Why don`t detailers sell warranties? You are losing $$.

[Ron Ketcham]

Because if the car care company that sells such, well, if they are legitiment, are doing the same as the other insurance you are paying for.

All I am saying is to "think" about why you purchase the basically same sort of "protection".

It is not a "business" choice for the majority of detailers.

One of the reasons that it is not, is that the "average" detailer is not in business or such (notice "such") for longer than 3 to 4 years and they go belly up due to not being business people, but practice being "polishers/cleaners", lacking in business abilities.

There are threads all over the site about the difference between being a "craftsman" and a `business person" and why that it is so very important to know and practice the different education and business activities in order to be a success.

Grumpy

[David Fermani]

Because if the car care company that sells such, well, if they are legitiment, are doing the same as the other insurance you are paying for.

All I am saying is to "think" about why you purchase the basically same sort of "protection".

It is not a "business" choice for the majority of detailers.

One of the reasons that it is not, is that the "average" detailer is not in business or such (notice "such") for longer than 3 to 4 years and they go belly up due to not being business people, but practice being "polishers/cleaners", lacking in business abilities.

There are threads all over the site about the difference between being a "craftsman" and a `business person" and why that it is so very important to know and practice the different education and business activities in order to be a success.

Grumpy

Thank you Ron. Well put.

[imported_Quenga]

I would like to point out that people like David F. and Ron, people who have been in the business a lot longer than all of us, understand where I`m going with this. Others, don`t understand the value for both the detailer and the customer, but like to comment negatively based on rumors, hearsay and their uneducated opinion. All I`m trying to do is to get that negativity out of your head and for you to look at it a different way. You may see the positives. If not, I believe it`s your loss and I don`t personally care if you lose money. But, if I can help you make more money by simply altering your point of view, well then...cheers! You owe me a beer!





This is why I asked, "why are detailers forcing their opinion of quality/value down customer`s throats?" You are losing money every single time you do that and you`re only helping yourself, not your customer.



Let em explain why. This may get long:



Name a detailer that has never taken their car through a car wash? I did, even after I knew it was bad for my car. Who cares, car looked clean! Take a look at this car:



http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8210/8...6f20697041.jpg



It looks shiny, but it has no wax, scratches and swirls all over it, and it was repainted on the rear quarter panel (any not very well). The owner herself told me, "it looks bomb after I drive it through the car wash, it doesn`t need anything on the outside..."



To her, and the average consumer, this car is legitimately a great looking vehicle. To detailers, it`s an eye sore. We need to remove our bias from these situations. You are NOT a better person for telling someone else that swirls are bad. You are simply trying to get them to see things your way. I like blue cars, my girlfriend likes white/silver cars. I hate white/silver cars...and? I love the All-American Combo from Jack-in-the-Box, some people say I`m disgusting! Ha! I love burgers!





It is up to YOU to educate the consumer. If you wish to tell them it`s a permanent paint sealant when it`s just some Turtle Wax, that`s your business. However, what if you were to offer them Opti-Coat? It costs you $25 in product and gives them a warranty (assuming you can get Optimum to add you to their detailer list). Even if you can`t, what`s stopping you from creating your own Opti-Coat 2.0 service? David F. proved it`ll last 2 years under undesirable washing conditions. Guarantee it for 5 years and reapply the coating after 2 1/2 years. Cost you $50? Charge them $599 like the dealership, you make $574 up front. Invest that and it`ll grow to $650 in 30 months (2 1/2 years). Take out $25 to reapply Opti-Coat and invest the $625 again for another 30 months, it`ll turn into $708. You sold them for $600, ended up making $708 profit. It takes what, an HOUR of your time maybe? 2 hours for $708 profit. Anyone making $354/hr? NO.



People already charge $250-$500 for Opti-Coat with no warranty. What`s an additional $99?







You have to write the warranty right, assuming you warrant the product yourself. That`s what protects you. Are customers going to fight you? NO. You just think they are. Sure, you might get someone, but, in my experience, no one does. And for $708 for 2 hours of my time, I can afford to fight that one battle. With an outlined warranty paperwork, you`re not going to lose in a small claims court and no one`s going to hire a lawyer. They have car insurance to fix car accidents.

[imported_Quenga]

Aside from the $ available, my biggest point is REPEAT BUSINESS. Even people that work on Ferrari`s and Lamborghini`s and seemingly only do full paint corrections all the time have repeat customers that keep them in business.



With a clear warranty, the customers must come back to you ever so often. This is your chance to sell them a maintenance plan, up-sell services and most importantly ASK FOR REFERRALS!

[Ron Ketcham]

Well put, until ( and in my decades of both sides of this fence) have that ONE person who takes it to the limit.



