Utah Detailing Services Update

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What do you imagine when you think of auto detailing?  Perhaps you think of shampooing the inside of your car, hand washing the outside, or waxing it until the outside shines.  All of these are things we do at Onsite Detail, keeping your vehicles clean, shiny, and clear of impurities that can cause future problems.  Everything from Wash & Wax jobs to Onsite Elite Details are part of our roster of services we love to do! However, we at Onsite Detail like to expand what services we can offer you.  So this article acts partly as a newsletter, a sort of announcement to four services we have added to better serve Utah’s vehicle owners. This article will be describing each one, and hopefully you will feel the excitement we do about having them!  

In-Shop Service

While this is not brand new, it is worth stating again that Onsite Detail has opened its first shop!  Located in Murray, our space allows for you to bring your vehicle to us to work on, as well as provide a few added benefits. As the summer season picks up, mobile services can take five to seven days to schedule, but in-shop allows for earlier times.  We can also hold vehicles overnight as we have secure garages. In-shop is especially beneficial for people who live farther away, as coming to us removes any travel charges we may need to charge. It’s also great if you live or work close by. What is even better is this new space has allowed us to add some specifically in-shop services, as we will list below!

There are some limits, such as not being able to service really large vehicles like RVs or motorhomes.  However, the quality of service and the costs do not change whether we go to you or you come to us (save for the travel charge if it applies to you).  Come take advantage of the new space by filling out a Request Form and choosing In-shop, we are looking forward to seeing you!

Deep Odor Removal Service

Originally we had one method for helping with long-term smells, such as smoke, mildew, or mold, which was the Interior Detail plus an Odor Bomb.  The benefits were that it was mobile-friendly and easy to use, but we found that it couldn’t help every smell situation. It had better success with temporary smells but not for long-term ones.  That is why we added a second method: Deep Odor Removal.

Deep Odor Removal is done after an Interior Detail and requires we keep your vehicle for one night, but has an incredibly higher effectiveness at removing the deep-seated odors that Odor Bombs just cannot penetrate.  Recently it was used to help clean the inside of a camper whose fridge had food left in it for so long it developed maggots. It reeked and had been there so long an Odor Bomb would only provide temporary relief, but the Deep Odor Removal made it travel-ready again.    

Glass Protection

One new service we are all very excited about is Glassparency, also known as Glass Protection.  It is a special hydrophobic application we place on your windshield or all windows of your vehicle, including sun and moon roofs.  Doing this gives you special advantages, including:

  1. Easier Cleaning: Ice, dirt, and insects are significantly easier to clear off.
  2. Better Visibility: Rain, mud, and all sorts of other visibility hazards fall off effortlessly, which has the added bonus of keeping your wipers good for longer!
  3. Reduces Glare: In our Utah summers with lots of sun, that’s always a benefit and adds a safety factor that can’t be overlooked.
  4. Protection: It helps prevent mineral build-up and corrosion to keep your glass stronger for longer.

To add to the benefits, maintaining this protection is easier than ever with the 3-year warranty you can get for it.  With a few reminders via text and/or email, you can bring it in to us and get it touched up so the product doesn’t wear off over time.  Just bring it to us for a few minutes and you are ready to go!

This service is a great add on to our Ceramic Coating installation service, but you do not need to get a Ceramic Coating to get Glass Protection!  Bring your vehicle to our shop and we will happily apply it, it’s a product we love so much we have applied it to our own vans and some of our personal vehicles.  

ATV and Golf Cart Detailing

While this one is not in-shop exclusive, it’s a newer updated service that many do not yet know about.  Before we had no pricing for vehicles the size of cars that were not, well, cars. ATVs and Golf Carts now have set prices and procedures for their detailing, just in time for them to shake the dust of winter off!  Plus, because these are smaller, our in-shop space means you have the choice of us going to you or you going to us, for no changes in price. Shine up your toys before you explore Utah’s off-roads and golf courses in style, or bring them here before they get stored again for the winter months!  These vehicles are for leisure, so let us take care of the details.

We at Onsite Detail are excited for these new services, and can’t wait to show them off to you.  You can check out our website for prices or call us at 801-412-9274 ext. 1 for more information! Let us do the detailing so you can kick off your summer ready to go!

by Miranda Hughes, Onsite Detail

Pet Mess Clean-Up

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Many of us have a fuzzy, four-legged member of the family whom we love.  Our dogs and cats give us so much, from love and affection to someone to take care of.  Some even go beyond being a simple household pet and help as a service animal or emotional support pet.  However wonderful they are, though, they can still leave a mess in your car if you bring them along for a ride.  Whether a daily occurrence or a one-time thing, animals can cause all kinds of pet messiness. We at Onsite Detail can help!  In this article we will be going over how to prepare for a service, what services can help, and how to prevent issues in the long run.

Getting Ready For Your Detail

I remember around the time I started as a scheduler getting a call from a woman who was nice enough to pet-sit for her neighbor, only to have the dog get sick all over the back of her new car and leave a nasty pet mess.  And we mean sick in all ways. It was the definition of a disaster. She asked, since it would be a day or two before the service, what she could do to get ready for us.

While taking care of some initial pet mess like removing feces and clearing items from a car helps, trying to clean stains without proper knowledge can actually cause issues in the long run. Many times when pet messes happen the initial reaction is to throw soap and water and scrub to get it clean. Some people even go straight for harsh chemicals and cleaners. In more cases than not these reactions have the potential to be more harmful and create more work for a detailer in the latter stages of pet mess clean up. The best piece of advice we can give is to not push down the mess or grind it into the surfaces of your vehicle. Think “lift” and only do things that will pull the pet mess up off the surface, so things like vacuuming are okay and actually good to do to remove initial  pet mess. If you happen to have an enzyme pet cleaner it is okay to spray this on the mess after initial mess is “lifted” off the surfaces.  This will help prevent odor causing bacteria from growing. Other than that, leave the pet mess clean-up details to us!

