Who are your non-dealership/retail customers?

[denverdetail]

In talking to detailers over the years I have heard of some of them having pretty weird customers. For instance, a competitor of mine has a regular customer that has a fleet of roachcoaches (lunch wagon's).

A member posted here recently that he has a credit union that he details repos for. I've got a few credit unions too.

Of course retail is the most profitable but sometimes there just isn't enought of it to keep me and my crew busy full time. Here is my most unusual customer:
What has now turned into my best customer over the last year is a local police department. I detail every car on a quarterly basis and they have 70 vehicles. I is keeping me very busy, although their prices are low, it is very profitable because of the volume and regularity.

What are some of your stranger customers?

 

[Jngrbrdman]

I used to do the 'fleet' for a small florist. He had 4 vans that I would detail every other month. They mostly wanted the interiors done. The outsides were white and I only had to clay and use a mild polish before waxing usually. The inside of the vans were gutted so to make room for all the flowers and stuff. Cleaning the vans was always interesting... I don't have an extractor so I would rent one from Home Depot for the day. The carpets were always full of dirt and some very interesting stains from leaves that got mashed into it. All in all it was a very satisfying contract. I maintained the vans for almost 2 years and charged $450 each time. Considering that it wasn't really that hard to extract the carpets, clean up the dash and glass, and then do a wash and wax, I'd say it was a good deal. Plus it got me a few referals for other jobs that I can still trace back to that florist.