Could anyone lend advice on starting a detailing shop?

Auto Care, can you answer a few questions? I am seriously looking to get into the buisness.



How many employees do you have?



Is you business totally "in shop" or do you also have mobile fleet?



If fixed location, how many detail bays?



If mobile, how many cars/trucks/vans?



How much wash,wax,polich/claybars do you go through a month?
 
How can anyone person detail 70,000 in 30 years????? Quite simple. Well when you are the only detail house that details Cadillacs for the largest cadillac dealership in Western New York the answer is simple. First off I never said I did them by myself. I have a great supporting staff including 1 gentleman with me for over 20 years. {Talk about taking care of your employees, this guy drives a brand new escalade}. We are a Mom And Pop run business which you rarely see anymore. My wife personally works on every single car like myself. See I personally work on every single vehicle that comes through Auto Care USA. Like I said in the beginning when you polish and clean every new, used and customer vehicle for the largest Cadillac dealership in western n.y. at the rate between 2500 and 3000 vehicles per year it adds up quite fast. We did this for over 20 years. Math by the way is my favorite subject I love to add $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. All kidding aside guys these are the facts. They are honest and sincere. I also have been a Motivational Coach and a author since 1987. So if you guys need a kick in the butt on how to capture success. E-Mail me at jk57512aol.com. As far as trade magazines the 2 that i was refering to are detailers digest @ 1477 S. Belcher Rd. Clearwater Fl. 33764 contact them for the digest and the other magazine Americas Car Care Business6331 West Hackamore Drive Glendale Az. 85310. Contact them for your subscription. There are many more magazines inc.Modern Car care , American Clean Car, Professionl Car was and detailing. I don't have those addresses handy. At a later date i will be more than happy to post. Guys I don't care what line of work anyone of you ends up in. If it's detailing great mabye a few lawyers or even doctors are among the bunch in here. LISTEN this is so important.....if you don't think that you are any good no one else will either. I have a article that I wrote for another magazine titled pretty good detailer. I will put that on here someday. It will make you think. Remember guys I was probally detailing cars before you were born. To those that care to listen I will always try to give usefull information and for those of you that don't care thats alright to. Its alright to agree to disagree. Till next time detailers have a great weekend
 
I know I am still a newbie here but a few things I want to stress.



I don't care much if auto care usa is lieing or not, so his math may be off, as a matter of fact it more than likely is off. Why? because he himself claims he takes the winter months OFF.



My rewards are great All my hard work enables me to take off and go to Florida for the winter months.
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Secondly, no offense to you but if you did write all of those articles I hope you dictated them to a secretary because your lack of organization in your posts is very evident, it is possible you do not use the internet much and do not know common courtesy but the way you type your posts is really hard to read and stresses my and others eyes.



Oh well I could go on but I dont feel like it.



Bryan
 
well, joed1245



seems like this thread got lost somewhere...anyway...if someone could get this thread back on track it would be nice...Im just as interested in the answeres as Joed are...



I got a question for ya all...Are there any larger gatherings in US or Europe for detailers??? I heard about something in Las Vegas every second year but that was more like for the hole car industrie...right??
 
It amazes me that certain people inc. brian just can't let go. Like I said I am here to give professional advice on either starting a detail shop or just answering questions regarding the PROFESSIONAL detailing field. As far as writing on the computer, You guessed it I am still learning how to operate this dog gone thing. So if my computer lingo isn't all that then I am sorry. God gave me my talant with the buffer. If anyone out there still needs a PROFESSIONAL detaing question answered by a professional for a PROFESSIONAL contact me at [email protected] I would be more than happy to help ya................. till next time ...joe
 
I think we should all just get over this little bump in the road. No need to keep this issue going. So the original topic was "Could anyone lend advice on starting a detailing shop?". Well.....?
 
ok ill drop it, just had to add one thing. I have had a bad day today so I was in a crabby mood. Anyhow Joe, Sorry for the comments.



Well honestly related to the topic I dont hav emuch to say except giving your hard work away to your friends is a crime. If they help you out at thier job then you should do the same but otherwise charge them like everyone else.



