30 minute detail

**occupant** · 12-12-2009, 09:43 PM

It doesn`t take an automatic car wash to destroy an antenna. I took my then pride and joy, 1995 Buick Century with 260,000 miles, to a Mike`s Express in north Dallas. They used a rusty pair of pliers to remove the antenna. Instead of turning it, he twisted it. Broke the stud clean off. I couldn`t reattach the antenna. The owner claimed, "We are not responsible for damages to your car by our equipment." It wasn`t the equipment. It was the $6/hour clerk at the wash entrance!

I had to replace the entire antenna, base, cable, and fender grommet. Junkyard cost $35. Four hours of my labor to take apart the lower dash and right front wheel well to access it. All for a $5 car wash.

But back to the topic at hand, 30-minute express details are a small but thriving industry. The el cheapo full service car washes offer hand washes and waxes anywhere from $25 and up. People who take pride in their car but can`t afford $200 every couple of months will use $25-$50 services. They will use them repeatedly and vigorously. So if someone is out there providing quality service at a low price, using volume for profit instead of high service fees, then they will do well. And that`s good.

I expect that when I get started with my car lot, that I am going to have messy cars come in all the time. I will likely spend hours and hours on them, trying to do the impossible. I might as well use this stuff:

But if I found someone in the area who was willing to do a decent job for $25-$50 per car, and could get a lot of cars done at once, it would be worth it to me to have someone else come in and do the cars while I catch up on titlework, advertising, putting the cars on the website, and all those other red tape/busywork tasks.

I do enjoy cleaning cars up and making them look light years ahead of where they were. En masse, it`s worth finding a cheap detailer. For all the Tauruses and Explorers and Focuses. But put a `94 Mercedes-Benz C220 on my lot that I get for $1300 at an impound auction, and I`m going to tackle that one myself because I will want that car selling for top dollar. I might even take it to a really GOOD detailer. Or have them come to me. Because the right cars need the right touch, and I don`t want to have to take $1800 for that Benz if a good quality $300-$400 detail can make it sell for $2800.

**Bunky** · 12-13-2009, 06:22 AM

Originally Posted by occupant

But back to the topic at hand, 30-minute express details are a small but thriving industry.

I do not think it is a small industry. It is widespread around here. You see car wash places at many gas stations and they get regular use. The local "spa" has a line on weekends.

They have a good lobby in government. It seems like when we have water use restrictions most car washes get to stay in business. They like to spread misinformation on consumer water wasting.

**CharlesW** · 12-13-2009, 09:13 AM

We are kind of gertting away from the original subject, but rather than get back on track, I guess I`ll continue on.

I have a lot of friends and acquaintances in the area and I don`t think many of them wash their own vehicles let alone wax them.
I may be forgetting someone, but right now, I can only think of one that does. He does wash and wax his own, but uses a cleaner wax so he doesn`t get quite as carried away as some of us.

I do know of two others that think washing their cars at the DIY wand wash and applying a cleaner wax a couple of times a year is all that is needed.
Hey, maybe they`re right.

**cartoysautospa** · 12-14-2009, 11:08 AM

how many people on here offer a express detail ? and what is your definition of a express detail. I see express details are popular on the west coast.

**Beemerboy** · 12-14-2009, 11:29 AM

Originally Posted by cartoysautospa

how many people on here offer a express detail ? and what is your definition of a express detail. I see express details are popular on the west coast.

I offer a wash-wax service ONLY for those customers that I have already done full details. Its not a huge money maker for me but it doesn`t take a lot of my time, and helps to keep the customer coming back monthly rather than every 6 months.

IMO the words express and detailing used in the same sentence is a contradiction in terms.

**Jngrbrdman** · 12-14-2009, 12:59 PM

It is really hard for me to consider 30 minutes of work actual "detailing". I believe there is line where you pass basic car washing and enter detailing. 30 minutes is not enough time to do that. Washing the vehicle, dressing the tires, vacuuming it out... that is just car washing. Express Detailing is an oxymoronif you ask me.

**cartoysautospa** · 12-14-2009, 02:35 PM

I offer what I call a foo-foo which takes me about 2-3 hours and I charge 55-85.00. I am just curious about this express thing as it us always mentioned in these carwash trade mags. guess if you have multiple employee it can be a profit area , providing oyur doing 15 express details or more a day.

**Troy@Protekt** · 12-14-2009, 09:36 PM

Originally Posted by Jngrbrdman

It is really hard for me to consider 30 minutes of work actual "detailing". I believe there is line where you pass basic car washing and enter detailing. 30 minutes is not enough time to do that. Washing the vehicle, dressing the tires, vacuuming it out... that is just car washing. Express Detailing is an oxymoronif you ask me.

