how's business

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xtahoex

New member
Hey guys, don't want to pry into your personal lives too much, but how is business right now? I know for me it is horrible (home builder) so I wanted to see how it is for you all considering most people consider washing and detailing a luxury item that they can go without.

How bad of an idea is it to start into your business right now?
 
i am actually picking up with more correction work being done rather than just wash and waxes...pretty cool I think!



The thing with the recession is that people need to spend money if we want to get out of it! If you have a job then work, save a little, and spend what you can instead of saving it all! stimulate the economy!
 
Slow for me in Ohio. Still very cold here,and I do not have a building. I have done 4 vehicles this year. I have customers booked into June, as soon as it warms up here,I'll be busy. It was 19 here todayand 6 with the chill factor. Brrrrl!
 
I've gotten 4 more clients for this month who contacted me by email or phone. Not bad for just word of mouth :)



(HIN showcar next Saturday too :D)
 
toyotaguy said:
i am actually picking up with more correction work being done rather than just wash and waxes...pretty cool I think!



The thing with the recession is that people need to spend money if we want to get out of it! If you have a job then work, save a little, and spend what you can instead of saving it all! stimulate the economy!
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I agree with this,but you have to get the very wealthy to do the same thing. Not just people like US!
 
In my area (Kansas City)... the detailing business usually comes to a dead standstill in January and February. Not only in a poor economic environment, but EVERY year.



Jan-Feb in KC is usually pretty miserable. People hybernate until about mid-March.



April through November I'll have more work than I can handle. December, there will be a few stragglers who didn't get it done in the summer, then back to "the Black Hole"!!! :wavey
 
This February was 42% better than last February. This is despite missing a week for vacation. I attribute this to signing up more bi-weekly/monthly maintenance clients. I have only had a few new customers in the last several months though.
 
I open shop in March, not much detailing to be done around here at this level when the snow is on the ground..



So far I am booked March, April, 1/2 of May & June - all correction.
 
I've been consistently booked for all of february, and all of march. Nothing out for April on though. Even though it's been raining a lot, still getting details in :).



In fact, I have a concourse detail starting tomorrow :xyxthumbs
 
My first year going full time is going fairly well, booking 2-3 a week, and its middle of winter here still.
 
john,

things here have been solid, im through my first fiscal year and things are booming in pa. i picked up a local dealer account so that helps he sends me three a week at wholsale price but as far as customers i been doing well also. good luck from pa

barry!
 
bufferbarry said:
i picked up a local dealer account so that helps he sends me three a week at wholsale price
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3 a week is booming? I won't even talk to a dealer unless they put it in writing a garunteed 10 a week for smaller dealerships and 15 a week for larger ones. I'd go back and have a talk with your dealer and see if they can up their quota to you. Unless of course 3 a week actually pays the bills for you.
 
Here in the Chicagoland area its slow detail wise due to the miserable winter we had so far. I have alot of washes though. The product sales are good. I have some clients who want details no matter what the temps are because they are so caked on salt. April is booking fast. I just hope winter is gone by then.
 
Jake, I am thinking that his wholesale prices are probably your retail prices or better...demographics play a huge role! You charge 10 bucks for a wash...how is that benefiting you at all? I wouldn't even offer washing at that rate! you end up working at less than my states minimum wage!



besides, not everyone needs to make 100K a year to be happy. I think it was twista who said something along the lines of: you can be rich at 50K a year and poor at 100K a year; just depends on how smart you are with your money!



I would rather live life and do things rather than work 6 days a week for the rest of my life!
 
toyotaguy said:
Jake, I am thinking that his wholesale prices are probably your retail prices or better...demographics play a huge role! You charge 10 bucks for a wash...how is that benefiting you at all? I wouldn't even offer washing at that rate! you end up working at less than my states minimum wage!



besides, not everyone needs to make 100K a year to be happy. I think it was twista who said something along the lines of: you can be rich at 50K a year and poor at 100K a year; just depends on how smart you are with your money!



I would rather live life and do things rather than work 6 days a week for the rest of my life!
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Good point. The dealers around here suck. I wish I could put it simpler. $75 is the absolute top rate you'll find a dealer willing to pay. The up side to it is you wash it shampoo the carpets and do a quick gloss over and that's really all they want. I've had more than 1 dealership tell me they only pay $35 per car and that includes full paint correction and I was insane for asking $100 per car. Needless to say I've yet to hear of any detailer in the area actually taking those accounts. And as far as the $10 I probably should just take that off I've never had a single person only want a wash. It was something I put up last winter to try and get some business from the coin-ops down the road. But I'm in process of completely revamping the enitre business. A new name is coming along with new target market. I just haven't mentioned it yet until the paperwork is all done.
 
Staying pretty busy. Last month was better then prior year's February. January was down a bit but the weather was worse this year. I'm more affected by the weather than the ecomony, at least so far.
 
Scottwax said:
Staying pretty busy. Last month was better then prior year's February. January was down a bit but the weather was worse this year. I'm more affected by the weather than the economy, at least so far.
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switch the months and that is exactly how it was/is for me!



March is turning out pretty amazing so far too! two photo shoot cars and my first exotic! Plus the random other little details along the way with most being full corrections!!!
 
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