charging car dealerships

hey guys,

got my first car dealership under my belt and am detailing cars inside and out for just under 100 dollars per car and am getting between 2 and 5 cars a day.

was wondering how you guys all go about getting paid. since this is my first time running my own business and charging someone for my services, wanted to know how you guys get paid.

my dealership wants me to work on the cars, save all the serial numbers along with dates, charges and all that stuff and they pay me every two weeks in check form. does this sound right to you guys? I would be much more comfortable if I did the work and a check was cut out right there on the spot so that when I go home I have a sense of accomplishment/reward for a hard days work.

let me know guys,

godoman

 

I was doing work for a small high end lot with only two employees and he wanted me to give him a bill when the tab was about 1300 or so. I would say for a larger dealership this sounds about right. Honestly you tracking down the service manager or whoever cuts the checks everyday would be a real big hastle. This could easly add 20-30 minutes to your day every day.

 

good point, thanks for the feedback on this. the dealership I am servicing is fairly small but in a busy area and have alot of cars turn over for auctions as well when they dont sell.

just wanted to see if this is the norm, never thought it would be like this.

godoman

 

Welcome to the Dealer detail business!!

Invoice them daily or weekly and list the Year / Model / Stock # / Vin# to each vehicle individually. Find out if they issue Purchase Orders and if so staple them to each of your internal invoice copy for documentation.

Then print a summary report for all the invoices issued at the end of each month. Negotiate payment to be received within 2 weeks.

 

Godoman, I've got two questions, if you wouldn't mind sharing.

1. What all does your $100 dealer detail include?
2. How did you get lined up with said dealer?

Thanks!

 

wow,

that is exactly what I needed and then some.

I am going to this not being naive and expect that dealerships will try and stiff me soon rather then later it is just a matter of time and covering myself on this.

am printing out what your wrote out now to follow your directions as a step by step.

godoman

 

hey krs,

to answer your question about the dealership and what they get for 100 dollars it is reallly easy money. the dealership that I am working for takes on all the cars from the dollar car rental service by the airport where I live. all the cars are driven to 24k and 36k. the cars and then turned over to the dealership that I service.

all the cars need to be washed and this includes wheels, wheel wells, door jams and the basic when washing the exterior along with windows. then they want me to wax the car which I through collinite 845 on a red lc pad with a pc and hit the entire car really quickly. while the sealant/wax is curing on the paint I go to the interior where I vacum everything and then remove all stains from the carpets using stuff I got from detailersdomain along with the pc and a pc carpet brush got off of autogeek. those brushes along with a carpet cleaner is just amazing. a quick quick extraction with aztec extractor and the car is good to go after checking on the trunk (vacuming).

the floor matts get a quick power spray and pc brush treatment (if needed) and then I dry them with my shop vac from home depot. leave those in the trunk to finish drying.

done after buffing off sealant. might do some slight scratch removal of large scracthes but they really dont require that. most of the cars are in great condition except the trunks where customers obviously pull out their suit cases and hit the bumper alot. I had a few scuffs on almost every car so far that I had to clear up with my makita rotary and a little menzerna polish.

really is nothing to it and I think I am doing the low low end stuff with this dealership but you have to start out some where.

also, got referred to them through an ex co-worker. I was doing alot of really good details that took like 10 hours each on my friends and co-workers cars for practice and to make an extra buck and the side and keep me busy on the weekends. everyone was really blown away about the shine that I did and what I have learned through self education and drilling you guys online about how to take care of different situations and correcting paint. still have alot to learn but am getting there one day at a time.

godoman

 

Just remember to stick to your guns and don't let them low ball. If they say this other shop will do it for $90 or what ever, ask them what the other detailers detail entails. When doing this type of work you must know what you bottom line is. Sounds to me like you have a solid process and a fair working knowladge of the trade. Always be on the lookout for possibilities of an up sale and talk to the sales manager of any back door opertunities after the sale ( full corrections, paint sealants, whell polishing, and what not ). Remember when it comes to these additional services that the sales manager is your best friend. So be nice to him/her.:support:

 

Does the negotiation really get down to how much time you spend a vehicle or what you claim you do in the same period?

