Auto leather care is a big part of value. When you list a car for sale that has a leather interior, it will have higher value than a cloth interior. However, scuffs, rips, odors or stains to the leather can cause a potential buyer to walk away as soon as they spot the damage.

This is why professional auto leather care is recommended. At Details By Mark, we offer excellent Portland leather interior care! Read on for some tips to protect the value of the leather in your vehicle.

Auto leather care tip #1: Respect your ride

Common leather interior damage risks

• Setting down sharp objects on the passenger seat or back seat
• Eating in the car and making a mess
• Traveling with a pet that is not in a carrier
• Messy kids riding in the car
• Careless teenagers borrowing the car
• Constant exposure to sunlight
• Rain or snow coming in through an open window or sunroof

How to protect your leather interior

• Pay attention to any passengers or objects that enter your car
• Put lids on anything that might spill, or ban eating in the car
• Put objects that might scuff or scratch your leather in the trunk, truck bed or anywhere else but your seats
• Make sure the windows and sunroof are closed when you park your vehicle

Auto leather care tip #2: Use protection!

A leather interior shows class and style. Most drivers with leather interiors do not want to put seat covers in place, and for good reason. However, if you are likely to have kids, pets or objects that tear or scuff leather in the car, seat covers are a smart choice.

If you do not have a seat cover but have to drive with a child, a pet out of a carrier or any objects that might harm your leather seats, try to find a quick solution. Even laying a blanket or towel down can spare you the cost of leather repair.

Auto leather care tip #3: Visit auto detailing pros

Leather is hard to stain and is resistant to odors. However, smoking in your car or frequent spills may cause stains and odors. A professional detail may address these issues without costing a small fortune for leather replacement.

For Portland auto leather care, Details By Mark recommends getting a full auto detail at least four times per year. Contact our leather detailing experts for an estimate or to schedule a service!

Caring for your vehicle may take a “back seat” with other priorities when life gets busy. This is why an auto detail gift is so exciting!

The Details By Mark team strives to bring a smile to every customer. When they get a look at their clean machine, it can be like looking at a new car. Read on to learn about the joy you can spread when you give an auto detail gift.

An auto detail gift can clear the clutter

Ask any new parent with a job about keeping a car clean. They will tell you that any family station wagon, SUV, minivan or other vehicle just never seems to be clean. Here are just a few of the ways an interior gets dirty in a hurry:

• Spilled drinks
• Dropped food
• Messy passengers
• Natural dander and odors
• Small objects that fall between or behind a seat

Kids and pets are obvious sources of each of these issues. An auto detail gift can really take a load off of a busy mom or dad that just does not have the time to give their car a deep clean on a regular basis.

New professionals should look the part

Most of us know a service pro that just got their start. If your recent law school grad wants to look professional for his or her first day as a legal intern, their car ought to look professional as well. Similarly, a real estate agent, a sales or marketing pro, a courier and others will all enjoy their jobs a lot more if the car that they spend a lot of time in smells clean and looks sharp.

Remember, your auto detail gift to a service pro can be for both the interior and exterior. Service experts only get one first impression, so it is vital that their car look sharp for any situation where a client might see that expert’s car.

Clean cars for young drivers

A young driver ought to respect their first car. As a parent, you can show your teen driver a bit about respect by giving them an auto detail gift. Once your son or daughter sees how nice it is to have a clean car, it should motivate them to keep the car clean.

A clean car might even play a role in their driving habits. A teen that respects how their car looks will be less likely to drive in a way that could cause auto body damage. They are also less likely to park in unsafe areas.

If you want to give an auto detail gift, let Details By Mark know! We can help you choose the best detail for the recipient and their car.

When getting messy is part of the job, work truck detailing can seem like a bit of a wasted effort. While it might seem like a hassle to get your truck detailed when it is just going to get dirty again soon, it lets clients know that you are a professional.

Here are three reasons to consider getting your work truck detailed on a regular basis.

Work truck detailing can address exterior paint issues

A common issue that automotive detailing faces is improving a paint job. Regular detailing can keep paint looking great for many years. Clean paint matters to most professionals with a fleet of work trucks, and even more to a business with just one or two work trucks.

