Autoglym Singapore, The Big Grooming Fail

When you pay for car grooming, you expect no less than perfection. This is especially so when the skill of a machine buffer is required. Else, you would rather save the dollars and do it yourself.

I'm sure you'll agree as money do not grow on trees. And if it does for you, I would really like to know the species.

Let's get straight to the point. I decided to give Autoglym Singapore a try after hearing all about the High Definition Wax and reading all about it on the Internet. 

Now the product was quite wonderful because it lasted about a week despite the heavy rains and harsh weather conditions over the festive season and the new year. I particularly loved the water beading/sheeting effect as it kept the car rather glossy throughout the entire week.

However, the workmanship and service from the crew at Autoglym is another story. 

First and foremost, I paid an additional S$30 for leather treatment which they overlooked when I collected the car. So the quick solution was to simply coat my leather seats with the leather treatment in my presence and this was done within 5 minutes. Not too happy with that because the job was done in a hurry.

One other observation was that the ashtray was not cleaned out and my accelerator pedal was still covered with dirt. This clearly shows that no proper attention was paid to the interior cleaning of the car. Seriously, would you even miss this when a vacuum was done? 

On the exterior, the High Definition Wax was not properly removed. Half of my rear bumper had wax on upon collection! For a professional groomer slapping me with a fee, this was totally unacceptable.

Now for the ultimate finale. This is the exact sentence that was lifted from the Autoglym website:

"We guarantee not to create swirl marks on dark colored cars. In most cases swirl marks will be eliminated." 

I've even kept the font for all readers, click the hyperlink and see for yourself .

As I once mentioned, the good news is that all cars will shine upon collection from all car groomers. But the real result is not to judge the workmanship immediately upon collection but rather after all that wax and sealants etc are washed away. 

Pictured on the right is the surface of my car after the rain had the better of the wax just after a week. Never mind the spots for those were the watermarks from the rain. Look at those closely spaced swirls under the lamps at the gas station! 

These were caused by the buffering at Autoglym. The swirls were too tightly spaced and very concentrated, indicating high revolutions only possible by a machine buffer. The "highly skilled guys" either used too little polish with too much pressure or an overused buffing pad.

With that in mind, I rest my case. Not only was my car collection experience at Autoglym a bad one but this did more harm than good as it ruined my topcoat. My paintwork was in way better shape before I stepped into Autoglym because I only hand wash my car and never used a buffer.

The conclusion? It is always wise not to sign up for an annual package upfront. Once again, the naked truth would only be revealed weeks after for all cars would shine with wax on it.

This was a S$270 nightmare and never will I return to Autoglym for grooming.

The 6 FAILS have been summarized by yours truly as follows:

1. Grooming crew was not properly instructed by grooming consultant to carry out leather treatment. Car was not completed as agreed upon collection.
2. Leather treatment was done in 5 minutes and seats were not cleaned prior.
3. Ashtray was not cleared and pedals were still dirty.
4. Wax at rear bumper not removed upon collection.
5. Wax at certain areas of exterior missed and not removed.
6. After wax removed naturally by rain, swirl marks present all over car exterior.