I hate having to re-invent the wheel.

I

imported_Jakerooni

New member
So yea it looks like I have to redirect things here. I've been dry this month. And I mean really dry. I've had 5 details all month so far. I do a lot of dealer work this time of year but nothing has been coming through so I put a few calls in and found out that because the big 3 have drastically changed their turn in policies it has directly effected my bread and butter of my business. Basically you have to turn in the car spotless now. And the dealers are so hurting for work they are offering stupid deals on "lease turn in details" So the next dealers getting these cars are already getting clean cars to begin with. Even the corner lots are getting them straight from auction all cleaned up. This wasn't the case or normal for the most part until recently. I've contacted a bunch of other detailers in my area. If you're working at a dealership directly you're busy. But if you're a stand alone or mobile guy in my area you're basically getting scraps or just sitting around twiddling your thumbs. At this rate I'm not sure I'll have enough in the savings to cover the expenses at the end of the month (which is right around the corner)



I could re-direct to go after some new cleintele but at this time of year here it's getting to be slim pickens anyways. The customer pays are spartic at best. I'm used to doing 3-4 cars a day.. not a month...



Anyone else have to revamp like this to adapt to changing condition in the market? What stratagies worked? What are some of the sucker pitfalls to avoid?
 
I hear you, Jake. I got another job about a month ago and have been detailing in my spare time on weekends just to keep it up.



I got let go by my regular dealership client because their corporate accountants wanted them to cut costs on all their subcontracted work, which meant I was out the door. It's exactly like what you are saying... the dealerships that used to care about quality cannot keep up. All their cars now get sent to the local "mega-used car lot" along with the other 8 dealerships to be cleaned by their crew of high school kids.



I'm still in business, but only by the fact that my time is still for sale. I've had one email in the last month for a detail. At least I don't have have rent and utilities to pay, that's just rough. My current job allows me to sit on the computer all day, however, so at least I can still maximize my online presence for promotion. I"m just hoping a new government and a new year will bring me back next summer.
 
For some reason this time of year gets rather slow for me as well. I don't know why, it is pretty damn perfect weather for Houston. The winter, spring and early to mid summer are booming though.

Do you do anything other than dealers? I don't touch dealers cause of the headaches, my main clients are weekly or bi-weekly and the occasional "I got your number from a friend" that turns into weekly. Weather permitting you know you have work.
 
I have 4 dealers and all of them are saying the exact same thing.



And I'll do just about anything that walks through the door. It just the regular customer pays that are booming through summer have all but died out already (lot eariler than last year) I mean I get spratic details here and there. But no where near enough to pay the bills here at this place. At least not at this pace. Last month was just slightly weak.. This month has been outright dead.



I guess it;s just that my market has changed. What used to be the bread and butter are now nothing more than an afterthought really. I need to focus on a new breed of client I guess. Just got figure out who and what I really want to deal with.
 
this isnt nice to read jake. i dont know what the economic climate is like over there

but to be honest if you boys are struggling it doesnt sound good.



being over there your weather is far better than ours all year round.i dont run a business but if i did it would struggle,the weather hits our cars hard over here during its bad seasons(inc summer sometimes lol) so many people dont pay to have them cleaned due to the whole fact of within a day they are caked again.



which in my mind is madness as that the most important time to keep them clean.



ive heard of a gent in london who works canary wharf.he is meant to have 30 customers all who use the same under cover car park.he is charging 1k a car.

although will the curremt leeman issue i dont know how many he lost from that.



lets hope for everyones sake it picks up soon
 
on a side note this detailing is the way i would be wanting to go if i decide to try and go into business. expensive details on expensive cars.

my view is that the wealthy people with the nice cars have the money still and do like to look after the cars still. i hope
 
Oh I've considered the rich.. Not a whole lot of them around my area but they do have a few here as well. If I could do just one or two of those a month (where I could charge upwards of a $1000 or more per detail) I would. But we suffer from the same mentality here. Why pay that much money when is just a few minutes (weather changed constantly here) it'll all be ruined. I too like everyone I suspect like the nicer cars. But dealing with the rich can sometimes really get under a persons skin. Although I might not have much of a choice.. Gotta do something here.
 
sorry for being ignorant here buddy,but where abouts in the usa are you?

ive always naively thought that most of your weather is good alot of the time except for the northern areas. bit stupid of me really as the US is such a huge place.



i guess i kind of understand what you mean by dealing with the rich.but i would think that there must be limited contact?as most are too busy or cant be bothered to get involved with you until they have to pay?



in fairness im pretty lucky.the region of essex is pretty well off ao there are quite a few rich people round it. maybe i do need to get into doing this.and take advantage of their wealth lol.
 
I'm in Michigan. Outside of Alaska about as far north as it gets here in the states. Defiantly in the snowbelt. And statisically speaking I live smack dab right in the middle of the 3 worst city in the entire Nation. Our jobless rates are ridiciouls same with violent crime and such. It's really not a pretty place to live. I've only stayed here so the kids can get through school. One's almost done the other has just a few more years. Then (if I even make it that long) you can bet your a** I'm outta here.
 
ah,that explains the weather then.i didnt realise it was that bad there mate.cant say i blame you for wanting to get out.its not nice to be surrounded by violence,crime etc.make life hard for everyone.

im lucky i live where i do now.i did grow up in an area that is now not nice so im glad i was out early



im sure you will make the best of you situation and turn the business round.you sound like you have your head screwed on well.just curious,how old are you?
 