Steam Extraction Seat Cleaning

The Detail Itself

Whether the animal-related mess is fur or the result of sickness and accidents, our Interior Detail is a great start.  It includes steam cleaning and shampoo, as well as stain treatment. Our detailers know what chemicals are best to help with your particular situation.  Our detailers have worked on a variety of insane pet messes, so there’s no shame if there’s a particularly embarrassing accident. Plus the service helps remove nose prints from windows and paw prints from seats!

However, if your pet comes with you everywhere and fur has piled for some time, it may need some extra elbow grease.  If this is the case, our detailer will approach you and explain how an Interior Detail can get a good amount of the pet hair, but likely not all of it.  We offer a $75 Pet Hair Removal charge in cases like this to get 100% of the pet hair out, but this is in no way a requirement! If you don’t mind some extra pet hair, you can turn it down or save it for another time.  We don’t enjoy secret fees ourselves and will never sneak extra charges like that.

If the pet mess was pretty bad there may be some extra charges so that we can fully clean and sanitize the affected areas properly. We assure you its well worth it.

If the car smells from the pet mess even after an Interior Detail, however, we have an added solution.  Odor Bombs can help with long-term smell and are easy to use and safe for pets, and with us they’re only $25 a piece! We can also do a deep odor removal in shop overnight if needed.

One type of detail some people may not think about when discussing pet mess is buffing and polishing or paint correction on the outside of the car.  When my grandparents got their car washed and waxed here, the detailer pointed out minor scratches on the hood.  It turns out, the previous owner used to let their dog walk on the hood when it was parked and the dog left some scratches behind!  If your dog or cat likes to wander outside as well as inside, maybe it’s worth seeing about adding Buffing & Polishing to your service!

Preventing Future Messes

For some of us, bringing pets along isn’t optional.  Whether we are moving them from one place to another or just bringing our furry friends for a ride every day, there is a small chance of a pet mess whenever they enter the vehicle.  Here are a few tips we suggest to help keep your car cleaner for longer!

  1. Get seat covers.  This is especially great for on-the-go pets who ride frequently.  You can pull seat covers off and wash them at home easily!
  2. Brush and trim your pet often.  Being the owner of a long-haired cat myself, brushing her helps control fur from getting everywhere in the home.  The same goes for cars!
  3. Keep your pet calm and comfortable to prevent car sickness.  Animals get carsick too!
  4. If the travel is temporary, consider a kennel or carrier cage.  Put towels or blankets down to make them more comfortable and to catch messes.
  5. Get a small hand vacuum to keep in your car for quick pet hair maintenance!  This will make it more manageable and likely remove the Pet Hair charge for future details with us.

Our detailers are more than happy to help clean your car so you can continue caring for your pet.  Clean cars are good for your health and your pet’s, so fill out a Request Form today and let us take care of you both!

by Miranda Hughes, Onsite Detail

Foods Inside Your Car

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At Onsite Detail we have handled many different kinds of messes in all different kinds of vehicles.  Hard water spotting, tree sap, vomit, and pet messes are among the many kinds we have dealt with. But arguably one of our most common types of spills and stains come from a simple, yet common culprit- food! Our Interior Detail is the solution!

As pristine as we try to keep our vehicles, we are only human, and humans need to eat and drink.  Sometimes our need for sustenance comes when we are on the road, and something as simple as a bump in the road can make a mess of things.  So in this article, we will be going over some of our favorite snacks and cuisines to clean up with our interior detail service!

Drinks

How about some beverages to start?  It turns out having water is a cheap option in more ways than one!  A common call we get is for interior details to focus on a drink gone wrong.

Warm drinks like coffee and hot chocolate are especially common in the wintertime, since they are treats that warm us up and can get us ready for the day.  However, it only takes one bump in the road or a drink carrier to collapse to make a treat a disaster. Both stain pretty easily as is, but it’s even less fun when it has creamer or any other dairy products.  Dairy can smell bad when not chilled because it cultivates bacteria, and now that we’re (hopefully) reaching warmer weather, that’s going to be a more immediate effect. And let’s not forget our other dairy disasters like chocolate milk or baby formula!

If coffee isn’t your drink of choice, we have also taken care of soda spills.  The syrup and coloring in these drinks love to try and stain carpets and upholstery, and if it can’t stain, it’ll make things sticky and sugary, which is attractive to ants and other bugs.  Dark sodas especially like to cause problems as their syrup discolors whatever they spill on, though clear sodas love to mislead by looking clean when they’re actually not! Be especially careful with canned sodas with the changing temperatures as they love to explode if left unopened and unattended in your vehicle.  

While this is not one of our common ones, some people have a fancier taste in beverages.  Of course we mean wine or other alcoholic drinks. This last holiday season we got a call from a nice gentleman who had bought an expensive bottle of red wine which spilled all over the back of his car, leaving a bad stain and strong odor.  Thankfully he had called quickly and we got to do our interior detail on it right away, which saved his seats and carpets from red wine stains and nasty odor!

Main Course

Of course, drinks are not the only spills we manage.  At Onsite Detail we have seen our fair share of food as well when we do our interior detail service!

Fast food is a popular one we handle, for a variety of reasons.  Whether you’re a fast food connoisseur or only indulge when you have five minutes of lunch break left, we know how it can affect our rides.  Foods like tacos and burgers can cause spills from condiments of toppings like lettuce, and fries love to drop from our fingers into the crevices between and under the seats,   never to be seen again. (At least, until we take care of them.)  Not only that, but it’s easy to stuff the wrappers into the bags and promptly forget to remove them, which can leave a fast food smell in the car and make it look trashy.

