Fair charge for Retail Details?

I had my only scheduled customer cancel on me today, so I went out on the customer hunting trail. I decided to check dealerships to see what they might have to offer. The first few were big ones which detail in house. I then checked a small "buy here pay here" car lot.

The guy there told me he pays $75 per car for full detail, including compounding, polishing, scratch removal, wet-sanding if necessary. :wow:

Now, I am not America`s top detailer and I openly admit I still have much to learn. But I have been at this for a few years. It STILL takes me about 4 hours to complete a full detail NOT INCLUDING paint reconditioning. (I offer paint restoration as a separate service).

Is this common? Does anyone really do all that for $75? Please be brutal with me here. Is 4 hours too slow? This guy says he`s seen detailers at an auto auction do 6-7 cars a day, full detail + paint recondition. Is this guy blowing smoke? I can understand a team of people handling that many cars, but I cannot imagine a single detailer handling that many in a single work day.

I left - disheartened - and returned to my tried and true lawyers` offices and beauty salons to solicit.

Dealerships are cheap and they are not expecting the type of details that you are giving your other customers...Stick with your Layers, Doctors, Real Estate agents / brokers, etc...those are your best bet for income...they have the money and are not going to nickel and dime you like the dealership...

yea what he said

The dealership I do work for only buys high end cars like bmw, infiniti, range rover, and what not. They slap on wheels on every car. These guy move about 5 cars a week. All their cars are bought at an auction and have already gotten that " special auction detail you mentioned above." I get 150 a car and it gets what i think that it should get. I clay the top surfaces. Light color cars get spot buff if needed then some exp and the dark ones get ssr 1 once over then some natty`s. The interiors all get extracted and leather conditioned, then windows. I also charge extra for scratches, pin stripe removal, head light restoration, and other things like that. I use to get calls all the time from dealer ships wanting me to do work and the first thing I would tell them is I charge $50/hr, after that the conversation was pretty much over. They keep my pretty busy and are willing to work with my schedule with my other clients that pay full price. I can do 2-4 if I really moving and their smaller light color cars in one day. But one the days that they give me the black SUVs I can do two. It`s a give and take relationship that has really worked out for me.

Now that sounds far more realistic. For $150, I can see claying and, polishing and spot scratch work for each car. I figure the only way they are getting the quantity of work (verses quality) they are getting at auctions is by teams of detailers and they have to split the $$ from each car. That would certainly be incentive to move quickly. But doesn`t sound like a good way to make money.