How to Price for Dealerships

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DT08

New member
Hey guys! There is a guy in my area who owns a small used car dealership. He is interested in doing business with me. He usually keeps 30-35 cars on his lot. He was asking how many cars could I do in a week. Pretty much this guy wants the cars hand washed, waxed, interior vaccumed....etc. I was explaining my services to him and thought he should get the carpets and seats shampooed on the cars that needed it done. he still insists keeping it simple.



How much do you guys charge for something like this? This is new to me and I don't want to sell myself short. I told him I would get back to him in about a week with a contract and the price and we could go from there.



Another thing too.......he has a two car garage bay. He is supplying the water and electric.
 
Dealers are Jackyls!!!! Whatever price you tell him, make him understand that it is set in stone. He is requiesting your service.
 
you should consider yourself extreamly lucky if you can get him to agree to $80/car but put in there what the "Extra charges" would be. Like paint correction or even once overs with the polisher.
 
That's about the size of the used dealership that I cater to. My average price is $150, charged by the hour. These are cars that came from the auction or other dealerships. If they are trade ins, the price is more like $200. That usually doesn't include correction of paint.



Of course they want work done cheap, but on the other side of the fence, they want the car to sell itself. Do they want clean, front line clean or show room clean?



If you explain to them that detailing is about the only service that the return on investment ROI is excellent. Someone stated 225%. You have zero return on mechanic work.



The truck that I am starting today will be around $400, bringing a work truck back to the other side. ROI should be around $2000.



"the exterior gets them in the door, the interior sells them"
 
Yeah, these are cars he gets from the auction or trade-ins. Mainly the auction. I don't want to get low balled for my services.



@Jakerooni: Before I put this up here I was thinking around $75-$85. When I cook up the contract I will make sure to add specifics and the price of those specifics.



@Salty: A detail shop I used to work in several years ago would do work for this dealership that wanted everything done cheap. They wanted full details done for $90......lol.
 
if you are willing to bust your *** for $85/ car, then you should start higher (around $110-125) knowing he'll try to low ball you down.
 
i would suggest hire a few people to do it and check on their quality on every car and after you see good results every few cars. I wouldn't suggest doing the cars by your self
 
It's a little dealer. They won't want to pay much and they are not looking for a "detail" they are looking for a cleaning. I'd hire some kids for like $15-$20 a car to vacuum the interior, wash the exterior and throw on a coat of wax or glaze and call it a day. Then you make a small profit without having to do anything. LOL Honestly, if you get $80 per car you'd be doing good. I'd expect it to be more around $40 if even that. Just remember, they are not looking for what you think of as a detail. They want a wash and wax and that's it.
 
I've managed quite a few franchise dealer's detail departments, avg was $75-90 per used vehicle for inventory. The key is to stick to the pricing and that every vehicle on the lot gets serviced, set this in stone regardless of condition. With this approach some vehicles may take 3 hours, some 2, some may just need the auction writing scraped and a wash/vac/wax.



Also bring in an additional package for delivery vehicles, a reclean at $15-$20. Just a quick hand wash/dry/vac/windows- have the dealer add it as a line item to the customer sales order. Wholesale accounts can generate obscene amounts of income, I've seen it firsthand, but it's not detailing as much as it is cleaning.
 
DT08 said:
Yeah, these are cars he gets from the auction or trade-ins. Mainly the auction. I don't want to get low balled for my services.





@Salty: A detail shop I used to work in several years ago would do work for this dealership that wanted everything done cheap. They wanted full details done for $90......lol.
Click to expand...



Most dealerships want surface cleaning, making the first impression acceptable, shiny paint, vacuum-quick extraction and a quick wipe. It looks clean and then the salesman steps in and uses their skills to sell the vehicle. If a promising customer points out some flaws they will promise to take care of it if they buy the vehicle.



The agreement that I have is more of a reconditioning one, trying to bring it back to original. Meaning, what ever is needed to distance it from the previous owner. That could include paint touch up, stone chips, odor removal, paint correction (they love black), minor mechanical work, even squeaks and rattles.



