"It's not what you know, it's WHO you know...."

C. Charles Hahn

C. Charles Hahn

CCH Auto Appearance, LLC
I just found out how very true that statement is today. I was out working on my truck in the driveway since the sun was out, when a neighbor that just moved in a few months ago walked up. We started chatting and came to a very interesting topic.

As it turns out, this guy works for a local Credit Union, and one of his job duties is to deal with and sell reposessed vehicles. He knew that I did detailing, and said he could tell I do quality work from the way my cars look and from having seen my customers' vehicles around in the past. He has a guy that does detailing for them at the bank now, but isn't too happy with them from what he said.

Long story short, he is likely going to contract me to detail the repo vehicles that come in -- which while that equates to only about three a month, does give me a more steady flow of work than recruiting customers from other local businesses and such does now.

I'm certain I wouldn't have gotten this job offer if it weren't for the fact that I know this guy from the neighborhood; it just proves how important it is to build connections with people -- you never know when it will get you work. :D


And on that note - anyone else here have experience dealing with reposessed vehicles from banks/credit unions? What am I getting myself into here?? :lol:
 
It's a good thing you like your neighbors. Hope it works out for you. All I can think about when I see some of my neighbors is how bad I would love to roast marshmellows as thier cars burn to ashes. HAHAHAAHa
 
well you shiney lil detailer congrats, and i wish you many more details to come.fwiw my foreman said if it wasn't for detailing he wouldn't got the job he has today. detailing helped him meet the right people and in return he ended up with a sweet job and he is a foreman there today....
 
I don't have any experience with reposessed cars but I've seen several reposessed boats and foreclosed homes. The only thing I can say is that if you can't afford to keep your possessions you DEFINITELY can't afford to care for them. So, I would say expect a good amount of the cars to be extremely neglected.
 
Congrats im sure you will have lots of fun, im sure they come in all shapes and sizes much like neother car you detail. But i think itll be fun to try new thing on those cars, and to have a chalenge in front of you. Like i tell my customers i let my work speek for itself and it looks like yours did. good job and congrats
 
Mikeyc said:
I don't have any experience with reposessed cars but I've seen several reposessed boats and foreclosed homes. The only thing I can say is that if you can't afford to keep your possessions you DEFINITELY can't afford to care for them. So, I would say expect a good amount of the cars to be extremely neglected.
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Well, it looks like Hi-Temp Extreme Cut and a wool pad on the rotary here I come, then! :lmfao

Thanks for the comments, guys. I've been doing relatively ok in the past with my "regulars" that come in 1 to 2 times per year to have work done, but this will certainly help a lot. Lucky for me it sounds like this place is willing to pay my prices, so that will definitely help. And I do like my neighbors -- at least the ones immediately on any side of me. There are a few down the block a ways that I wouldn't mind seeing move, though. ;)

I guess even more than thinking about condition of the cars, though, I'm even wondering about age. Hopefully I won't be working on anything all that old; just late '90s and newer stuff. That way I'm able to be reasonably certain they'll be clearcoat, and minimal on rust or anything like that. Who knows, though. He said they just got a Silverado in the other day that he'll probably call me about next week, so that might give me a good idea of what they need.
 
Way to go Charlie. It's how business works in most places. Even the high profile big sign big $ detailers in the auto malls work mostly by word of mouth.

I'm still on the small end. But I did a full detail on my Pastor's black Rav4 for free (we have not much money for the Church, so we treated our minister). The paint was awful and it looked better than the new black Mitsu Outlander in my shop when I was done. I have three possible gigs from it this spring.
 
Congrats on the new work. My guess is that you'll get some old junkies that are horrible and maybe a few newer cars that people couldn't keep up with the payments with. So maybe there will be some good and some bad. Either way its 3 cars a month you didn't have before.
 
I've only known two people in my life that have had their vehicles reposessed. One was a Saleen Mustang and the other was a 2004 3/4 Ford Truck with ALL the bells and whistles. These guys didn't want to lose their vehicles and they were taken care of like they were their babies until the bitter end. My point is simple I'm sure you're going to see the other extreme when dealing with a repo but I'll bet they're not all that way. :boot
 
A couple of my friends are in the used car business and I am able to attend the dealer auction pretty regularly so I see a lot of used cars. 300 to 600 per week.
Quite a few are repo's and as was said earlier, some new, some old, some good, some bad. Not really much different than any other used car when the owner has decided he wants to replace it.

One thing that I happen to think is a very good thing for you is getting in the loop. Finance people talk to each other and if your guy is happy with your work, he will very likely refer other people in the business to you.