Legal Eagles to protect you are not cheap, and they don`t win your case every time.



Question that one must ask of themselves, "is it really worth it"?



This is, without a doubt, a very profitable area of business.



Just the one question remains, is one ready to not just make the money, but defend and such the hassle that may come with it?



Grumpy

[(901)]

Hi Flash - because a paint protection warranty is essentially the same thing as an insurance policy. They`re both endourced/backed by insurance companies and pay out in the event of a claimable loss.

I don`t like screwing people over with fine print....these waranties imo aren`t going to be worth the paper they are written on....the manufacture will always be looking for a way to deny the claim and then leave you with a pissed off customer on your hands telling everyone within earshot what a ripoff you are. Ever thought about that?



People who buy these warranties from the dealers buy them in a spur of the moment atmosphere (new car excitement) or get flim flammed by a slick talking liar...urrr salesman and probally don`t even realize what they paid for. These people will NEVER return for warranty work and the dealerships know this



The person who seeks out a profesional detailer to purchase a warranty like this is going to be actually paying attention to see if what your selling performs as promised.

For the most part I`ve met some really nice people over my career, but I have met one or two nutjobs that could make your life a living nightmare. I`ve always been able to blow them off in the past, but if they were holding a piece of paper (warranty) with my name on it, I would be forced to deal with their mental illness. I`m just not sure my sanity is worth a few extra dollars



Oh, and hi David !! :wavey

[imported_Quenga]

I think the offering of what Optimum has created is what detailers need to be looking at. Which is what spiked my initial interest in this topic. Let them deal with it.



But, I also think it`s different with independent detailers. We have to build relationships with our clients. Dealerships? Not so much. You could stipulate that they have to be on a maintenance program to get the deal and offer it at a much lower cost. Sell them the service for $199, you still make money and you`re washing their car every 2 weeks.



These are just ideas. I have no warranty program or experience with them, but I haven`t seen any legitimate answer to why detailers are not seeking them out. Aside from their opinion, which doesn`t have any weight to it.

[(901)]

Because if the car care company that sells such, well, if they are legitiment, are doing the same as the other insurance you are paying for.

All I am saying is to "think" about why you purchase the basically same sort of "protection".

It is not a "business" choice for the majority of detailers.

One of the reasons that it is not, is that the "average" detailer is not in business or such (notice "such") for longer than 3 to 4 years and they go belly up due to not being business people, but practice being "polishers/cleaners", lacking in business abilities.

There are threads all over the site about the difference between being a "craftsman" and a `business person" and why that it is so very important to know and practice the different education and business activities in order to be a success.

Grumpy

Call in dumb luck or God`s blessing. I have no mortgage, all the college tuitions are paid off and I don`t have a car note or bad habits

[imported_Quenga]

I don`t like screwing people over with fine print....these waranties imo aren`t going to be worth the paper they are written on....the manufacture will always be looking for a way to deny the claim and then leave you with a pissed off customer on your hands telling everyone within earshot what a ripoff you are. Ever thought about that?



People who buy these warranties from the dealers buy them in a spur of the moment atmosphere (new car excitement) or get flim flammed by a slick talking liar...urrr salesman and probally don`t even realize what they paid for. These people will NEVER return for warranty work and the dealerships know this



The person who seeks out a profesional detailer to purchase a warranty like this is going to be actually paying attention to see if what your selling performs as promised.

For the most part I`ve met some really nice people over my career, but I have met one or two nutjobs that could make your life a living nightmare. I`ve always been able to blow them off in the past, but if they were holding a piece of paper (warranty) with my name on it, I would be forced to deal with their mental illness. I`m just not sure my sanity is worth a few extra dollars



Oh, and hi David !! :wavey

So, get rid of the nut jobs. Who wants bad customers? Fine print gets a negative term, but if you clearly lay out the terms (which dealerships obviously don`t), I don`t think you`ll have much issue. And, you`re talking about 1 or 2 nutjobs, but not about the potential 100`s of customers you could be selling this too. Again, do you have any case which ruined a detailing business?



Sell 5 of these a month, pocket $300 off each one, $1500/month, $18000 per year. I`ll take that to deal with one crazy every year, heck, I`ll take 5 of them!

[Ron Ketcham]

Flash, you got it pretty well on target.

Which is why I caution those who just see the "$$$$" in their eyes and not the long term picture of their actions.

Yes, people get caught up in the "moment" of buying or leasing, that new ride and don`t pay attention to the real interest rate, the actual conditions of the vehicle`s warranty and cry their butts off a few months later.

It`s called "buyers remorse" and that has went on for over 100 plus years. (same with a house, a TV, that new stainless steel fronted refrigerator, etc.

Our society today has become very "sue happy", but then we need to look at the larger percentage of our legislators, who for the most part were members of the legal profession, so they write laws to protect their fellow brother lawyers.

