How Nice of a Living Can Be Made in Detailing?

[efnfast]

Half of the battle with becoming a Dalton or Helme is convincing people you`re that good. I remember a guy not too long ago that spent all his time trying that, and never bothered to actually get good. He went on a grand "tour of America" and convinced people that they should spend a few thousand dollars on a chance to get their car detailed by him ("the greatest detailer in the world").



I`m sure most everyone remembers how THAT turned out. If not, do a search, there`s plenty of info on it. You don`t even have to check on here, there was more or less a witch hunt across every "expensive car" forum to call him out and expose the truth about him.

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I wish people would stop posting archiac references to thing that happened in the past that not everybody is familiar with.



And before you say search, try googling stuff like `tour of america` `world greatest detailer`, etc.. etc..; oh hey look, they bring you back to this thread. That was helpful

[XRL]

I wish people would stop posting archiac references to thing that happened in the past that not everybody is familiar with.



And before you say search, try googling stuff like `tour of america` `world greatest detailer`, etc.. etc..; oh hey look, they bring you back to this thread. That was helpful

I didn`t want to go into further detail because of tons of bad will and bans and other such stuff. But here`s the general rundown. Guy had a company called "Apollo Detailing" (he wasn`t the one from Hungary), and talked himself up a lot. posted some pretty ridiculous videos, one of him massaging a car with some wax and his hands like he was going to make love to it, some where he was detailing cars incorrectly, etc. Anyways he planned himself a big trip to the USA and made a big deal about it, and on said trip he worked on a Lambo and did a crap job, along with burned the window trim (costing the owner a few grand to fix). Once this all came out he disappeared never to be heard from again. There was other stuff involved, but that`s the basic run down.



Point of it was, he made himself out to be a big deal, but couldn`t back up his talk and had to have other detailers come fix his mistakes on their own time/dime just to not make the entire industry look like crooks and fools.



I dunno, maybe Helme`s not in med school. I thought I read that somewhere, someone said something along the lines of "Helme`s not worried about income from detailing long term, he`s in med school". It was right around when he got banned IIRC.



Anyways, back on topic: It`s a hell of of a lot easier to have a detailing business that makes 200k a year by doing lots of cars at a high rate of speed than it is to be a super elite detailer that doesn`t work on cars for less than a grand. Dealerships, though they offer low margins, will bring through a lot more cars, and so the increased volume will lead to higher revenues. But you still have to have a decent amount of margin built into your services or you still won`t make any money.



My advice? Stay in school, and invest in a fast food restaurant like McDonalds. It`ll make you way more money long term.

[Flashtime]

Consider becoming a bankruptcy lawyer.

[XRL]

Consider becoming a bankruptcy lawyer.

Everyone knows the divorce guys are the really loaded ones Or personal injury.

[imported_Jakerooni]

Well like I tell the kids. All that money didn`t just dissapear. While we`re suffering and loosing jobs left and right someone is getting rich like no tomorrow. You just have to stay ahead of the curve. Right now Auto Mechanics and Auto parts stores might as well be oil tycoons. Life is good for anyone in those feilds with some decent skills. Alternative energies are picking up huge right now. Want lots of cash??? Buy up some foreclosed property and put a windfield on it and sell off the proceeds to make millions. Things that are out the door or close to it... Manufacturing for the big dollars... What few jobs will remain in that sector will soon become minimum wage jobs at best. Health care is about to take a huge kick in the nuts. everyone and their brother is currnetly in college for it. (they all think it`s the safe bet) But here in a few years when all these tens of thousand collge student graduate they are going to flood the market and over saturate it to no end... Mix that with the end of employer paid health coverage (cutting more and more every day) Less and less people will be going to the Dr`s unless it`s of only vital nessecety. Same with Auto Insurence... Most thought that was a recession proof feild because the law Requires it. However when it comes down to paying the rent to keep a house for your family or drive awhile with no insurence it`s easy to see what takes priority. My insurence guy (state Farm) has seen an 80% drop in his customers in the past 3 years. That`s an insane number. A few state aren`t seeing this ... Most are. They say right now 7 out of 10 drivers in the state of Michigan do not have proper insurence to be on the road. Think about that for a second. Nothing is really recession proof...Except maybe feilds related to Death. As morbid as that sounds it really is the only thing money can`t effect much. The point is... When one area suffer`s somewhere somehow some other area picks up and has a boom. Find that boom and you`ll have all the money you`ll ever need.

[Scottwax]

You`d be better off learning paintless dent repair and following hail storms if you want to be sure to make $200k a year.



1 person detailing operation in an area with weather good enough to generally allow all year detailing, you can probably gross close to $100k. Going to be hard to get too much above that unless you have a steady stream of high end concours level details and even then it would be tough as a 1 man business.



IMO, you`d need a chain of shops or several crews of vans to generate enough income to possibly net $200k. Either that or put yourself in a position that you could eventually franchise your operation.

[JimmyCutlass]

No, if you decide to become a professional detailer you will be doomed to become a vagabond. You will have to recycle other peoples plastic bottles and beg in train stations to supply yourself with waxes and compounds. :sosad