Encounter with a dealer

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KirkH

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Saw a guy with a mice Corvette at the gas station so I handed him my card and said "if you need someone to polish that pretty car, I'm your man."

He said "I'm a dealer. What do you charge?"

Me: " For a car like that? $250."

Him: (scoffs) "Andy up there does it for $85."

Me: "Hes not doing the quality of work that I am then."

Him: "Aw yeah he does!"

Me: "No, because you can't make any money at that price."

He shook his head like he agreed and that was the end of the conversation. I think I made a point he understood.


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"nice" not "mice." It wasnt Walt Disney!


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Typical. Smh and good riddance.

My roommate and best friend just got a new company truck. It was his boss's last year and his boss had it "detailed" at a friends shop. Dear god, the spoofy shine was so think on the gauge cluster I couldn't read the gauges, and whatever they wiped the leather off with is not meant for leather. Spoofy shine, EVERYWHERE!!!!!! Swirls, EVERYWHERE!!!! I told him to tell his boss to tell his friend that he sucks and should stop detailing. I doubt the message will get to him though haha.

I have a mechanics t-shirt that reads "Good work ain't cheap and cheap work ain't good"

Stands true with detailing also, and at $250, that's a completely fair price.
 
Detailers have a serious image problem. A friend of mine asked me about "perfecting the paint" on his new black Audi S4 which already has multiple bird crap etchings on the roof and hood. He stopped me mid-sentence to say, "wow, I thought it was maybe a few hundred bucks at the very most. Forget it."

This guy makes big money in software and has no problem dropping $70k on a disposable Audi, but was borderline offended that anyone would charge more than a few hundred dollars for paint correction.
 
PouncingPanzer said:
I have a mechanics t-shirt that reads "Good work ain't cheap and cheap work ain't good"

Stands true with detailing also, and at $250, that's a completely fair price.
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As a mechanic, we have a saying at the shop (between ourselves, not to the customers!): Just because you can work on your car, doesn't mean you should work on your car.

And it's so true with "detailers" as well...
 
Joe Fernandez said it the best when he talked about his business, and going after the affluent. You need not just a rich person but a car guy/gal, someone who cares about the appearance of their car and then you have to find the percentage of them that don't care what it costs for it to look the best, or are willing to pay your rate. It's a small market inside a small market. The other thing to remember a lot of these guys who buy that nice car, they know nothing about the car aside from the fact that it's an Audi, or a Corvette, etc. It's just an appearance thing. Dealers are a whole other group of people, and probably my personal bias but if someone is a car dealer, their sole purpose in life is to screw other people out of their money. In fact the car sales system encourages it.
 
I think as soon as he said:

"I'm a dealer. What do you charge?"
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I would have told him I'm a boutique detailer and would be out of your price-point. Nice car! (and drive away).
Which is exactly what I said when I brought my garage-queen Mustang in for service at my local ford dealership.

Now.... having said that, the guy up the street charging $85.00 per unit doesn't mean he does a bad job. Is he doing full paint correction to get 90% of swirls and scratches out? No! He's getting the car ready to be presentable to 99.7% of the car buying public. (we geeks make up the .3%). The dealer is all about profit, which means not spending money, and they are also about volume and consistency. It is quite possible that Andy up the street has picked this dealer up as a commercial account. And because they bring him so much volume he can heavily discount the price and augment his regular business with the general public.

My buddy's shop does funeral cars, livery service company cars, dealerships... but they're at a discount. Why? Because they basically will use him exclusively all the time.
Regular public (non-wholesale) pricing starts at $250 to the sky's the limit. If you were a full-timer, it wouldn't be a bad gig, because I can guarantee that not every piece of business that walks through the door is looking for a four-figure detail job.

Good that you were proactive at pursuing business, but as soon as he said "dealer" gears have to shift. It's just how it is.
 
Ernie Mccracken said:
Detailers have a serious image problem. A friend of mine asked me about "perfecting the paint" on his new black Audi S4 which already has multiple bird crap etchings on the roof and hood. He stopped me mid-sentence to say, "wow, I thought it was maybe a few hundred bucks at the very most. Forget it."

This guy makes big money in software and has no problem dropping $70k on a disposable Audi, but was borderline offended that anyone would charge more than a few hundred dollars for paint correction.
Click to expand...

I had a leading sales rep in our organization who had an Audi A6. The side got scuffed (kids playing in the driveway) and it was a mess. I told him I could take care of it, and quoted him a price. He said "I'm not looking to spend a car-payment, I just want it clean and shiny!!!" I said "good luck".