Most of my details fall into the 3-4 hour time frame. I believe them to be superior to what the other guys do in my area for the same money and/or time frame. I have spent many years perfecting the way I do things and knowing what gives me the best and quickest results. I don`t give a lot of respect to the guys who do details quicker than me. I know the quality would not be there from my experience.

Having said that I realize that there are quite a few guys that laugh at the idea of someone thinking that a car is properly detailed after only 3 hours. So who am I to try to tell someone what a "detail" is.

All I can say is more time spent doesn`t always mean it will be a better detail.
You guys that spend days detailing a car are inspiring to me because it`s a lot easier to put out top quality work in that time frame and you have customers who are happy to pay you for spending that much time. In fact, I am slowly turning to that mind set.

I still don`t think I would need to spend 17+ hours detailing a car unless I was wet-sanding the whole thing out and gutting the interior. I would like to develop a system where I was spending a full day on one car. Scheduling would be much easier and obviously fewer customers would be needed to make what I want to make.

I realized a long time ago that detailing by myself is not going to make me rich. It`s a nice source of income though. The only way detailing becomes a truly successful business is if you have guys working for you putting out work that you can stand behind and that is rare. We should all be looking for other sources of income where we aren`t always trading time for money.

**cartoysautospa** · 12-15-2009, 10:58 AM

It takes us 30-45 mins just to prep a car for detailing

**Jngrbrdman** · 12-15-2009, 11:28 AM

I`m in the same time frame as you are for details. I can`t get a full detail done in less than 3 hours unless it is a seriously tiny car. Even then, I think 3 hours is what it would take. I`ve spent up to 10 hours on a project before, but that was an H2 that was in really rough shape and I chose to use a product that was ridiculously hard to remove. The product is no longer made because it was so terrible. I made a bad mistake testing it out on a vehicle with more real estate than a football field. lol Anyway, I suppose you could take 17 hours if you were wet sanding and doing more of a restoration, but that crosses the other line on the scale. Here is the scale I was talking about:

|--car washing--|-----------Detailing-----------|---Restoration---|

There is only so much you can resolve in each of those areas. You could also put a time limit on each of those areas. Personally I feel if your detail goes longer than 8 hours then you are probably in the Restoration realm of the project (unless you make a mistake like I did). Detailing (in my definition anyway) doesn`t include wet sanding, extreme interior work, or paint touch up work. That kind of thing can really stretch the time out.

In the end I think it is all semantics. We make dull things shiny.

That is what a detailer does no matter how little or how long we spend on it. The line in my signature comes to mind. Faster isn`t better. BETTER is better no matter how long it takes.

**cartoysautospa** · 12-15-2009, 02:19 PM

well I guess it all depends on what your detail includes is to how much time it really takes. our details are about 85 steps from start to finish. however we have been at it for 18 years, same steps over and over every day, so we can do it a little faster than the average detail guy.
Our foo-foo which is a light detail for customers cars that we have previously done the complete deal on .....takes 3 hours at least if not more

**RTexasF** · 12-15-2009, 08:10 PM

What do I think?

The pictures show well, nothing, nothing at all. What are we supposed to see other than a white Ford? You are touting your "services" using dollar store products but cannot provide before shots, products used...........nothing at all?
We see a white Ford, congratulations on that, whatever it is supposed to represent. If you are trying to impress folks here you have a LONG WAY to go.

**cartoysautospa** · 12-15-2009, 09:00 PM

only one thing to say....... your work needs to be done to a standard not a price or a time frame. I don`t ever give my customer`s a time frame when it`s to be done, unless they have limited transportation and need it back in one day. at my shop we are generally working on up to 4 cars per day, and I do not generally like to have too many guest`s over night in the cartoys hilton, unless they are on the 3-4 day project program.
My original question about the Express Detail that is always brought up in the trade publication "Carwashing" ragg, hey are always mentioning adding Express detail for Tunnel carwashes. Unless you have a team of 4-5 guys, then and only then and only then can you pump out a vehicle in 30 mins.
Mr. Ford man......................,like I said earlier it takes a good 15 mins. to prep the car, and get all of the loose material before you wash it. we spend 2- 5 mins per wheel getting all of the grime and brake dust off.
Now on another note , if you keep your car impeccable washed once a week,etc. then you could in theory do it in 30 mins, but it would still be a half baked job.