[Samfromindia]

It was over a year that my go to Aquatint closed the Kharadi workshop. I was looking for some premium outlet to do wash n wax after the recent Gujarat trip. Its hard to get appointment @ 3M Kharadi on weekend and I am not very happy with their work either. https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/other...ml#post4402886 (Professional Car Detailing - 3M Car Care (Pune))

So decided to try out the relatively newly opened Turtle Wax Car Care Studio, located in Viman Nagar, near Phoenix Marketcity. Here are my experience :

https://www.turtlewax.in/find-a-studio/


What I liked :

+ Located right next to Phoenix Marketcity, on Nagar Road. Very good location on Pune east.
+ Getting appointment was a breeze. Called them up in last moment & still got a slot.
+ The studio is big & spacious, larger than most detailing studios I have been to.
+ Like 3M, they use their in house Turtle car care product for all services.
+ The staff is courteous. I happened to have a chat with the store owner who is a friendly & knowledgeable person.
+ The customer lounge is nice with a host of car care products on sale.
+ Not much upselling or pestering like some other places.
+ Overall a decent job done without wasting time.

What I didn't:

- Price is definitely on the higher side, more than 3M and Aquatint.
- Personally I found their services better than 3M, but I still love Aquatint and their attention to details more.

[EshanS]

Originally Posted by Samfromindia

So decided to try out the relatively newly opened Turtle Wax Car Care Studio, located in Viman Nagar, near Phoenix Marketcity.

Great! Saw the pricing, do they use a gun to hard wax polish on the panels separately post washing? Or its a part of wash and wax shampoo?

Looks good! Hoping if there is anything nearby Kothrud.

[Hamza123]

Unfortunately this place has shut down as well. It’s right next to Hyperion Superbikes which is my go to place for my bikes
Another denting painting workshop is opening up in its place last when I heard .

[Samfromindia]

Originally Posted by EshanS

Great! Saw the pricing, do they use a gun to hard wax polish on the panels separately post washing? Or its a part of wash and wax shampoo?

Looks good! Hoping if there is anything nearby Kothrud.

They used paste wax after wash. However they didn't prep the surface pre wax or used a sealant. Cannot expect much at this price. They clayed the windshield on my request though.

Originally Posted by Hamza123

Unfortunately this place has shut down as well. It’s right next to Hyperion Superbikes which is my go to place for my bikes
Another denting painting workshop is opening up in its place last when I heard .

Woah ! I visited this facility on 1st week of Jan and its not even 2 months. Hope they reopen in an alternative location.

[rakesh_r]

Originally Posted by Hamza123

Unfortunately this place has shut down as well. It’s right next to Hyperion Superbikes which is my go to place for my bikes
Another denting painting workshop is opening up in its place last when I heard .

I believe they were relocating to somewhere closer to the current location?

Update: New Location

[ohaak]

Roughtaar also has a Turtle Car Wax studio branch in Aundh, Pune that has been around for a while. Pricey, but good quality work done on my cars.

[Born 2 Be Wild]

Originally Posted by Hamza123

Unfortunately this place has shut down as well. It’s right next to Hyperion Superbikes which is my go to place for my bikes
Another denting painting workshop is opening up in its place last when I heard .

Rentals and overheads are the biggest killers in this industry! 1800/- for a wash and wax may seem expensive to most, however if one breaks down the costs involved, he might not have made 200/300 from the entire effort! Hence these shops shut or relocate to balance costs or just cut losses and move on.

[AJ56]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Be Wild

Rentals and overheads are the biggest killers in this industry! 1800/- for a wash and wax may seem expensive to most, however if one breaks down the costs involved, he might not have made 200/300 from the entire effort! Hence these shops shut or relocate to balance costs or just cut losses and move on.

Spot on, 1800 is underpriced assuming he’s in a prime location in a major city, his hourly cost of operation just to break even with all overheads + materials and labour will be around 1500, considering it takes around 2 hours+ for a wash and wax with interior cleaning, he needs to bill a minimum of 2500-3000 if he is to remain viable.

[R2D2]

This Nagar Rd branch seems to have shut down. Has it moved?

[Shubhendra]

Originally Posted by R2D2

This Nagar Rd branch seems to have shut down. Has it moved?

Its going reopen soon with a different name.

[Samfromindia]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Be Wild

1800/- for a wash and wax may seem expensive to most, however if one breaks down the costs involved, he might not have made 200/300 from the entire effort!

Originally Posted by AJ56

Spot on, 1800 is underpriced assuming he’s in a prime location in a major city, his hourly cost of operation just to break even with all overheads + materials and labour will be around 1500, considering it takes around 2 hours+ for a wash and wax with interior cleaning, he needs to bill a minimum of 2500-3000 if he is to remain viable.

3M Kharadi located few KM from the place used to charge around 1200 for Wash and Wax also known as UV Protect. Same charges with Aquatint as well. Honestly if they price it above 2K, there will be few takers at least in the sub 15L car market. To give you some perspective, it cost me a little over 5K for yearly / 10K servicing at Ford authorized workshop for my Ecosport.

I always used to wash and wax my car at home using clay to prep and Collnite 845 for wax, which used to cost maybe less than 50 and some elbow grease giving better results. However its hard to do while living in apartments in Pune.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techn...ml#post3887812 (A superb Car cleaning, polishing & detailing guide)

Originally Posted by Shubhendra

Its going reopen soon with a different name.

Do inform us in case they reopen ! I noticed some new detailing centers on Nagar road towards Kharadi - Wagholi section. Maybe I will try them out and post a report someday.

[AJ56]

Originally Posted by Samfromindia

3M Kharadi located few KM from the place used to charge around 1200 for Wash and Wax also known as UV Protect. Same charges with Aquatint as well. Honestly if they price it above 2K, there will be few takers at least in the sub 15L car market. To give you some perspective, it cost me a little over 5K for yearly / 10K servicing at Ford authorized workshop for my Ecosport.

I always used to wash and wax my car at home using clay to prep and Collnite 845 for wax, which used to cost maybe less than 50 and some elbow grease giving better results.

The reason 3M is priced lower is because first, they are one of the cheaper brands in the high end detailing scene, from a product and market positioning perspective. Second, they don’t hire the best workers as most franchises are unwilling to pay top dollar for the best workers (have seen this firsthand across cities). This is the reason you see lacklustre service quality and a consequent wipeout of their franchises (in Gurgaon at least) as the free market is very competitive.

Here’s a basic cost breakup for a wash -

RO Water: ₹450 (₹2 per litre x 225 litres on avg)
Gyeon Bathe: ₹250 (1:8 in foam cannon)
Gyeon Tyre and trim (I’ve included interior and engine bay): ₹350 (150 ml)
Carpro MutliX/APC (on wheels and exterior trim): ₹100
Towels: ₹150 (1 per car roughly as we do on avg 100 cars per month and we replace around 100 towels every month)
Mitts: ₹32 (₹800 per mitt x 8 mitts, changed every 2 months so divided by 200 cars)
Brushes: ₹48 (4800 for a set of 5 from Workstuff, changed every 2 months so divided by 200 cars)

Total per car: ₹1380 just for the wash and basic interior cleaning + dressing

Now coming to clay and wax. Firstly, never clay without polishing, it will mar the paintwork as clay bars are abrasive. You want to use a 25% IPA/panel prep after washing and go straight to wax or sealant of choice, and it’s much more than 50. See-

Clay: ₹200 (100g does 3-4 cars on avg, each Carpro bar is approx ₹700)
IPA/panel prep: ₹400 (₹2100/L, 200 ml used per car)
Collinite 845 Wax: ₹80 (₹2100/473 ml, does 25 cars on avg)

Total: ₹2060 with clay, ₹1860 without clay. This is products alone.

Now you can reduce this cost further by 5-8% by buying in bulk but that’s about it for the major detailing brands.

And I’ve not even gone into depreciation of machinery like pressure washers, air blowers, vaccums, air compressors, etc. All of which are used heavily during a wash. You can see even at 1500 it’s a courtesy service to the client being offered at no markup. (The reason many shops have stopped washing altogether, not viable at lower prices.)

Point is, if you want to use the best products in the world + hire the highest skilled workers to get you the high end results that you’re aiming for running a premium detailing service that can stand up to the very best detail shops in the world, you’re going to have to charge accordingly if you want to stay viable commercially.

I’ll add that whether it’s a Civic or a Bentley, there is nearly zero difference in the amount of products used, time spent by labour or any other variable that adds cost. Shops charging you differential rates based on how expensive your car is, aren’t being entirely honest.