I sure hope things get better for you, I hate to hear it.



One thing to consider--here in the south (and I would assume there as well), things slow down *considerably* as soon as school starts back. Lots of folks are just too busy once this occurs. I share space with a tinter and he has always told me to be ready for this time of year.



About changing (note that I am only in my second year running my own shop full-time), we have had better luck building our *retail* clientel. We only work for one dealer, and only a few cars a month. We feel that dealers always want something for nothing and want it done yesterday. When they call us we tell them that we are at least one week out with retail details and that they would have to wait. Of course they go to the next guy and get the work done right then for about half the price (notice I mention price, not quality).



The only time that we really do work for a dealer is when they really mess a car up and we are called in as specialists to fix it. *Then* they see the need for us and are more than willing to pay our price. It seems that no matter how hard one tries to develop a working relationship with a dealer, it is doomed from the start. Inevitably the contact within the dealership moves, gets fired, or simply "changes" positions. That or some other "detailer" comes in and does the job for $5 less.



IMO, we should use dealerships as supplemental income and build a retail customer base as our bread and butter--let the "other guys" race to the bottom for dealership work.
 
Jakerooni said:
Basically you have to turn in the car spotless now. And the dealers are so hurting for work they are offering stupid deals on "lease turn in details" So the next dealers getting these cars are already getting clean cars to begin with. Even the corner lots are getting them straight from auction all cleaned up. This wasn't the case or normal for the most part until recently. I've contacted a bunch of other detailers in my area. If you're working at a dealership directly you're busy. But if you're a stand alone or mobile guy in my area you're basically getting scraps or just sitting around twiddling your thumbs.
Click to expand...



This is strange. I heard there was kinda a rejuvination in the used car market once American car lease prices went up and/or stopped being offered. Are these same dealers that send you work also doing lease turn in details in-house? The auctions always did a recon on each vehicle (especially Flint), but we still get every one of them for a complete detail. Even if the car is silver and clean, the dealer still wants it as perfect as possible. We stopped doing "Re-Cleans" or "Spiffs" a long time ago too. Seeing that you have a heated power washer, have you ever considered doing dealer lot washes or doing weekly washes for business close by. Even though most dealers only pay $1-$1.50 per car, it adds up when you're doing a couple 1000 a week. 3 guys can easily do 500 cars in 1 day. Just a thought.....
 
With people being so cash strapped, some are losing their cars to the banks. I've actually had a few vehicles from one of the local banks where I live.



There is also mobile pressurewashing, but it seems to be a crowded field.



Also, I was actually going to create a post in the pro forum asking if anyone has ever thought about offering a "used car inspection" for people looking to buy used cars. Working at a lot for around a year, I noticed that around 20% of customers would have vehicles that they were interested in inspected by mechanics. If detailers (competent autopians that is) offered a thorough "cosmetic inspection" for around $25 that would take around half an hour, that would meet the standard for the magic $50/hour.



You'd need a PTG to check for repaints (good repaints anyway) and pretty much do a thorough inspection of the vehicle. Checking for carpet dyes that cover heavy stains, panels that are spaced incorrectly, wheel condition, wheel wells being painted black, trim being painted black, repaints, swirls, bad touch up, ruined leather, ruined headliners, dash dyes, clearcoat failure, on and on and on. It would pretty much be a free estimate that most of us do here except you get a check for $25 at the end.



I'd also love to see something like this happen so dealers would be more accountable for vehicle conditions and stop getting the $50 details.



And just to vent, auction and most dealer detailers suck and ruin it for the good guys. Miseducating the public and offering "full details" for $50 makes blood vessels in my head explode on a regular basis.
 
You mention that the other detailers in your area are very slow.



Why not merge with one or two of them and share shop space, utilities, and overhead?
 
Flint, Michigan must be the single worst market for just about everything in the US. I second the decision to move. If detailing is where you see yourself for the long term, perhaps consider a move to either Florida, Texas, or California?
 
Oh trust me the move part has been in the works for awhile now. Just trying to get the kids through school first. I've been looking real hard into Colorado. Economy is doing quite well there. The Moutians would be great backdrops. And it would be a nice desitnation spot.



I did have a thought though.. Not sure if this has anything to do with it but a few Months ago I contacted most of the detailer's around here in an effort to collectively raise the prices of services including dealer work. Basically it was on average $75 per dealer detailer now it's on average $90 Which is still garbage for what they want but the prices are going up. Wonder if maybe this is the dealers way of telling us to piss off??
 
Jake, sorry to hear things are Sooo slow.

Things have slowed here, also, but we still do 2-3 **retail** completes per day.



You really should come visit us... Our surrounding demographics are exactly opposite of yours. Great schools, too!



Jim
 
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