Paint helps to protect the metal underneath what a client sees. Once paint degrades, this might lead to corrosion and rust that eat away at the vehicle frame, which is much more expensive to repair than a paint job. Spending a little money now on detailing can save a business lots of money later.

Interior detailing for work trucks

Ask any heavy duty service professional, and they will tell you a work truck usually stinks. Climbing into the cabin of a messy work truck with lunch leftovers, body odors and more is not appealing. While a day to day mess is likely to happen when hard work is getting done, the occasional work truck detail can do wonders for the cab.

Auto detail experts can help you keep the dash panels and upholstery in your work trucks looking their best. Interior detailing is especially important if a guest will be in the truck. Potential clients, job site surveyors or executives from the corporate office will not be impressed when they ride inside a messy rig. Past that, if you plan to ever sell the work truck, a clean cab will up the resale value big time.

Wheels and tires

The wheels and tires of any work truck in the field are likely to take a beating. Even regular road vehicles need automotive detailing to deal with leaking fluids, brake dust and chemicals known to damage the wheels and tires. A work truck is exposed to considerably greater amounts of wear and tear, so routine detailing should be a priority. It could mean the difference between a safe wheel and wheel corrosion that causes a collision on the road or on the job.

Automotive detailing keeps your work truck looking professional. Take some pride in your rigs by contacting the work truck detailing professionals at Details By Mark.

Full auto detailing is the answer to one of the most challenging issues car owners face. Getting the most value for a car that you have for sale, whether to a private buyer or dealership, ought to be a priority. Drivers want to know how to get the most value for an old car they are upgrading from, how to find a buyer for a truck that has more value than you can see on first look and, in some cases, whether the best answer is to just junk their old bucket.

Junking old rust buckets with no salvageable parts or visual appeal is usually the best choice. However, if a shoddy look is the issue keeping you from getting the best offer on any van, SUV, truck, sedan, coupe, station wagon or other vehicle, it is worth investing now to improve value later. In the business world, this process is called value-add.

Value-add matters to car owners because they are, quite literally, looking to add value. There are four common options when getting rid of your car:

• Sell to a dealership at well below market value
• Sell to a private buyer at a price you set
• Give the vehicle away (to family, a friend, charity, etc)
• Destroy the vehicle at a junkyard

The first two options are the most popular, as they help a car owner sell an old vehicle they no longer want and put some money in their pocket. Here are a few value-add elements worth considering.

Exterior auto detailing

The first thing a potential buyer will notice is the exterior of the car. Dings, dents, rust, peeling pant, damaged bumpers, missing hubcaps and other visible damage will cause an immediate drop in the price. A professional auto detail shop can ensure that your car looks its best at the point of sale.

Interior auto deep clean

Once a buyer is sold on the look of the car, they will want to get a feel for it as well. These are the most common turn-offs for buyers:

• Funky smells
• Carpet/cloth burns
• Dashboard/center console damage
• Missing pieces of interior plastic

A full auto detail will include checking each of these areas twice. This is just to make sure you do not discover a problem after it is too late and the buyer is already in the car. Details By Mark has Portland auto detail experts that are always happy to help customers with value-add, so contact them before selling your vehicle!

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Here’s a picture of our full garage – another day of hard work ahead!

Your car is one of the most important things in your life; you rely on it to get you everywhere you need to go. So doesn’t it make sense to invest in the longevity of it? I know what you’re thinking, you get the services and tune-ups when they are required and wash it when regularly, but that isn’t enough. Due to constant use your car’s interior will build up dirt and wear, which not only lowers your car’s value but also puts you at a health risk. The only way to help keep your car at peak efficiency is to get a professional auto detail.

The weather here in Oregon lends itself to several types of damage to your vehicle, specifically mold, mildew, and water auto damage. The problem with this type of damage is that it can’t be glossed over; it has to be rooted out. If not, it could cause serious long-term damage to the car as well as your health. Make sure you check out our Mold and Mildew Detailing Service, to stay ahead of the problem.

It may be a bit odd putting your car in the hands of someone you have never worked with before, we understand. But as you can tell from our auto detailing customer testimonials, our automotive detailing service has a very diversified and substantial following. Everyone we have worked with has left with their expectations exceeded and a new found love for the car they drive.