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In those formative days, detailing was first established as a hobby – in a world where most people still washed their own cars at home at least twice a month, the idea of spending three times as long on the process was almost a natural progression. The growth of the internet and forums such as Detailing World allowed like-minded people to network, discuss, and develop their skills, while also introducing ‘detailing’ as a shorthand term for taking car cleaning to the next level.
As more people saw the results of detailing – immaculately glossy cars looking better than factory new – some people wanted to have their car transformed, but without using a week of their time to do it. While many assume professional detailing emerged from the car washing and valeting industry, or the classic refinishing and bodyshop sectors, in the UK at least, it was really from its own amateur origins. People who enjoyed detailing their own car started detailing their friends’ cars and then started charging for it as a service. Sure, it wasn’t long until car valeters diversified their services – they had been polishing cars for many years already, just not to the same extent – but it was predominantly a grassroots industry at first.
Cycle forward twenty plus years and the detailing industry – both the professional service side and the home enthusiast sector – is seen as a well-established, stable, and growing market – attracting investment from hedge funds and major transnationals. But how does the person in the street now perceive it? For starters, general awareness is much higher. Even a decade ago, if asked what work you did, you couldn’t just say ‘detailer’ in the same way you could ‘lawyer’ or ‘shop assistant’ – you would have to explain it in more detail. This would be greeted by slightly condescending nods with people looking at you as if you had said you had a paper round… it wasn’t really a ‘proper’ job.
Now in the mid 2020’s, you can be a professional detailer and people put you in the same category as other skilled trades – plumber, electrician, mechanic – skilled manual work that takes time and training to master. Equally, for the home enthusiast, it has become less esoteric – previously if you described car detailing as a hobby, people would put you in the same category as those who have model railways or collect children’s dolls. Now, not only is it a perfectly acceptable way to spend a Sunday, but within the car enthusiast world, it has become positively mainstream – you can do detailing at home without being a ‘detailing geek’. Admittedly the term has become more diluted – in the USA ‘detailing’ could have been used for an automated car wash a decade ago, but in Europe it was a revered artisanal skill. Now however, just washing your car at home with two buckets rather than one is considered ‘detailing’.
The appeal of having your car detailed professionally has also exploded – in years past the nearest you might come is a ‘new car protection product’ applied casually at a car dealership – but now getting your new car ceramic coated by a professional is commonplace. You just need to look at the number of independent, unit-based professional detailers in the UK (circa 3,500) to realise how great the demand has become. In other European markets it varies – in France for example, where having a flash shiny new car is considered a bit gauche, detailing remains predominantly an enthusiast hobby. Conversely, in Germany, where washing your car at home has been made very difficult due to environmental laws and regulations, professional detailing services are available in nearly every town and city nationwide, while self-service detailing bays are widely available to rent.
Detailing has gone from an esoteric hobby to a commodity service in just a few short decades – with developments in chemical and machine technology, it has become easier than ever, while its proliferation has also led it some distance away from its perfectionist origins. While the car industry as a whole is in a state of flux, specifically in terms of changing propulsion, decreasing ownership among the young, and greater awareness of our environmental impact – the detailing industry perhaps offers some stability – as long as people are still driving cars, new or old, petrol or electric, they will always want to look shinier than their neighbour’s car.
Nikolai Reetz from Autolackaffen says:
