Do you service car dealers?

[safetyman2010]

Small world, I'm from the Windsor area too. In April I plan on opening a Hand Car Wash & DS in my hometown of Amherstburg, just 20 min south of Windsor.

Weird. One of my best friends family owns a nursing home in Amherstburg

 

[Barry Theal]

I've been dong this for over 18 years, I know people all over the world that do this and have never, ever met anyone that made any money doing low cost, volume details for dealers. The numbers don't add up unless you're doing absolute crap 1 hour mop and glo jobs.

Come to my neck of the woods. Herein Manheim I can you several MultiMillion dollars Detail shops that are very successful doing these cheap jobs!



Look at it this way. Mcdonalds don't make much off a Double Chesseburger, but how many do they sell?

 

[safetyman2010]

Come to my neck of the woods. Herein Manheim I can you several MultiMillion dollars Detail shops that are very successful doing these cheap jobs!



Look at it this way. Mcdonalds don't make much off a Double Chesseburger, but how many do they sell?

Slightly different comparing a massive auction to a typical detail shop. There's a guy in Toronto area that has the contract to do all the Manheim cars there too @ $75 a crack IIRC from what my supplier told me. I've seen (and re-detailed) many, many cars they have done).

 

[Barry Theal]

Is it crap work if there getting paid to do it that way and everyone is happy? Wow 75 is cheap for a Manheim Car. Going rate in my town is about $135.00

 

[C. Charles Hahn]

Is it crap work if there getting paid to do it that way and everyone is happy?

Just because you're getting paid to do crap work doesn't mean it's good a good idea. I for one wouldn't be able to turn out work I know is crap regardless of what I'm asked to do. If the account won't pay the price point for decent quality work, I'd rather turn the account down than sell myself out.



Sure, that's leaving money on the table but in the grand scheme of things there are more important things than just maximizing profit for profit's sake.

 

[Barry Theal]

Just because you're getting paid to do crap work doesn't mean it's good a good idea. I for one wouldn't be able to turn out work I know is crap regardless of what I'm asked to do. If the account won't pay the price point for decent quality work, I'd rather turn the account down than sell myself out.



Sure, that's leaving money on the table but in the grand scheme of things there are more important things than just maximizing profit for profit's sake.

Seriously? Not sure why your in business, but I'm not in business to detail for free. Im in business to turn a profit. Don't get me wrong, Im one of the most passionate people you will ever meet in this business. Business is Business. I know people who are extreamly successfull turning out shiit work, there customers are happy and there happy. Both making a ton of money together. Trust me I hate this crap to, When I'm charging over 200 for a wholesale auction detail and a local guy is charging 125-135 a car. In the dealership world thats a huge price difference. Its not easy. You will be undercut for .50 cents a car let alone 10 or more dollars. Bottom line here is Charlie you have obviously never made real money! You would understand where I'm coming from. When doing this kinda work Your not getting paid for perfection. Your getting paid to make the car Shiny, and slimed up with dressing. Its disgusting, but heck thats just the way it is. Its about turnover not quality!

 

[C. Charles Hahn]

Believe me, Barry, I understand how the business world works and the game that has to be played in the "volume" market -- it's just not my style. There are other ways to make "real money" even if it's not "easy money" IMHO.

 

[safetyman2010]

Is it crap work if there getting paid to do it that way and everyone is happy? Wow 75 is cheap for a Manheim Car. Going rate in my town is about $135.00

Prices here have been getting pushed down by the dealers and an over abundance of new shops willing to play ball the last couple of years. That auction shop does something like 50 cars a day and from what I've seen @ $75 bucks they are getting overpaid - nothing more than a glorified wash and vacuum. I can only speak to my experience with dealers and will say



1. they have lofty and demanding expectations with respect to price, service, timelines and quality

2. they are ultra demanding and pushy

3. they have zero loyalty no matter how great your work/service is



As I have stated earlier, probably 40% of my work comes from dealers and the dealers we work with are for the most part great to work with and don't gripe about the prices. It's necessary in my area due to the inevitable slowdown in the winter to do business with dealers. However, retail is where the money is. I can do 1 really good retail piece and get paid the same money as 3-4 dealer pieces, get paid THAT DAY and focus on making a customer really happy. Just my $0.02

 

[safetyman2010]

Just because you're getting paid to do crap work doesn't mean it's good a good idea. I for one wouldn't be able to turn out work I know is crap regardless of what I'm asked to do. If the account won't pay the price point for decent quality work, I'd rather turn the account down than sell myself out.



Sure, that's leaving money on the table but in the grand scheme of things there are more important things than just maximizing profit for profit's sake.

