If you live in the southeastern United States, (or in and around Los Angeles), you may have heard by now of a car wash and detailing company called Get Spiffy. They’ve been expanding out of central North Carolina for several years now, and thought it was time to share my thoughts on my experiences with them so far.
What I like
To be a carwash company, they really are a technology-first company I will say, since there really aren’t any similar car wash and detailing services in my area that have an app. Unless I know the detailer, I’m hesitant to turn my keys over to a company I don’t have a relationship with.
The one thing I will say about Spiffy, is that their company portrays itself well using blue vans, a cute logo, and a staff that takes pride in the company. This isn’t the case for more than a few mobile detailing companies I’ve seen in my area which usually consist of a plain white van that doesn’t exactly convey trust.
Below are a few categories I used when evaluating my experience.
Convenience: 8/10
On-demand services are becoming more needed, so I appreciate the convenience Spiffy offers in this category. I would much rather wash my vehicle by hand, but during the busiest time of the year it’s a great option to free up a few hours on a Saturday or Sunday.
It’s also super convenient to get your oil changed. Waiting in a crowded Jiffy Lube or even a high-end car care center I really don’t enjoy. This app has saved me so many headaches, and is actually cheaper for me since I use synthetic oil. No more waiting rooms.
I also like the convenience of having my truck washed in the winter – for weekends where I just really want to sit it the house. The only knock on the convenience factor is that if I plan to have my vehicle detailed at work, I can only have it done on Tuesday. It sort of defeats the purpose of on-demand convenience. I do receive an office discount, so I can live with it. Overall, I’d give them an 8/10 rating for convenience, simply because it’s really easy to pay (within the app).
Service Options: 7/10
In addition to a basic car wash, there are wash packages that range in price from about $30 to over $200, depending on the level of service.
One thing that I would like to see is an option for interior detailing that doesn’t require an exterior wash. For people like me (who most of the time prefer to hand wash my vehicle), I’d much rather have someone only detail the interior, clean the carpet, remove pet hair, etc. than pay for both.
App Experience: 6/10
The in-app experience is okay, not the greatest by any measure. It’s simply functional (which is fine), but doesn’t quite have the Uber look and feel just yet (where you can track your driver, get ETAs, etc.)
It’s nice that the web experience mimics the app, so you can access the Get Spiffy dashboard across all devices. Paying from within the app was really easy, and is so much better than having to exchange a credit card or cash.
Level of Service: 8.5/10
One thing I will say about the service is that the staff is super friendly, and it feels like a professional company vs. some detailing companies I’ve seen around town. After getting my oil changed, it’s not uncommon to receive coupons and freebies in your vehicle, which is a nice touch.
Their chat support is also great, and their team is really responsive to any questions I have.
Quality of Wash: 7/10
One thing I will say is the quality is pretty average when compared to other detailing jobs I’ve had for the price. You’re paying an extra $20-30 for convenience in my opinion, and not necessarily a higher quality wash. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, especially for if you are a busy working professional but still prefer a hand-washed car.
I haven’t tried the $299 detail (which seems a little pricey to me), but I do drive a fairly large truck which takes a long time to get clean.
I went with the basic wash. Upon inspection, the surface was pretty slick (which is good), but there were spots here or there I noticed after washing, around the trim and undercarriage. They do offer the undercarriage option as an extra, which I didn’t order.
I may opt to only get washes in the winter (when touchless car washes are closed), or when I don’t feel like washing it myself. I’m just not sure that the $20 extra (for a basic wash) is worth it compared to a $10-15 automatic wash that includes the undercarriage treatment.
Oil Changes: 10/10
This is by far my favorite service to use Spiffy for. I absolutely despise getting my oil changed, and for the price, you cannot beat for oil and the filter. They also use Mobile 1 Synthetic Oils, which I feel is a superior oil to many synthetics found at car servicing stations.
I really hope they are planning on tire rotations, inspections, wipers, air filters, and other services in the future, as this would be awesome. They do offer an on-board diagnostics chip called SpiffyBlue which looks really interesting, so we will have to wait and see. You can read more about that here on their website.
What Could Improve
Out of all of the things I’ve mentioned so far, there were a few things that I noticed could be improved.
Key Drop-Off / Progress Tracking
This is one area that is not the most convenient process in the world, but as to be expected. The technician usually comes to my office, gets my keys, and calls me whenever service is complete. That’s usually followed by a text-message.
Key drop-off location is usually only for some office parks.
Ideally, having a progress tracker (similar to the Dominos app) would be nice, to see what stage your car is at in the detailing process. While my vehicle isn’t high end, I could see some people wanting total visibility into what’s going on with their vehicle.
Accuracy of ETAs
Like any on-demand service, having an accurate window of when to expect service to be complete is important for me during a busy day. Most of the time Spiffy arrives to my office park on time, but there have been times where they have arrived 15-20 minutes late.
App Experience
The app experience is a lot better now than what it used to be, but still isn’t quite to the level of apps like GrubHub or Uber. More visuals and easier navigation from the homescreen would be a welcome addition.
Also the syncing of text-messaging and notifications from within the app are not accurate. For example, about 2 minutes after receiving an alert that my wash had just started, I received a text message saying that service was complete. Not a huge deal, but something to improve.
Pricing
For a basic wash, the price point is not all that competitive with what you would expect to pay at an AutoBell, or local carwash. Packages #3-5 you can expect to pay at least $100, which I can imagine is a little out of most people’s monthly budget for a car wash and detail.
For sedans and smaller cars, this is a decent service, since you don’t have wheel wells, but for my truck the wheel wells were not clean. I’m pretty sure this is considered the undercarriage, but is something I would probably go to a carwash for in the future.
You definitely pay for the convenience of this on-demand service, but I’d like to see more competitive options and a-la-carte options for basic interior and exterior detailing.
My Overall Rating: 7.5/10
Overall, I would give Spiffy a 7.5/10 rating. While a few factors like accuracy, UI, and quality of the #1 (base) wash could be improved, it is one of my favorite apps that I use on a regular basis. Being so new to a category, I expect this experience to continue to improve.
Give it a try by downloading the Get Spiffy app in the app stores, or visit GetSpiffy.com for more information.
Buddy your straight up honest thank you Mike W