Some good points, and a few misses (my .02).
I'm also a detailer as well as being in the Military. I've owned my detail business for many years now and I started doing my homework on Ceramic Coatings about 5 years ago. When they first hit the market they were so expensive that it was limited to the super elite and was something only the extremely wealthy could afford and was pretty much exclusive to super cars. Thanks to the advent of competition the prices came down and companies came out of the wood work, which is good and bad.
Not all Ceramic Coatings are the same. I've dealt with several different brands/companies that offer Ceramic Coatings and some do have some ridiculous claims. "Scratch proof coatings," yeah that's a scam. Scratch resistant however is an accurate claim. The biggest thing to remember with Ceramic Coatings is that it becomes the "sacrificial layer" instead of your paint (which is much cheaper to repair than repainting your car) it's not bullet proof but it adds a layer of protection that no other wax on the market can compete with (even Collinite 845 which I love and use).
I've seen first hand what happens when a bunch of birds decided to take a crap on several cars waiting to be picked up from my shop. One was a freshly waxed car and one was a Ceramic Coated car, both were parked next to each other at my shop. Difference between the 2? The "waxed" car had to be buffed/wet sanded to get the acid etching out of the paint, the Ceramic Coated car just needed quick detailer and a drop of compound (Sonax 04-06) on a MF rag to get a small pea size amount of surface etching off of it. That's real world experience, not some gimmicky photo shopped video.
Another reason why Ceramic Coatings offer much better protection over periodic waxing is ease of maintenance. Ceramic Coatings are hydrophobic which means that nothing sticks to them, think of It like Teflon coating for your car. Because of its hydrophobic characteristics water spots won't etch into your paint, washing takes 1/2 the time and you won't need to do it as frequently as bugs/grime wipe off easily. Also another big positive is that it adds a significant amount of gloss to the paint that waxes just can't compete with. Durability? Wax can be stripped with an all purpose cleaner or even dawn dish soap. Some ceramic coatings (like Gtechniq CSU) have to be wet sanded off with 1500 grit sandpaper to remove it, it's that durable which is why they guarantee it for 9 years.
Lifetime warranty's on ceramic (i.e. Ceramic Pro), in my opinion, are a complete waste and B.S. Why? Because read the fine print you have to bring it to them annually and have to pay them to do touch ups/top coats/re-applications, that's not lifetime, that's a lifetime subscription with annual dues. Also if you use a automatic car wash or plan to continue to use them, Ceramic Coatings aren't for you, they void your warranty immediately because so many carwashes are poorly maintained and cause an extreme amount of damage to vehicle surfaces.
As you mentioned though prep is key. Anyone (and I do mean anyone on here) can apply Ceramic Coatings, it's not difficult, just very time consuming. The key is the prep, whatever you "leave" or don't correct on your paint is going to be sealed in for many years, a lot of the cost is the labor/paint correction. For instance my cost for Gtechniq's Crystal Serum Ultra (9 Year) and EXO V4 is around $300, but most shops charge north of $1500-2500 to do it, a lot of it is because if you have an issue in that 9 years the shop has to fix it for free, there's no cost to the customer. However the downside is you can't buy a lot of the Pro-Grade Ceramic's without specialized training and/or a business license/account so you're forced to go to an accredited installer/shop. On a positive note there are several ceramic coatings out there that are Pro-Consumer grade that you can do in your garage and get up to 5 years of protection out of them.
Are they worth it? Absolutely. But only if you get someone who knows what they are doing and has a passion for doing it. I've seen "professional" well established shops butcher jobs that a novice detailer with a harbor freight buffer in his mom and dads garage could perfect, and I've seen back yard detailers that think they know what they are doing destroy a vehicle. Moral of the story is do your homework on the detailer as much as you do on the coating you want to get. I have customers whose cars have been coated for going on 4 years now and they are still in immaculate shape and perform the same they did the day I coated them. I've also seen other brands of coatings come in that have completely failed within a year when their original claim was 3 years or better.
At the end of the day it's like buying life insurance. It's optional, provides great protection if you need it (and you hope you don't), but the end results depend on how good of a company you go with and your rates will depend on your overall health (paint quality/condition). When you spend close to $70k on a truck these days what's a few hundred extra to help protect it?
(FYI, PPF - Paint Protection Film, is still the ultimate protection out there as it provides a physical layer of protection but it doesn't cover the entire vehicle and is extremely expensive)
