New car dealer valet?

EssexExile

Oh, for heaven's sake, It's a car. It didn't come out of the factory perfect, it will never be perfect. It's a car, it gets more dirt & grime on it every day. If you clean it meticulously it will be dirty again within hours.

Iceweasel

EssexExile wrote: »

Oh, for heaven's sake, It's a car. It didn't come out of the factory perfect, it will never be perfect. It's a car, it gets more dirt & grime on it every day. If you clean it meticulously it will be dirty again within hours.

You could say exactly the same about polishing your shoes, washing your clothes - or perhaps even washing your hands.

You may be right - why bother doing anything to a high standard?

Ah, wait - maybe there are some people who like things to be maintained to a high standard of cleanliness.

They may also think it looks good - and for many such people it's like a hobby - perhaps an alternative to having a pretty garden full of flowers and a manicured lawn.

Each to his own.

I like to have clean wheels - but I don't dare to criticise those who don't.

neilmcl

EssexExile wrote: »

Oh, for heaven's sake, It's a car. It didn't come out of the factory perfect, it will never be perfect. It's a car, it gets more dirt & grime on it every day. If you clean it meticulously it will be dirty again within hours.

It's like with most things, the better you look after it the longer it's likely to last and if you ever to to sell on then it's obvious the better the condition the more likely it is to beat the competition. Also, I don't agree with your statement "it will never be perfect", getting it professionally detailed at the right place and that is pretty much what you'll get.

bowlhead99

Iceweasel wrote: »

I like to have clean wheels - but I don't dare to criticise those who don't.

Same. The below pic was after the refurb and colour change I mentioned on another thread today.


To the OP, if the car is brand new you should expect the interior to be in perfect clean condition. But simply being clean on day 1 won't stop you accidentally spilling something on day 2, or your blue jeans rubbing off some colour into your pristine light -colour leather seats over time. So you might want to treat the interior trim, seats, carpets dash etc with protection products (I like Gtechniq's range if doing it myself). If the dealer is willing to do that for free or at a reasonable price with their own stuff, it will save you some elbow grease and there is not much they could mess up.

However the outside is a different matter if you are meticulous about the finish of your car. There will be some road film to remove from transport/delivery and you'd probably expect them to wash it off and maybe stick some liquid wax on it as standard, before getting into the realms of proper expensive protection products which they might make available as optional extras. If you did want those optional extras you're probably better getting done by an expert detailer instead as mentioned above, or by yourself if you're a M.S.E or actually enjoy spending the time on it to get it right.

The problem is that at a busy dealership the job of giving it a wash n polish or wax will be given to their cheapest person who has to get x of them done in an hour, or to the local £5 hand car wash place round the corner. That is a recipe for swirls and micro-scratches in the paintwork before you even have a chance to put on any decent wax or coating. Generally if I take my car in for a dealer service I ask them not to give it a courtesy wash, I would rather do it myself and do it right. But as you can see from the posts above, others feel differently.

force_ten

EssexExile wrote: »

Oh, for heaven's sake, It's a car. It didn't come out of the factory perfect, it will never be perfect. It's a car, it gets more dirt & grime on it every day. If you clean it meticulously it will be dirty again within hours.

some people are happy to drive around in a £500.00 banger that has never seen any polish in the last ten years and some people take pride in what they drive, for some people a car is their second biggest purchase after their house

if somebody is in the fortunate position where they are able to spend thirty thousand pounds or more on a new car then good on them, if you are in that position you are still going to try and work out the best deal on that car and secure a discount off the list price it is still money saving just on a larger scale

when you get your car some people are happy to drive around in it and do nothing to it and in no time at all it looks like a 10 year old banger due to neglect, and as ice said some people take pride in their appearance and keeping a car clean and in nice condition, I came from a biggish family and anything we got would not be replaced if broken or damaged so i was brought up to respect my personal possessions and for me this includes my car