i would want to see his work before letting him loose on my paintwork 

[PaulED30]

I'm not exactly sure what it consists of, all I know is it looked well 

I'm scared letting someone rinse my car off anyway (bit OCD). I will have to do a bit more research into what the service actually includes it might only be a quick clean and polish, I believe my friend said he got wash, clay bar, paint correction, a sealant and the inside done also. But then he sold the car within a couple of days so didn't get a chance to see how well it lasted or was done, also the works van is a works van so it's always filthy no matter what

I am not by any means going to fall into the trap of a low price (to get a sh*t service).

Do you think he could have been a DIY detailer and is just starting up his own mobile business hence the low price or is the price way to low?

( in my mind all the consumables must cost more than what I would be paying )

[xjay1337]

It costs about £40-50 to detail and correct a car in materials alone, not including the cost of the machine, premises, water, public liability insurance and what not.
I absolutely guarantee it will be terrible afterwards.
The amount of cars we see which have been "machine polished" by Dealers/Cowboys/Valeters who operate at the local garden center is beyond a joke.

Before I stopped doing private work I would charge around £120 for a decent correction, but that was mates rates and more because of how much I love detailing, it'd also be over a couple of days in most cases

These days it's not worth our time for less than around £300 for a Golf sized vehicle, special deals aside. I wouldn't even do a protection detail for £50 (which is a thorough decontamination of the paint, a glaze/light refinement with a cleanser polish and a wax).

Here's a BMW 5 series GT that came through which was machine polished by BMW as part of the preperation...

[Tortaruga]

I'd wager the buffer trails on that TT are horrendous. It is impossible to correct paintwork for £50 as a viable business. Impossible.

[PaulED30]

Thanks for the advice guys  .

Talked to another lad at work today who has had his S3 done by them and he's said that he was charged £100 for just a wash, clay bar and inside done which sound more realistic (he also highly recommends them). Can't think why my my friend was charged £50, it was definitely inside and out and paint correction  , anyway I now have a website for them and a phone number. How can I gauge if they offer a good service?

http://www.top-spec.co.uk

[xjay1337]

Most places which call themselves valeters aren't that good really with machine polishing............


http://www.pro-valets.co.uk/valet-locator/?postcode=TS17+6NE

All the places on here are insured, trusted and proven.

[PaulED30]

^Thanks for that^

[Shedboyzz]

Proper detailing takes hours...