Hoping to start detailing professionally, advice please!

PrinzII said:
What about Limo Companies?
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Funeral Homes ....



Cops ... they take their cars home and they have to be rid of all those donut crumbs and coffee stains :P





If you sit down and think about it, theres plenty of business out there, ya just gotta go get it.
 
Smoker said:
Cops ... they take their cars home and they have to be rid of all those donut crumbs and coffee stains :P
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Not necessarily true. It really depends on the agency. In my neck of the woods, Chicago cops cannot take their cars home under normal circumstances, plus the motor pool is responsible for the cleaning and maintenance of the vehicles. Some suburban cops will allow it. It's more of a common practice with County and State cops in these parts.
 
I would say the biggest thing is if you make a promise to someone on what there car will look like you make it look like that and dont stop until the customer is happy. Dont cut corners, treat the car like it was yours. When you cut corners you eventually get the customer that knows your doing it and then your rep is put in jepordy. And dont ever lie and say something like, "no my polishing that freshly waxed area didnt remove the protection I just layed down."
 
Smoker said:




Cops ... they take their cars home and they have to be rid of all those donut crumbs and coffee stains :P
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I believe the department has to approve of the company before anyone can do any work to a police car. They will usually have a contract with a local carwash/gas station anyways.
 
You asked way at the beginning where you should look for business, etc. and what I advise is to get your name around at like any local car clubs, stuff flyers in mailboxes (where all the advertisements/newspapers/solicitations go) and maybe work out some kind of deal at like a local pizza place and ask to put your flyer there with some business cards and making a deal with the restaurant for letting you advertise there, to buy coupons to give to your customers for like a 'free large pizza' that's offered with your most expensive package as some sort of a promotional deal, or to new customers, etc. to attract business. Good luck!!:xyxthumbs
 
PrinzII said:
What about Limo Companies?
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That is a good idea! I do one limo regularly for a law firm and it really is a piece of cake to do, mostly because it is privately owned so no one is throwing up in the back after drinking too much.



Cop car? No way. Drunks in the back have a way of spewing an unholy assortment of bodily fluids while being transported to jail.
 
Scottwax said:
That is a good idea! I do one limo regularly for a law firm and it really is a piece of cake to do, mostly because it is privately owned so no one is throwing up in the back after drinking too much.



Cop car? No way. Drunks in the back have a way of spewing an unholy assortment of bodily fluids while being transported to jail.
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I thought they threw em into paddy wagons ..... thats what they do in the UK.



They call the friday night truck the 'Pissmobile'.



I know if i had to drive the same car every shift I wouldnt want it smelling of puke .....
 
Smoker said:
I keep my prices down for two reasons.



A) I dont want to seem overly expensive as I'm just getting started.

Prices will increase as demand and reputaion increase.



B) I dont have to pay to run a shop as I'm working from my home garage.



In addition, prices vary massively depending on where in the USA you live.



In San Diego its anywhere from 250 to 400 for a good detail, whereas my location its from 80 - 190.



I did my market research and priced accordingly.

Why use California prices when you live in Minnesota ??
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But who is your target market? If you are going after the guys that are used to running their car thru the coin-op car wash, raising prices could turn them off, esp for the basic services. For example consider that these guys are used to taking 15 mins or so and spending a coupla dollars to quickly spray off their car. If you charge them say $20 for a basic wash, they think 'Wow! That looks alot better!', but if they keep coming back to you, and after a coupla months you bump it up to say $30 or $35, they think 'aw hell I can spend $2 at the coin-op and just save myself the money!'.



My suggestion would be, and some might disagree with me, but if you are targeting your friends, etc, and want it to go from word-of-mouth, I would offer a VERY basic wash package that you can do very quickly, and very cheaply. The idea is to make the car look very good, but price it so the newbies only have to pay say $15-20. That is the 'ringer' that hooks them in. Then once they see how much better a decent wash can make their car look, then try to move them up to a basic wash/wax, then a professional detail job, etc. These move advanced packages would be priced more expensively. I wouldn't worry about trying to price low. Do a good, quality job, and people will pay the price. Anyone that is willing to pay for anything over a basic wash is willing to spend the money to get a quality job.
 