It's not about the price it's about your reputation. I won't force a job to meet a price point for a dealer OR a retail customer. Only real source of complaints we have ever had in 18 years is trying to force a job into a pre-determined price point to make someone else happy. You either end up doing the job properly and lose money or whip through it and have a less than stellar result. Neither one benefits your business and degrades your reputation in the long run. It's simple branding - you don't see Mercedes selling $10000 cars to meet a price point do you and compete with Kia? Sure there is a market for that but is there any benefit to their brand overall to do this? Absolutely not, they focus on selling luxury branded vehicles that carry the cache of quality. It's not about selling out, it's about building your brand in a way that maximizes profitability without destroying your reputation.

 

[C. Charles Hahn]

It's not about the price it's about your reputation. I won't force a job to meet a price point for a dealer OR a retail customer. Only real source of complaints we have ever had in 18 years is trying to force a job into a pre-determined price point to make someone else happy. You either end up doing the job properly and lose money or whip through it and have a less than stellar result. Neither one benefits your business and degrades your reputation in the long run. It's simple branding - you don't see Mercedes selling $10000 cars to meet a price point do you and compete with Kia? Sure there is a market for that but is there any benefit to their brand overall to do this? Absolutely not, they focus on selling luxury branded vehicles that carry the cache of quality. It's not about selling out, it's about building your brand in a way that maximizes profitability without destroying your reputation.

That's exactly what I was getting at. To me not delivering quality work that builds a positive reputation IS selling out, especially if you KNOW what you're turning out is crap. You can't in one breath say "I'm passionate about the craft and about perfection," and then turn around and say "Who cares if I'm turning out crap work for my dealer accounts, I'm making bank!"



I mean really, what is the #1 thing we all gripe about day in and day out on this and every other detailing site out there? Professional "hack" detailers who give the industry in general a bad name. By deciding it's acceptable to turn out crap under the guise of "it's what the customer was willing to pay for, and they're happy because they don't know any better" you've become one of those hacks.



That said, I understand obviously the work being put out in a volume environment (either wholesale or retail) isn't going to be the same as that of a high end premium service provider. My belief though is that when stocked with quality tools/equipment/product and armed with a properly trained workforce, a volume environment can turn out work that is 90-95% as good as the premium provider while remaining profitable. Sure, the price point is going to be slightly higher than other operators are charging to cover additional overhead, and that may cut you out of gaining market share in certain segments, but at the end of the day you'll go home knowing you're doing right by the people you serve. I'd rather have that than piles of money I can't honestly feel I earned.

 

[Grimm]

This is like a high end builder debating quality with a builder that does run of the mill spec homes. The high end guy is going to use the best quality materials and spend more time doing things perfectly, but most people can't afford that. The spec home builder is still using good materials and is doing things properly to build a quality home. He may be producing cookie cutter houses with no imagination, but it keeps the cost down. Most people gravitate to the spec homes because they get a nice house they will like, and they can afford it. There's no shame in that.



Detailers that do high volume dealer work might not take the time to do things perfectly, but they are turning out work that is "good enough" to meet everyone's needs. If you can't bring yourself to do it, then stay in your "high end" line of work.

 

[safetyman2010]

This is like a high end builder debating quality with a builder that does run of the mill spec homes. The high end guy is going to use the best quality materials and spend more time doing things perfectly, but most people can't afford that. The spec home builder is still using good materials and is doing things properly to build a quality home. He may be producing cookie cutter houses with no imagination, but it keeps the cost down. Most people gravitate to the spec homes because they get a nice house they will like, and they can afford it. There's no shame in that.



Detailers that do high volume dealer work might not take the time to do things perfectly, but they are turning out work that is "good enough" to meet everyone's needs. If you can't bring yourself to do it, then stay in your "high end" line of work.

My issue is more on the side of profitability vs effort. For example, I once had an employee that droned on endlessly about the detail shop he used to own and how busy they were and he was always working 80 hour weeks.... So I asked him "if it was so great why aren't you still doing it?". His response "we never made any money" which was because he got bent over by the dealers and he played ball doing high volume, low cost work that didn't produce any profits for a massive outlay of time, effort and labour.

 

[C. Charles Hahn]

This is like a high end builder debating quality with a builder that does run of the mill spec homes. The high end guy is going to use the best quality materials and spend more time doing things perfectly, but most people can't afford that. The spec home builder is still using good materials and is doing things properly to build a quality home. He may be producing cookie cutter houses with no imagination, but it keeps the cost down. Most people gravitate to the spec homes because they get a nice house they will like, and they can afford it. There's no shame in that.



Detailers that do high volume dealer work might not take the time to do things perfectly, but they are turning out work that is "good enough" to meet everyone's needs. If you can't bring yourself to do it, then stay in your "high end" line of work.

It all comes down to striking a good balance -- you can do volume work and still put out a product to be proud of.

 

[safetyman2010]

It all comes down to striking a good balance -- you can do volume work and still put out a product to be proud of.

My only point was that far too many guys get into this line of work, get slow and the low hanging fruit is car dealers. They get themselves into a situation where they are doing work for next to nothing and never make any money doing it which is just stupid and something you would never accept if working for someone else...you should't accept it when you own the business either.