Autoglym Lifeshine?
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I picked up a new car on Saturday and had the "Autoglym Lifeshine" included as part of the overall deal (invoice shows cost of £474). I'm not convinced anything was done in terms of applying treatments, etc.. that wouldn't have been done as part of the dealers normal new car preparation and the car is going back to them to have another go!
You do get a nice bag with a sponge, a couple of microfibre towels and 4 (apparently randomly selected) Autoglym products - all in probably about £30 worth plus the bag.
Jury is still out for me as to wether it's worth it and I'm glad I didn't pay the £474 directly for it - seem more of an extra money making thing for the stealerships than anything else.
You do get a nice bag with a sponge, a couple of microfibre towels and 4 (apparently randomly selected) Autoglym products - all in probably about £30 worth plus the bag.
Jury is still out for me as to wether it's worth it and I'm glad I didn't pay the £474 directly for it - seem more of an extra money making thing for the stealerships than anything else.
I used to work at an Audi dealership and have seen them apply the autoglym lifeshine and I would never play for it. They only quickly throw the stuff on, buff it off then onto the next car.
As you said it didn’t get anything over what a normal car would have had.
I think if it is done correctly as per the instructions it might be good stuff just not worth a dealer applying it
As you said it didn’t get anything over what a normal car would have had.
I think if it is done correctly as per the instructions it might be good stuff just not worth a dealer applying it
Not worth it at £150
Ceramic coating 100x better. Mine has just been done £500 outside and wheels plus another £100 to have the wheels off and do the insides.
Had it done on X3 in May and highly recommend it. Snow foam, pressure wash then leafblower to dry. Job done and paintwork never touched or rubbed.
As for cleaning the wheels I actually now like doing it.
Ceramic coating 100x better. Mine has just been done £500 outside and wheels plus another £100 to have the wheels off and do the insides.
Had it done on X3 in May and highly recommend it. Snow foam, pressure wash then leafblower to dry. Job done and paintwork never touched or rubbed.
As for cleaning the wheels I actually now like doing it.
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Even if the Lifeshine product was amazing you can guarantee it won't be applied correctly, if at all by the dealer, it's all a massive con.
As above, far better to go to a proper detailer and get either a ceramic coating or even just a polish and sealant.
I did my new van myself with Gtechniq products, I applied two coats of Exo which took about an hour per coat and then I just top it off every other wash with a few squirts of Liquid Crystal and it makes the paintwork very easy to wash and dry.
As above, far better to go to a proper detailer and get either a ceramic coating or even just a polish and sealant.
I did my new van myself with Gtechniq products, I applied two coats of Exo which took about an hour per coat and then I just top it off every other wash with a few squirts of Liquid Crystal and it makes the paintwork very easy to wash and dry.
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There's a whole world of detailing products out there, everybody will have their favourites.
I like to do detailing myself to a slightly above average standard and I find the Gtechniq stuff easy to apply, easy to remove and easy to maintain.
Exo in a 50ml bottle was about £50 on Amazon, Liquid Crystal spray £20ish, the wheel armour is pretty crap so I just used some cheap Mr Fix ceramic coating for £5 and a lorry load of microfiber cloths.
Because my van was new and I asked that they didn't try and wash or prep the van before delivery my paint was very good and didn't really need any correction before hand other than a good wash.
Gyeon is the stuff my guy uses. He also does a really good like in cleanin product so have posted a link
HD Car Care | Car Care Products, simplified | Buy Online Today
I love his snow foam. Its awsome and smell good too.
HD Car Care | Car Care Products, simplified | Buy Online Today
I love his snow foam. Its awsome and smell good too.
Ceramic coated 6 months ago, been washed 3 times since, covered over 10,000 miles in last 3 months and this was 2 weeks ago, quick wash and polish with Autoglym super polish.
Ceramic coating is brilliant and around £400-£500
You can see the results below. Van has covered over 32,000 miles.
Ceramic coating is brilliant and around £400-£500
You can see the results below. Van has covered over 32,000 miles.
I have seen both types and.....
Both leave a sandy residue on the paintwork don’t they?
Heres my epic story with AG Lifeshine ..
I bought a nearly new Caravelle from a main VW dealer.
Agreed on price etc and was happy with the deal - arranged pickup a few days ahead. All finances already sorted/paid etc.
2 days before picking up the van, the salesman contacted me in a "let me whisper a deal in your ear" kind of way and told me he could add the Lifeshinee on for free if I agreed for him to jiggle the figures in his favour (effectively inflating the price by around £250 to cover it). All apparently secret from his sales manager, so that he gets the tick for the life shine deal (BS).
I agreed to the deal as the net cost to me was the same (sure I could have argued for him to drop the price by that amount, but I was already happy with what I was paying so saw it as a positive)
Went to pick up the van (over a hundred miles away mind) - they had stood it inside the showroom to make a big deal of it ... and it looked epic.
On close inspection I found the polishing a bit patchy, so told them I was not pleased with the application of lifeshine. This escalated to the point of me telling them I didn't want it as the life shine application was a ripoff and hadn't been done properly.
