What detailing equipment should you buy first?

What do you buy first?

What every job uses, in this order:

1. a pressure washer, because every service starts with a wash, from the car that only comes in to be washed to the one about to be polished; use the fan nozzle and keep the lance at the distance the manual gives, because too close the water lifts paint;
2. a vacuum, which takes the loose dirt out of every interior;
3. microfibres and wash products; microfibres are always bought new, and one that has touched the floor never touches paint again, because it drags grit across the finish.

What comes next?

The equipment that lets you sell new services:

• an extractor, for interior cleaning: it sprays the solution into the fabric and sucks it straight back out with the dirt; with hot water it loosens dried stains, and the seat dries faster;
• a machine polisher, to take scratches out of the paint: start with a dual-action polisher, which forgives more mistakes and rarely gets hot enough to burn the paint; a rotary is riskier and can wait;
• an inspection lamp, to see what polishing left behind: workshop light hides fine scratches, and a lamp held to the side, low across the panel, shows them.

Extractor or polisher: which first?

The one that lets you take the job you turn down most often: if you send stained seats to another studio, the extractor; if you wash scratched cars without being able to correct them, the polisher. Machines can be bought second-hand, as long as you watch them run for a few minutes before you pay; pads and microfibres are always bought new. When you buy, create the new service in detailmasters CRM, under Services → Add service, at the price you decided.