My vehicle is new. Does it need to be detailed?

We frequently receive phone calls from customers who have recently purchased a new vehicle. When asked what detail service they would like, they often reply “well, it’s a brand new car so it doesn’t need much”. Unfortunately that statement often proves to be a bit off base.

Just because your vehicle is new doesn’t necessarily mean the paint finish is flawless. Often times when a vehicle leaves the factory there are many paint imperfections that are missed by quality control personnel. Some of these imperfections are dirt specks, run lines, wet sanding marks, pig tails from a D/A sander, and holograms from improper polishing techniques.

If the new vehicle is shipped from out of state or travels by train it can be subject to many contaminants along the way with no protection. Then when it arrives at the car dealership many times the vehicle is washed improperly by inexperienced lot attendants causing scratches and swirl marks in the clear coat. One tiny grain of sand in their wash bucket that’s not frequently cleaned can easily scratch up new cars finish. Ideally before you take delivery ask them not to wash your vehicle.

Another important issue to be aware of is that dealers frequently roll high markup paint protection into the total vehicle price to obscure actual costs. While they may market it as a “convenient bundle,” it is often a profit-padding tactic. They may also casually present it as “already applied” to make it feel non-negotiable. 

Here is how the dealership tactic works:

Inflated Margins: Dealerships frequently charge $800 to $1500.00 for paint sealant that cost them as little as $20.00 to $50.00 in product or labor. 

Financing Trick: Rolling the protection into the Out-The-Door (OTD) price conceals the steep markup by spreading a few hundred dollars over a muti-year auto loan, making the added cost feel insignificant on the monthly payment. 

The Quality Trap: Dealerships typically use cheaper paid lot attendants to apply basic sealants rather than employing specialized, multi-stage paint correction used by dedicated detailing shops. These dealer-applied products are rarely genuine, long-lasting ceramic coatings. 

How to handle Dealer Protection Offerings:

Negotiate or refuse: Never assume an add-on is mandatory. Tell the dealer to remove the charge and the product, and be prepared to walk away if they refuse to budge. 

Compare Third-Party Options: For a superior product, you can hire a professional detailer to apply a high-quality ceramic coating. Researching local detail shops often gets you far better protection for a similar or lower price than the dealers ODT markup. 

Read the Fine Print: If they already applied the sealant to the vehicle and they refuse to remove it, you can demand that they discount the price of the car to offset the cost of the paint protection. Happy Car Shopping! 

Here is how our New Car Detailing service works. Just schedule an appointment for an exterior detail. First we will gently wash your vehicle, then we will put it under our lights and start our quality control inspection. If we find any paint imperfections, we will recommend adding a few hours of paint correction and a ceramic coating application. If the paint is in good shape we will recommend our exterior detail which includes a light polish and our super hydrophobic in-house paint sealant. You have the option to add a ceramic coating application if you like, but it’s not forced upon you. After you choose what a protection product we can maintain your vehicle’s paint finish moving forward. 

 

We offer new car protection services at a fraction of what the dealers charge and the ceramic coating’s we offer are carefully chosen well known brands, tested on our own vehicle’s and are very durable compared to the cost effective products used by the dealer. Often times dealerships will offer a “lifetime paint sealant” and say if you purchase this you will never have to apply a sealant again. 

These so called lifetime paint sealant packages are usually accompanied by warranties, unfortunately most consumers do not realize that these warranties require you to have the paint sealant applied every six months to a year and prohibit you from polishing your vehicle. 

Because customers rarely, if ever, return to have the said paint sealant applied. This is easy money for the dealers. We have customers come into our establishment frequently and say “but I purchased a lifetime paint sealant from the dealership, why does my paint look so bad?”

This is because they are often left with the false expectation that a “paint protection program” will mitigate paint damage from road contaminants, scratches, swirls mark, bird droppings, tree sap, acid rain and washing your car abrasively using a brush or automatic car washes in some way and this is simply not true. 

This idea of a paint sealant that will protect your vehicles paintwork forever is a great one and we wish it were true, but unfortunately there is no such product on the market.

However there are ceramic coatings that can last for several years with regular maintenance. We offer one, three and five year ceramic coating applications and maintenance services to keep your ceramic coating last and stay very hydrophobic for a long time. Part of our service includes sending you the ceramic coating maintenance wash product links to you via email and giving you some tips on how to maintain your vehicle’s finish at home as well. 

We know you’re proud of your new car. Protect your investment with our ceramic coatings for exterior paint, wheels, fabric and glass.

Recent photos of a new Lexus getting our exclusive New Car Detail.