Prentice has been a full-time member of the automotive detailing and reconditioning industry since 1994, when he established Detail in Progress as a modest mobile detailing and wash business in San Diego.  (He had been providing detailing service as an avocation for 10 years up to that time.)  Prentice joined the Professional Detailing Association in 1997 and soon realized there were opportunities to merge a Masters-level education and five years of management training experience with a passion to improve the detailing industry.  Prentice began writing for industry trade publications and presenting seminars at car wash shows in 1998.  He has since written over 400 published articles and presented education at more than 50 industry trade shows.

Prentice wrote and directed arguably one of the best detailing video training programs, Detailing for Profit, in 1999, which has sold tens of thousands of units over the years.  Prentice also wrote virtually the entire training curriculum for the highly successful Rightlook.com Training Center in San Diego in 1999, and taught that curriculum for five years.

Prentice is a proud member of the initial installment of the IDA Founder’s Club and served on the IDA Board of Directors for its first six years.  He helped establish the IDA Certified Detailer Program and was among the first group of Skills Validated detailers and Recognized Independent Trainers in the world. 

Additionally, Prentice has served on multiple IDA Committees for a number of years, earning the IDA’s Outstanding Service Award in 2015.  Prentice has trained and certified thousands of detailers from around the world and continues to serve the detailing industry in multiple capacities.

In addition to his leadership activities, Prentice continues to provide retail reconditioning services to his long-time San Diego neighborhood of Point Loma, for which he has been awarded “Best Local Detailer” for the last eleven consecutive years.

Prentice’s commitment to the detailing industry is summed up by the mission statement of his company: “To improve the profitability of the automotive detailing and reconditioning industry through impassioned training and consulting.”