We pay for that, remember the "hot coffee" and McDonalds?

Protect yourself, each and everyday, from the vultures, (not all attorney`s are such), and be safe.

Grumpy

[(901)]

I would like to point out that people like David F. and Ron, people who have been in the business a lot longer than all of us, understand where I`m going with this. Others, don`t understand the value for both the detailer and the customer, but like to comment negatively based on rumors, hearsay and their uneducated opinion..

Don`t let my join date fool you junior. I think you are the one with little (if any) actual expierence running a detailing business

[(901)]

So, get rid of the nut jobs. Who wants bad customers?!

I was semi kidding earlier, but you really don`t have a clue, do you? Bad customers don`t show up with a mark on their forehead :/

[IHA Mark]

I would like to throw a little input into this.



While on the surface this is a great idea, it leads some huge prerequisites to be filled in order to be pulled off successfully.



1. You have to have the right product to sell the warranty to. If you try and sell a product that the manufacturer does not stand behind, or an inferior product that does not provide what is advertised, this could definitely hurt you in the long run. If ANYONE was going to start selling warrantied services, they better do their research and be darn confident in the service when selling it. The clients will know if you are selling them fluff or not, at least the good ones that will return if the service is exceptional.



2. You have to build a legal firewall for every single problem that could arise. If you are going to "warranty" anything there is going to have to be some sort of fine print. PERIOD. If you don`t get the correct fine print, you could be facing lots of legal hassles, as well as loss of reputation to your business, which could be much more costly. If you don`t like going over details with customers, or at least letting them know there are details that they should be aware of on a sheet of paper you hand them, this is not the right direction for your business.



3. You have to have the right clientele. Personally, I don`t do a lot of coatings right now. This might change, but as of right now 95% of my work is my mid level or basic detail packages. If you don`t have the clientele that want extremely long lasting, premium protection for their vehicle, there is no pointing spending all the money setting this process up to work the right way. For many people such as myself outside of large suburban areas, this just would not work.



4. If you are going to do this, you need to go BIG. Not only mass marketing to high end clients, but dealership work as well. Yes, dealerships! You need to go show them that you offer this particular coating, then offer them the discounted price to sell it for you. Sure, you might not make the same margin you make off retail clientele, but the dealerships might start sending you volume, and you will probably end up with much higher revenue. If you really get in good and impress the right people, they might have you start doing them as the vehicles roll off the truck and include them in the price of the vehicle. This might also work particularly well for high end used car dealerships that have you detail for them also. They can hike up the price of the vehicle $600 for your "protection package", you get an extra $300 on top of your detail price for slapping a coat of OC on before you send it back to them.



There are plenty of ways to make this work, but you really need to decide if this is the right direction for YOUR business. Personally, I`m going to do some research into this and find out if it is plausible, I hope some other people will also and report their findings. 1:



Edit: I have a business degree also, and have found very little of it applies to actually starting and running a business. It more prepared me for the corporate world, which I`m not interested in working in. Just my .02.

[rustytruck]

I see what the OP is saying. He thinks we are missing out on some golden opportunity that only he is seeing. For small business and one man shows this plan is easier said than done. These coating with the "warranty`" that the dealer sells is probably a partnership between the two companies. We do not know the terms of their deal.



If a chemical company contacted me with an idea of how I could offer a coating with a "warranty" I would be willing to listen. It would need to be a good deal for me, my customer and the chemical company I am partnering with. As far as the idea the OP has it seems more like a way to try to make a quick buck. I`m more interested in having a solid customer base full of loyal customers.



Detailing is hard work. Not a get rich quick scheme. On paper it might sound like you have a good plan but as with many things it`s easier said than done. Good luck though if that`s something you are going to try with your business.

[IHA Mark]

I see what the OP is saying. He thinks we are missing out on some golden opportunity that only he is seeing. For small business and one man shows this plan is easier said than done. These coating with the "warranty`" that the dealer sells is probably a partnership between the two companies. We do not know the terms of their deal.



If a chemical company contacted me with an idea of how I could offer a coating with a "warranty" I would be willing to listen. It would need to be a good deal for me, my customer and the chemical company I am partnering with. As far as the idea the OP has it seems more like a way to try to make a quick buck. I`m more interested in having a solid customer base full of loyal customers.



Detailing is hard work. Not a get rich quick scheme. On paper it might sound like you have a good plan but as with many things it`s easier said than done. Good luck though if that`s something you are going to try with your business.

Bingo. While I disagree that he thinks it is a get rich quick scheme, I do believe that you REALLY need to know what you are doing and dealing with before even considering a service like this. Taking on something like this unprepared could really break a business if not done correctly.