Help with pricing (fleet of 15 cars)

R

Rickrack

New member
My dad is good friends with the chief of police in my town and asked me if I would be interested in cleaning all the police cruisers. There are 15 cars total and they all have rubber mats for floors instead of carpets and all dark blue. They don't want anything too crazy, just a basic overall cleaning.



I'm not sure what to charge per car because I know they don't want to spend a lot of money. He said I can do them twice a year.



I'll probably do something like this:



Wash, run over the exterior with a cleaner wax using my orbital buffer (Quick & easier than a hand wax), dress tires, Interior/ exterior windows, vacuum, clean interior vinyl seats, dash & door panels, clean rubber floor covering and maybe throw some dressing on the dash.



What do you think would be a fair price per car??





~Rick
 
I'm just guessing but I would probabaly charge $70 to 80 for doing that work (per car). That would be a pretty nice pay check at the end I would think.



If they dont want to pay that much, ask how much they want to spend per car, and then tell them what you will do for that price.



Are you going to have 5+ cars to work on at a time? If so you could kinda do a assembly line type of thing. I would charge a bit less if I was able to work on a lot of cars at the same time, and more if I had to do one at a time.
 
I ended up telling him $60 per car because there were a few other shops in the area that bid on them and I didn't want to lose the account. I will be able to work on 3 cars at once which I am told will already be washed and prepped, so they should go pretty quick. Another plus is that I can do them at the police station and can do them at any time of day or night so I can work on them in my spare time. I just need to let him know the day before I plan on going down and he will have the cars ready for me. Should be able to get them all done in a week working at night on them to make a little extra end-of-the-month money.
 
How often do you need to do them. Is this is a once a week thing.



If it's not once a week, i would ask them to do the following



Do the $60.00 job one a month

then once a week a wash for $15 -20

keep the money flowing in
 
NY detailer said:
How often do you need to do them. Is this is a once a week thing.



If it's not once a week, i would ask them to do the following



Do the $60.00 job one a month

then once a week a wash for $15 -20

keep the money flowing in
Click to expand...



They've never really been good about getting the cars detailed on a regular basis. Usually they just run them through the local car wash once a week and thats it. My dads friend (being the chief) decided that it would be a good idea to get them done twice a year because the guys are slobs and don't really take care of the cars. I told him that I would love to do them because it is good advertising and who knows, maybe it will get me out of a ticket someday if I tell the officer that I'm the one that detailed his car ??:p It's not as much $$ as I'd like to get per car, but the good thing about it that I can do them any time and don't have to take time away from doing my higher priced jobs. The police and the fire department share the same building, so I'm sure I'll get at least a few detail jobs out of the deal from some of the guys.



I'm not sure if they would go for weekly wash, but I will definitely ask.



~Rick
 
If everything goes well, I think it would be a great idea (if its okay with the cheif) if you put something like "The Official Detailer of the MyTown Police Squad". Something like that would be really cool for other potential customers to see.
 
Thats a really good idea. I'm getting some tri-fold brochures made up and it would be cool to include that on it. I'm hoping that if they are happy with the cars it will lead into getting all of the town trucks/ vehicles to detail too.



~Rick
 
I should mention that you should watch yourself while cleaning the back seat where the perp's sit.



When i worked for NYPD, you would be surprised to see what you find between the seats. You don't want to get stuck with anything that can infect you.
 
I hate to be the bad guy here, but I wouldn't touch those cars for twice the money...



But that's just me.



Jim
 
Exactly what NY detailer said. Look for needles, blades, glass crack pipes, etc...



Also watch for bodily fluids (ALL kinds of bodily fluids, including blood, vomit, feces, urine, spit, more blood, and even the sexual kind). These fluids can be on anything, and can be everywhere. Personally, if I HAD to do them, I'd atleast wear latex gloves for the backseats. And a must would be a commercial strength disinfectant sprayed all over the rear area before even beginning to clean. I've had to "decon" my backseat with the stuff more times than I'd like to remember. But it's a necessary precaution to protect from HIV, Hepatitis, and other nasty diseases.



A lot of cop cars don't have the bottom of the backseats "attached" to the floor. This makes it easier to check for contraband once a suspect is removed. You'll be surprised what can be put there.... But this will make your job a little easier.



The price sounds reasonable (if a little low) since you'll be doing several at a time.



Do Not shut the back doors while you're in the backseat. Keep telling yourself that. I'd atleast put a rear window down before getting in the back.



Good luck with it.



Dave
 
Dave Holmes said:
Exactly what NY detailer said. Look for needles, blades, glass crack pipes, etc...



Also watch for bodily fluids (ALL kinds of bodily fluids, including blood, vomit, feces, urine, spit, more blood, and even the sexual kind). These fluids can be on anything, and can be everywhere. Personally, if I HAD to do them, I'd atleast wear latex gloves for the backseats. And a must would be a commercial strength disinfectant sprayed all over the rear area before even beginning to clean. I've had to "decon" my backseat with the stuff more times than I'd like to remember. But it's a necessary precaution to protect from HIV, Hepatitis, and other nasty diseases.



A lot of cop cars don't have the bottom of the backseats "attached" to the floor. This makes it easier to check for contraband once a suspect is removed. You'll be surprised what can be put there.... But this will make your job a little easier.



The price sounds reasonable (if a little low) since you'll be doing several at a time.



Do Not shut the back doors while you're in the backseat. Keep telling yourself that. I'd atleast put a rear window down before getting in the back.



Good luck with it.



Dave
Click to expand...



Could you image if he was cleaning the back seat and the doors shut with no one around and it was a 100 degree day. :eek:
 
NY detailer said:
Could you image if he was cleaning the back seat and the doors shut with no one around and it was a 100 degree day. :eek:
Click to expand...



That's why you always have your cell phone on you...



"911 Emergency"



"Yeah, I'm ugh, stuck in the back of this police car."
 
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