Black vans for under £3k

[TW]Fox;19207819 said:
What about the Bentley's etc you did last year?

You were literally flooding the car cleaning thread with pics of your clients... err I mean mates. cars last year!
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At the time I never intended to be ever doing this professionally so some don't have pictures, some have crappy phone pictures etc.

I don't think I've ever spent any significant time taking nice photos with the exception of the second time I did the X6. (I'll post them up later, I'm off for now).
 
MikeHiow said:
I'm not sure if this is a wind up or not, but I'll entertain your question.

It is a 50/50 shot of polishing - on the left shows how bad the paint was before work began, and on the right is a demonstration of the first stage of polishing.

Another example:
IMG_1341.jpg


It's all the rage on the detailing forums and I personally love seeing them - it's all very well showing a shiny car, but even better seeing the actual improvement in such a fashion.
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Quite simply this isnt good enough if you want peoples money. I take your 50:50 shot and raise you one from a lady who called Ruth on the Yaris forum i used to frequent.

5050shot.jpg


These are the kind of before and after comparisons you need if you want to drum up business.

1-6.jpg

3-7.jpg
 
I think the most important thing in any reflection shot is taking note of what's actually in the reflection.

For posting on a forum, it doesn't make much difference but anything trying to promote a business, you want to avoid the typical distorted face behind a camera, warped side of your house etc.

That Yaris shot for example, touted as a good shot, doesn't strike me as that good - the polishing is good but the photo is crap and no thought has been put into what is being reflected. Fine for a forum, crap for advertising.
 
Kenai said:
I think the most important thing in any reflection shot is taking note of what's actually in the reflection.

For posting on a forum, it doesn't make much difference but anything trying to promote a business, you want to avoid the typical distorted face behind a camera, warped side of your house etc.

That Yaris shot for example, touted as a good shot, doesn't strike me as that good - the polishing is good but the photo is crap and no thought has been put into what is being reflected. Fine for a forum, crap for advertising.
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It was more to show off the quality of the work, I picked those 2 as they were both at the same angle, there are a lot more in the thread but it has swearies so I cant link to it. Here are a few more that perhaps show it off a bit better?

1-7.jpg

directsun.jpg

4-7.jpg


These are the kind of images I personally would be looking for, though I accept some people may expect something different.
 
Foxtrot26 said:
believe it or not Joshy people pay multiple hundreds of pounds to have their cars proffesionally detailed.

some of the waxes alone can run into 4 figures a tub.

fools and their money and all
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I'm not questioning whether people will spend hundreds of pounds on detailing, I'm questioning is that is there enough people out there on the Isle of White who are willing to pay this type of money regularly to keep a man in his 20s, his wife/girlfriend and young child afloat?

I'm wouldn't call myself a business guru but I'm just not seeing the market. Surely the people who are willing to spend hundreds upon hundreds of pounds on a car wash (sorry, paint correction :p) are going to own cars that don't really need that level of polish and effort? Is someone really going to notice the difference between hours of Mike's work and a £50 mini valet at the local eastern European place on a 10 plate SL Merc with immaculate paint?

Also, I don't like to prying into people's finances, but things sounded like they got pretty rough just a couple of months back, are you really prepared to go balls out on a venture that looks (from the outside at least) a little bit veeble? Do you have saving to sustain yourselves? And most importantly how do you intend on getting afloat and breaking even and how long is it going to? I'm not sure of the margins but I would have thought you needed to do a fair few jobs to get in the black even month?

I'm sure you're going to get angry and say that you don't need our help and advice on your business idea, your family or your finances but I'd like to remind you that we all just want to help. Well, maybe apart from Skeeter ;)
 
BinnsY said:
It was more to show off the quality of the work, I picked those 2 as they were both at the same angle, there are a lot more in the thread but it has swearies so I cant link to it. Here are a few more that perhaps show it off a bit better?

[/IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v217/binnsy/1-7.jpg[/IMG]
[/IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v217/binnsy/directsun.jpg[/IMG]
[/IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v217/binnsy/4-7.jpg[/IMG]

These are the kind of images I personally would be looking for, though I accept some people may expect something different.
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They all still have distracting stuff in the reflections though, that's what i'm getting at - a house, a lamppost... more thought could go into surrounding to ensure a nicer reflection, trees, a landscape, that sort of thing...
 
Kenai said:
They all still have distracting stuff in the reflections though, that's what i'm getting at - a house, a lamppost... more thought could go into surrounding to ensure a nicer reflection, trees, a landscape, that sort of thing...
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I see what you mean, if you could get that quality of work coupled with the reflection it would have something to go off. Personally though, all of those pictures would inspire more interest from me than the 50:50 posted by the OP.
 
