Ceramic Coat

[Underboss]

Am I crazy (not looking for that answer, I know) but quoting ceramic coating, which I have had done on all but one of my coaches the last 7 years.
But most have a set price per foot. That includes a brand new coach and a 10 year old coach. It makes no sense as a 10 y.o. coach will most likely need much more prep., but they want the same price per foot.
So now take my coach, new factory pickup, no real issues. So its a quick buff (relatively), alcohol bath and ceramic application. They do not take that into consideration. I just told a popular company that, its ok, I will wax it and when I am ready, you can spend more time prepping, getting out the swirl marks and then charge the same amount.
Am I wrong?

 

[Neemer]

You’re right and not so right.

It depends on how anal you are about paint and micro-scratches. No coach leaves the factory with a show car finish.

Bob Moses applies the same process to a day-old coach as they do a ten year old coach. The results are near same.

I’m pretty anal about mine, but I have to defer to the king of anality, @redbaron

 

[Underboss]

I get it, I am a bit anal too as I built high end show cars. Factory pickup was spot on. I could not find a flaw, no swirl marks etc. But even so, the typical 3 to 5 yo coach is going to take a lot more buffing. They said it could take 3 to 5 days, so tell me does anyone want to pay the extra two days that they are not working for?
When I built a car, if my detailer came in and said " hey I am going to buff your new build like its a 5 year old car with swirl marks" He would be headed out the door before he got to the swirl marks part
I get that there is prep but I do not want to subsidize the guy who used a truckers brush and muddy water to wash his coach for the last five years.
I will know more next week as I am interviewing two companies that actually want to come see the coach first.

 

[redbaron]

Most factory new vehicles and all motorhomes are full of microscatches. My 2022 required over $30k of work to correct paint issues before I accepted delivery