Quick cleaning dealer cars??

I have heard that some detailers clean a large volume of cars at medium to large car lots and they charge a dollor per car. I wanted look into this,but I wasnt sure what a "quick" spray meant. Does the detailer just spray the car with water only or do they add soap to their spayer or do they soap it up by hand.


thanks

mark

It varies. One member told of some guys using DI water and not drying, simply pressure spraying.
Doug

Stay away !!!!!!! A waste of time and imo it destroy's car paint plain and simple with or without di water there is still swiping a dirty vehicle involved also check out mobile works



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/19/2007 04:25AM by NEW AGAIN.

What you are speaking of is not a detail, but simply a rinsing off of industry pollution that gets on vehicles that sit on a car lot.

A company comes in with a tank of reverse osmosis (spot-free) water and pressure washes all the cars off without drying them. This is possible because of the spot free water.

Some use dionized water but the dionizing system while cheaper to purchase is more costly to operate because you have to replace filters quite often which are expensive and when all is said and done a Reverse Osmosis System is the most cost effective system to have.

Regards
BudAbraham

Thanks, wasnt sure how these high volume dealer cars got washed quickly and effectively by a detailer business. I wasnt sure if the norm was just a rinse or do you apply some type of cleaning solution and wash them too.

I was thinking at a $1.00 per car you couldnt put a lot of time into each car. Do you think $1.00 to $2.00 per car is a reasonable price? Where can this reverse osmosis system or DI system be purchased? Until I get a spot free system, would a good approach be to spray and dry with a blower or air wand?Since Im just starting out, I thought the dealer business would be a good place to start.

You probably cannot make any money doing them for $1.00 a car. Figure that you should be charging $45 to $50 an hour for your service. Can you drive over there, set up and wash 40 to 50 cars in an hour?

We can offer you an RO System, they are about $7500, depending on how much water you have to make and use per day.

You cannot blow them off by hand and only charge $1.00 I do not think.

Dealer business is not a good place to start because they dictate price no matter what your cost of operation might be so if you want their business you pay their price no matter what your costs are.

Bud Abraham

Kramvols :
At a buck a car, you'd have to rinse 40 an hour to gross $40 an hour. That allows you 1.5 minutes per car. Additional time you don't get paid for includes travel, getting set up, re-doing work the dealer found unsatisfactory, billing etc.
I suggest you try rinsing a car and time yourself. Try blowing it dry and time that.
You'll be working in the sun and even with a boonie hat and sunblock, you'll be tempting skin cancer. A serious consideration.

If you are new to this, why not get a job with a dealer or detailer instead until you save the money and gain the knowlege to get set up in business or...
Read the marketing threads here for alternative ideas.

Kramvols :
You email is hidden but I may start a separate thread on marketing to real estate offices. You could consider that.

To find detailing equipment, check sites such as www.rightlook.com, Daimer, topoftheline and Bud's Detail Plus. You can Google words like 'reverse osmosis' too.

Doug

Kramvols :
Suppose you were to offer a " car cleaning " service with real estate agents as your target market. You could visit real estate offices and hand out cards, leave broshures in the agents' in-house mail boxes and get permission to give a 15 minute talk at their next sales meeting. The agents are independent contractors in most cases and can deduct the expense of your service for tax purposes. Their cars are their offices. See how many of these ideas you could include in your menu ( prices are rough guesses at best ) :
* Leather seat cleaning and conditioning ( $19 )
* Interior vinyl and leather cleaning and dressing ( $39 )
* window cleaning with above service ( $9.50 )
* Lube door hinges, all latches, lock cylinders and silicone grease door weatherstrips ( $12 )
* TLC hand car wash ( $ 39 )
* Carpet cleaning, includes pressure wash mats ( $45 )
* Wheel care and tire dressing package ( $29 )
Doug