# Valeting at Sainsburys Carpark.



## Mirror Finish Details (Aug 21, 2008)

We went to pick up the new Disco this afternoon and popped into Sainsburys at Cheadle Royal, Stockport.

As we were getting a trolley a east european guy askes if we want our car washing for a fiver.

On the way back to the car I snapped the little set up they use and watched one at work. Plus the wifes new Discovery behind it, well 3 years old 3.0 TDIV6 Auto.

Basically they spray the car with something, wash over the car with a sponge, spray something else on the car and use a leather to dry off. They then did the wheels. All the time using the same water butt that they have in their little trolleys and there must have been about 15 of them there.

There was a guy going round filling their trolleys up with water, so I reckon they use the same dirty water all day.

Picture of the little trolleys they use.










To say I was horrified is an understatement, the scratches and swirls on the car next to us were horrendous and that was a 59 plate A4.

They do have a web site saying they are doing environmental washing, but a very poor wash method.


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## wrxmania (Apr 15, 2007)

You should have taken that trolley with you to get your shopping and saved some cars paintwork!


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## -tom- (Jan 27, 2009)

thats is shocking


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## tony2 (Jan 31, 2010)

For a fiver what do you expect its horses for courses!!


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## magpieV6 (Jul 29, 2008)

people love em though


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## 3dr (Mar 1, 2008)

i thought the older disco's were 2.7 not 3.0? yep yours is a 2.7 mate.


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## tuggers (Mar 18, 2009)

wonder what they use?? What do we reckon, tfr on wipe off quick detailer on wipe off, job done!! Should be banned!! When i think off the hours and graft i put in to make my customers cars look the way they do!! 

People who pay for these deserve all the swirl marks and scratches they get!!


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## 3dr (Mar 1, 2008)

without people like these there wouldn't be as many swirly cars to detail remember...........


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## tuggers (Mar 18, 2009)

3dr said:


> without people like these there wouldn't be as many swirly cars to detail remember...........


A fair point,


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

On a warmer day, at our local Sanys, they dry out their cloths by laying them on the little prickly bushes that line the roads!


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## Mirror Finish Details (Aug 21, 2008)

tuggers said:


> wonder what they use?? What do we reckon, tfr on wipe off quick detailer on wipe off, job done!! Should be banned!! When i think off the hours and graft i put in to make my customers cars look the way they do!!
> 
> People who pay for these deserve all the swirl marks and scratches they get!!


About 15 minutes top is what they did, and they were bloody busy.

So one guy makes the company £20 an hour and there were about 15 of them so thats £300 an hour times say a 9 hour working day is £2700.00 less 15 people at minimum wage say £6 an hour would be £810.00 labour so the owner is netting £1890.00 a day before other costs.

Hmmm, could I do something better and make £2k a day??


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## tuggers (Mar 18, 2009)

Mirror Finish said:


> About 15 minutes top is what they did, and they were bloody busy.
> 
> So one guy makes the company £20 an hour and there were about 15 of them so thats £300 an hour times say a 9 hour working day is £2700.00 less 15 people at minimum wage say £6 an hour would be £810.00 labour so the owner is netting £1890.00 a day before other costs.
> 
> Hmmm, could I do something better and make £2k a day??


Fancy going into buisness together lol?? Im sure we could get better results in the same time and retire in a couple of years!!:thumb:


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## Ross08 (Apr 8, 2008)

That's horrendous, but it's creating business for us all 

Really though, anybody going to this car wash deserves all they get.


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## BIG BAVARIAN (May 7, 2006)

A somewhat overpriced service there ,round here the indy petrol station has,two guys commencing with a snow foam,high power rinse,two bucket handwash (one each , i may add ) drive through a steel gazebo type framework with trumpet shaped air blowers,with a finish residual towel dab dry !!,all for the princely sum of £3. extra includes full interior vac for another £3.

....... Although the Arc brush wash , is fighting back three hundred yds away, with the basic wash,rinse and blow dry,for £1.99 .


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## Guest (Feb 19, 2010)

great place to tout for business! You can pull the customers aside after they've had their car washed and show them the damage to their paintwork!


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## adam87 (Dec 11, 2008)

No one noticed the black sponge? lol

I snapped some AG products on one of these trollys for one of the AG comps. The guy enquired about the AG stuff asking if it was good. Fair enough they don't do a good job and I'd rather they wern't here but he was doing the best with what he had. Thats a lot of money though in one day!


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## Lloyd71 (Aug 21, 2008)

Most people really aren't bothered though. I've seen all sorts at washes like this getting swirled to death, even an Aston Martin. For most people if it looks clean that's good enough. I do enjoy seeing the looks on their faces as I drive past in my recently cleaned car though.