The manager then came out to calm me down. He agreed the life shine needed re-doing. And, as the dealer was so far from me, he arranged for a dealer local to me from their same group. to do the lifeshine. I got this in writing and took the caravelle.
So ...
The manager from my local (group) dealer contacted me, I booked in and dropped the Vel off. Just to make the point here, this dealer is not VW but part of the same group. This dealer sells a fairly high end/luxury brand of cars. He said he's getting his chief valet to do the job. Happy days I thought.
Went to pick it up, to find the outside nice and shiny but the inside had only been hoovered and polished - nothing had been applied to the seats (this is part of life shine - they are supposed to treat the carpets and seats with some magic stuff of some sort).
I got the manager and told him - he came out and said "the valeter isn't here but he must have done it, given he is their star valeter, with years of experience". But he guaranteed me he would speak to him the next day and get back to me .
Next morning, I got a call from the manager .. He admitted that the valeter had been reading the bottle wrong and thought that he didn't have to apply it to leather/alcantara seats !!!!
I swore little bit at that point and pointed out that meant that all the cars they were selling and lifeshining were not getting their seats done either !!
I told him I was going to contact Autoglym.
On speaking to AG it became apparent that my vehicle wasn't registered with them. neither of the dealers had bothered to do this, meaning that my work wasn't even registered and guaranteed.
The girl at AG was very helpful. She agreed to send one of their "techies" out to redo my van at the local dealer, while training their onsite muppet on how to do it properly. She assured me this guy was their best person.
She also emailed the manager at the local dealer, copying me in.
So, dropped the vel off to the dealer .. again .. and met the AG techie in his van full of goodies.
When I picked it up later that day, I was totally amazed. he had spent 5 hours on it, polishing and treating. (And training the local muppets).
Very happy.
My story ended well (I ended up with 3 sets of the bag/briefcase of products and had my vel's paintwork treated 3 times, plus the inside properly done), but I reckon lots of people are being ripped off - not by a bad product, but by incompetent/lazy valeters in the dealers.
Very happy with AG's customer service though - they were outstanding.
I bought a nearly new Caravelle from a main VW dealer.
Agreed on price etc and was happy with the deal - arranged pickup a few days ahead. All finances already sorted/paid etc.
2 days before picking up the van, the salesman contacted me in a "let me whisper a deal in your ear" kind of way and told me he could add the Lifeshinee on for free if I agreed for him to jiggle the figures in his favour (effectively inflating the price by around £250 to cover it). All apparently secret from his sales manager, so that he gets the tick for the life shine deal (BS).
I agreed to the deal as the net cost to me was the same (sure I could have argued for him to drop the price by that amount, but I was already happy with what I was paying so saw it as a positive)
Went to pick up the van (over a hundred miles away mind) - they had stood it inside the showroom to make a big deal of it ... and it looked epic.
On close inspection I found the polishing a bit patchy, so told them I was not pleased with the application of lifeshine. This escalated to the point of me telling them I didn't want it as the life shine application was a ripoff and hadn't been done properly.
The manager then came out to calm me down. He agreed the life shine needed re-doing. And, as the dealer was so far from me, he arranged for a dealer local to me from their same group. to do the lifeshine. I got this in writing and took the caravelle.
So ...
The manager from my local (group) dealer contacted me, I booked in and dropped the Vel off. Just to make the point here, this dealer is not VW but part of the same group. This dealer sells a fairly high end/luxury brand of cars. He said he's getting his chief valet to do the job. Happy days I thought.
Went to pick it up, to find the outside nice and shiny but the inside had only been hoovered and polished - nothing had been applied to the seats (this is part of life shine - they are supposed to treat the carpets and seats with some magic stuff of some sort).
I got the manager and told him - he came out and said "the valeter isn't here but he must have done it, given he is their star valeter, with years of experience". But he guaranteed me he would speak to him the next day and get back to me .
Next morning, I got a call from the manager .. He admitted that the valeter had been reading the bottle wrong and thought that he didn't have to apply it to leather/alcantara seats !!!!
I swore little bit at that point and pointed out that meant that all the cars they were selling and lifeshining were not getting their seats done either !!
I told him I was going to contact Autoglym.
On speaking to AG it became apparent that my vehicle wasn't registered with them. neither of the dealers had bothered to do this, meaning that my work wasn't even registered and guaranteed.
The girl at AG was very helpful. She agreed to send one of their "techies" out to redo my van at the local dealer, while training their onsite muppet on how to do it properly. She assured me this guy was their best person.
She also emailed the manager at the local dealer, copying me in.
So, dropped the vel off to the dealer .. again .. and met the AG techie in his van full of goodies.
When I picked it up later that day, I was totally amazed. he had spent 5 hours on it, polishing and treating. (And training the local muppets).
Very happy.
My story ended well (I ended up with 3 sets of the bag/briefcase of products and had my vel's paintwork treated 3 times, plus the inside properly done), but I reckon lots of people are being ripped off - not by a bad product, but by incompetent/lazy valeters in the dealers.
Very happy with AG's customer service though - they were outstanding.
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Exactly my point from earlier, main dealer 'valet' guys are just sponge jockeys, even the high end brands.
