Dealership detailing and washing?

Most of the big dealerships have a detail shop on site. The rest of them just outsource to a shop. Its not practical to do detailing in the parking lot of a dealership. The best you can do is try to compete with the crew of 5 guys that come in with a water tank in the back of their pickup truck and spray all the cars down and dry them off. Some of them might use a tire shine, but that is really as basic as a lot of dealerships want around here. I gave my card to a few local small dealerships who mainly deal with cars they buy at auction and then plop on their lot. Since they can't offer the volume that a larger car lot can offer, they usually don't get great pricing at detail shops. I can compete at that point. If they are looking at spending $150 bucks to get the job done at a shop or some guy comes along and offers to do it for $120 on the spot, usually the lower price gets the deal.

I'd focus on the small mom and pop dealerships who deal only in used cars. Larger dealerships pay their kids $7 bucks an hour to install swirls on the cars and you can't compete with that. Find a dealership that isn't right across the street from a detail shop or a car wash and you've got a potential revolving client right there. They are also good for referals to other dealerships. If I wasn't happy with my full time job then I'd be working those small dealerships all day long every day. Small dealerships and auto actions are always the best place to find a paycheck when you are having a slow week.
 
I would stay away from dealerships , my experience is they have detailers on site or give bulk jobs to close by shops . A full detail will pay $75 for them . So there's no real money in it and they don't appreciate the good work you do. Not trying to discourage but to inform.
 
I always heard bad things about dealers but its been a little different for us. We are getting ok money from the dealers we are doing work for now. We walked into one last week and they said they only send out the really bad ones because they have two guys doing the detailing. We said we would do it and would do a free one to show them what we can do. We got a call later that day for a dirty truck. Long story short they loved it and gave us two more that week. That those two were in good shape. They even put the second one we did in the showroom :D We have a couple more that we talked to this week that are going to try us out. And they pay us a lot more then $75. Not as much as our retail but enough that we don't mind doing it. Go in and tell them you price. If they don't like it then you move on. BTW we were told we do a better job they then the shop that did the work before us.

James
 
I used to work at a dealership but got sick of offering my services for incredibly cheap. I also didnt like being treated like I didnt know anything. THe dealers would give me tips like use colored wax to fix scratches and just nonscence stuff. It was nice to have money when i didnt have detials lined up but i couldnt detail for them the way they wanted me to anymore. They didnt want any swirls removed. Just waxed ... NOT WASHED... I always washed or S+Wed so that always was a giveaway as well. The other thing was my name was starting to get attached to the hack details they did in there shop. So buttom line if your desperate for work you can do it but I wouldnt reccomend it. \

Greg
 
Stay away from them. I know a excellent detailer that does work for a used car lot that is getting payed pennies for full details while I get $235.00 and up depending on vehicle size and condition. Bad part about it is that the family that ownes the lot is well connected to the rich and wealthy. They won't dare pass on his business card to their freinds and family because they know his business will explode and leave them high and dry and they don't want that.
 
Well, I am officially well on my way to selling my soul to a dealership after reading this thread. Being in a total glut of work, I hit a couple of small dealerships today looking to at least pick up a few jobs, and one of them offered me a full time job for the summer (I'm a college student) flat out. They asked me to name an hourly rate, and after going home to contemplate and calculating some rates from the normal detailing jobs on my flier and how long they take me, I arrived at $15 an hour as a fair rate for my services. I quoted this rate over the phone and the manager told me their current detailing guy was going to be gone next week and that they would start me for that week at $10 an hour, as a test of sorts, and if everything works out they would keep me on and we can negotiate the price. I don't know if I will be getting my full $15, but we will see where I can go. I'm just hoping that I don't have to compromise the quality of my work too much to work there. When I was talking to the manager and a younger guy this afternoon about buffing, I told him I used a PC, explained how it was different from a rotary, and the younger guy piped in with "there's barely any difference" and promised I could learn to use a rotary in 10 minutes. I also saw a black Grand Prix outside covered in awful holograms. I know this is pretty typical of most dealerships, but I don't want to become another "swirl installer" even if it means steady work. I guess we're going to see if it really is possible to do dealership work and keep your own quality standards...
 
i work at a dealer as an hourly employee. i am lucky because i make $14.00 as a base. each job is assinged a time frame similar to a flat rate mechanic. if i produce 50 hours in a week i get $15.00 an hour. i also get a monthly bonus of $15.00 for each rust proof package and $20.00 for each dent i remove.i have had some bonus checks run over $300.00. i know i am VERY lucky with this deal. the dealer i work at is very good about my desire for quality. i know of some dealers that don't care about quality as much, but there are good dealer to work for. i don't make as much as some of the guys that own their own shops, but in my small town there isn't enough work to support a detail shop a couple have tried and died. plus i am also lucky where my wife has a good job(and pays for my bike) :lmfao
 
I make $85 an hour, so if you break that down, I make $1.40 in 1 minute so it takes me 11 minutes to make $15.40. Thats with my one rig and no emplyees. Dealers laugh all the way to the bank when they come across guys like you.
 