Hey Kyle- honestly I wouldn't recommend Klasse for mobile detailing. It can be fickle and it needs time to cure to do it right. There really isn't any feasible way to top it off with a Carnauba unless you come back the next day. Also- most customers don't give a crap about what products you use. I just set a full detail at $125 for cars, $150 for large cars/SUV's, and $175 for Escalades, Tahoes, etc.
 
Greg said:
Hey Kyle- honestly I wouldn't recommend Klasse for mobile detailing. It can be fickle and it needs time to cure to do it right. There really isn't any feasible way to top it off with a Carnauba unless you come back the next day. Also- most customers don't give a crap about what products you use. I just set a full detail at $125 for cars, $150 for large cars/SUV's, and $175 for Escalades, Tahoes, etc.
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I totally agree. You should use something like Megs #20 for a poly.
 
All this talk is interesting.



I myself, if I was in business, would charge anywhere from $150-$200 for a complete detail, not simply because of the process involved, but the time. I'm amazed at how some of you can do 3 cars in one day, fully detailed and all. For me, I take my time. Can't help it!



But different strokes for different folks, so I think one should know their detailing limits. :)
 
Acura_RL said:
I'm amazed at how some of you can do 3 cars in one day, fully detailed and all. For me, I take my time. Can't help it!



But different strokes for different folks, so I think one should know their detailing limits. :)
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When you do this day in and day out, you get fast. In addition, not everyone wants to pay to have you do 4-5 steps on their paint. A polish and wax is fine for them.
 
I think Klasse is ok, as long as you are only going to use AIO. Fast and easy. Forget SG. After AIO, you can top with a wax, or an easy to use polymer like Platinum UPP. I use that combo on my sister's car since I don't charge her, so I don't want to have to spend hours on her car. I can wash, dry and do her whole car in AIO and then PUPP in about 1.5 hours.
 
Well, I know this is not the most elaborate, but my process, which is for the exterior only, involves the wash, clay, paint cleaner, glaze, wax, dressing, and trim. By hand, it may take me a whole day, from 7 AM until 6 PM perhaps.



Do you guys charge a separate price for the interior? If so, what would you charge for vacuuming, leather cleaning and conditioning, and applying protectant?
 
I know this point has been beat to death in this thread. But I have to put my .02 cents on it. If you get 3 cars @ 60 or 2 car at $100 are you really making that much more $ in the long run. Does it not cost you the same to do the $60 car as the $100. If you use $10 worth of product on them both in $60 cars you have a total of $150 in profit and at $100 you get $180. Maybe not every day will you get 2 cars but add the dif up over a year and see what you get even if you get 3 $60 a day and only 2 $100 cars every other day and 1 on the even day in the long run you will make more charging more.



And if you charge way to less for it they will think you do a poor job befor you do it. If you over charge and do a poor job they will tell others not to use you. I did one of my cars when I first got it (used) and I ask myself what was that worth to me if I didn't spend most of a day doing it and that is where I set my price and in my case I had all most in product as it would have cost me to have someone do it. And me sit and drimk ice tea while they did it.
 
i've actually tried out a mother's clay bar in an unnoticed part of my car just a few months back, and it's really quite simple to use.



make sure you have some surgical gloves to wear so that you protect your hands from impurities, and you'll keep your finger prints off the clay bar and the paint for that matter, which will lead to better results. they also allow you to grip the clay better.



make sure you use plenty of lube so that you do not scratch any portion of the paint; you can never use too much lube when it comes to clay barring. simply spray a few times on and around the area you plan on working with, and gently glide the bar across the wet surface. you will notice the friction start to ease up and it'll become a lot easier to rub it along the surface. once you finish a section wipe it off with a diaper rag and move on, making sure to knead the bar whenever black build-up starts to occur.



good luck with your detailing and i hope this helped you out, even though you didn't ask for help on using one. :)



but to answer your original question, i would recommend using a claybar no matter how long it takes; to make sure you will be left with purified paint to detail.
 
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