2009... Great Year for Pro Detailers

B

Bobby G

New member
Happy New Year Pros!



It's been a few months since I posted over here. I took on a BIG project that consumed me for a while. That's all done and now I have time for forum business again.



A few weeks ago it really hit me that the poor economy and near collapse of the US auto industry is going to make 2009 a boom year for professional detailers. I think this for a couple of reasons:



1. People can't finance or afford a new car; and



2. People who lost their job need to sell their car for as much as they can get.



I think both of these situations mean good business for professional detailers. What are your thoughts?



If this is true, what plans do you have to go after this business? How do you plan to reach this audience?



A few weeks ago I had a wild arse thought and ran with it. On my Thanksgiving break I created a bit-o-code that finds people selling cars and collects their information:



- Seller's name and email address

- Make, model and year car they are selling

- City they live in

- Asking price for the vehicle



My system works amazingly well. In the period of a month I collected 9,000+ names, then shut the system off. Stunned by the results, I have pondered what to do with the data... if anything.



While any unsolicited email is considered spam, I think that if you're offering someone a service they need, it's not unrelated. In this case, it's easier to sell a car if it has been professionally detailed and the vehicle is likely to fetch a higher price.



What are your thoughts on this idea? On my end I'm selling nothing; I'm just bringing car seller and car detailer together.



db
 
i would think the opposite. Bad economy means people would rather spend $$$ on food rather than caring for their car. But maybe thats just me.
 
I feel that both sides are true. There will be more people wanting to keep their cars, so they want to get them looking like new again and then there will be the people that wanted to get their cars done but don't have the money now.



I think it will come close to evening out.
 
David any tools help and the idea sounds great. I did something similar last spring.



My area has an online newspaper with car sales. I copied and pasted a small message about "clean cars sell faster" and messaged only the car owners that i wanted. I sent about 30 messages and received 1 reply. It was an easy way to reach customers and get my business name out there.
 
I can tell you from the way the economy has been most businesses are down right now and not up. From my experiences people look at washing and cleaning their cars as a luxury and not as something they need to do. I've been saying for years that you need to educate people on why washing their car is just as important as oil changes. Like the fact that most body shops won't touch rust and if they do it cost a fortune to have it done right. A proper paint job will cost as much if not more than a new engine.
 
I'm going to have to go with the negative on this one. Quick story: At Barns & Noble looking for some good reading material. Over heard a couple of women talking about how they plan on retiring this year...and now they cant since their 401Ks took a dump...now they have to work another 5 years or so. So, most people will not spend the extra cash to get their car clean.



David, you say any unsolicited email is considered spam...i get that stuff every day...even with my name on it. It may work if you title the email to "Interested in your car you have for sale..." they are going to open in no matter what.
 
Its kind of to soon for me to know one way or another. I had a 'slow (realitive to last year) summer' but the fall has been far busier then last year. Jumping into the big show (for me) at the end of this month, I can say that January is among my best months to date work wise and probably the best in terms of profit. I am expecting a down turn but already booking in Feb... We will see.
 
Danase said:
From my experiences people look at washing and cleaning their cars as a luxury and not as something they need to do. I've been saying for years that you need to educate people on why washing their car is just as important as oil changes.
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Bob, I agree with you on this point 100%. That is the purpose of the forums.



People selling their cars are motivated by money. When they learn that a properly detailed car will fetch a higher price and sell faster, well, you know the old saying that "You have to spend money to make money."



My goal here is to use the Autopia.org community to help all involved: product sellers, detailers and car owners/sellers. If I can do that then I have done my part to make a difference in a crappy economy.



I'm trying to find the positive in the situation, not the negative.
 
Twista616 said:
David, you say any unsolicited email is considered spam...i get that stuff every day...even with my name on it. It may work if you title the email to "Interested in your car you have for sale..." they are going to open in no matter what.
Click to expand...



The way I get the car seller information is by sending them an email to begin with... I have better than a 50% email open/respond rate.
 
I seem to be doing mainly high end stuff these days. It seems like high end owners can "laugh off" the losses they are taking, and still continue to spend money on things like detailing. I am staying about as busy as I want to be at the moment, since we are moving out of our current home, and building a new home...and doing a good bit of the work ourselves.



I am hoping 2009 is better than 2008 for the economy in general. It would be nice if there was a drastic improvement in 2010. As soon as the economy turns around, I think in my area, I'll be getting more calls from middle of the road cars (not high end) for detailing services.
 
