r/Cartalk • u/Ok-Gain-3366 • 2d ago

I need help fixing something Are my car detailing expectations too high?

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Got my car detailed today. It was $300 for interior only. There are several spots that are still not clean. I wanted the car to look close to new. Here are some pics that show where there is still a mess. Is this normal or did they do a poor job? If they did a poor job how should I tell them that?

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u/Mintsopoulos 2d ago

I have never had my car detailed but I would be pretty bummed about spending $300 with that type of result. Hopefully others will chime in but I think they did a poor job and need to make things right.

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u/elmwoodblues 2d ago

Fot $300 I expect better-than-new, and this ain't that.

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u/zkareface 1d ago

Yeah I've had some cars detailed, for less and it's better than when buying the car.

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u/spacemanguitar 14h ago edited 14h ago

Fot $300 I expect better-than-new

That's a stretch. When my truck got repaired for hail damage and the crew burned my passenger seat from a few stray sparks while welding on the new roof, they used their insurance to replace one seats entire upholstery. Just the replacement OEM upholstery for a single seat was $300. His price from the manufacturer (I didn't have to pay this, he did in the disclosure). In other words, some stains and scratches simply won't come out. The only way to expect a destroyed interior to come out "better than new" would mean paying thousands of dollars to completely replace the entire interior seats / cushions / floors. Aside from that, your kids seat in the back with 3 year old ice cream stains baked by the sun for 3 fucking years is never going to magically become "better than new" unless you're willing to shell out for replacements.