taking over a detailing department for a dealership. they are making in all in-house. Any tips to a new manager of the department ?

V

Vdub94

New member
I have to find a middle ground with time and looks. I was wonder if they were anyone in my spot and i could pick their brain?
 
Polish properly with DAs, buy in bulk gallons lol, buy a lot of Costco MFs. Presoaked in D114 rinseless washes. spray wax everything.
 
I work at a dealership and we give the "special" or "hot" vehicles a thorough detail to make them stand out. Most of the cars that are in the showroom have been given a complete detail. Or if a customer requests a detail, the salesmen have been offering a complete detail to help with a sale.

I've noticed customers like the keyword "sanitized" when purchasing a used car. We tell them the interior has been steam cleaned to sanitize the interior.

But if you have any specific questions, ask them here or in a separate thread and you can pick everyone's brain at the same time. :)
 
Vdub94 -
Welcome to the Forum !
Looks like you are going to have a great experience there - I hope it all goes good for you !
Ray Vega, who just posted above this post is absolutely the best man you could talk to about working in a Dealership -
He is very busy but manages to help out many people here AND work a full time gig at the Shop... That is how good he is.. :)

There are dozens of incredibly talented, great people who post here, so you are definitely among friends, ok ?

The Store here is awesome, has just great products, and runs sales all the time...

I realize that you will have to probably use what they have but you can certainly be as innovative as you want, and always improve what you have, ok ?

I would do everything Ray Vega advises you, and do not use Costco microfibers on things you dont want to scratch, ok ? :)
Good Luck !
Dan F
 
I think David Fermani would be a great person to speak to as well. He runs a shop that does high volume dealer reconditioning as well as high end retail detailing and permanent paint coating systems under the same roof at HD Car Care in Detroit.
 
i am looking to buy one rotatory maybe dewalt for bad cars and orbital rupes for the easier ones. i start the 19th of oct have to find some good guys first not easy
 
thanks everyone. My big things are doing to be to respect people and not make car worse then when the came in swirls and wax on plastic so on. My dealership sells 300 a month about half and half new. I do have the guys number for my mequiers guy but the things are higher in prices. to start im useing the cheaper adrex supplier. only because i have to keep cost down till i gety my feet on the floor. I differently want to change products as i find what works. prices are full details 150 new car detail 60 spot 30 and other mis prices. im paying my guys hourly which is hard but my hands are tied. Im give my full detailers 12 hr till i can see what they can do and goes up from there. wash guys 9-10 range and up a lil if i really like them
 
HYDRO2 and a wholesale account with car-pro. This will save you 10's of hours a week, though they must be trained on how to use it.
 
Vdub94- Welcome to Autopia!

My primarly advice is to *NOT* buy/use the rotary polishers. Far too likely that your employees will, uhm...have problems as compared to a good DA/RO polisher, and today's DA/RO units can do the kind of serious correction that *used to* require a rotary for timely results. Unless somebody's already a true Rotary-Meister (very, very rare) there's no need to do the whole rotary-learning curve thing.

Also, for the newer vehicles that are already OK marring-wise, I'd make *certain* that whoever washes/dries them knows what he's doing. The vast majority of people have zero idea how to wash a vehicle without instilling wash-induced marring.
 
congrats on the new position Vdub94 your in good hands here, as you have probably noticed from the posts above,the only advice I would put forward is to get a system in place from the start that covers all areas i.e. cars on the forecourt get washed and dried twice a week,showroom cars are watched and someone takes a quick detail spray and trim dressing to them at least twice a week,service washes and quick tidy ups and of course all vehicles coming in on trade in are detailed properly,staff, depending on experience should all start on the wash and move up from there if you are the detailer you have to be the one to train them,keep it simple for now ,use the products that are already there and as they run out bring in your own preferences,i will disagree with Accumulator on the rotary side of things simply because you are going to get in cars that have been trashed in every brush wash and beaten to a pulp in every shopping mall car park so it will be invaluable when they land in but have a good DA for everything else,Accumulator is right about the new guys picking up the rotary and doing some real harm,so it should be let known from the word go that nobody touches it without your permission/supervision,i personally believe that everyone should learn to machine a car using a rotary before they get to use a DA,especially working in the dealer end of things,best of luck with it lad.
 
jerry r- I sometimes forget that dealership work can involve bringing back some *really* trashed vehicles.

Just a FWIW- I started with a rotary, and at a dealership, myself! The other employees weren't too pleased that I quickly became the only guy allowed to work on the dark-colored cars ;) Full disclaimer- this was back in the days of single-stage, which is just *SO* much easier to finish out hologram-free compared with b/c.
 
Sanitize a new car?

Vega@Autopia said:
I work at a dealership and we give the "special" or "hot" vehicles a thorough detail to make them stand out. Most of the cars that are in the showroom have been given a complete detail. Or if a customer requests a detail, the salesmen have been offering a complete detail to help with a sale.

I've noticed customers like the keyword "sanitized" when purchasing a used car. We tell them the interior has been steam cleaned to sanitize the interior.

But if you have any specific questions, ask them here or in a separate thread and you can pick everyone's brain at the same time. :)
Click to expand...
 
Permanon is the fastest lsp hands down that give a good reflective , hydrophobic shine. Spray on a clean polished car then rinse and dry. Done. I have even sprayed on a washed car that in decent shape without polishing and it looks great. Expect 2-6 weeks beading for your efforts.
 
good practice for anyone going to do this for a living,
Accumulator said:
jerry r- I sometimes forget that dealership work can involve bringing back some *really* trashed vehicles.

Just a FWIW- I started with a rotary, and at a dealership, myself! The other employees weren't too pleased that I quickly became the only guy allowed to work on the darcolored cars ;) Full disclaimer- this was back in the days of single-stage, which is just *SO* much easier to finish out hologram-free compared with b/c.
Click to expand...
 
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