So far we've been booming this year. We finished last year really slow, as Seattle had a 2 week snowstorm. I think things are turning for the better quickly.







John
 
As mentioned before, the service we offer is a luxury to most and only those well off enough to weather the storm can sustain their usual lifestyles.



The economy will turn around and get better as things level out.



I hope everyone does better in 09.
 
I think a lot will be dependent on area too. Here in the "Motor City" every one is afraid of loosing their job.
 
1. People don't understand what a TRUE detail is, even a basic one.

2. We have to sell our services as a maintenance thing

3. Early this spring, after a harsh winter my angle will be to protect your investment as it must last with this economy.

4. We won't make much headway doing details for sellers, we aren't developing a client base but rather creating "a one night stand"

5. Maybe a thought is looking towards the lease return owners. I just found out that the dealers will back charge, at a huge rate to the leaser the cost of a poor looking car on return. I have helped 2 people with this, and have netted a nice profit and they saved a lot.

6. Need to focus on the kind of client that desires the quality work we strive for and attain.



I really hope that more people share about this issue here in the coming short months.



Cheers,

GREG
 
Greg Nichols said:
I really hope that more people share about this issue here in the coming short months.
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Greg, I hope so, as well. Now that we are in the dead of winter, and biz is slower, this is the time to plan and get ready for spring.



I'm here to help you guys in any way I can. Last year I put in the Marketplace directory. Those of you who have not created a free ad should do so. Those of you who have created an ad, keep it up-to-date. Some of you created a free ad and put nothing in it... it's a waste of space.



FYI in regards to the Marketplace directory, it gets more than 5,000 hits a month from Google. A large number of these searches go to detailer listings. If a searcher hits your listing and they don't find any information, they move on.



I'm thinking about breaking out the detailer ads into a completely different directory and organizing it my metro area. This way people who land here without searching Google will be able to find you more easily.



db
 
Great ideas David, and thanks for helping us out and superb job with Google search. This site is by far the BIGGEST detailing/knowledge site in the world. I have quite a few customers that I have gotten from here and the knowledge that they have learned is tremendous. I always give this site to new customrs that have not heard of it neither and tell them to do some research. They always come back to me and say, WOW that is an excellent site!



2008 was one of the best years for me and 2009 should be crazy busy. Last year was the most I have ever charged on some cars and the amount of hours put into some cars was average 40-60 hours. The tips and gifts I recieved this year were unbelievable.



I know that this is a bad economy, but there are plenty of people out there that will take the time to learn and spend money on their car. Some members have to realize that some people go out and spend big money to purchase certain cars with certain options, then they will spend the money to protect their investment. They just need to be taught the correct way and/or have an autopian take care of it for them.



I talk to quite a few detailers here and a lot of them say that 2008 was the best year so far.I always tell everyone to tell their customers about this site, so they tell their friends and so forth. If everyone finds out about this site and reads up on proper care then there will be a big change in car care and the right way of how things are done.



Thanks again David for all your help!
 
Danase said:
I think a lot will be dependent on area too. Here in the "Motor City" every one is afraid of loosing their job.
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Agreed.



jsatek and I are in the NYC Metro Area. With the complete financial collapse, cutbacks are imminent. Call it what you like, but the first place to cut back are luxuries. Enthusiasts will still pony up the cash, but others will go from detailing, to a car wash, to hand wash, to living with a dirty car. There are a lot of sob stories in the area of layoffs and people trying to get out of high monthly payments.



David: Your thought is very good and from what I see, this is a time where the fat will be cut. The good businesses will prosper and those mediocre or worse will close up or be acquired.
 
David Great thread.

09 will be a turning point for most detailers. some will turn right and some left.

The smart ones will press on charging froward.

For us 09 will be a great year. We opened our first real fixed location in November

added other services like wheel repair, bumper repair, interior, repair and so on.

We already offered PDR, Headlight resurfacing and PPF. Every thing is done in house.

The up sell is very easy. We find that most customers want to spend the extra money reconditioning their car because they are going to hang on to it a little longer. Our high end clients are not really affected like the middle class is and are still spending money. A lot of them are even ordering New Ferraries and the new Porsche Panamera.

I feel that the all inclusive reconditioning facility is the next step in our industry.

I wish we would have done this sooner.
 
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