Thankfully our guys are experienced in cleaning all kinds of food, and we are professionals at cleaning fast food mess!  But our expertise does not stop there. Recently we got to clean a vehicle where someone had accidentally spilled rice all over the back of the car, and over the holidays someone called asking if we could clean a spill from a pot roast that had tipped in the trunk of the car.  We may not be able to recover the loss of good food, but we can help the grieving process by cleaning the mess after!

Dessert

Still have room for dessert?  Great!

As mentioned before, dairy is a bane for vehicles in hot weather.  However, this doesn’t stop us from indulging in ice cream from time to time!  Popsicle sticks, cone wraps, and sticky napkins join in the fun as well when it comes to our favorite summertime dessert.  But what about sweets we can enjoy all year round? Candy and chocolate are especially fun for us to find, especially in vehicles where kids rule the car.  We have gotten all kinds of candy, generic and brand names alike. Don’t be shy if you’re calling for some cleanup after a sugary incident, we are happy to take care of the details!

Of course, not all desserts are sugar confections.  One of our detailers a few years ago had a job to take care of a watermelon to enjoy in the summertime, but it was forgotten about… for a few weeks.  It turns out the vehicle simply hadn’t been used, so after being allowed to sit in the heat of the trunk, it made for a terrible, moldy, stinking surprise!  Thankfully he was experienced in detailing and managed to clean the car back to normal, despite the awful stench it had provided before.

We know messes can come from all sorts of sources, including our need to eat and drink.  That’s why Onsite Detail’s Interior Detail is so popular for spills, stains, smells and sticky situations.  Give us a call today or fill out a Request Form to take care of your mess now!

by Miranda Hughes, Onsite Detail

A few reasons why you should detail your daily driver.

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Daily driver’s vary from the kid haulin’ mini-van to the executive’s Mercedes. Daily drivers take us to work, school, soccer practice, the golf course and haul loads of every kind to and from point a to b and b to c, etc.

The fact of the matter is whether you’ve paid a lot or a little for your daily driver vehicle, it is an investment to you. If you haul kids, groceries, golf clubs or all three your car will get dirty and take abuse. Your daily driver needs to be cleaned, detailed and protected unless you honestly don’t mind throwing money into the garbage can.

Daily Wear and Tear

Your daily driver needs the care even more than the special garage queen or show car that does not see the harsh conditions that your daily driver does. For many of us, we don’t have the option to drive a “summer” car and a “winter” car. We just have a daily driver that gets us to where we need to be when we need to be there. Our daily driver goes out rain or shine and it just has to take the beating to which it is subjected.

Some of us have no choice but to eat in our daily drivers as we hurry about our day. Our interiors take a beating from food and drink spills, dirt, kid mess, etc. The exteriors take just as much and sometimes more abuse. If we are not taking care of our cars properly they are damaged and degrade to the point of no return.

Resale Value

Daily drivers that have been cleaned and protected frequently are going to retain their resale value much more than those that have not. A vehicle’s appearance usually also is an indicator of how well the vehicle has been maintained mechanically. While this is not always true it tends to be the case more than not.

If you are looking to purchase a used car and there are two exact same cars listed with the same amount of miles for the same price and one is dirty and has paint rust and damage and the other is clean and shiny, which one would you purchase? Not only that you would probably agree to pay more for the nice clean and detailed one. Ask any used car dealer if they get more money out of a detailed car or one that has not been cleaned very well.

Risking Health

A dirty vehicle does not just mean clutter and junk but it means germs, bacteria and viruses. This puts cleanliness and organization in a whole different perspective. A dirty and undetailed daily driver literally increases the risk of making us and those who travel in our vehicle sick.

When a daily driver is maintained clean and sanitized it will decrease the chance that sickness causing germs and bacteria can survive.

The point is that everyone deserves a clean and detailed car. Even if it’s not a high end sports car or a classic show car it still can be a nice car. Contact us here at Onsite Detail today to see what we can do for your daily driver.

by Chris Blaisdell, CD-SV, Onsite Detail

Chris Blaisdell is the owner of Onsite Detail and has been detailing  for 12 + years.
He is a Certified Detailer-Skills Validated detailer through the
International Detailing Association. The industry leader in detailing standards.

The Little Known World of the Clay Bar

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You may or may not have heard people talk about having a clay bar service or clay bar treatment done on their car. What is a clay bar and why is it important?

Today, I’m going to talk to you about what a clay bar is and does and why a clay bar service is necessary and also why it is good for your car. I will do my best to explain the what, the why and the how of clay bar treatments.

Paint and Clear Coat

The exterior of your car essentially has 3 levels of paint coats. Those paint layer coats consist of primer, then the paint (the color), then the clear coat. The primer does the same thing on a car that it would do when you paint anything else. The primer preps the surface for paint and allows the paint to attach itself to the body much better than just painting straight onto a bare surface would do. The next level is the paint. The paint is what gives the car it’s color and attraction. The final level and also level that it not known very well is the clear coat. The clear coat may just be the most important part of any of these levels. The clear coat protects the paint from the elements. Elements that may include contaminants from various weather conditions that may occur, brake dust, bugs, dust, rocks, and salt from ice melt. If you run your hand across your paint and it feels like sandpaper at all, it is contaminated.

