What is “An Individual Approach to Automotive Excellence?”
Not only is this our new mission statement at Carolina Auto Image, it is the way that we do business.
Let’s look at this with three characters:
Christy is a mom of three boys ranging from 5 to 16. She is on the go most of the day, getting them to school, to ball practice and then back home for homework, to start it all over again. Her husband works full time to provide for their family and so their time is limited.
Christy drives a new Chevy Suburban for the room and the added safety of a larger SUV.
Don is retired military. He has served his country for many years and now has time to enjoy one of his favorite past times and that is local car shows and car meets. He loves his car and doesn’t mind taking some time to get it ready, but he wants it to look flawless. He has a working knowledge of what it takes to maintain a vehicle, but he also knows when to call in the professionals.
Don drives a black on black 1969 Pontiac GTO
Eric is an executive with a large firm and has done well for himself. He has multiple cars and loves to take weekend trips to the mountains and to the track to really push his cars. His favorite is his new Porsche GT3, but he doesn’t baby these cars, he uses them. He wants no nonsense protection that allows him to keep the cars looking great, but also makes it easier for him to get the all the track crud off.
In these three scenarios you see three different vehicle owners. So do you think all of these owners would get the same detail package???
Not at all, that is why we take an individual approach.
Let’s start with Christy:
Time is a big concern with Christy, she cannot be without her vehicle, but she does have some time every two weeks that she can set aside. Christy’s main concern is the interior of her suburban, with three boys, the interior really gets dirty quick.
In Christy’s case, we have found her main concern, so we set her and her husband up on a membership program.
We initially come in and do a complete cleaning of the vehicle, polish the paint and protect it with a good sealant. We then tackle the interior, making sure that all the nooks and crannies are cleaned. We spoke to Christy and her husband about interior coatings, and they both agreed that they really wanted the added protection. Now every two weeks, the crew comes by at the agreed time and maintains the suburban for Christy and her husband. The boys love it, they tell mom that the inside smells great. Christy is happy, because she doesn’t have to think about how she can get the suburban cleaned. She can sit inside and have that extra cup of coffee she wants and catch up on her favorite book.
Next up is Don:
Don’s pride and joy is his GTO, he knew when he was young that he wanted this car. He actually had posters and a model of the car, which he still has today.
Don’s car is a fully restored replica of his childhood model. Don is very peculiar about who he allows to touch the car, so after some meetings in person and on the phone, Don has agreed to drop his car off at the studio for a full paint correction and detail.
In the following days, we take the black paint on Don’s GTO thru multiple steps of polishing to remove light scratches and to produce a mirror like finish. We spoke to Don early about protecting his vehicle, and Don understood all the options, from wax to sealants, into ceramic coatings. Don really likes the warmth of a fine coat of wax and wants to stay true to the era of the vehicle. He does understand that this wax will need to be reapplied, but that isn’t a concern for him, so we hand apply two layers of Swissvax Crystal Rock to Don’s black beauty and just in time for Don to win Best in Show at the local Pontiac event.
Finally we get to Eric:
After some emails back and forth with Eric, he has decided to come in for a consultation. We discuss the use of his GT3 and how since it is an individual color, that he wants to go to the maximum with protection, Especially on the areas that would see the largest impacts from the road and track use. We agreed that paint protection film applied to those areas was a key thing that he wanted. We also agreed to a long term ceramic coating that will allow for easier removal of the track debris. He wasn’t as concerned about the interior, but after hearing about the options to coat, he decides to have that applied as well. One big concern for him was the wheels. Being a matte black and being as the race bred calipers put out a tremendous amount of dust, he really wanted to coat those to make his life much easier.
We take Eric’s vehicle thru a full correction process to make the paint gleam and to also prep the surface for the paint protection film, that we installed to the full front, along the lower rocker panels and then custom made a piece for the rear fenders. After careful trimming and edge wrapping, we coat the whole vehicle with a long term ceramic coating, wheels and interior as well.
Eric couldn’t be more pleased. His last track day, he came in for the fastest lap of the day! He also has brought in his large pickup to have a partial front paint protection film application, since he hates the look of the old plastic bug guards. We also applied a two year coating to it as well.
As you can see in each scenario, the needs of the customer was our first concern. We could have easily pushed each customer toward what we wanted, but that doesn’t help our customer.
People are individuals and as our mission statement implies, we like to take “An Individual Approach”
If you have been considering a person or company to handle your vehicle protection and appearance needs, gives us a call, stop by the shop, or send an email and let us start you on the path to always loving your car, no matter what that car or truck does for you.
Sincerely,
Bruce Humphries
Owner
Carolina Auto Image
www.carolinaautoimage.com