SA Detailer said:
I make $85 an hour, so if you break that down, I make $1.40 in 1 minute so it takes me 11 minutes to make $15.40. Thats with my one rig and no emplyees. Dealers laugh all the way to the bank when they come across guys like you.
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How on earth do you make 85 an hour being the only employee with one rig? Please, do tell us! And 15 an hour is good money at a dealership, damn good money. Seeing how most start you out at minimum wage to clean windows,vacum and wash cars.


maximv1 i bet is the one laughing all the way to the bank.
 
The bottom line is dealers dont pay really more than 15 an hour and they dont care about defects. I think dealers will laugh at someone who wants to charge them 85 an hour.

Greg
 
I'm guessing full detail in 2 hours, 170 / 2 = 85 / hour. Wonderful, but you have to be fricken good!
 
SA Detailer said:
I make $85 an hour, so if you break that down, I make $1.40 in 1 minute so it takes me 11 minutes to make $15.40. Thats with my one rig and no emplyees. Dealers laugh all the way to the bank when they come across guys like you.
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i ralize that many on this board don't like dealers, but i enjoy working for them. i may not be able to charge $85.00 an hour, but i also have a steady paycheck even if it is slow and i enjoy the enviroment. greg is right, if you went to a dealer they would laugh at your rate. they pay more like $85.00 per car. the area i live in can't support a detailing shop, two have tried and failed, i am not going to risk it when i have a decent income, steady work, and no overhead out of my own pocket. please be considerate of other people's ideas of enjoyable jobs.
 
SADetailer, please remember that not all local economies can support prices like that.

That is why many times when someone asks "what should I charge for ..." the answer is "what the market can bare"

JMHO
"J"
 
I come across alot of mobile guys here that sing the same song, "You can't charge that much and people don't have that much money here." Sorry I can't write to much but gotta go, busy this morning. Have to wash 2 E-Class Benz and Pickup (every Sat. morn. at 8am) $105 plus tip in less than a hour, then to another client has a Bentley, Range Rover, Escalade, $130 plus tip in about a hour and 20 minutes. $235 plus tips for just 2 and half hours of work, GOTTA LOVE IT!!! Then I'm done for the day and out to lake for the 4th of July weekend, see ya Tuesday!!!
 
3 cars in an hour? then another 3 in an hour and 20 minutes. And for that money? Sorry i could be wrong And you could be superman but i smell :bsflag
 
SA Detailer said:
I come across alot of mobile guys here that sing the same song, "You can't charge that much and people don't have that much money here." Sorry I can't write to much but gotta go, busy this morning. Have to wash 2 E-Class Benz and Pickup (every Sat. morn. at 8am) $105 plus tip in less than a hour, then to another client has a Bentley, Range Rover, Escalade, $130 plus tip in about a hour and 20 minutes. $235 plus tips for just 2 and half hours of work, GOTTA LOVE IT!!! Then I'm done for the day and out to lake for the 4th of July weekend, see ya Tuesday!!!
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if you are doing $35.00 washes good for you i guess, but i have trouble seeing alot of customers paying that. if they are your mini detail cleans, 3 in an hour???
 
Running your own mobile detailing rig certainly comes out to a much higher hourly rate, but I don't think it takes everything into consideration. How about the time commuting from job site to job site, along with the gas for all that driving, and the cost of all your supplies, plus advertising, plus insurance, and one of the biggest factors - consistency of income. If I could make $85 an hour doing mobile details I would be out there too, I'm sure its profitable even after all those expenses, but it's still not fair to say "$85 > $15" and gloat in your inflated greatness.
 
I'm not that familiar with dealer washing but aren't there people that do lot washing for like $1-2 a car on a weekly basis? In some areas I think dealer work is very helpful for detailers. Even if the price per hour is less, if it fills your schedule go for it. Less per hour beats nothing per hour.

On subject of hourly rates, lets be realistic for a moment. Ones hourly rate should reflect hours worked. If you take how much you make for a week and log your hours for that week, I think you'll find most one man mobile guys are under $40. Unless you teleport, travel time especially on washes can kill an hourly average. I think it's human nature to use funny math with matter of money. Expenses are never as high as they are and income is always higher than it is.
 
Sorry you guys feel this way but you take it as gloating but I thought you all wanted the knowledge to become good at what you do in the shortest time possibile. If you go to my profile and lookup all my thread posts, you will come across time saving tips. Tomorrow I headed back to my Saturday regulars, 8am, 2 Benz & 1 pickup then 9:15, 1 Bentley, 1 Escalde, 1 Range Rover. Then after that, catch up because I was on vacation for a week. In the photo below you see 5 cars plus two more in the garge that you can't see(Porsche and vintage Mustang). They are washed every Monday, takes me 2 1/2 hours, $255 when I'm done.

If you washed a vehicle once a week rain or shine and it took you more than 20 minutes, there is something wrong in your operation.

Plus you talk about drive time, when I started my business, I focus on the wealthiest part of town which is about a 3 mile radius. When I'm done, maybe 2 to 5 minute drive, sometimes just across the street.

You talk about expenses, how about it cost me around .65 cents per vehicle. We track our monthly income minus cost of supplies, gas, insurance, don't have a truck payement, I payed it off in 3 years instead of 5. I don't buy expensive products over internet, I buy all, I MEAN ALL my supplies locally. I pay half compared to the stuff you oder over the phone or internet. And their products work in my opinion, better because I have received tons of sample stuff and they don't come near the quality I get here at home.


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