My main focus will be on the clear coat and how a clay bar service can help it. Although the clear coat does protect the colored paint layer. It’s not invincible. This is why people put wax, sealants, and ceramic coatings on their vehicles. Protecting the clear coat is extremely important to protect the integrity of the paint. If the clear coat is not protected and ends up being weakened from the elements that I mentioned, over time it will cause irreversible damage to the clear coat and even the colored paint.

Dirty Clay Bars full of contaminants

The Clay Bar

Now to get into what brought you here in the first place. The CLAY BAR! I will go over what happens to the clear coat which leads to the need for a clay bar treatment. As you drive and use your vehicle more and more the need for a clay bar treatment will only increase. Some of the elements and contaminants that I mentioned above can actually get embedded into the clear coat. Most of those elements will be small pieces of dust, metal and rocks that will mostly be unseen by the naked eye. Washing might be able to remove some of this but there will be many dust particles and other contaminants that will be embedded into the clear coat. How do we go about removing these things? I’ll let you guess. If you guessed clay bar, you are correct. The clay bar has the ability to grab the contaminants that are embedded into the clear coat and lift them off and out of the clear coat. How about that? Science!!

The Clay Bar Treatment Process

Keep the paint surface lubricated

As the clay bar is moved across the surface of the clear coat, you have to keep the surface of whatever area you are working on lubricated. From my experience, a few different ways to keep the surface wet to allow the clay bar to glide over the panel you are working on are;

  1. Using a showroom shine or quick detailer spray (without a wax) is probably the most popular method and is the way I’ve done it the most. This allows you to work and not worry about any negative consequences of letting it dry after you finish a section and move onto the next one.
  2. The next method is while you are washing the car and after you have gotten everything wet and sudsed up. This way can be kinda tricky, the reason being that water and soap can dry quickly before you are able to get to it. This sometimes can leave soap staining or leave hard water deposits. You make sure the whole surface stays wet the whole time until you can fully rinse and properly dry the car. Many times, doing a panel at a time is the most effective way in those circumstances.
  3. You can also use water but be careful because water will dry quicker and you may need to rewet constantly.

Sometimes as you are clay barring, you may hit a drier patch of paint. Sometimes when this happens, it can cause you to drop the clay bar. If this happens, THROW IT AWAY! When you think of what a clay bar does while using it, don’t think it stops doing that when it is dropped. It is made to make things stick to it and it doesn’t stop doing that when you drop it on the ground. When you drop it, it will then have picked up dust, small rocks, maybe glass, a shoe, small children… Okay the last two aren’t true, but everything else that it can pick up will end up doing more damage to your paint. Even if the damage is very small and unseen to the common eye. Those things will not come out of the clay bar. It is designed to grab things and not let go. So when it comes to your paint, we can be grateful for the technology of the clay bar. When we drop it, we occasionally will curse the technology of the clay bar.

Another thing that can happen if you do not use enough lubrication is paint marring. The clay is designed to grab onto contamination with proper lubrication. Without it it will grab onto the clear coat and you can damage it if you are not careful.

Overall it is a pretty simple process but needs to be done correctly and carefully. The basic things to remember while clay barring is to keep the surface wet and lubricated, do small sections at a time (about a 2 ft by 2 ft area), regularly refold and re-smash the clay bar to keep the surface of the clay bar as fresh as possible. And remember to NOT DROP it.

Clay Bar and Paint Correction Work Together

In cases when you will be doing paint correction, the clay bar treatment will be one of the first steps in preparing for the paint correction process. (After a thorough wash as well). You will want to make sure that you do a very good clay bar procedure before any compound or polish even touches the body of your car. The reason for that is found when you look at what the clay bar does. After removing all of the contaminants out of the clear coat of your car, buffing and polishing will be much more effective after having removed all of those elements. If you were to proceed without clay barring, those contaminants would be absorbed into whatever buffing or polish pad you are using. If the pad absorbs the contaminants, those contaminants can cause the buffing or polish process to not be as efficient or done as well and still make microscopic scratches. Also, if the pad and compound cannot come in contact with the areas of the paint where there are contaminants, that will also make a difference on how good of a job you’ll produce.

Clay Bar Treatments are needed on most Vehicles

In conclusion, no matter what kind of vehicle you are driving or how often you wax it or take care of it, you’ll eventually need a clay bar treatment. The exception might be a show car or car that does not actually drive out on the road. Every car gets clear coat contamination to some degree, especially over time. Reach out to us for more information on getting your vehicle in for a clay bar treatment. We’re here to help.

by Andy Stallings, Operations Manager, Onsite Detail

Is car wax dead?

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With the invention of ceramic coatings as a far superior protection for a vehicle’s exterior surfaces some have said, “Wax is dead.” Is car wax dead? While I do not disagree that a ceramic coating is the absolute best protection for one’s vehicle, I do disagree that waxing a vehicle is a “dead” practice.

Brief history of Car Wax

Waxing a vehicle is almost as old as the horse and buggy. “Waxing” was first developed in the early 1800s by using animal fats to shine up carriages. As the years went on people starting using natural waxes such as vegetable wax, beeswax, and oils, as well as other synthetic things to shine and protect vehicles services. Today’s car waxes are a formulation of blended waxes, oils, and solvents which can include crude oil distillates, ethanol, mineral spirits, petroleum, and more. A step up from many waxes you find paint sealants. Many paint sealants are made up of fully synthetic longer lasting, more durable materials than natural waxes. The technology for waxes and paint sealants has come a long way and both can be great options to keep a vehicle’s paint and other surfaces protected from the elements.

Car Protection

Car wax or sealant is not a permanent solution to protect a car. Most car wax will last anywhere from 2 weeks to 3 months. Most sealants will last 3 to 6 months. Some claim to last up to a year. Obviously this depends greatly on what the wax or sealant goes up against. Depending on where your vehicle spends most of its time and how its cared for will enhance or reduce the durability of a wax and sealant.