For example, two detailers charge $60 for 2 hrs of detailing. Detailer 1 can do a complete wash detail including a coat of wax. Detailer 2 can do the same but say does the engine and something else. Obviously if they both take 2 hrs, detailer 1 is either working slower or doing more detailed work since he cannot do certain tasks in the same time.

The other case is where detailer 1 and detailer 2 do the same job but detailer 1 wants more for the time spent.

 

Most Dealerships want to be billed att the end of the month and a check cut to you on the 10th of the following month

I would DEMAND to receive a P.O. for EVERY vehicle. This is what you will need if you ever have any disputes

How many employees do you have?

5 cars a day would be impossible for 1 person IMO

 

You could do 5 cars for a dealer in 1 day. Its a wash and dry followed by spray sealant with vaccum and clean obvious dirt spots. Takes 30minutes to 1hour per car. As for billing I would bill monthly, its clean and simple.

 

30 min to 1 hour per car is quick, you wash with ONR?

 

Foam cannon followed by two bucket bucket method. Dealership cars should not be a mess typically. Except for trade ins of course. Dealerships are pretty cheap and you have to make sure you tell them your time = x amount of money. If they only want to pay half of what x equals then ask them what services they would like you to leave out.

 

yeah, all the information that you guys have given me is great.

as far as one hour per car goes that is the goal. I am taking out a loan to buy a 6000 dollar steamer that will do the exterior in no time and will wax the car right away with a quick vacum and steam cleaning of the interior.

wanted to ask you guys about this though. was considering adding a quick "one step" polish and sealant to some of the cars if I have extra time because it is something that I want to start doing for other customers (other then dealerships). was considering the following model and wanted to know what you thought.

-steam clean exterior completely including engine with steam, whole proces take 20 minutes with no water run off and no mess left at dealership.

-using flex 3401 and LC green pad I would use Klasse AIO and hit the entire outside of the car quickly to remove major scratches and added shine to the car quickly without having to wait on curing time.

-using pc 7424 and red LC pad would hit the car exterior one time with klasse "high gloss sealnt glaze".

-buff off and collect

now I dont know how long the high gloss sealant takes to cure if it needs to.. any input here guys? this process here would mean that each car would definately take about 1hour 30min to 2 hours. that is far more then I would like it to take for the dealerships but was seriously considering doing this on the off days when I make house calls at customer's homes that done want a 95 % paint correction.

in my area it is hard to find customers willing to pay that money for that kind of detail so I am finding ways to offer them a quick detail that still makes the car shine to all hell and will still allow me to move on to another customer in the same say.

follow me ?

any input on this planned process to be tried out I would greatly appreciate.

godoman

 

This may be a case where Poly-Seal is going to be the best, has good correction capability for a AIO and leaves behind decent protection.

 

Another very quick and effective AIO is Meguiar's D151 which has a surprising amount of cut and leaves behind a polymer sealant. Its working time is also fairly short and you can get it in bulk quantities cheaper than most.

Congrats on snagging that dealer! Hope they are kind to you, I have had some shoddy experiences with detailing dealer cars in the past...

 

I know somewhere on here is a link to a sub $1000 steamer that is supposed to be great.

 

yeah there are lots of steamers out there and the one that I originally went with was the vx5000 adn it is really a great steamer. looking for that same steam output except alot more psi and I found that in the optima steamer. they were in the east cost but are not located out of cali.

cant wait to get my hands on it and I will surely start posting with lots of pics on the performance of these units. I have nothing to lose in acquiring one of these expensive units as I am claiming it along with other equipment. went to a tax attorney and made sure of this before making the plans to get one. dont want to buy one and then business just does not work and I am stuck with a unit and 6 G's less.

I will look into the meg's 151. there is a local detailing supply store near me and I woul much rather buy a whole bunch of stuff from them then pay for shipping and have to wait for this stuff to come in.

what would you top the 151 with after you use it and buff it off? I like menzerna's FMJ but the stuff just does not last. collinite might be best as that stuff lasts forever and is really cheap and I can apply it in the sun with no issues.

godoman

 

:shead: 30 minute detail :giggle:

 

Whats funny? Dealerships have maintenance contracts where you wash cars weekly or bi-weekly. Obviously if cars were especially bad you would take more time and charge more.