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## m0bov (May 2, 2007)

99% of people just want a clean car with min of fuss, so whilst they do their shopping they know their car is being cleaned. A lot of the big town centre car parks around here have the same thing going on. Its often been said on here that many don't notice or are not bothered with swirles, its just "normal".


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## justina3 (Jan 11, 2008)

just had a thought whilst we all sit here point and laugh how many of us are earning 2k a day !!!!!!!!!!! lets say he has a quiet week and only does half what he normally does thats stll possibly 7k a week


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## who45 (Feb 8, 2008)

the kind of people that pay a fiver for these cleans are the lazy people who rarely clean there car and dont care - remember the lazy joe public isnt as anal as we are about cleaning and never understand why people like us go to so many extremes and procedures when we spend half a day every week doing a good clean.

it only reflects 3 years down the line and they get bottom price for selling and we get top price - thats when they understand the point of looking after a car


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## ScoobyDan (Aug 26, 2006)

who45 said:


> the kind of people that pay a fiver for these cleans are the lazy people who rarely clean there car and dont care - remember the lazy joe public isnt as anal as we are about cleaning and never understand why people like us go to so many extremes and procedures when we spend half a day every week doing a good clean.
> 
> it only reflects 3 years down the line and they get bottom price for selling and we get top price - thats when they understand the point of looking after a car


If only that were true though ! Selling privately maybe, but when it comes to trading in at a dealer they are only interested in the price in the book


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## westerman (Oct 12, 2008)

My old late Mum used to say " you can tell a man by his shoes". Maybe how a person cleans their car says a lot about them too!


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## m0bov (May 2, 2007)

I struggled to sell my Mazda 6 even though it was mint. Its only gonna fetch what the person buying is prepered to pay. For many a car is just a car and that's it.


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## jimbojones666 (Apr 7, 2009)

ScoobyDan said:


> If only that were true though ! Selling privately maybe, but when it comes to trading in at a dealer they are only interested in the price in the book


I've just fallen foul of this with my wife's corsa, £400 measly quid, true it's 11 years old, but when I think of the hours I've spent cleaning and polishing it :doublesho

Oh, and the eastern european trolly washing guy at my tesco uses the same black sponge on EVERY car. I watched out the cafe window one time when I was having a breakfast.


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## ryanuk (Jun 22, 2007)

yeah they are shocking we have them round here.

BUT there making good money,and thats what business is about so fair play to them.


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## Perfection Detailing (Nov 3, 2007)

Yeah we have them at our local tesco with the same set up, shocking.

Cheeky bleeders ask me if I wanted the works van washing, er no thanks...


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## Stevie---Boy (Mar 21, 2009)

They provide a service that people want and i can't believe sometimes how busy they are, up my way they are in the big shopping centre car parks and always busy. I bet they give a fair bit to the operators of the centres though so will need to be busy to cover costs.


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## Guest (Feb 21, 2010)

As above.

They provide a service people want, much like the supermarket does.


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## uruk hai (Apr 5, 2009)

I'd never let them touch my car but they have found a gap in the market, a lot of people cant be bothered to wash the car themselves and dont want to pay very much to anyone else to do it !


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## chillly (Jun 25, 2009)

Most people do not see the damage these kind of washing methods do. And most dont care :doublesho. A mate of mine puts his through car washes and hand washes, until i did a 50/50 on his wing. He has now spent over £200 on cleaning products :lol:  Another one now in the DW Gang


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## Leemack (Mar 6, 2009)

My grand dads the same though. I have sat time after time explaining things to him as he is a retired engineer and loves gadgets and how things work but when it comes to looking after his new cars he is straight to the £3 kosovan wash up the road.

He is over 70 now and i wouldn't want him trying to clean the cars because he might hurt himself but ive told him id go round every week for the fee of a cuppa and a chat.

I suppose if people see their car clean then they don't care how it got to be clean and not many people who don't use this site even know what a swirl mark is.


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## Doc (Feb 2, 2008)

Horses for courses, surely this is better for your business when the new owner wants them sorting out?


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## RandomlySet (Jul 10, 2007)

Mirror Finish said:


> We went to pick up the new Disco this afternoon and popped into Sainsburys at Cheadle Royal, Stockport.
> 
> As we were getting a trolley a east european guy askes if we want our car washing for a fiver.
> 
> ...


Hope you left them a leaflet!

The local handwash near us used to have a 58 reg mondeo parked near the exit (think it was the oweners). Sun caught it once and yes, i looked clean and shiney. You could also see the swrils and bad case of hologramming!

And to think Joe Bloggs would be happy with that! I know "Joe Bloggs" doesn't know or care about swirls, but the hologramming etc was clearly visable!


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## Leemack (Mar 6, 2009)

The more of these that go around damaging peoples paint means more work for the detailers of the UK.


