got my car back from Detailing Dynamics

Coupe has a back seat and it is pretty good.

 

FYI $750 may be a bargin. In preparation for Pebble I've known people who have spent 10-20K for a detail. True.

 

jim that's called spit shine for 10K!

 

Jim,

Mine was in preperation for ROE!! Its Pebble on a "small scale".
By the way, the coupe does have a nice back seat. I sat in one for about 1/2 hour. Wasn't bad at all.

 

whats his name?

Sorry!

 

I don't understand the question.

 

I don't post much over here but I wanted to check out the LRP photos and saw this thread which blew me away.
Now I don't know the guys at DD and I've never been to their shop but I can tell you that they probably aren't some guys working out of the back of their station wagon. People need to realize that the cost of doing business plays a big part in what a business charges for their services. Think about these the next time you feel a business overcharged you for a service:

Rent or Mortgage
Personnel - payrol wages, workmans comp., hospitalization, etc...
Supplies
Equipment
Electricity
Heat/AC
Water
Insurance
Corporation Taxes and fees
Property Taxes
Advertising
Security
Computers/Office Equipment
Etc...

That being said, I guarantee you that they don't make a ton of profit even on their most expensive job. To give you an idea, my detail guy (who does work out of the back of his station wagon) uses my shop and power and I even buy him lunch and dinner, charges $400-$500 for just the exterior.

My guess is that these guys (DD) genuinly love what they do and wanted to make a business out of it because they're good at it. The main thing is that everyone seems to be thrilled with the job they have been doing... if I was in L.I. I would be using them for sure.

 

Gary, you are right. All businesses have overhead...and you can charge what the market will allow...

In my mind I am still shocked at the value society and ferrari owners place on a detail...

$400 for a guy who works out of a van?
$700+ for a shop?

Hell, everyone has to make there own value judgment... I just think I'm in the wrong field. Perhaps I need to buy a van, and learn how to detail. Assuming this is a cash business, and I made 400$/day...thats more than most doc's make. Probably more than most anyone makes (120k$ per year tax free)... Hell, assume they pay taxes, you are still making a killing!

In this framework, doesn't 400-740 to detail a fricken car seem high? Like really HIGH? Especially for the mobile guys:

required formal education - zilch
overhead - almost zilch
liability - zilch (just close up shop)
risk to life/limb (zilch)

Who was the first guy to allow himself to be charged more than 50$ to wash his car and detail it...

And yes - I am anticipating the replies already:

1) They do amazing work...like great steak .
2) These guys aren't just car washers

I get it. So, am I allowed to be envious? I want my kids to grow up to be detailers .

 

I don't pay that kind of money for detailing, as i detail my own cars... but for the among of work involved to do an good job takes hours and in this weather i would think twice if someone asked me to detail their car for $400....got to remember this is still manual labor most of the f-car owners do not stand for.....


That being said, best way to do it is hire day labors for $150 a day and u sit in the car under the shade and have him do all the work while you get paid $400 or $700

 

bpu- Yup, all good points. As for my guy, he's a school teacher that does it on the side... you should see him, he practically makes love to the car. He's the biggest car enthusiast I know. A typical detail takes 12-14 hours (I admit, he's not the fastest moving guy on the planet) where he does a three or four step process and washes the car in between each step. It takes about a half an hour just to tape up the creases, emblems, and high spots so that the buffer cannot burn the paint. Believe me, I realize it's a lot of money to spend on the car and that's why I'll only do it once a year but after he's done it looks amazing and the products he uses seem to hold up for some time which never really happened when I did it myself.
I also realize it's a lot of money to pay a guy with very little overhead but I'm stuck because I trust his work and I don't know anyone else locally.

 

WOW. 12 hours to detail a car. Well, that would explain some of the pricing...

 

ringmeister, i do think DD does phenomonal work. however, my issue is with them is ETHICS. I'm turned off by the pushy sales to push me do the whole wax job even after I told them that I'm selling my car and the car is going to FLI for PPI. Then they told me that they discovered swirls and scratchs on the roof of my 550 (which I never found...maybe I'm getting old).

After I declined the wax job, I see an extra fuel charge appearing on the bill when I arrived. Again we're not talking about a merely 3-4 gallons to make sure I have enough gas, but $38 for less than 3/4 tank of fuel?!! (Not to mention I know I still had a few gallons left in the tank when I dropped my car off in Vegas).

I have NEVER being a critic of their workmanship, however, I will NEVER do business nor will I ever recommend my friends to do business with a shop that lacks ethics and integrity.

For a lousy few bucks on fuel, they have lost me as a customer forever not to mention referral business.

They are aware of my unhappiness of this on day one; and had plenty time to either make it right or to clarify the "misunderstanding". Instead as the shrew business people they are, they have the audacity to share my PRIVATE receipt with another fellow member of the f-chat to "clear" their name, b/c I said $50 for fuel (honesty mistake) instead of $38.

Anyway, sorry to be a broken record on this again. I know they do financial "favors" for some members so certain members have vested interest in saying good things about them. But you know what, my interest is in the welfare of the fellow customers; again I do think they do a great detailing job, sadly, DD does a much better job repairing the paint blemishes on a customer's car than the blemish on their reputation.

