Dealerships! RANT

Garry Dean

Garry Dean

Garry Dean Quality!
So I'm sleeping comfortably in my bed when I hear my phone ringing and it wakes me up at 7:04am this morning. Its a call from a guy in Jacksonville who says he is on his way to Tampa with a car and he needs a full detail before he delivers it to its new owner. He asks if I am available and how much I charge. I ask him specificaly what he would like to have done and how much he is looking to spend. I give him a quote and from there on the convo is downhill. He argues and argues to get the price down. I go down maybe 10 bucks and thats the best I feel like doing for this guy, basically because of his pushy attitude.



It turns out that he wants a full detail done for $30. He says "but if you do a good job on this one I will bring you more cars." Then I say "Thats great, but I'm not getting out of bed at 7am for $30, besides that I'm not going to bust my a$$ for 4 hours for that chump change!"



I cannot believe people! I understand that dealerships or car dealers dont care about protection or whatever, but clean is clean! Don't get me wrong, I don't mind giving a discount, but a full detail for $30? Get real! I would never!



Sorry for my rant, thanks for reading!
 
I wouldn't of even went down $10 in price. I would of just hung up on him. I was doing a Lincoln one day and this guy came over from down the street and went on and on about his Lincoln and how great it was and asked how much. I think I gave him a price of like $175 and he said, "I can go down the street to "X" and get it done for $75." I just turned around and started the polisher again and he left. LOL It's funny how many people look for free work but when the shoe is reversed they don't want to give you a service for free.
 
Someone call me one day and was asking for a detail for 20 bucks, I just laugh and hung up the phone:LOLOL
 
I agree, it's amazing to me how people don't appreciate the hard work that goes into detailing vehicles.:soscared:
 
If you cant make $45.00 per hour you are going to starve. What they get for $65.00 is a wash , vacuum , spray wax , windows , dress tires. Thats about 1 1/2 hours.
 
Funny how those car dealers seem to think the promise of lots of cars at a cheap rate of pay is supposed to entice us. Yeah, right, let me turn down all my full price business to do their cars cheap. Ha!
 
Yeah, let's do the math:



$5 Gas

$15 Detailing Chemicals

$2.50 and hour for labor???



Someone needs to slap the boy with a stupid stick so he can get a clue.
 
car dealerships just bleed scoundrel don't they? no offense to anyone who works at one.



I'm just a weekend warrior myself but do some detailing, mostly for people I know. I've yet to do ANYTHING for under $75 but average $125 to $200. This story is just typical car sales. The detail was probably coming out of his commision
 
i think you guys are forgetting something, what is a detail to us is not necessarily a detail to them. Maybe a wash and wax and light interior protection is a good enough detail. (2-3 hours later you have cash in your pocket, especially if its just to fill the otherwise empty day)



Detail to me is at least a two step with full interior (7-8 hours). Full detail to most people I talk to is a wash, wax, full interior (3-4 hours at most)
 
toyotaguy said:
i think you guys are forgetting something, what is a detail to us is not necessarily a detail to them. Maybe a wash and wax and light interior protection is a good enough detail. (2-3 hours later you have cash in your pocket, especially if its just to fill the otherwise empty day)



Detail to me is at least a two step with full interior (7-8 hours). Full detail to most people I talk to is a wash, wax, full interior (3-4 hours at most)
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I think you summed it up. Most people (car dealers and the average Joe) use the term detail freely when they have no idea what it really means. I guess they are used to the $79.95 hack jobs where an untrained detailer with rotary, a dirty 4 ply wool pad and rocks in a bottle compound thrash the paint and then cover up the hazing and buffer trails with a glaze.
 
bert31 said:
I think you summed it up. Most people (car dealers and the average Joe) use the term detail freely when they have no idea what it really means. I guess they are used to the $79.95 hack jobs where an untrained detailer with rotary, a dirty 4 ply wool pad and rocks in a bottle compound thrash the paint and then cover up the hazing and buffer trails with a glaze.
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+1 for you and toyotaguy. Its annoyingly true.
 
I do mobile bumper painting at dealerships and i absolutely can't stand dealing with most of them.They want everything for nothing.I love it when i give them a price and they say "can't you just touch it up"? Well no i cant just touch it up when there is a chunk missing from the bumper.
 
Optimum Auto said:
I do mobile bumper painting at dealerships and i absolutely can't stand dealing with most of them.They want everything for nothing.I love it when i give them a price and they say "can't you just touch it up"? Well no i cant just touch it up when there is a chunk missing from the bumper.
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The thing is though that most dealerships would consider just the "touch up" good enough. LOL
 
I had a personal friend of mine come to me to detail his wife's Lexus. I quoted him a price of $100. He said he'd get back to me. A week later, I asked him, and he said another firend of his who does detailing gave him a price of $75.00 so he went with him. I looked at the car, and the inside was a mess. I asked him about it, and he said the guy only did the outside. I explained to him initially that I was going to do the inside/outside for $100 and he got just the outside for $75. After looking at it, you can tell that he only got a $75 detail. It was swirled and hologramed all over the place....keeping in mind the vehicle is black. Needless to say, I told him that when he is ready for a real detail, to let me know...and told him as you can see, cheaper is not always better...and you get what you pay for.
 
Street5927 said:
I had a personal friend of mine come to me to detail his wife's Lexus. I quoted him a price of $100. He said he'd get back to me. A week later, I asked him, and he said another firend of his who does detailing gave him a price of $75.00 so he went with him. I looked at the car, and the inside was a mess. I asked him about it, and he said the guy only did the outside. I explained to him initially that I was going to do the inside/outside for $100 and he got just the outside for $75. After looking at it, you can tell that he only got a $75 detail. It was swirled and hologramed all over the place....keeping in mind the vehicle is black. Needless to say, I told him that when he is ready for a real detail, to let me know...and told him as you can see, cheaper is not always better...and you get what you pay for.
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My cousins grandpa, years ago, wanted me to detail his truck (black F-250 used for farm work). I gave him the family price. My cousin told me that his grandpas neighbor did it for $75 and after two washes all the swirls where visible again. Funny thing is I knew the guy that did it and I remember waaaaaaaaaay back when I always thought the guy was a good detailer. Then I learned some things. LMAO
 
I always tell dealers I'll detail their cars for 75$ if they will replace my exhaust manifold for that. That too is a 4-6 hr job.



Cheers,

GREG
 
Premium said:
It turns out that he wants a full detail done for $30. He says "but if you do a good job on this one I will bring you more cars." Then I say "Thats great, but I'm not getting out of bed at 7am for $30, besides that I'm not going to bust my a$$ for 4 hours for that chump change!"
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should of told him that's the price you charge for just a wash. if proceeds even more, just let him know that you get what you pay for and your work is done right the first time...
 
Scottwax said:
Funny how those car dealers seem to think the promise of lots of cars at a cheap rate of pay is supposed to entice us. Yeah, right, let me turn down all my full price business to do their cars cheap. Ha!
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What a business model to follow....take jobs at a loss and make it up in volume :think2:doh:rofl:scared::laugh:
 
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