Kenai said:
They all still have distracting stuff in the reflections though, that's what i'm getting at - a house, a lamppost... more thought could go into surrounding to ensure a nicer reflection, trees, a landscape, that sort of thing...
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It is a landscape, an urban landscape! :p

I quite like the building reflection one, the quality and detail in the reflection is high enough and it shows what it's most likely to be parked near to or against, showing what the buyer/viewer could create of their own.
 
It's probably a good place to start a valeting business, captive audience and all. Not sure why you'd need a van to start though (and the costs like insurance, racking, graphics etc). A couple of the most successful detailers worked for years out of Leons, old Post Office vans and Mondeos, on a mobile basis. Starting off small and building up a customer base to the point where they are booked 7 days a week, then they start looking at premises or vans. These are guys who travelled big miles. Your advantage is your clients are all within a really short distance of your place or theirs. Carrying around a water tank on the Isle of Wight, as a start up valeter just seems a bit OTT unless you are fleet valeting in car parks. Anyway, good luck.

For what it's worth, if I didn't do my cars myself, I'd want one of three detailers to do them for me. I couldn't care less what they turned up in or what state it was in. I'm paying for their experience, expertise and reputation (and my peace of mind that they are insured)...not how much time they've spent on their work van. I see plenty of franchised mobile valeting vans on the road, always look very clean. They wouldn't get near my cars. I understand the rolling advert logic, doesn't really work for me.
 
ash_scotland88 said:
It is a landscape, an urban landscape! :p

I quite like the building reflection one, the quality and detail in the reflection is high enough and it shows what it's most likely to be parked near to or against, showing what the buyer/viewer could create of their own.
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I disagree, I think it just looks busy and messy - a much nicer appearance could be gained in a different environment and still demonstrate the detail and clarity on offer easily.
 
BinnsY said:
It was more to show off the quality of the work, I picked those 2 as they were both at the same angle, there are a lot more in the thread but it has swearies so I cant link to it. Here are a few more that perhaps show it off a bit better?

These are the kind of images I personally would be looking for, though I accept some people may expect something different.
Click to expand...

Its pointless comparing a black car outside to a blue car inside. Black will always reflect better, especially when it's outside at an angle with lots of light.

Also, that second to last photo highlights bad quality - there are holograms in it!


This is the first car I ever did that was not my own - it way completely flat before:


284.jpg

285.jpg

294.jpg

302.jpg

303.jpg

091.jpg

286.jpg

292.jpg

299.jpg



This is what I was doing today - just a glaze as the paint was ridiculously thin following some bad machine polishing from the previous owner - lots of buffer trails, swirls and holograms.

IMG_1703.jpg

IMG_1704.jpg


Bare in mind it's had no correction - this is what the paint looks like underneath the glaze:

IMG_1698.jpg


My point is, anyone can get reflections and they don't necessarily mean a good job :)

But just for good measure, my ST:
5108154322_1648cc3600.jpg
 
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Man...it is hard to find good help these days. :o

This is how you run a detailing business...and whether you like it or not Mike, taking decent photos to show off your work is part of it. :)

http://www.miglior.co.uk/

EDIT: Look above he's brought a WHITE VAN! :p
 
Joshy said:
I'm not questioning whether people will spend hundreds of pounds on detailing, I'm questioning is that is there enough people out there on the Isle of White who are willing to pay this type of money regularly to keep a man in his 20s, his wife/girlfriend and young child afloat?

I'm wouldn't call myself a business guru but I'm just not seeing the market. Surely the people who are willing to spend hundreds upon hundreds of pounds on a car wash (sorry, paint correction :p) are going to own cars that don't really need that level of polish and effort? Is someone really going to notice the difference between hours of Mike's work and a £50 mini valet at the local eastern European place on a 10 plate SL Merc with immaculate paint?

Also, I don't like to prying into people's finances, but things sounded like they got pretty rough just a couple of months back, are you really prepared to go balls out on a venture that looks (from the outside at least) a little bit veeble? Do you have saving to sustain yourselves? And most importantly how do you intend on getting afloat and breaking even and how long is it going to? I'm not sure of the margins but I would have thought you needed to do a fair few jobs to get in the black even month?

I'm sure you're going to get angry and say that you don't need our help and advice on your business idea, your family or your finances but I'd like to remind you that we all just want to help. Well, maybe apart from Skeeter ;)
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Come on Mike, put our minds to rest :)
 
Kenai said:
I disagree, I think it just looks busy and messy - a much nicer appearance could be gained in a different environment and still demonstrate the detail and clarity on offer easily.
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Second one, the full shot one, with the building is messy, would have been better with-out it. But the close up side with just the building works for me.
 
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