You want to “protect your investment,” don’t you?
Who doesn’t love “peace of mind”?
Ask about or discuss the relative value (or lack thereof) of various add-ons here.
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Trucoat
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Wheel Protection can be great but never pay over $700 for it regardless of the brand.
We offer legit coatings at our dealership and pre-install them on our higher MSRP cars (Ceramic Pro) instead of low dollar stuff like StarGard or ScotchGard. Most people buying our SVRs and Autobiographies like having it and already have it installed on the more exotic cars they own.
And gap is useful if you’re purchasing. Maybe excess wear depending on the brand (+1 for Audi Care).
I like ceramic coatings but prefer to pick them myself and have my trusted detailer apply them. Tire and wheel protection is almost becoming mandatory these days with the super low profile tires put on every vehicle regardless of whether or not it’s a performance vehicle. If you are in the same zipcode as a pothole, you are going to need it.
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We mainly apply ceramic pro for the scratch protection for ourselves while the car is in stock. A porter lightly rubbed the side of my sold Satin Mescalito Black Velar SVAD with a hose while washing it and caused $6,300 in paint damage. Something similar happened to another satin full-size and a satin Velar as well. It makes life a little less stressful when the car is ceramic coated first thing when it gets to the store for satin cars (although we apply it to higher MSRP gloss finish cars as well).
My point in my previous message was that customers appreciate it because it is a legitimate product with name value, not some foo-foo magical serum that “makes your paint sparkle like new until the end of time.”
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Ouch. I love that color. I’m glad you are using the good stuff and not the crap some of the dealers use. You’ve always been a straight shooter on here though, which I appreciate as I’m sure a lot of people do.
When I had mine applied, I was told that it wasn’t going to deflect lasers and boulders or mean I didn’t every have to wash it again. It is, however, much easier to wash and it has kept things like road tar and paint from sticking to the surface. I think it’s well worth it even on a leased vehicle if you really care about taking care of the finish.
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I’d be wary about a dealer putting on ceramic vs a known detailer. A good detailer will correct or at minimum polish the clear coat before applying. That’s where the high cost comes in. Don’t pay $1000+ if you aren’t getting any correction. Additionally, these coats only last 2-3 years so if the dealer did it a year ago and the car has been sitting in the elements since then you’ve lost much of the protection.
The ceramic itself shouldn’t cost more than $100 for materials and it’s about 1-2h in labor if there is no polish step. As an amateur detailer I spent a day cleaning/polishing and ceramic coating my fart car V60. Clear coat takes years to degrade even sitting in the sun so no way would I spend big money to protect a three year leased car.
It does make the car much easier to clean so there is some value for the lessee.
We don’t apply it. We outsource to a very very reputable local dealer, they do full paint correction and ceramic pro application.
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Jesus. 6300 for one panel & correction or a whole repaint?
It was two doors, one fender, one rocker panel. Also just so happened it was a literal billionaire client (who happens to be the most anal guy in the world) that was purchasing not leasing, and needed the car delivered that day for his daughter (it was her surprise present for her 16th birthday). Literally everything that could have gone wrong did, and with the worst client for things to go wrong with.
How would have a ceramic coating help? I’ve read and watched plenty on this. There’s potentially a small benefit for swirl reduction (the kind you get from improper washing). But for any scrape that is deep enough it can’t be polished out, no ceramic coating is going to help. Paint protection films potentially could, but protecting a whole car runs multiple thousands.
Our cars are stored outside. Bird droppings + satin paint = 
Also, we have found that they are slightly more resistant to light light scratches. You’d have to be familiar with factory satin paint to understand the benefit. Satin paint is extremely easy to scratch, and once it’s on the car there is no buffing it out. And when I say light scratches I mean light, like the corner of your apple watch touching the paint, button on the back of jeans touching the paint, hose touching the vehicle, etc.
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Story time, what happened? Stall? Repaint?
That is quite the story time. I’ll post it in here in a bit when I little spare time to day.
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Hmm 
nice to have a billionaire dad that bought me a $150k RR for my 16th birthday lol lifestyles of the rich & famous 
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Ok, I understand. Satin paint is a different beast all together.
It’s protecting your inventory as much as it protects the customer post-purchase
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Exactly 
Satin paint is awesome but to be brutally honest it really isn’t worth the headache. I wish we would just satin clear bra gloss cars (same cost as factory satin paint option) but the problem is that it doesn’t residualize.
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I would never get it on my car, but I’m a penny pinching hacker and not a billionaire 