The pluses of waxes and sealants are that they are layerable, meaning you can put multiple coats of wax or sealant and layer right on top of each other. You can apply them each time you wash your car if you want.

Car Wax with foam applicator

A newer product to the market is the invention of ceramic sprays. These tend to be more like sealants and less like an actual ceramic coating. To be honest I think the use of the word “ceramic” is more of a marketing ploy playing off of the success of coatings.

Vehicle ceramic coatings have been extremely popular and have changed the detailing world. Truth be told there are various forms of ceramic coatings using Silicon Dioxide (SiO2) and Silicon Carbide (SiC). The biggest distinction between the two is that SiC based coatings chemically bond to the paint. Silicon Carbide forms during this bonding process. It cross links with the vehicle’s clear coat and then remains this way for the life of the paint. With SiO2 coatings, many times referred to as glass coatings or quartz coatings, are made up of nano-particles of Silicon Dioxide suspended in a resin. Some SiO2 coatings are helped by regular application of toppers.

Cost vs. Benefit

So when it comes to making a decision on what is the best choice to protect your vehicle, there are various factors that should be considered.

1. Budget

This is a big factor to consider. Only you know (or you should know) if your budget does or does not allow (all at once) for a complete paint restoration service and ceramic coating installation to be done on your vehicle. If it does not you’re better off going with the wax or sealant applied regularly. That way you don’t break the bank. But if you can afford it then getting a ceramic coating installed may be one of the best things you can do for your vehicle’s protection.

2. Age and Condition of Paint

Another thing to consider is the age, condition and type of paint you have on your vehicle. If your paint is past the point of no return, as in you already have clear coat failure or so many rock chips it now looks spotted, you probably would be better to not worry about a ceramic coating because the paint is already so damaged that a coating will only be protecting ruined paint and bare surfaces.

Now if you have a new vehicle that you really want to keep it top shape a full paint correction and ceramic coating is absolutely the way to go. New paint and clear coat are going to need protection and why not give it the best.

3. Vehicle Use

Is your car an old daily driver that is only meant to get you from point a to b or do you have a luxury vehicle that makes smile as you walk up to it and see it shine. Honestly we have installed ceramic coatings on many different types of vehicles. Some brand new and other older and just needing some love.

4. Conditions/Elements

Where is your vehicle parked most of the time? Where is it driven? How do you care for it? Do you plan on taking your car through automatic brush washes or give it the care of hand washing? All these things and more are to be considered if wax.

5. Cost over time

Another thing to consider which many people don’t think about is that when you apply wax or paint sealant to your vehicle over a 2 to 3 year period, you may be spending as much or something close to what you would on a one time paint correction and ceramic coating installation. Again this varies greatly depending on frequency, coat of materials used, if you do it yourself or hire a professional detailing service, etc. If you do the math you may be surprised.

6. Personal Preference

Ultimately it comes down to personal preference. If you love your vehicle and you want to protect it you will choose what works best for you. There are many who enjoy taking half the day washing and waxing their own car. Others don’t want to or don’t have time to spend doing that and they would rather the process be as easy and quick as possible. A lot people hire professionals to do it for them.

It is up to you if you want to protect your vehicle from what it takes on or not. It’s also up to you how you want to accomplish that.

Is Car Wax dead?

So is car wax dead? Nope. Not a chance. Car wax and paint sealants still have a place in the automotive detailing and protection world and probably will for a long time to come.

Feel free to contact via a call, text (801) 412-9274 or e-mail, clean@onsitedetail.net, if you have any questions or if you would want to schedule a service for your vehicle.

by Chris Blaisdell, CD-SV, Onsite Detail

Chris Blaisdell is the owner of Onsite Detail and has been detailing  for 12 + years.
He is a Certified Detailer-Skills Validated detailer through the
International Detailing Association. The industry leader in detailing standards.

5 Reasons to Detail Your Car Before Selling It

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Despite the recent snowy weather in our beautiful Utah state, we at Onsite Detail cannot deny an important time of the year is approaching.  March means spring is coming, daylight savings approaches once more, and Saint Patrick’s Day promises to give us a bit of luck and fun before the hot summer days are here.  However, while we look forward to all those events too, us Onsite Detail workers know another important time is coming: car sales time. Make sure you detail your car before selling it.

In the last week alone we received a ton of calls from people looking to sell their vehicles over the weekend, and it got me thinking about all the ways our company can help people make their sells a little easier.  So for this blog I’m going to share five reasons to detail your car before selling it and why it is beneficial and can make your sale go smoother!

ksl.com cars for sale

  1. Makes Photos Look Better

It’s hardly a secret that posting photos of something you want to sell online makes it more appealing to people.  Some sites like KSL.com and Craigslist even suggest uploading pictures to increase sales while you’re making a post!  

If your car is cleaned and waxed for a nice shine, it can make your post stand out from the rest.  Having photos of a clean interior can also appeal to the viewer, since they’ll be able to see they won’t have to worry about sticky cup holders or stains they would have to deal with.  Our services can help your online post catch the eye of a potential buyer and help make the sale with a like-new cleaning!

  1. Helps Remove Trickier Things

Cars are very personal things, and are often treated as such.  Pets are allowed to ride in them and those who enjoy smoking may do so in their vehicles.  This isn’t a bad thing, but it can make selling a vehicle a bit harder if someone has an allergy or there is a lingering smell in the car.  

However, pet hair and cigarette smoke are tricky things to remove.  Our Interior Detail, however, can help with both of those! We do shampoo and steam cleaning to get every surface of the interior and help flush out bad smells that hang around, and can throw in an Odor Bomb to help with especially lasting scents.  Have a pet that sheds a lot? We can add Pet Hair Removal to your service and make it like new again. Buyers with allergies will thank you!

