Johann Botha – Cape Town's best-known car detailer

Johann Botha, who founded Dutchman’s Car Care Clinic in the Western Cape, has been detailing high-end cars for over a decade and a half. We sit down with him in Paarl to hear about his journey from washing minibus taxis… to detailing Bugattis.

As I walk into the premises, I’m immediately impressed by its modern, tastefully decorated interior, which is clean as a whistle, even though I’m standing just a few metres from where cars are washed every day.

For the past 6 months, Johann Botha has been detailing cars in a small storage facility in Paarl’s Zandwyk business park – a space he shares with a passionate car collector.

Currently focused on 1 collection

I can’t help but ogle at the collector’s new, modern and modern classic cars, which are stacked on triple car lifts. It includes a 964-series Porsche 911 Carrera 4, a current-gen BMW M3 CS, as well as a Ferrari 360 Modena F1 and supercars in the shapes of a Ferrari 812 Superfast and a McLaren 675 LT.

Parked in front of the lifts is a 991.2-series Porsche 911 GT3 RS, which is currently being attended to. A neat collection indeed!

Johann walks with me upstairs, makes us a cup of coffee and shares his journey of the past 20 years.

“I grew up in Nietverdiend close to our border with Botswana – and far away from the world of supercars. I went to the UK in 2002, and when I returned in 2006, I was between a couple of jobs,” he says.

“It wasn’t a great time for me, but then 1 day I walked into a CNA in Heerengracht Street in Cape Town. I paged through a magazine that focused on entrepreneurs and business, and there I saw an article about mobile car washes. There and then, I decided that this is what I’m going to do. That was how I started.”

“Back then, I printed flyers and advertised my mobile car wash service at R70 per wash. I owned a Volkswagen Citi Golf at the time, and in its load bay was my vacuum cleaner, a bucket and sponges.

Started his business out of a Citi Golf

“I used to park at a fuel station, give out flyers, approach potential customers and also put the flyers in post boxes. It took about a week before my first client phoned me. You won’t believe it, but my first clients were Gold Fish (an electronic music duo from Cape Town, who are now based in the US).”

“Back then, I used to spend hours on a car, but only charge R70. I started to attract more business via word of mouth, but it was still hard work.

“I also used to wash taxis in the streets of Woodstock, which was a challenge! You have to work in the blazing sun, don’t have all the equipment you need, and must be wary of cars driving past you.

“Then I started charging a bit more for a wax job. After 4 years, I got my first client who owned a Ferrari. This was also after I had approached all the high-end dealerships to offer my services, and they all declined me. And after I finished my first Ferrari, that client was… very disappointed.

“You see, I then realised I don’t really know this trade. I can do a decent clean, but that’s different from detailing. I decided to do more research about detailing and realised it is an art.”

During these early years, Johann Botha and his then-new colleague, Darlington, went through very challenging times; however, things were about to take a turn for the better.

Ferrari came knocking

“My client sat at Ferrari and overheard a conversation about the detailers not being available on a specific day. He said to F errari that he ‘knew a guy’ who they should use. I will never forget; I was busy washing a Mercedes-Benz in the business park in Westlake in the sun when the call came from Ferrari. The ‘Benz was still full of soap, and the client said I just need to hose it down, and go to Ferrari quickly!”

“Darlington and I spent several hours on that Ferrari, and I charged the dealer something like R350. That was when the 1st Ferrari 458 units came into the country, and I was simply blown away by that car.

I remember when I invoiced them, the 1 Viglietti brother phoned me and said I can’t invoice so little for so many hours’ work. He said I should invoice for a larger amount to justify the effort we’d put into that job.”

This introduction to the Ferrari family and Johann’s effort to hang out with potential clients on Saturday mornings at the dealership allowed him to quickly broaden his client base.

One thing led to another, and when Crossley & Webb opened their business in Gardens, Johann was approached to hire a part of the premises so that he could manage the detailing side of the business.

Because Johann could attract clients to the business and vice versa, both parties would benefit from his presence on-site. “It was there where I started (what I would describe as) real detailing,” he adds.

Following his time at Crossley & Webb, Johann had another short stint as a mobile business, then joined Club 9, before advancing his career by founding Gardens-based The Archive along with 2 partners.

One of the highlights was when a group of Bugatti owners did a tour through the Cape with their Veyrons and Chirons, and The Archive (in conjunction with Johann’s team) was responsible for the logistics and cleaning the cars daily. “It is still one of the most fun things I’ve ever done,” he remarks.

Johann’s brand was called Dutchman’s Car Care Clinic. Two of his former staff members (John and David) still work for The Archive, “and I’m thankful for that because they also built my brand,” he says.

The ‘secrets’ Johann Botha knows about exotic cars

As we wrap up the interview, Johann Botha shares more stories about some of the most expensive cars he has worked on. He reveals details about the cars (such as build-quality issues, surprisingly) that few people will know about. After all, when you do a quality detail, you get to see parts that no one else does.

Recently, a long-standing client made Johann an offer. The result is that they are now based in Paarl, and it allows Johann to carry on with his detailing business.

However, he can now spend far more time with a client’s car/s, while there’s also time to look into business development, such as a product range that he hopes to launch in the very near future.

From washing taxis to detailing LaFerraris and Bugattis, Johann Botha has steadily climbed the ladder of automotive detailing in South Africa. It seems there is much, much more to come from this “Dutchman”.

Follow him on Instagram to view the cars he attends to or to book your car for a full detail.

Find a luxury or classic car listed for sale on Cars.co.za