Just got a call from the Porsche dealership

Wow, worked until about 2 a.m., slept and deliverd the car at 7:30 a.m. I am beat, it was HORRIBLE, the softest most scratch sensitive paint I have ever dealt with...EVER. My normal routine didn't work, it was "fun" finding a process that worked.



I will post a full write up over the weekend, tonight I am going to sleep.



Scott, I put the card in the owner's manual!! I am going to do a workshop for their employees within the next few weeks. :)



Thanks for the help everyone!!!
 
Trust me, a dealer will most likely never pay $500.00....it would be rare if they did.



A dealer is always looking at the bottom line and if you did a fantastic swirl free job and charged them $250.00 and another detailer did it half as good as you but also charged half of what you did they would most likely go with the other guy.



What you want to do is build up a relationship with the dealer. You scratch their back and they'll scratch yours. I am in great with the local high end dealers because I charge them a lower fee and they always send work my way, in fact they allow me to advertise in their dealership with flyers and brochures. In order to kick some butt in business you may need to also kiss some butt :)
 
Anthony Orosco said:
Trust me, a dealer will most likely never pay $500.00....it would be rare if they did.



A dealer is always looking at the bottom line and if you did a fantastic swirl free job and charged them $250.00 and another detailer did it half as good as you but also charged half of what you did they would most likely go with the other guy.



What you want to do is build up a relationship with the dealer. You scratch their back and they'll scratch yours. I am in great with the local high end dealers because I charge them a lower fee and they always send work my way, in fact they allow me to advertise in their dealership with flyers and brochures. In order to kick some butt in business you may need to also kiss some butt :)
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Boy do I know that all to well, the dealers being cheap and all. :) I was actually contacted by their detail operation, which operates independently from the dealership. Basically they are an in house detail shop, but nothing is billed through the dealership. In other words, the dealership is not paying, the detail shop is. Does that make sense? The lady just called me and told me to fax an invoice and it will be paid, no mentio of cost.



Anthony, what do you think I should charge for 8 hours of work? That includes drop off and delivery time. I also had to have my son spend the night with my sister, which cost nothing but inconvenience to my wife.
 
ebpcivicsi said:
Boy do I know that all to well, the dealers being cheap and all. :) I was actually contacted by their detail operation, which operates independently from the dealership. Basically they are an in house detail shop, but nothing is billed through the dealership. In other words, the dealership is not paying, the detail shop is. Does that make sense? The lady just called me and told me to fax an invoice and it will be paid, no mentio of cost.



Anthony, what do you think I should charge for 8 hours of work? That includes drop off and delivery time. I also had to have my son spend the night with my sister, which cost nothing but inconvenience to my wife.
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This is tricky because I don't believe you are set up as a professional doing business under an assumed name, correct? This may or may not be a big deal in your area concerning taxes and such, you may want to look into that for future reference.



When I do these "rescue" types of work my price starts around $300 if a private individual is hiring me. If a dealer hired me I would adjust the price accordingly. If they are hiring me to detail a customers car and they will then charge them on top of what I charge the dealer then a regular $250 detail might be $175 0r $200. I get the $175 and the dealer gets the rest.



Other times the dealer pays me outright because of something their detailers messed up. In that case I usually give them a price break because they will always send me work my way. In your particular case I would charge them $30.00 an hour and include also your drive time. For 8 hours that's $240.00, not including your drive time. if you were a pro then the charge would be more because you are having to pay out more to run your business.



A friend who did some driveway cleaning on the side had a big job and when finished the person who hired him refused to pay his price. My friend had to settle on a lower cost because he had no license to own and operate a business. This may not effect you in any way but figured I would give you a heads up so perhaps you can look into it. Look forward to seeing the pictures :)



Anthony
 
Anthony Orosco said:
This is tricky because I don't believe you are set up as a professional doing business under an assumed name, correct? This may or may not be a big deal in your area concerning taxes and such, you may want to look into that for future reference.



When I do these "rescue" types of work my price starts around $300 if a private individual is hiring me. If a dealer hired me I would adjust the price accordingly. If they are hiring me to detail a customers car and they will then charge them on top of what I charge the dealer then a regular $250 detail might be $175 0r $200. I get the $175 and the dealer gets the rest.



Other times the dealer pays me outright because of something their detailers messed up. In that case I usually give them a price break because they will always send me work my way. In your particular case I would charge them $30.00 an hour and include also your drive time. For 8 hours that's $240.00, not including your drive time. if you were a pro then the charge would be more because you are having to pay out more to run your business.



A friend who did some driveway cleaning on the side had a big job and when finished the person who hired him refused to pay his price. My friend had to settle on a lower cost because he had no license to own and operate a business. This may not effect you in any way but figured I would give you a heads up so perhaps you can look into it. Look forward to seeing the pictures :)



Anthony
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Man, thanks so much for taking the time to explain that. I *really* appreciate that. I am going to fax her an invoice right now.
 
