What happens when you choose the wrong detailer...
 

Had my car detailed last week by a local detailer to get rid of tiny scratches and holograms, etc. When i got the car back it looked pretty good but a lot of scratches were still there.He told me it was so hard removing them he went from an orbital to a rotary buffer. This week I ran the car though a touchless wash when it was done I started wiping off the few drops of water left. That's when I noticed rotary buffer trails/marks all down the side of the car. He had apparently put on something at the end that covered up the marks. I took it to a pro yesterday who is really good (and really expensive). He said he could fix it but would have to be really careful because there was a danger of going through the clear coat because the guy I used didn't know what he was doing. So now I'm looking at a $1,000. paint correction. This, after paying the earlier guy $250. I plan to ask him for my money back. We'll see how that goes. Bottom line, shop carefully before hiring a detailer.

Mike Phillips is in Florida and one of the best in the business.

It's not difficult to burn through a clear coat. The total paint thickness on modern cars is the thickness of a sheet of copy paper.

And $1000.00 is not out of line with quality work.

Thanks for the info. I have an appointment with Mike Phillips Monday.

Update. I dropped the car off on the 18th in the afternoon and Mike Phillips at Aurtogeek's Show Car Garage said he'd have it finished late afternoon on the 19th. The swirls, scratch marks and buffer trails made the car look awful. Anyway, I stopped back the next day to get it. You wouldn't know it was the same car. He compounded it, polished it and then finished with a ceramic coat. The damage caused by my poor choice of detailers was totally gone and the car looks wet. Mike Phillips is an artist! Prang, thanks so much for the tip!!

I'm glad it worked out for you.

Mike's an honest,talented guy.

Any tips that you picked up from this experience on how to avoid a bad car detailer? Were there any warning signs? Aside from a personal recommendation (and maybe price), how do you know someone is good before going with them?