Case Study: 2013 Mini Cooper Coupe
Today’s case study is a 2013 Mini Cooper Coupe, in Light Grey.
This car belongs to an old client of mine, whom I had lost contact with for the last couple of years. She moved away from her previous address, and I never got her new address to keep in touch.
The funny thing is that I kept sending her my newsletter to the old address, every single month. And I guess that, eventually, the current owner got so annoyed by it, that he decided to contact my client, and forward her all the correspondence.
That put the two of us back in touch again. And, luckily, just at the right time…
Her Mini Cooper had not been cleaned in over a year (not even an exterior wash), and it was in desperate need of a thorough clean.
Clean My Car to the rescue…
I picked up the car from my client’s house, and brought it over to my shop in Downtown Vancouver.
This was going to be a long day, knowing that my client also has a dog, who travels with her in the car all the time.
On top of that, I was dealing with a back pain, from injuring myself while lifting a heavy box. (I never seem to learn my lesson, as this happen to me before… oh, well)
Anyways, back to the Mini Cooper…
The exterior looked nothing special — just layers of dirt from being parked outside, and not washed for a long time.
The interior looked as expected, with quite a bit of dog hair stuck to the carpet, and lots of dirt and debris.
Seats were in good shape, with just a couple of minor spots, which came out without posing much resistance.
(If you’d like to see what our interior cleaning process is like, go here.)
Quick side note: Many car owners expect an interior in such condition to come out clean with “just a quick vacuum”. This is never the case. Aside from a thorough and extensive vacuuming, the carpets need to be shampooed, otherwise the improvement is minimal at best.
In this particular case, the client followed my advice, and chose the appropriate cleaning package.
A few hours of solid and meticulous cleaning, and the Mini Cooper is completely transformed…
The interior is now spotless — dog hair gone.
The exterior has regained its shine, and it looks (almost) like a brand new car.
This time, a miracle was possible. Years of neglect have been erased.
But that is not always the case. A lot of times, a car reaches a “point of no return” when, no matter how intensive, cleaning alone is not sufficient anymore to bring the car back to its former beauty.
Key takeaway: Cleaning your car often saves you a lot of trouble and money.