dealership cars

Since most of my business is from dealership cars, what is your average time on these cars? I get some real pigs that take two days. I see alot of auction cars come thru, they never seem clean enough on the inside to me. Is this the level that people consider detailed?

The few dealers cars I have done... I treat them like retail since they are dirty and it takes time

With my decades of working with such auctions, even being hired to "re-do" the process for Anglo-American, some Manhiem's, etc. they are albout "get the trash out, get the big chunks of dirt out, use lots of glazes, cheap high shine for a day or so silicone dressings and get them across the sales block.
Just their world.
I agree with Gina, treat them like any car that has never been detailed.
Just be sure you do one thing, do an inspection list and look for bad things the auction cleaners have done to them that you don't want to be blamed for.
Grumpy

Bob

Since most of my business is from dealership cars, what is your average time on these cars? I get some real pigs that take two days

How much do you charge for those cars?


Congrats on the baby

I charge 175 to detail any car, that includes all inside and out but repairs or correction is extra. Im fortunate that one of the dealers here lets me use their shop in exchange that I do their cars for 100, but still repairs or correction is extra (at a reduced price for them) its how we have worked out rent. Thanks for the congrats!

Bob, in what way are they never clean enough for you. What sort of equipment have you got - compressor, steam cleaner, extractor, etc? Sometimes a bit of carpet dye helps rejuvenate the overall look. I hate solvent-based dressing on interiors, but if the plastic is badly worn and faded, sometimes you have no choice. Just not on the dash-top though for obvious reasons.

If an interior looks like its going to be one of those pigs, get the seats out. It makes things much easier and probably speeds up the whole process even with the removal & replacement time. Just be careful with the BMW's and similar motors. Battery needs to be unhooked for an hour before so it doesn't affect the air-bag sensor.

Black leather can be faded and cracked. You can get black leather balm that you just rub in and buff off and it fills in cracks for a few weeks. Makes it look a lot better. Balm comes in loads of colours but its mainly black that the cracks look worst on so its a big noticable contrast.

The auction cars just seem a little 'edgy' to me, debris between seats, floor mats not shampooed ect... im just wondering if this is the industry standard, am i over cleaning? ive been curious about the water based carpet brightners for a while

Which carpet brighters?

I believe detail king and detail plus offer a water baded spray on acidic carpet dye that is brushed in that is supposed to help those light colored carpets

oh!

In our hayday we had 8 people working(+ me) doing upwards of 35 dealer cars per day, 6 days a week. That included used car recons, body shop spiffs, delivery recleans, new car preps and warranty paint repairs. The key is to reduce your "touch time" and only use processes that work in a forward motion to get the car out the door. We also had a 24 hr completition expectation (generally), but could easily get an average car done in 3 hours if needed.