[Samfromindia]

Originally Posted by AJ56

Here’s a basic cost breakup for a wash-

RO Water: ₹450 (₹2 per litre x 225 litres on avg)
Gyeon Bathe: ₹250 (1:8 in foam cannon)
Gyeon Tyre and trim (I’ve included interior and engine bay): ₹350 (150 ml)
Carpro MutliX/APC (on wheels and exterior trim): ₹100
Towels: ₹150 (1 per car roughly as we do on avg 100 cars per month and we replace around 100 towels every month)
Mitts: ₹32 (₹800 per mitt x 8 mitts, changed every 2 months so divided by 200 cars)
Brushes: ₹48 (4800 for a set of 5 from Workstuff, changed every 2 months so divided by 200 cars)

Total per car: ₹1380 just for the wash and basic interior cleaning + dressing

Now coming to clay and wax. Firstly, never clay without polishing, it will mar the paintwork as claybars are abrasive. You want to use a 25% IPA/panel prep after washing and go straight to wax or sealant of choice, and it’s much more than 50. See-

Clay: ₹200 (100g does 3-4 cars on avg, each Carpro bar is approx ₹700)
IPA/panel prep: ₹400 (₹2100/L, 200 ml used per car)
Collinite 845 Wax: ₹80 (₹2100/473 ml, does 25 cars on avg)

Total: ₹2060 with clay, ₹1860 without clay. This is products alone.

Well none of these franchises I have been to does this intricate kind of detailing or uses such expensive stuff. To be honest my personal collection of Mitts, Solutions and Wax are more expensive that what they use. So you cannot compare their services & charges with the ones you provide. Yes its true there is an audience who can spend $$$ on detailing, however the mass market consumer will shy away from spending this kind of money. I normally do wash and wax after every 2-3 months, so going by your rates, my quarterly car spa routine budget will be twice that of my car servicing budget

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by AJ56

Here’s a basic cost breakup for a wash -

RO Water: ₹450 (₹2 per litre x 225 litres on avg)
Gyeon Bathe: ₹250 (1:8 in foam cannon)
Gyeon Tyre and trim (I’ve included interior and engine bay): ₹350 (150 ml)
Carpro MutliX/APC (on wheels and exterior trim): ₹100
Towels: ₹150 (1 per car roughly as we do on avg 100 cars per month and we replace around 100 towels every month)
Mitts: ₹32 (₹800 per mitt x 8 mitts, changed every 2 months so divided by 200 cars)
Brushes: ₹48 (4800 for a set of 5 from Workstuff, changed every 2 months so divided by 200 cars)

Total per car: ₹1380 just for the wash and basic interior cleaning + dressing

Just so you are aware, from my experience, no detailer in Pune uses RO water (bore well water used), or one of the more expensive detailing products that you have listed. They reuse the microfibres over and over again till they are so dirty they must be discarded. Ditto with the mitts. If the total cost of offering this service was 1380 and price charged was a measly 1600 or so per wash, it would certainly not make commercial sense.

My car generally gets extra attention because of a few reasons including my monitoring of the work plus my bonhomie with the detailer. I want to try out Turtle Wax though I really wish 3M came up with a Meguiars franchisee system instead of the low end 3M stuff which isn't half as impressive as their premium brand.

Now, this chap from Turtle Wax Viman Nagar called me. He has moved to very near Symbiosis - Turtle Wax VN

[Born 2 Be Wild]

Originally Posted by Samfromindia

Honestly if they price it above 2K, there will be few takers at least in the sub 15L car market. To give you some perspective, it cost me a little over 5K for yearly / 10K servicing at Ford authorized workshop for my Ecosport.

Honestly its very subjective, i have seen hyundai venue owners spend upwards of 1 lakh rs for a car wrap and also seen audi owners haggle for a 700rs car wash! Hence its not a sterotype! It depends on person to person, i have a friend who has a bmw gt which has not been washed in months, with brake dust and grime covering the silver finish alloys to a matt black! On the other hand a friend with a maruti ignis keeps it spick and span with a gyeon mohs ceramic coat and 6 months preventive care. All in all it boils down to specific consumer demands and choices. For me i always pay for quality which always comes at a price. Again its subjective and to each his own, my grand dad always said " Mehnga roye ek baar, Sasta roye baar baaar" translated to english it roughly says " If its expensive you will crib once, if its cheap you will crib over and over again"