503 MOTORING

unknown

Spoke with Alex several times before the service to learn about the protective coating, how to maintain it, cost, etc. When I was ready to drop off the car, they were going to be closed for the Independence Day holiday, but the owner met me at the shop, and went over the proposed service with me. I had been confused by the terminology they used (full burial only refers to the treatment on the hood, not the entire car), and added some additional areas of the car to be covered. The car was ready when promised, and the application of the protective coating was perfect.

We took our newer Lexus to 503 Motoring to have a "Clear Mask" (paint protectiion film) applied. During two pre-sales phone conversations, both of the gentlemen I spoke with were friendly, professional and willing to spend the time on the phone. 503 was not the cheapest for this product application, but advised they were "the best."
They explained that their service cost more than the same product available at other local, high-end detailing shops because 503 uses precision, computer-cut film templates, whereas, some other businesses relied on hand-cut film.
I was quoted $895 for a "full kit" application, to include the hood, fenders, mirrors, door edges, grill, front bumper, headlamps and trunk opening (consistent with their website ), and I made an appointment. Upon dropping the car off, the gentleman conducted a walk-around of the car with me, and we further discussed the details of the product application.
At that time, I came to learn that, since our vehicle did not actually have a painted grill, there would be no application to the "grill." Further, since our vehicle had a plastic/rubber protective plate applied to the area below the rear hatch, there would be no protective film applied to the "trunk opening," either. Surprisingly, there was no price adjustment offered for not having 2 of the 8 listed parts of the car, under the "full kit" package, actually protected by anything. We agreed to a hand-cut portion of film being applied to the area below the rear hatch protector, because there was no computer template for that portion of the vehicle.
I then left my car with them overnight, so it would be finished by the end of business, the following day, as we were going to be on a tight schedule (they do lock the car inside overnight - a nice service).
Upon arriving to pick the car up the following day (at their close of business), they were still working on the car, which took almost an additional hour to complete. The staff apologized for the delay, and everyone at the business was quite friendly. Upon looking at the car being finished, the film application looked pretty good, but I noticed the film applied to the door handle "cups" was a strange rectangular shape, that did not protect the entire area behind the door handles (the main reason for having protection there).
I was advised that there had been no computer template for those areas (I had not been advised of this beforehand, and assumed the film would match the curve behind the door handles, as all other vehicles I had seen it done on had had), nor had there been a template for the front/rear bumper collision sensors (which had obviously been hand cut), along with the rear tailgate area (which we had already discussed).
So I ended up paying more than another high-quality business had offered for the same product, supposedly because of the precision computer-cut templates, although only some of the vehicle parts were actually covered by the templates. Additionally, since the car was late being finished, after getting the car outside and home, I noticed the vehicle appeared "dirty," where the alcohol prep had been applied to the car, with handprints, smudges and drip marks in almost all areas where they had been working. I would have thought that a high-end auto detailing shop would never have let a vehicle go out of their shop without looking pristine (as it had when I brought it in, as I had just had it washed beforehand).
So, overall, the car is protected. Was it worth the extra $100+ that I paid for the "computer-template application? No. Not at all. The people at the business were nice, their office and shop area were clean, and the work was just okay. Not bad, just not what was expected. Unfortunately, I would probably not use them again.

Fantastic. The installer answered all my questions about the tinting and clear bra. He even showed me the templates they use on the computer, etc. I had to reschedule twice (my issues not theirs) and they were very accommodating. The car was done on time and exactly the way I had requested. I will have more work done by them in the coming months.