For them, being a small family owned used dealership, they have realized that if the vehicles sell themselves it also brings repeat customers.



There is no problem with a dealership wanting a $80 cleaning, notice I did not say detailing, as long as they realize that extras cost more.



Paint correction, odor, dog hair, overspray, dirt, etc should be more or worked into an agreement that covers the basics.
 
I got a call from a used car dealer who was looking for a mobile guy. He pays $100 a car but he even wants the undercarriege PWed. I asked him how long his regular guy takes per detail - he said 6 or 7 hours. His cars need to be mint inside and out, plus engine plus everything else.



We obviously didn't make a deal.:buffing::buffing::buffing:
 
If he just wants a "cleaning" Charge him what you would for a cleaning. But before drawing up an Iron clad contract make sure you both have your expectations staight. What he wants from a cleaning might be different than your standards.



If he wants "extra services" draw it up in the contract that these Al Carte services are upon request and prices may vary depending on work to be perfromed.



The perks are you could have someone to keep you busy in your downtime. And possibly some new clients. The only con could be he wants more for less.
 
I know a few guys in this area who work with dealerships and the average price is $100-$150 per car. No paint correction but a full basic detail.



I work closely with a body shop at a discounted price. I charge them 40/hr instead of 60/hr. They have the pads lying upside down on the floor, 3M polish bottles open with crap falling into them. Not one car comes out how it should, but in their eyes the owner rarely sees it so they take a chance basically. No wonder I do all the black ones.
 
This went straight to hell. I had a contract ready and before I could even hand it to him he asks, "Can you do $55 per car?" He wouldn't even look at the contract. All I said was no I could not do it for $55. Wasted my time cooking up a contract that was reasonable and this joker didn't even take the time to look at it. Oh, well. It doesn't stop there. Hopefully someone else will not look at trying to get cheap labor out of me.
 
I would have asked to split a hood for him on one of the cars...perform a wash and wax, a one step, a two step, a full correction. Then mark each one and SHOW him the differences with a pricing point on each - 75 per, 125 per, 200 per, 300 per! Its much easier to sell when you show, rather than tell. Demonstrations close the door, not assumptions!



a full correction car will take about a day in MOST cases (not 100%, but 90ish (dealership standards)) the ROI on that would be about 1000+ on top of the before asking price, so thats an additional 700 profit from the start! Then you can have him SELL the detail packages for you to maintain the car through his dealership!



At that point, you are "sub-contracted" by the dealership at your rate. Rather than working for, you are working with!
 
@ David Fermani: The guy contacted me and the following day I went to his lot to discuss a few things and to see what he really needed. Pretty much he just wanted the cars cleaned and not detailed. In our general discussion I was suggesting a carpet shampoo and before I could get anything else out of my mouth he says he just wants to keep it simple. That should have been a red flag right there.



@ Toyotaguy: Next time I will do a demonstration. Most ppl have to see it to believe it.
 
Here in Baltimore, there is a detailer that has contracts with the BMW, Infinity, and other high end dealerships to detail their cars. It's the safe way of doing things.
 
DT08 said:
@ David Fermani: The guy contacted me and the following day I went to his lot to discuss a few things and to see what he really needed. Pretty much he just wanted the cars cleaned and not detailed. In our general discussion I was suggesting a carpet shampoo and before I could get anything else out of my mouth he says he just wants to keep it simple. That should have been a red flag right there.
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People fail to see the big picture & don't realize how much money they're leaving on the table (sounds like a case of typical Autopian sclerosis). Sounds like this dealer is willing to give you $1500-$2000 worth of business each month for basicially doing nothing more than a spiff. No Shampooing, no buffing & probably the chance to upsell ala carte items. You could knockout 10 of those things in 1 day I'd bet. I'd be all over that deal like crap on the back of a public toilet seat. What do you currently do to earn that much income? I'd go running back to see if you can take him up on his offer before he finds someone else.
 
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