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## DiscoTD5 (Feb 12, 2010)

My friends brother used to pop to where i worked on a Saturday and washed my car using my gear for a £5. He got that good he ended up buying his own gear & working his way down the high street, he earnt a fortune.... Thats the only £5 i'd spend on a wash!!!


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## RandomlySet (Jul 10, 2007)

westerman said:


> My old late Mum used to say " you can tell a man by his shoes". Maybe how a person cleans their car says a lot about them too!


Indeed! I remember about 5 years ago before I was "into" detailing, my neighbour used to ask why I was always cleaning the car! My theory was you dress nice when you go out because appearance is everything! Well, the car is the first thing people see. So that needed to look as good as I did


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## RandomlySet (Jul 10, 2007)

The companies website

http://www.hands-ongroup.co.uk/index.html

according to this, Rick Plowman developed a "secret recipe"
http://grocerytrader.co.uk/?p=4782

Recipe maybe water + daisy


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## RandomlySet (Jul 10, 2007)

looking for how much Rick Plowman is worth 

Anyone know?


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## Franco50 (Feb 5, 2008)

m0bov said:


> Its often been said on here that many don't notice or are not bothered with swirles, its just "normal".


That's it in a nutshell. Most folk don't care if they have swirls (they don't even realise what they are anyway) as long as the car looks clean. I work with a guy who has just bought a brand new black TT and I commented the other day how clean it was looking and he said he'd just put it through the local jetwash using their foam brush! He couldn't fathom out why I was grimacing!  I tried to explain how cars get swirls and he said "but I thought that was why they put lacquer on top of the paint to prevent that". :wall:


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## RandomlySet (Jul 10, 2007)

I always seem to think that most people think swirls are a natural part of any car. As though they think it's the "grain" of the metal, like the grain on a piece of wood


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## RandomlySet (Jul 10, 2007)

Franco50 said:


> That's it in a nutshell. Most folk don't care if they have swirls (they don't even realise what they are anyway) as long as the car looks clean. I work with a guy who has just bought a brand new black TT and I commented the other day how clean it was looking and he said he'd just put it through the local jetwash using their foam brush! He couldn't fathom out why I was grimacing!  I tried to explain how cars get swirls and he said *"but I thought that was why they put lacquer on top of the paint to prevent that". *:wall:


:lol:


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## HermaN (Dec 30, 2008)

I remember parking in a shopping centre multi-story that had a bunch of these guys going round washing cars. I had just washed, de-tarred, clayed, machine polished & waxed my car about 2 days earlier, and the guy had the cheek to ask if I wanted my car cleaned! It was the cleanest car in the damn place!

I just politely said no and went to do what I had originally planned. Wouldn't trust these guys washing me neices bike, nevermind my car.


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## TurbochargedJJ (Dec 10, 2009)

had my car serviced by a main dealer and when I went to pick it up he said oh they're just washing it now... (I always take in my car clean if it's having any work done as i feel if the car is dirty there's more hands on the car doing a job it's just going to scratch the paint)... anyway...when the car arrived around the corner it was dirtier than when it went in! took it straight home and did it again properly...

the next year when it went in for service I said don't bother cleaning it before he even had chance to ask.... lol


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## Danno1975 (Mar 30, 2009)

Nice Disco.


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## alan_mcc (Oct 28, 2008)

Alright, fully corrected car. Taped to two halves, one big line of tape down the middle.

Profiessional Detailer vs. Hands On, most swirls loses


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## R1KK1 BFG (Jun 17, 2009)

They had these in Grimby when i went down a few weeks ago


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## Alex_225 (Feb 7, 2008)

BIG BAVARIAN said:


> ....... Although the Arc brush wash , is fighting back three hundred yds away, with the basic wash,rinse and blow dry,for £1.99 .


I will confess I took my 2nd car and my Clio 172 to an Arc car wash regularly and although I'm sure they were both swirled. They were always clean and actuallly never looked bad and didn't fall to pieces because of it! :lol:

Thing is we all know cars get swirled, even our cars get swirled when we wash them extra carefully. All these car washes are cheap, the service they give is cheap. But lets face it, it's no worse than a lot of people who wash with a bucket and sponge anyway.

Swirls are swirls, we get rid of them, try to prevent them but for most they come back. It's only cosmetic so just got to do our best. These places give you a clean car so as sh!t as we know they are, nevermind.

I bet you, all of the cars on here bought second hand that now look amazing have been through numerous car washes or these hand car washes. :doublesho scary thought when you consider how careful we are with our cars.

By the way, this is my second car. Through an Arc £5 wash every week, even got a bit of wax on it at the end of the wash. :lol::lol: Apart from the swirls it undoubtedly had, it looked pretty good haha.










This is what most people see when they think a clean car. Ignorance is bliss but then again don't forget we've all got OCD! Me included.


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