Dealer wipe downs for $1 per car?

I would do it if you can make sure every vehicle that gets bought off that lot has 3 of your business cards in there!

idk if I missed what make of dealership this is.. but that could work

although it seems very exhausting.. but even more boring
 
IMHO I don't think the juice will be worth the squeezing.

If you do it I hope if works out for you.
 
I'd consider it at $5.00 per car.
That way I could do it right and still make a good profit, but a buck a car, no way man, impossible , I agree with Mike, in away you'd do more damage than good.
 
No.
Way too much effort and insanity for $400. Margins are very thin as well. If anything goes wrong, you can expect to lose money.
 
It has been said above and I will reiterate. There is a reason why they are needing new people to do this on a rotating basis. The lot washing crews come and go, because the man power you will need to make this work outweighs the profit that you seem to make. Once you pay to get the guys there, set up a rig, pay for any chemicals, rags, etc. you are in the hole. Yes, it is cash flow that looks good, and yes, it is keeping someone in a job and I commend you on thinking about those families, but you cannot as a business go into this only think of them.
Now, here is a caveat to all this. If you can negotiate all the detailing services, new car prep and lot washing into one package and put a dedicated crew at that location, then you can turn a profit, but it needs to be spelled out in a legal contract, not just the word of the owner.

HUMP
 
I guess after all the replies it comes down to the fact that bad business is always bad business. There just seems like to way to squeeze a profit out of this for you unless you are literally just rinsing them off with a pressure washer.

Never trip over a dollar to get a dime.

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HateSwirls said:
I'd consider it at $5.00 per car.
That way I could do it right and still make a good profit, but a buck a car, no way man, impossible , I agree with Mike, in away you'd do more damage than good.
Click to expand...

Yeah, min $5 a car..... To even start thinking about it....
 
HUMP DIESEL said:
It has been said above and I will reiterate. There is a reason why they are needing new people to do this on a rotating basis. The lot washing crews come and go, because the man power you will need to make this work outweighs the profit that you seem to make.

HUMP
Click to expand...

VP Mark said:
I guess after all the replies it comes down to the fact that bad business is always bad business.

There just seems like to way to squeeze a profit out of this for you unless you are literally just rinsing them off with a pressure washer.

Never trip over a dollar to get a dime.
Click to expand...


Very well said guys.... :dblthumb2:



In Renny Doyle's book on page 125 I have a section titled,


The Learned Skill of Turning Down Work


This section in Renny's book applies to this situation. If you have a copy of Renny's book check out pages 124 and 125.


I also shared this concept with Larry Kosilla before Mobil Tech Expo and he told me he then shared this concept in his class at this year's Mobil Tech Expo and also gave me due credit for this "best practice".


It can be very hard at time to do and to be honest the only real way to learn the value of turning down work or what I call "Cherry Picking" is to do unprofitable work and then learn from it. That's called going to the school of hard knocks.

The point of this tip I shared in Renny's book was try to help others to learn from my mistakes so they don't have to repeat them all on their own.

Like the old saying,

"Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself" -Eleanor Roosevelt


But hey.... if you take this job... take some pictures of all the cars on the lot to give everyone an idea of what this type of work looks like.

A picture tells a thousand words...


:)
 
Personal Recommendation
For anyone reading this, if you're thinking about getting into the detailing business, before you do anything, order a copy of Renny's book and read it cover to cover 2-3 times and let every word, every idea, suggestion and real-world life story from Renny and everyone that contributed sink in. By the time you really digest what Renny share in his book you'll know inside if detailing as a business is the right choice for you.


How to Start a Home-based Car Detailing Business

Rennys_How_To_Book.jpg




:xyxthumbs:
 
thebamboo23 said:
I would do it if you can make sure every vehicle that gets bought off that lot has 3 of your business cards in there!

idk if I missed what make of dealership this is.. but that could work

although it seems very exhausting.. but even more boring
Click to expand...


If you are doing wipe downs....why would you have the keys to the car to put your card inside?
 
HateSwirls said:
I agree.
That comes out to 2k.
Not too bad

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Click to expand...

For 400 cars....

2 guys doing it over 4 days, a few gallons of M135 and a bunch of towels...

Still a lot of work though IMO...

Figure 5 cars an hour X 2 for 10 cars an hour X 10 hours a Day = 100 cars X 4 Days = 400 cars.

2000 / 40 = $50 an hour / 2 = $25 an hour per person... Minus expenses of towels and M135.

So I figure up that to $7 a car for a total of $2800 to get to a reasonable $35 an hour per person for that kind of work... Wouldn't be easy....
 
Mike.Phillips@Autogeek said:
It can be very hard at time to do and to be honest the only real way to learn the value of turning down work or what I call "Cherry Picking" is to do unprofitable work and then learn from it. That's called going to the school of hard knocks.
Click to expand...

I graduated valedictorian from Hard Knocks University.

Looking back...
When I first started turning down work I felt like leading up to that point I had finally learned what it meant to make money and run a successful business.
 
I had a couple of thoughts on this subject.

1. If the dealership is paying you a third or fifth of what the job should really cost (based of what other people in this thread have suggested). Wont the dealer do the same thing on any other work they might offer you in the future? Or most likely the person they will have do there correction work will be a 16 year old with a rotary set to 6000 RPM with a wool pad the size of a pizza pan on it and a 50 gallon bucket of glaze. A big rotary that looks like it should have a pull start on it. With a name like SWIRLMASTER 6000. The name plate on the machine is a laser etched hologram just to let the casual observer know what to expect.

2. If you have worked hard on "branding" you are undoing your good work. If a customer says something to an employee of the dealership on how bad the paint looks. I assure you the employee is not going to tell the customer that the work performed on the cars was done for peanuts. The employee is going to say they paid a professional (and probably name your business) do the work and that’s what we got. There going to sell you down the river instead of owning up to paying you nothing. Plus while you are onsite customers are going to see you doing this work and associate you with it. The employees at the dealer will see the bad shape of the paint every day and they will associate your business with it. Even though they got what they paid for, and from the sound of it they will be getting more from you than what they are paying you for. So they are not going to associate you with quality work so future opportunities at the dealership might dwindle.

3. If you were able to leave business cards in the cars (like a couple of the posters said). Business cards cost money and since your making buck a car I don't think you could justify that expense.

I completely understand doing work that pays the bills. And if you do this I sincerely hope you take lemons and can make lemonade and it works to your advantage. I just wanted to give you a couple of things to think about.
 
I could only see this as potentially worth it if you have a pressure washer, and some type of filtration to keep the vehicles from spotting.

Then you could spray the dust off and move to the next. Maybe take 2-3 minutes per vehicle. But I understand a spot free water filtration costs $$$$.

Maybe a tank setup, with a preasure washer with a spot free rinse agent?? Then just one Guy can complete that many in a 10 hour day, which might be profitable. IMO.

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How about an update? Did you take the job? If so how did you do it? How did it go? Did you make some money (I hope)? Did it lead to further business? Thanks
 
What is a dealer wipe down? Can someone explain

I wash cars on dealers lots and I will not wash a car for less than $5 Here is what I do for $5 a car. My friend says I'm crazy to wash for $5, he says I need $10 a car

I use the dealers water
I use a two bucket system and hand wash the car with a microfiber wash mitt
---- scrub the tires
----wipe inside the wheel wells
----dry the car
----dress the tires

I can clean 3 cars per hour without rushing and the cars look great
 
Most dealers would consider it rinse and chamois or some combination thereof.

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VP Mark said:
Most dealers would consider it rinse and chamois or some combination thereof.

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Click to expand...

So you are saying the dealers do not care if you wash the car? Just spray the car down with water and wipe the excess dirt off the car with a chamois?
 
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