B
 
Hey guys alls well that ends well. I would be more than happy to answer any of your detailing questions. Guys if we are ever to enjoy life, now is the time-not tomorrow, nor next year nor in some future life after we have died.The best preperation for a better life next year is a full, complete, harmonious, joyous life this year. As we all enjoy detailing lets help each other to the best of our ability. .....Make it a great day joe
 
joed1228 said:
Hey guys, I need a little help and I thought I would ask the people who have done it.



I am looking to quit my job and take on detailing full time if all factors seem to be on my side. I work in Boston, MA where there are alot of high rises who have detail shops. Over 95% of them charge around 300.00 to have a full detail to just give you an example. There are a few high rises here who have open space since they are just being built. I am looking to move into one of them and start my own little detailing shop.



I expect to do three cars a day, starting at 9 am and ending at 6 pm. I would probaly charge around 150.00 - 200.00 a car to hold a steady customer base rather than only have a few rich customers who don't always show.



I was just wondering how you guys work:



Do you normally take care of three cars in the amount of time I would have.



Do you have help



How much do you spend per month on products, on water and on electricty



I have about 30 other questions I could ramble off. Can any of you guys tell me how you started, how your doing, what you need to watch out for and all of the little things? Is there any resources on the internet you guys know of that I can read through to get a better feild of what I am thinking of jumping into?



Just let me know what you guys think, ya, nay or whatever it may be. I am going to do my research.
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eom.
 
auto care usa said:
How can anyone person detail 70,000 in 30 years????? Quite simple. Well when you are the only detail house that details Cadillacs for the largest cadillac dealership in Western New York the answer is simple. First off I never said I did them by myself. I have a great supporting staff including 1 gentleman with me for over 20 years. {Talk about taking care of your employees, this guy drives a brand new escalade}. We are a Mom And Pop run business which you rarely see anymore. My wife personally works on every single car like myself. See I personally work on every single vehicle that comes through Auto Care USA. Like I said in the beginning when you polish and clean every new, used and customer vehicle for the largest Cadillac dealership in western n.y. at the rate between 2500 and 3000 vehicles per year it adds up quite fast. We did this for over 20 years. Math by the way is my favorite subject I love to add $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. All kidding aside guys these are the facts. They are honest and sincere. I also have been a Motivational Coach and a author since 1987. So if you guys need a kick in the butt on how to capture success. E-Mail me at jk57512aol.com. As far as trade magazines the 2 that i was refering to are detailers digest @ 1477 S. Belcher Rd. Clearwater Fl. 33764 contact them for the digest and the other magazine Americas Car Care Business6331 West Hackamore Drive Glendale Az. 85310. Contact them for your subscription. There are many more magazines inc.Modern Car care , American Clean Car, Professionl Car was and detailing. I don't have those addresses handy. At a later date i will be more than happy to post. Guys I don't care what line of work anyone of you ends up in. If it's detailing great mabye a few lawyers or even doctors are among the bunch in here. LISTEN this is so important.....if you don't think that you are any good no one else will either. I have a article that I wrote for another magazine titled pretty good detailer. I will put that on here someday. It will make you think. Remember guys I was probally detailing cars before you were born. To those that care to listen I will always try to give usefull information and for those of you that don't care thats alright to. Its alright to agree to disagree. Till next time detailers have a great weekend
Click to expand...



Where I work we sell about 700 toyotas monthly, each one of these cars is detailed, however new cars do not recieve the full treatment (no point). Do the math 8400 toyotas per year that get cleaned and detailed. I'd say about 42% of this amount is used vehicles(trade ins, previous rental cars, program cars, demos, auctions, etc.). These cars are full details which take about 3 hours(according to the shop manager). That means 3360(estimate) toyotas receive a full recon. Maybe I should get the shop owner to start posting on here :D .
 
I really can't add anything.



I'm in to the quality end of detailing... the 3 hour deal can't/doesn't fly in my world.



I know that it is done all day long, everywhere (I've got photos of what a Chevy Dealer does!) , but it just doesn't work for me...



Jim
 
Before you do this or consider througly pursuing this idea which may be a great fit I suggest you do the following: Purchase a copy of Business Plan 2003 and write a business plan for this shop. Research the amount of money you are going to be spending on marketing to bring in customers, stationary, rent, water, electrcity. What your comparative advantage is, and things of that nature. The easiest way to do that is to write a business plan that way you will know what you are putting yourself into.
 
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