  1. Shiny Engines Feel More Trustworthy

No matter how shiny the outside may be, if the hood opens up to reveal a greasy, dirty engine, it can be off-putting to a potential buyer.  We psychologically associate dirt with disease and disrepair, so a dirty engine can cause someone to think twice about buying.

Our Engine Detail not only degreases and washes the engine, but also shines it up and dresses plastic and rubber for added protection.  One client used our Engine Degrease service and found a leak in the engine that was quick to patch but would not have been seen without it!  Our popular Full Combo Detail comes with an Engine Detail as well as interior and exterior cleaning, so it’s worth considering to detail your car before selling it.

  1. Decal Removal

I have had a few people call recently asking about removing decals from cars they just purchased, especially work vehicles.  Removing them on your own can mean leaving unwanted residue, ugly scuffs, incomplete decals, or time and frustration you really can’t afford to spend.  

At Onsite Detail we can remove decals at an hourly rate, and since it often gets coupled with a Wash & Wax it will help make your car sales floor ready!  Save yourself some agitation and let us take care of the details, selling a car can be frustrating enough as is.

  1. Restoration Can Make the Sale!

While the outside of a car can’t tell us everything, if it looks newer or at least well-kept we are more likely to trust its quality.  While we can’t do a new coat of paint, we can take care of the other things you may not have considered to make it appear well-kept. Plastic and rubber fading?  Try Plastic Restoration! Unwanted swirl marks or light scratches distracting your customers? We do Paint Correction or Buffing & Polishing. Headlights fogged up?  We can take care of that with Headlight Restoration. Our services aren’t just limited to washing and shining things, so feel free to call and ask for anything specific you’re looking for!

The bottom line is. If your car looks, feels and smells better you’ll get more money out of it. That’s why you want to detail your car before selling it. If you want to know the approximate value of your car, check out Kelley Blue Book.

Don’t just depend on a lucky clover to make a good sale just detail your car before selling it!  If you’re looking to sell your car we can help, as reviewer Melissa stated:

“We recently had Onsite Detail detail our van as we are trying to sell it and I couldn’t believe the results. It looks like a brand new car!! These guys are the best! I will go nowhere else to have my cars detailed.”

Call or text us today if you’re want to detail your car before selling it. 801-412-9274. We are more than happy to help.

by Miranda Hughes, Onsite Detail

Do’s and Don’ts of Proper Odor Removal from Your Vehicle

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Today I’d like to share my thoughts and experiences on vehicle odor removal. There are many things that can contribute to odors that can be absorbed into the fabrics and upholstery of your vehicle. Some of which include pet odors, sweat, food and drink, babies and kids can be good contributors in their own way, and probably the most potent and longest lasting of smells; smoking. My purpose today is still do my best to inform you of some do’s and don’ts of removing odors from the fabrics of your car.      

Odors and stains can act the same as far as stubbornness to get rid of. Especially if you wait to take them out. One of the hardest odors to remove is the smell of cigarette and cigar smoke. If you can eliminate the odor of tobacco smoke, you can eliminate pretty much any odor with a very similar process.

THE DON’TS

I’ll start with a few don’ts of vehicle odor removal.

HOUSEHOLD SOAP OR CLEANERS

DO NOT try to clean it with a generic dish or fabric soap or cleaner. This will put soaps and chemicals into your fabrics that you don’t want there and may also make the odors and smells seap more into the fabrics. It will also leave marks on the seats when it drys that will also be difficult to get rid of. Many times this can make the odor penetrate the fabric or material more which can make it harder to take out. Although leather may be a little easier to clean, you still want to be extremely careful how you clean it and do vehicle odor removal. Odors and stains can still penetrate the leather if not properly treated.

COVER UPS

Removing odors from vehicle fabrics and upholstery needs to be handled with care. You want to be careful with what chemicals and equipment are being used. The objective is to remove odors, not to try to cover it up or “change” the odor by applying a fabric freshener to it. Fabric fresheners or odor bombs will be part of the process and I will get to them but for the removal process, you DO NOT want to begin with an odor bomb or scents.

INTERNET IDEAS

Another thing we’ve seen people try on the wonderful advice of the internet is baking soda for vehicle odor removal. Baking soda does actually have some great odor removal properties but only in the right circumstances. There has actually been many cases where someone has literally thrown the baking soda all over the interior of their car. While this could potentially temporarily “fix” the odor problem it will create a bigger mess to clean up after it gets deep into the fabric or gets wet. The odor will most likely return as the cause of the odor was not actually be removed. So please DO NOT throw baking soda all over your car in hopes that it will take care of an odor problem.

THE DO’S

My biggest piece of advice for proceeding to completely do vehicle odor removal, especially a bad one, would be to call a professional. Mostly because of the importance of proper chemicals and equipment being used. I will do my best to explain the process of removing odor from a vehicle. There will always be different variables of odors but the process of having them professionally removed will generally be the same. Differences in the process will come from the severity of the odors. You will be able to research many different techniques and procedures for removing odors in your vehicle. What I am telling you today comes from my own experiences and what has worked for me. As I said, if research thoroughly, you will find many different ways to remove odors, some good and some not so good. Here are some of the best ways to remove odor, sometimes combined together.