One of the big drawbacks to this type of work is the constant price cutting. There are car cleanup companies, (Can't really call them detailers.:)), that do complete vehicles for $75 in this area. One even did them for $40 for a time during a "Wash War".
Would you or I be happy with the job? No way. But, the dealers are happy because of the price. The work serves the purpose they want. The car looks good and they can sell it.
Another thing that makes it attractive to dealers is the fact that most people really don't care that much about how the vehicle looks other than the day they buy it. The drivethru quick wash/wax looks great to them. Just take a look the next time you walk through a parking lot and you will see a heck of a lot of cars that could use some attention. Don't even look at the inside or you might gag.

Charles
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CharlesW said:
One thing that I happen to think is a very good thing for you is getting in the loop. Finance people talk to each other and if your guy is happy with your work, he will very likely refer other people in the business to you.
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I certainly hope that's true. In all honesty, I haven't found all that many customers through my other "connections" that I've made at other offices. Mainly I think this is because most of the cars in those places are corporate leased vehicles that the employees couldn't care less about. I've been able to maintain a level of 1-2 cars per week of full details, and 2-3 QEW washes for my other regulars at this point. Since I dedicate 4 days a week to detailing during the "warm season" of the year, that still gives me a lot of free time. At least now if I can manage to fill up my days with more full details, I'd certainly be happy.

One of the big drawbacks to this type of work is the constant price cutting. There are car cleanup companies, (Can't really call them detailers.:)), that do complete vehicles for $75 in this area. One even did them for $40 for a time during a "Wash War".
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Funny that you mention that, actually. I had a copy of my price list posted on the board in my garage, and he was looking at it saying "Well your prices are a bit higher than our other company, but I think your work is better so it's worth it." That's certainly not the attitude I would've expected from someone in his position, but hey I'm not complaining!

Just take a look the next time you walk through a parking lot and you will see a heck of a lot of cars that could use some attention. Don't even look at the inside or you might gag.

Charles
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Oh yes, believe me I've dealt with some nasty ones in my time. I've gotten a few older cars that were in to "prep for sale" when the private owner was trying to sell the vehicle themself, and talk about nasty! I've more than once had to wear a respirator, goggles, and latex gloves to dive into the interiors on some of these cars. The unfortunate part though, like you said, is that most people don't even realize how nasty their vehicles are. I can't help but think "If this is how your car looks, I don't even want to think about how your house must look :eek:"
 
we landed the same type of contract with a credit union. i hope the cars/trucks you get are better than the ones we have done so far, i took two 35 gallon trash bags of trash out of a f-150 crew cab and 1 35 gallon trash bag of trash out of another i think you can imagine after that how bad the seats and carpets were, but its work its money and we are happy to have the contract
 
scottlee said:
we landed the same type of contract with a credit union. i hope the cars/trucks you get are better than the ones we have done so far, i took two 35 gallon trash bags of trash out of a f-150 crew cab and 1 35 gallon trash bag of trash out of another i think you can imagine after that how bad the seats and carpets were, but its work its money and we are happy to have the contract
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:eek: How in the.... what in the devil was all in there?? I can't even immagine how you could cram that much trash in a truck like that!
 
LOL
let say if they spent alot less money at fast food joints and more money making their truck payment they wouldnt have lost it. some of the items i was not able to identify, lets just say i wore heavy duty rubber gloves LOL
 
I used to detail repossesed bikes for a friend. You definately get them in all conditions.

I don't do this for a living. He kept bugging me because he's seen how I maintain my own bike. Kind of how you wound up doing it :) I certainly charged him more than other people did. He wanted me to do it because the better looking the bike the better chances of getting top dollar at sale. He figures he made up for the extra cost of detailing plus some.

If the credit union brings up the fact that you cost more, remind them that clean cars bring more money.
 
vcallaway said:
I used to detail repossesed bikes for a friend. You definately get them in all conditions.

I don't do this for a living. He kept bugging me because he's seen how I maintain my own bike. Kind of how you wound up doing it :) I certainly charged him more than other people did. He wanted me to do it because the better looking the bike the better chances of getting top dollar at sale. He figures he made up for the extra cost of detailing plus some.

If the credit union brings up the fact that you cost more, remind them that clean cars bring more money.
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Definitely a good point to raise; and actually I got the feeling that the credit union already knows this. My neighbor made it sound like he's been doing this stuff for quite some time, so I'm sure he's noticed that by now.

Repo'd bikes sounds like quite a fun job, too. Although I'm sure the charge is a premium since there's lots of chrome and tight spaces involved!

Anyway, I'm excited to get the opportunity... we'll just have to see how it goes :howdy
 
You probably would like to make a seperate pricing guide for these cars .

not every one will be a full detail right ? maybe some quick clean ups .

use your pricing guide to negotiate each extyra service you do . That way
you and your neighbor can keep a fair business and working relationship.

Congrats , You'll most likely get some of the credit union employees calling for some detailing.

Aloha , Jon.
 
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