2013 was a good year for the majority of auto detailers, PDR techs, and other automotive appearance professionals who completed our survey. Highlights: 60% reported better income than 2012. 70% reported that retail customers spent more in 2013 than 2012. Read their responses to more questions, here:by GTR - Auto Detailing: Secrets of the Experts
*Where you'll meet the guys who pay well for great detailing: car shows, car clubs, and the race track.* There's car events year-round (many more in the summer) all around you full of deep pocket guys who need clean shiny cars: -Car shows. Your local newspaper will announce carshows. They run radio advertising. Auto parts stores announce car shows with flyers. -Car clubby GTR - Auto Detailing: Secrets of the Experts
We did fine on detailing. Averaged $225 retail. Profit was maybe half that all told. But when I averaged it out per hour...it was a fraction of what we made in the add-on services. Ketch: Trim recoloring is a great idea. 90% of shops are just using a heavy dressing that washes away, so a true recoloring would be popular with retail customers.by GTR - Auto Detailing: Secrets of the Experts
The "easy money" in car detailing is in the "extras." A rule in the restaurant business is that you break even on the entree, but make your money on the stuff that comes before and after: soda, liquor, appetizers, and dessert. And though I did far better than break even on car detailing, year after year this "rule of thumb" proved to be true when I did the accouby GTR - Auto Detailing: Secrets of the Experts
Source 1: Car dealers. Focus on independent, luxury dealers. I see a lot of techs make this marketing mistake: they run in groups to the largest dealers in town, eventually undercutting until there’s virtually no profit to be had. They’re attracted by the volume that a large dealer that can offer, but later find little loyalty when the GM changes his mind or is even replaced. And there’sby GTR - Auto Detailing: Secrets of the Experts
Would you like to finish your details faster? If you could reduce your per-car times by 30 minutes, you could detail more cars in a day. You’d make more money. Or, you could simply close shop and head home early. More air gun "blasting" and less vacuuming saves up to 10 minutes. Here’s a few tips that, together, can save you 30 minutes or more on each job: 1. Clay and wasby GTR - Auto Detailing: Secrets of the Experts
You might spend 8 hours on a detail, but it’s the last 15 minutes that matter most. This is when you fine tune all those details that the customer is paying your healthy fee for. If you have a system, call it the “customer delivery” system, for checking your work, you can minimize all those “you missed a spot” comments. 5 steps to quality checking every detail: “Three laps.” Gather a mby GTR - Auto Detailing: Secrets of the Experts
Regret the trends of your youth? Jean jackets...tie-dye...ass-less chaps? As a detailer, you don't want to be "late" to a good trend. Three to pay attention to: Online Reviews I've written about this in previous articles, and I'll repeat it here because it's that important. I've seen more than half of the detailing businesses in my town of Portland, OR goby GTR - Auto Detailing: Secrets of the Experts
Used to buy tens of gallons of Meguiars Wheel Brightener, which I believe is a pretty watered down acid-based wheel cleaner, a year. Techs wore gloves when using. Sprayed on already wet wheels. Pressure washed off. 90% of the time...never had to scrub the wheel. Saved big time and big $. Never had skin or lung problems.by GTR - Auto Detailing: Secrets of the Experts
Is your pricing competitive? This might be the toughest decision an auto detailer makes. Price yourself low and you’ll be busy…but will you make money? Set your prices high, and you’ll make a healthy profit on each car, but just how many cars will you service? We emailed 47 detailers for quotes. The Results: Highest quote received: $399. Lowest: $100. Average time of service: 4.1 hourby GTR - Auto Detailing: Secrets of the Experts
Pay-per-click exposes small shops to big audiences. Detailers hate advertising because they operate on such thin budgets, but you’ll notice one thing: the shops that stay in business–year after year–advertise the most. The “old way” favored the big shops: $4500 phone book ad kept you front and center, year after year. Who ever looked at the “basic” entries? But Google Adwords now sells the king’by GTR - Auto Detailing: Secrets of the Experts
Okay, I posted this poll in 3 forums and results were: 90% of detailers use smartphones in their business. Pretty impressive, as the average among all small biz owners is just 49%. The full article:by GTR - Auto Detailing: Secrets of the Experts
4 smartphone uses for detailers: 1. Photos. Ever had a customer call with the job that was “borderline”? it’s too risky to throw out a quote over the phone, so you quote a wide range on the job. The customer says he’ll think about it. But you never hear from him again. Now, if the customer can take a quick photo with her cell phone and text it to you immediately, you can throw out a very speby GTR - Auto Detailing: Secrets of the Experts
Okay, results are ready: Half of detailers won't service car dealers I wanted to find out what other detailers thought about working for dealerships, so I asked them through a couple of online forums. “To be or not to be” a dealership detail man is a hot topic for lots of experienced detailers, and lots of them have interesting opinions on the matter. Only one of the twelve detailers polby GTR - Auto Detailing: Secrets of the Experts