HOT WATER EXTRACTION

One of the most effective things you can do is to have a very good interior detail done. When professionally done, an extractor will most likely (or should) be used. Especially one that has hot water extraction. An extractor will penetrate the fabric. If the water is hot it will penetrate the fabric even better. When used with a proper cleaning chemical, will effectively break up and separate the the stains and odors from the fabrics. After the water and cleaning chemical has spearheaded the odors, you want to remove the liquids and chemicals (now encapsulating the odor causing sources) from the fabrics. You want to extract fairly quickly. If you wait to extract, the odors could get absorbed deeper into the fabrics making them harder to remove. If this whole process is done effectively, you will have mostly removed the odors along with the cleaning chemical and water. If the odor that you are trying to remove is tobacco smoke then the headliner will most likely be one of the worst areas that absorbs a lot of smells. The headliner may need to be treated with a little more care but still needs to be extracted.

OZONE MACHINE

Another method of getting rid of smells and odors in your vehicle is an ozone machine. This can be a very time consuming process but can be very effective. To put it as simply as I can, oxygen has 2 atoms, (which is why it’s called O2) and ozone has one more atom. The extra atom makes ozone hazardous to breath but also breaks up the oxygen molecules and eliminates them. Included in those oxygen molecules being eliminated are the molecules that the odors are attached to. To explain it a little more simply, basically odors need oxygen to survive and what the ozone machine does is kills the oxygen molecules that odors are attached to. Pretty scientific stuff, yeah? Some words of caution though, ozone is hazardous to breath. After an ozone treatment, the best thing to do is open all the doors to let it air out. If the weather will let you, it would probably be best to have it outside for the whole process. Also, you will want to do your best to seal up as many things as you can to let as little air enter as you can. You want to take care of the odors in the car as much as possible without letting more air molecules enter. Although you will not be able to make it airtight. Doing your best to allow as little as air as possible get in the car will certainly help and allow the ozone machine to do what it does. Make sure you don’t forget to let the vehicle air out when you get done. If possible, let it air out for an hour or two.

ODOR BOMB

One of the final things you can do to help with odors is an odor bomb. An odor bomb is an odor eliminator and can be scented to leave a fresh smell as well. Odor bombs contain enzymes and chemicals that penetrate every part of the interior and find any odor causing bacteria and literally eat it. This effectively destroys the odor and gets rid of the odor returning. This will be the final step after you’ve done everything you can to extract odor causing spills and messes. The best place to put the odor bomb is as central as you can get it. Make sure to read ALL of the instructions and cautions if placing and setting off the odor bomb yourself. After setting the odor bomb to release the contents of the can, shut the doors and windows and leave for at least 4 to 6 hours. Personally, I like to leave it overnight if possible. In the morning or before driving make sure to let the car air out for at least 30 minutes.

CONCLUSION

The vehicle odor removal process can and in many cases will involve all three of these steps (or more). In some cases the ozone machine may be the very first thing you do then proceed with the full detail and the odor bomb. Just keep in mind that it will most likely take some time to accomplish and you possibly have to try a few things before you have complete vehicle odor removal accomplished. Have patience and enjoy watching and smelling the odors get eliminated.

by Andy Stallings, Operations Manager, Onsite Detail

5 Things We Love at Onsite Detail

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Love is in the air, and we at Onsite Detail are not immune!  We are already gearing up to clean vehicles as part of your perfect date night.  Be it shining up your car’s exterior from last week’s winter storm or deep cleaning the inside for peace of mind as you go to your dinner reservation, we are ready to get detailing!

However, even us employees have things we love as a company.  This blog is being written to recognize five of the biggest things we love here at Onsite Detail, starting with:

  1. Our Customers!

We love our customers for so many reasons.  If you have ever had a service from us you’ve done more than help give us an income.  As a mobile company having so many places to go and things to do lets our detailers see something different every day, and they appreciate it!

One of our detailers just the other day expressed how one of the perks of the job is its different scenery every day.  They go through cities, neighborhoods, businesses, and nature areas of all kinds while on the job and meet all kinds of different people, young and old, native and non-native.  When I talk to people on the phone I hear stories from people of all backgrounds. No matter who it is, everyone has something in common that we also love.

  1. Messes!

Marie Kondo of the Netflix series Tidying Up isn’t the only one who loves mess!  As a detailing company there is nothing more satisfying than bringing a car from filthy to like new.  We have handled many kinds of messy or tricky scenarios, from pet hair and kid’s snacks on the inside to removing oxidation and tar on the outside.  And this isn’t just limited to just cars!

  1.   All Vehicles!

While we love helping all makes and models of car, we don’t stop at cars.  We have also done:

Utah Boat Detailing Onsite Detail

Utah Boat Detailing Onsite Detail

 

  • RVs
  • Boats
  • Motorhomes
  • Airplanes
  • Semi Trucks
  • Motorcycles
  • Construction Vehicles
  • Buses
  • Farming Vehicles
  • Snowmobiles

 

We don’t just stick with messiness as a prerequisite for these vehicles to be treated by us.  We also love…

  1. A Challenge!

Do you have swirl marks, faded plastic or rubber, fogged headlights, a stain or smell you just can’t get rid of?  Did you know those are things we can take care of?

No matter the vehicle type, our detailing doesn’t just make your car/truck/etc. shiny but also helps it with long term care too.  With unique services like Headlight Restoration, Buffing & Polishing, Clay bar Treatment, and Plastic Restoration, we can help keep your car like new for years to come.  Jobs like these are difficult for just anyone to do, but we love a challenge and bring experience to the job with expert results!

And for the number one thing we love…

  1. Surprises!

At Onsite Detail we don’t like to stay still.  As a company we are growing fast and have made improvements steadily.  Now we are preparing to announce a big surprise to make our experience better for the customers we love so much!  Keep in touch on our Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter for a future update, you’ll be hearing from us soon!

We hope your Valentine’s Days are enjoyable, and hope to be part of the fun!  If you want us to do some detailing you can reach us at 801-412-9274 or fill out a Request Form so we can get you all set.

by Miranda Hughes, Onsite Detail

Mobile Detailing and Shop Detailing

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TWO MAIN TYPES OF PROFESSIONAL DETAILING

There are many differences between mobile detailing and shop detailing. There are not many differences in the results you get by having your car professionally detailed in a shop or having your car detailed by a professional mobile detailing service. Although most of my experience is with mobile detailing. I do have some experience with detailing in a shop. There are definite pros and cons to each one but most of those fall onto the detailers themselves. Not the actual people getting their vehicles detailed.

You would never be able to tell which vehicle was detailed in a professional shop and which one was done by a professional mobile detail service.Depending on the lighting in a shop, it can help with paint correction but can still be successfully done outside by someone with the proper skills and a trained eye. The same goes for the interior. The sun light outside can help you see things easier than a lot of shop lighting. There will be differences on how certain things get done but can both produce amazing results. Everything that is done in a shop can be done in a mobile detail service.

I will try to explain the best I can the different detailing experiences and how they vary with mobile detailing and shop detailing. Although I prefer mobile detailing, shop detailing has its advantages, one being heating and air conditioning. One of the biggest advantages that comes with mobile detailing is convenience to the customer.

Having had experience in mobile detailing and shop detailing, I’m going to do my best to help you understand the difference between the two. To do this I’m going to give you a normal day in the life of a detailer doing each one. You may be expressing that that sounds like an odd idea but inwardly, I know you’re looking forward to it.

 

SHOP DETAILING

Shop Detailing

As a shop detailer, getting to the shop in the mornings can be nice because you don’t have anywhere else to go. Most of the time you will be able to get started right away. With my experience it takes minimal preparation to start working in a shop.

Some shops will have inside wash bays and sometimes you will wash them outside and then move them inside after. My daily goal was usually trying to get one car done per day. I realize that many shops will not do full details on every car and services will vary.

A little bit about my shop detailing experience; it was a high-end used car dealership, I did full details on every single car including engines, paint correction, full interior details, headlight restoration (if needed), and rims and tires. I don’t want to spend much more time on the detailing process at a shop but more the daily routine.

When I would begin my day, I would pull the car into the wash bay and take out the floor mats and prepare them to be pressure washed. I would also pop the hood and spray degreaser on the engine (with the engine still running), and wash the car and deep clean the tires and rims, etc. After all said things are washed and clean on the exterior I would pull the car into the shop. Depending on my mood of that day I would either do paint correction first or detail the inside of the car.

In a shop it was a huge plus to have all of the chemicals and equipment organized and easily on hand when needed. The car was always in the same spot and the detailing “stuff” was right there. It made it easy to have a routine and almost identical process for each car.

One big thing that sets shop detailing apart from mobile detailing is putting all the transportation on the customers, with the option of leaving the vehicle overnight, which has some advantages. One of which include is there is no rush to get finished in a given amount of time. If any carpet needs to dry, it can be left overnight. It will give that carpet a good amount of time to dry and go untouched. Depending on when the customer will be picking the car up, the morning time is a good time to double check and do any final touches on the vehicle before starting on the next vehicle.

 

MOBILE DETAILING

Mobile Detailing

Mobile detailing, on the other hand, eliminates being able to start right away like shop detailing. After checking the van and making sure you have everything you need for that day, you will get headed to your first job and have some travel time before arriving to the job. Once at the job site, you’ll have to figure out where to pull up next to what your working on and that will vary greatly from place to place. Even though you have everything you need in the van and you have a process, you have to adapt according to each location.

Mobile detailing opens up many doors for you as far as the size goes for whatever you will be working on. People who have boats or RVs, in most cases, will not be able to bring them to a detail shop, let alone leave them for overnight services.

Convenience to the customer will be a big business boost for the mobile detailer and a huge plus for any customer who has a busy schedule. A couple big issues with mobile detailing will be traffic between appointments and weather conditions. Weather will always be a determining factor on how much you can do on any particular job and how many jobs you can do in a day. Sometimes the weather will not permit an exterior detail job to take place if its raining or too windy and dusty. At times mobile operations can work in a customers garage to avoid inclement weather but that also depends on the size of the garage and what a particular job entails.

Now before I mentioned that when I detailed at a shop I typically did a car a day at the the dealership. Mobile detailing will most typically offer a wide range of services and a wide range of different vehicles. Some services will be small and take little time and some will be bigger and take much more time, but this wholly depends on the operation and what types of services are offered.

Scheduling for mobile detailing can be a little more tricky when you have customers in different areas and wanting various types of detailing services. The best way to do it is to have areas designated for different days so you’re not driving in all different directions in day trying to get to all your jobs. The amount of jobs per day could be anywhere between 1 to 5. With mobile detailing, a lot of jobs that are done won’t be full details. You may have a full interior detail at one place, an exterior wash and wax at another, and an RV wash at another. The day to day will be different scenery which, for me, was one of my favorite things about mobile detailing.

So even with all the variables that can come your way with mobile detailing, the days still  might be a little more enjoyable. You will also have added benefits such as more face to face customer contact and getting to know them on a more personal level. You also get to learn the areas where you work and get to have some pretty sweet views some days.

Hope this helps you understand a little more about mobile detailing and shop detailing and the benefits and some cons of each one. Those things might be done differently in a shop that you’d see from mobile detailing but both can produce the same results. Ultimately, a good detail company will have ways to accomplish things and to provide the customer with an exceptional experience, which is what we always strive to do at Onsite Detail.

by Andy Stallings, Operations Manager, Onsite Detail