Rod, the owner and manager at Darring's Detail, did an excellent job correcting the paint on our…read moreVik Black 2023 Genesis GV70 Electrified. I went in looking for whatever level of polish I could get within a roughly $500 budget, and Rod ended up delivering essentially a three-stage correction within that budget. The quality of the work, service, and value were all excellent, and we were genuinely thrilled with how the car turned out.
We had just purchased the vehicle CPO with about 30,000 miles on it. We bought it Wednesday afternoon in Virginia and drove it home by Thursday night. By Friday morning, some dried mud was unfortunately wiped off the paint, leaving several additional scratches on top of some clear-coat scratches and deeper marks that were already there. Vik Black is a beautiful metallic black, but it shows almost everything.
We dropped the car off with Rod Monday morning. Our goal was not showroom perfect. We just wanted the paint to look significantly better without spending well over $1,000. Rod initially discussed around a two-step polish for roughly $450, but what we ultimately received was essentially a three-stage correction for $500. Comparable quotes I had seen for that level of work were well north of $1,000.
The car was washed, decontaminated and clay barred, polished, then worked again with a heavier compound and wool pad in areas with deeper defects, followed by a final polish and wax.
The result was fantastic. The car is not absolutely perfect under every light, but it is also a 30,000-mile CPO vehicle with some deeper scratches. For what we asked for and what we paid, the improvement was excellent. More importantly, this was a car we had literally just brought home, and after the correction it finally felt like the new-to-us vehicle we had been excited about buying in the first place.
The service was just as good. I have increasingly felt that with most businesses you can pick two of three: great quality, great service, or a great price. Rod somehow managed all three.
Rod originally expected the job to take one day. Around midday Monday, he called and left me a voicemail asking whether he could keep the car until the following morning because it could benefit from some additional work. I was in a meeting and could not respond right away. When he had not heard back from me within about an hour, he decided to honor the turnaround he had originally promised and worked double time to finish the additional work. The car was ready that same Monday evening.
When we picked it up, Rod and his team were clearly proud of the work and excited to show us the result. That meant a lot. You can tell when someone genuinely cares about the work they are putting their name on, and that was absolutely the feeling we got. They were transparent, stayed within budget, and did more than I expected without trying to upsell me into something I did not want.
I am actually pretty critical when it comes to paying a lot for detailing services, so I do not give this kind of recommendation lightly. In this case, I felt like every dollar was well spent. Rod and his team gave us exactly what we were hoping for, and then some. I would absolutely trust Darring's Detail with our vehicles again.
Thank you to Rod and the entire team for making our new-to-us GV70 look like something we could be excited about all over again.