Pics are on the way tonight or tomorrow guys.



BaseSteala112, charged $300, check was for $425. Anyone else ever received a tip from the stealership? :nixweiss :think:
 
Nope . . . never received a tip from the dealer (other than free oil service, etc.).



Knowing the quality of your work, the tip is well-deserved. Look forward to seeing some pictures :2thumbs:
 
Knockwurst said:
Nope . . . never received a tip from the dealer (other than free oil service, etc.).



Knowing the quality of your work, the tip is well-deserved. Look forward to seeing some pictures :2thumbs:
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With that type of tips the work must have been worth it. Looking forward to seeing this pics. :clap:
 
Hey nice job. You gained a ton of respect from that dealership by not gouging them. If you aren't set up as a business you may want to look into it now. I think the door just opened....

:D
 
I usually charged my dealers $200 and up for paint refinishing on a dark vehicle. I guarantee the owner of the car will demand that their car be re-painted if they are not satified with the detail. Imagine how much that would cost? I always told them there was NO guarantee this new perfect finish I just re-created would last if the owner screwed it up again. I gained alot of repeat customers by upselling scheduled appointments this way.
 
David Fermani said:
I usually charged my dealers $200 and up for paint refinishing on a dark vehicle. I guarantee the owner of the car will demand that their car be re-painted if they are not satified with the detail. Imagine how much that would cost? I always told them there was NO guarantee this new perfect finish I just re-created would last if the owner screwed it up again. I gained alot of repeat customers by upselling scheduled appointments this way.
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I don't understand this really....you will repaint the persons car if they are not satisfied with your detail work??



If that be so and I mean no offense but how is that helping them out? If I am incorrect in this please clarify, thanks.



Anthony
 
Anthony Orosco said:
I don't understand this really....you will repaint the persons car if they are not satisfied with your detail work??

If that be so and I mean no offense but how is that helping them out? If I am incorrect in this please clarify, thanks.



Anthony
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What I meant by this is that if for some unknown reason that this person/owner is not happy with the finish, the next/only alternative in their eyes may be repainting the car. I had a bought a brand new 1989 Black Mustang GT that had acid rain on the tops of the car. I took it back to the Ford dealership 2 times to get it "buffed out". The acid rain was so bad that it had gone down too many coats of paint that buffing was not satifactory for me. The car ended up getting repainted. I guarantee that this person buying a $60,000 ++ Porsche will get what ever they want. Even if that means repainting it, whether it's necessary or not. You could do the best detail work possible, but down the road if their car begins to look bad again, they'll be sure to go back to the dealer complaining that there car doesn't look new anymore. I also attempted getting the contact info on the people whom I did work for through the dealer and I would contact them for recommended quarterly detail appointments. Lots of people became regular customers. It's a win-win for everyone.
 
David Fermani said:
What I meant by this is that if for some unknown reason that this person/owner is not happy with the finish, the next/only alternative in their eyes may be repainting the car. I had a bought a brand new 1989 Black Mustang GT that had acid rain on the tops of the car. I took it back to the Ford dealership 2 times to get it "buffed out". The acid rain was so bad that it had gone down too many coats of paint that buffing was not satifactory for me. The car ended up getting repainted. I guarantee that this person buying a $60,000 ++ Porsche will get what ever they want. Even if that means repainting it, whether it's necessary or not. You could do the best detail work possible, but down the road if their car begins to look bad again, they'll be sure to go back to the dealer complaining that there car doesn't look new anymore. I also attempted getting the contact info on the people whom I did work for through the dealer and I would contact them for recommended quarterly detail appointments. Lots of people became regular customers. It's a win-win for everyone.
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Thanks for the further explanation. Personally I don't agree with the whole repaint issue because it would have to be a really bad hack job to justify a repaint, especially on a car like a Porsche, as it would decrease the value and the car itself then is pretty much ready to be handed off.



To each his own though:)



Anthony
 
David Fermani said:
I guarantee that this person buying a $60,000 ++ Porsche will get what ever they want. Even if that means repainting it, whether it's necessary or not.
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If it was me I would be demanding another car if the paint was messed up in that fashion. Screw the repaint because that will only dramatically reduce the resale value of a Porsche. At the very least they would give me $10-15k off the price.



Look up the very famous BMW case where BMW sold a bunch of cars that were damaged by acid rain prior to delivery. BMW repainted them and sold them as new. Eventually someone found out and sued BMW in a class action. At the time the damages awarded by the jury at the trial was the largest in US history. The damages award was eventually reduced by the Supreme Court but it was still quite high.
 
There are pics of the job done on the Cayenne over in the click and grab area. This was a truly outstanding piece of work. Great explanation of the process as well.



As an old racer and fairly new detailing addict I have to say :woohoo:
 
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