My Mom Car Got a Spa Treatment

The Detail Guy turned my dirtmobile into a beautiful butterfly on wheels. 

"Mom, there's bird poop in the car."

"You mean on the car."

"Nope, in the car. Here on the door handle."

I gagged and sighed at the same time. That does it, I thought. Yes, we practically live in the car despite having a whole regular house to hang in and yes, we are plagued by an aggressive bird family determined to move in, but this was too much. I can handle dirt, but I draw the line at animal droppings.

Not five minutes later, I saw a gas station flyer for The Detail Guy, a new Upper Valley mobile car detailing service. I won't lie; flyers in gas stations don't usually motivate me. But I had bird poop in my car. And The Guy was willing to come to me.

I pulled out my phone, gave the Facebook page a quick look, and sent them a message. Owner Zach responded - warm, friendly, and efficient - in minutes, and that's how he wound up in my driveway a few days later.

A few things to know about Zach and how he does business: first, he was exactly on time, to the minute. I was still frantically pulling straw wrappers from under the floor mats when he rolled up. He uses a 1500 watt converter hooked to his car battery to power his cleaning tools, so he can meet you anywhere as long as he can pull his car up next to yours. Born in Boston and raised in Vermont, he's also a Navy veteran and so "attention to detail is huge for me," as he said.

He's not kidding. Let's take a moment to appreciate this in the "after" shot of my cup holder:

After about an hour, I came out to check on him in case he'd fainted from the magnitude of the task.

"How's it going?" I asked.

"Good," he said. "Lots of vacuuming."

"I bet there are a lot of Cheerios back there."

He nodded. "And Legos."

Well, that's all you need to know about us, Zach.

He was so thorough that even in middle of the summer, he didn't leave my house until after dark, but he never stopped working.

I was so deeply embarrassed by all of this that I kept coming out to apologize to him. What is wrong with me? I thought. How could I not have found time for even a half-hearted vacuum job? How does one even get bird crap inside of one's car? 

But here's what I most want you to know about The Detail Guy; he never made me feel bad about it. He treated it just like any other job, and was kind and professional from start to finish. Even as he handed me a bag of God-knows-what that he pulled out of the seat tracks. Looked like mostly crayons, and acorns, which sounds about right.

"Is there a job you've done that you are most proud of?" I asked him afterwards. "Please don't say my car."

"Well, to be honest...." he said.

Dang it.

"I love a challenge," he added.

There you have it. Give The Detail Guy a challenge at 802-289-3052 or TheDetailGuyLLC@gmail.com. If he can handle my beast of a car, he can definitely handle yours. Also, please get me off the top of his list.