 

I think the company is extremely over-priced disrespectful and slow. Upon receipt of the 360 that I was picking up there was a 12-16 inch crack in the windshield right in the drivers view. They indicated it started as a very small (obviously not noticable) crack in the windshield which once they applied heat grew to where it was when I picked it up. I believe our bill reflected $600 for the paint "reconditioning" or whatever term they use for detailing...which is astronomical by my standards. We had the seats reconditioned on the car to which I was told if I want them to look good I as well as all other occupants of the car would have to first slide the seat all the way back, then get in, then re-adjust the seat. Needless to say that wasn't gonna happen and the bolster "recondioning" showed noticable wear within 2 days. Also when I say slow, I can only refer to work which I witness, which in this case was them putting a freshly painted front bumper on the car. Which I have taken off and put on several times in 20-30 min, it took the team of 3 or so guys about 2.5 hours to get it on and sort of lined up correctly.
The last vent I have is with the one particular guy who was I believe either the owner or manager, but first thing that happens whan i walk in the door is he backs my car into the bay and wings it to redline a few times on a cold motor to hear the exhaust echo in the building. I was shocked by this, then he proceeded to make comments and jokes which he should not have made, along the lines of things you would hear from life long friends, not a guy who met you 5 min ago. He also bad mouthed the workmanship of anything having to do with the car, including the freshly painted bumper which was painted without the car and matched great, and the bumper wrap which was professionally done by Technik 1. Anyway its an experience I wont soon forget and wouldn't recomend the company to anyone. In their defense the paint did come out very well, but I could get the same exterrior detail for $150-$200 anywhere else.

For the record these are my personal views and do not reflect that of Gotham Dream Cars LLC.

-Rob

 

You pay for what you get. I may not agree with John Chen and his posting of John Li's receipt, but I have had great experience with Detailing Dynamics. They have gone above and beyond their way to take care of me and my brother as well as other customers. Eddie and Matt are stand-up guys who love what they do (They know alot more about Ferraris and how to take care of them than most people, including us.) We trust them with all our cars and will contine to use their shop. I think this is all a big misunderstanding that got out of hand.

Regards,
Henry

 

Agree 100%. They installed 3M on five cars for me and done numerous details/ minor paint fixes and I trust no-one else. Beside's the dealer I would NEVER think of leaving a vehicle with anyone else. The last 2 cars I bought, I told the dealers not to prep and I drove them off the lot directly to Detailing Dynamics for 3M and detailing. I don't know the whole story of what went on with the other poster but will tell you Matt & Eddie are EXTREMELY fair in price for the QUALITY of work they perform. I'm nuts when it comes to detailing/ care care. Before I found these guys for 3M I always did the detailing myself. They're the ONLY place I found that I felt could do a better job then myself and the ONLY place I would recommend to friends.. I've sent both family and friends to them for detailing & 3M and they've been very, very happy.

ps: I've yet to see a 3M install that is anything CLOSE to what you get at their place. They're ARTIST'S.

 

1) I have seen the GDC 360 sitting in DD after it was detailed, the car looked BRAND NEW. I did not believe it was GDC car, cuz I thought no way a beat-up rental with that kind of mileage will look NEW like that.
If you can achive the exact same result somewhere else for $150-$200, let us know where.

2) I know shiet about reconditioning seats. If they say do not rub it(so u pull all the way back and sit in then pull forward), then do not rub it. If you do, then do not complain it's worn again. Either follow their advise and hold them responsible, or do what you wish and STFU.

3) Saw them putting on JC's rear bumper on the silver 360 in 20 mins. Maybe front takes much longer, I will not know. but find the 3 people 2.5 hr a bit hard to believe.

4) You probably met Eddie, he is a joker, means no harm.
You might meet a girl and bang her the same day, some people might wait a week before getting down to business. Same thing, some people will crack jokes with strangers, some will not.

 

A. STFU was an unnecessary term to use. You dont get a car back from a major service and say if you rev the car past 3000 rpm you'll break your motor.

B. Kenny and I were sitting there for 2 hours as the bumper went on then was adjusted incorrectly making us late for a 7 pm drop off.

C. joking around in a friends circle is one thing, business relationships are different. Not saying Eddie is a bad guy, just made comments that were in-appropriate and of bad judgement. I too consider myself a joker, but have a different demeanor infront of clients then when in front of friends or abck at the frat house.

 

Sadly, as much as I'd like to disagree w/ Rob, I can't.. He's spot on.. Too late to post in detail but everything Rob has said is more or less 100% accurate.

 

Hi Guys. I know I am a rookie here, but I felt I had to make a post. My brother worked in a professional detail operation that worked on several F-cars, Lambo's, Aston Martin's, Porsche's, Bimmer's & Mercedes. He has been detailing for 8 years. He runs his own detailing operation as a side jobnow on the weekends. I let him read this thread to get his opinion and he got so worked up he insisted I let him post his reply. Here Goes....(NOT a business promotion, just an opinion. sorry for length!!!)

mike: hey guys,

after reading the material in this thread i'm shocked and stunned.