The question of whether or not to service car dealers can be a difficult one. On one hand, they do keep you busy, which can be critical for detail shots that keep a small staff. You just can't lose those employees during the slow times because you're going to need them come summer or spring. However, dealers simply don't pay well, are picky, cancel at the last moment, and worstby GTR - Auto Detailing: Secrets of the Experts
Okay, the results of the survey are complete. Of 66 responses, 41 noted that they are "self taught." I suppose that the online community draws a lot more learn-it-yourselfers and that if you assembled an offline group of 66, you might find that more of them learned on-the-job.by GTR - Auto Detailing: Secrets of the Experts
Interesting. 85% of the responses I've received are #2 (self-taught). I posted the poll in 2 other forums: I would have thought at least half of the pros had worked at a dealership or detail shp.by GTR - Auto Detailing: Secrets of the Experts
It seems there's 4 ways of "going pro": 1. Attend a school (RightLook, TotalPros, Detail King, Detailing Success, etc.). 2. Self-taught: trial and error, research online, etc. 3. Work at a car dealership. 4. Work at a detail shop. Where did the pros here get their training?by GTR - Auto Detailing: Secrets of the Experts
Websites are possibly the perfect marketing tool for reconditioners. First, you offer a niche service that their customers won’t necessarily ask a friend about for a referral. Second, your job is VISUAL, and a website gives you opportunity to offer visual proof that you are, indeed, the expert you claim to be. And finally, detailing is not exactly cheap. Carwashes are cheap, and people rarelby GTR - Auto Detailing: Secrets of the Experts
buda Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > What we have learned after 30 years in this > business as operators and consultants to detail > operations in dealerships, car washes and free > standing operations: > > 1. NEVER hire experienced detailers. Their > experience is only good if you let them do what > they want to do. Then who iby GTR - Auto Detailing: Secrets of the Experts
FB is a good one. You see their "good boy" side during the interview. On Facebook...by GTR - Auto Detailing: Secrets of the Experts
Harvard grads aren't lining up to work at my detail shop, so I've been through my share of clock milkers, late-shows, no-shows, and those with an "eye for detail" like a cave bat. And though I still draft an occasional dud, I've greatly improved my hiring process over the years. Here's 7 tips. 1. Ask the people you know and respect. You might be surprised how maby GTR - Auto Detailing: Secrets of the Experts
He needs to disclose this to whoever takes that car. Windows down, top off, respirator on...work outdoors. Wear gloves. Check seat foam as well. Could be looking at new seats.by GTR - Auto Detailing: Secrets of the Experts
By Scotty Perkin of Scotty's Shine Shop: London, Ontario One of the most difficult lessons of the detailing business is that you’re better of turning some jobs away. It’s a skill you learn in the transition from busy to profitable. Here’s 3 memorable examples. 1. Wholesale car auction: I received a call from the manager of a local auction requesting that we begin reconditioning wholeby GTR - Auto Detailing: Secrets of the Experts
**You damage paint, leave carpets wet, and blast the customer's stereo...** These are stereotypes of reconditioners, and things customers ASSUME ABOUT YOU until you gain their trust. *But you can build REAL trust and credibility with prospects if you pay attention to a few details. Read on... **Building trust and credibility as a reconditioner. *3 Tips:** 1. Add RECOGNIZABLE imagesby GTR - Auto Detailing: Secrets of the Experts
By Scott Perkin of Scotty's Shine Shop. London, Ontario Canada. Most calls to my detail shop start with this question. My success converting these “feeler” calls into appointments–we’ll call it “batting average”–might be the most important skill I have as a detailing business owner. Here’s three simple tips that have greatly improved my “batting average” over the years. 1. Speak slowlyby GTR - Auto Detailing: Secrets of the Experts
Good question. This was written by a guest author. I believe there must be a 5 minute "dwell time" on the strong mixture of water-based dressing before the wash. It is a good idea because cleaningup "runs" from dressing is time consuming.by GTR - Auto Detailing: Secrets of the Experts
Admin: Will be posting useful articles here from time to time. If it's against forum rules, let me know and I'll take them down. So you want to shave off some time while detailing your car…well, here are some tips to help you do that without sacrificing quality (there are other ways, but here are 4 that I personally use from time to time): 1. Dress plastic and rubber PRIOR to caby GTR - Auto Detailing: Secrets of the Experts
Depends on the car. 1 or 2 chips: $25 3-7: $35 7 - 15: $45 15+: $60+ Wholesale is always $35. Dealers want fixed pricing, so I win on some cars and lose on others...just like detailing.by GTR - Auto Detailing: Secrets of the Experts
To the original question...yes. If I didn't already have a touch up kit, I'd buy one for $500. I paid $1700 for my kit and paid it off in 2.5 months. Very popular with my customers, but you have to sell it right.by GTR - Auto Detailing: Secrets of the Experts