$200 washes, $750 details... if i tried to push these prices on my customers they would laugh in my face. it's unreasonable and, quite frankly, a rip off.
this is just my view of the situation and you can take it for what it's worth. (.02) i'm just trying to help you guys out and maybe save you some money. a "normal" full detail in this area goes anywhere from $150 - $250. at least, that is what we charge for a full interior and exterior ($150... 15% more for suv's).

we have worked on lamborghini's, porsche's, bmw's (mainly) and mercedes benz. we have a ferrari 360 spider lined up along with an aston martin db9 within the next few weeks.i'm attaching links to our work to show that you can get a perfect detail without spending a fortune. (see below)

now i will give my opinion on dd, and please take this with a grain of salt. a few points that i find wrong with this shop are:

1. removing bumpers for the sole purpose of a detail.
2. removing badging and emblems just to lay wax down on a section of paint that will never see the light of day.
3. treatment of the car (nailing the throttle while the car is in idle)
4. a gas charge??!!!!

1. removing bumpers is very tricky and should only be handled by the dealership if the car has damage. to take a bumper off just for detailing can cause more harm then good to any car! imagine driving at a 40, 60, 80, or even a 120mph clip and it falls off because they did a poor job putting it back on. you certainly can't demand the repair and reimbursement like you can if it was the dealership that messed it up.

2. from personal experience, taking badging off is a very delicate process. imagine taking the badging off a 348. over the time it came from the factory to the time it was ripped off, there will be an outline of the letters/numbers along with adhesive that will be left behind. i know because i've debadged all my cars ranging from a '92 bmw e34 525i to a '95 bmw e36 m3. it takes time to rub the left over adhesive off and compound/polish wax over the area so the paint blends and matches the rest of the car. i find it very strange that they would put the badging back on AFTER applying wax. this does not only mean they have messed with the resale of the car (by removing something that was factory installed), but wax acts as a protective layer to the paint and clear coat. by trying to stick a badge back on, the adhesive will not stick as well to the paint because of that protective layer. i guess they would use a new badge from the dealer because the original would lose a lot of it's adhesive in the removal process. but there is still a risk of something happening.

3. i will not even comment on the statement that was made about the owner of dd redlining the car. not cool.

4. gas charge??!! its the cost of business.


without further commentary i will show pics of our work. it is possible to get a great detail for way under $750 from other shops too. (not just my operation)

before pics bmw z4:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/MP525i/Detailed%20To%20Perfection/Z4b.jpg
after pics bmw z4:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/MP525i/Detailed%20To%20Perfection/Z4d.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/MP525i/Detailed%20To%20Perfection/Z4f.jpg

lamborghini gallardo:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/MP525i/Detailed%20To%20Perfection/gallardob.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/MP525i/Detailed%20To%20Perfection/gallardoe.jpg

porsche 911 c4s:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/MP525i/Detailed%20To%20Perfection/4-9f.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/MP525i/Detailed%20To%20Perfection/4-9m.jpg

bmw m coupe:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/MP525i/Detailed%20To%20Perfection/dann.jpg

my 1995 avus blue m3:
*a great detail can be measured by the reflection*
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/MP525i/Avus%20Blue%20M3/6-14a.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/MP525i/Avus%20Blue%20M3/6-14g.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/MP525i/Avus%20Blue%20M3/6-5c.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/MP525i/Avus%20Blue%20M3/5-9j.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/MP525i/Avus%20Blue%20M3/5-9f.jpg

bmw m3 zcp:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/MP525i/Multiple%20Cars/3-26a.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/MP525i/Multiple%20Cars/3-26b.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/MP525i/Multiple%20Cars/3-26o.jpg

-mike
(-Mod, sorry for length!! -MP)

 

there are plenty of places that can do a detail job for $150-$250 and they are worth about that too.... pictures doesn't mean anything in regards to your level of detailing skill. I can take a picture of my just washed car and it will look like that...

 

Well, I obviously can't give an unbiased opinion of my brother's work, but I can say I have seen quality details from other shops too. (like the one he worked at before he did his own work) 2 days tops in the shop and you would be able to eat off any part of the car for a fee of $250. There have to be other quality shops out there that do the same. **BTW, close-up pictures illustrate a LOT about the quality of a detail. (You are more than welcome to come on over for a beer and a look for yourself so I can prove it to ya )**

 

that's some beautiful work for $150-250...

 

He is a professional, in business for 8 yrs, and he worked on SEVERAL ferrari's lambos?
detailing dynamics prolly works on few ferrari's PER DAY. i do not ever recall being in their shop and no seeing at least one ferrari.

not knocking on your brother, but do not knock on DD either.

very simple if u ask me:
everyone and their focking mom crying about "shiet i can do detailing or i know someone does that shiet for $200". look, if anyone can really do the same quality of job for 1/4 of the price, DD WILL NOT BE IN BUSINESS today, ok?
so instead of crying its expensive, do something about it, open a shop, show us your work, lets see how good you are and how much you charge.