This is where you have to have a "buddy". The guy who will do work at discount pricing and seems to be ok with it. Whip your "buddies" card out and say, this guy can do what you want. But as Mike Phillips once told me, YOU don't want to ever be the buddy! :)
 
KirkH said:
Saw a guy with a mice Corvette at the gas station so I handed him my card and said "if you need someone to polish that pretty car, I'm your man."

He said "I'm a dealer. What do you charge?"

Me: " For a car like that? $250."

Him: (scoffs) "Andy up there does it for $85."

Me: "Hes not doing the quality of work that I am then."

Him: "Aw yeah he does!"

Me: "No, because you can't make any money at that price."

He shook his head like he agreed and that was the end of the conversation. I think I made a point he understood.


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Click to expand...

Not really you kinda just changed the subject. Quality of work and money that can be made are 2 different things. You don't know the guys situation maybe he;s doing volume or he has super low overhead. Maybe he's wealthy and does it for fun. Either way you don't know if the guys doing a bad job you're just assuming
 
fightnews said:
Not really you kinda just changed the subject. Quality of work and money that can be made are 2 different things. You don't know the guys situation maybe he;s doing volume or he has super low overhead. Maybe he's wealthy and does it for fun. Either way you don't know if the guys doing a bad job you're just assuming
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I personally never met a "wealthy" person who was interested in detailing a car for $85.00. But I've met plenty with exspensive cars that were swirled out messes :buffing:
 
You were arguing with a door nail. You didn't get through to him one spec. Dealers only care about bottom line. We call dealer prep here doll-ups and I have to educate people on the difference between that and a detail.
 
Lol....On the other hand, I've had random people come up to me and either admire my car or see me detailing it and ask me what I'd charge "to do" theirs...

I'm not sure where I came up with the number, but I usually say $7000.

So far no takers.
 
I found the most appreciative people of the work that I do are middle class with a small amount of discretionary income who are used to detailing their own cars on a less in depth scale. They tend to appreciate what we we do and have an interest in a occassional slurge for quality work. They are also my favorite customers.
 
Rod73...

I agree with you!

Tom
 
Rod73 said:
I found the most appreciative people of the work that I do are middle class with a small amount of discretionary income who are used to detailing their own cars on a less in depth scale. They tend to appreciate what we we do and have an interest in a occassional slurge for quality work. They are also my favorite customers.
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I agree 100% on this. I have 4 of what I would call "wealthy, super high end" clients. I could throw whatever number I want at them and they wouldn't bat an eye because they know what I am going to do with their car. The rest of my customers are referrals from customers ( I don't advertise at all as it is a super part-time gig ) and they all drive daily drivers. Every one of them has given me great commentary when the job is done. They also know the difference between a detail and a car wash rag wipe down.
I think that is where some of the confusion lies. Not to get off topic, but we are all here talking shop. We discuss technique, product, customers, advertising, equipment, business models...you name it. We do a crap ton of research before applying a product to a vehicle. Most people think if you wash it with some dish soap, wipe the windows and door jamb with a filthy rag that was just used to wipe the armor all on the dash and tires that you have a detail. They simply don't understand the amount of time and effort we put in to LEARN about what we do before we ever touch their car.
 
Ernie Mccracken said:
Detailers have a serious image problem. A friend of mine asked me about "perfecting the paint" on his new black Audi S4 which already has multiple bird crap etchings on the roof and hood. He stopped me mid-sentence to say, "wow, I thought it was maybe a few hundred bucks at the very most. Forget it."

This guy makes big money in software and has no problem dropping $70k on a disposable Audi, but was borderline offended that anyone would charge more than a few hundred dollars for paint correction.
Click to expand...

Nobody likes to overpay. So if in his mind, for what ever reason, the cost to polish a car is 150$, he will feel like you are overcharging him. There is nothing you can do. Let him shop around, get a cheap car wash style polishing and maybe you will see him again to fix the damage.
 
swanicyouth said:
Lol....On the other hand, I've had random people come up to me and either admire my car or see me detailing it and ask me what I'd charge "to do" theirs...

I'm not sure where I came up with the number, but I usually say $7000.

So far no takers.
Click to expand...

I think your are a bit too expensive. Have you tried asking 6500$ instead?
 
Nahhh...6250 would be the sweet spot!

Tom
 
I would also like to say though that I started taking on dealership work at a local used car dealer. He has me to the main cleaning of everything, and then he has another guy who comes in and and does leather repair as well as carpet dying. I don't know whether he is unusual in obtaining this level of detail, but he pays me very fairly and does understand the difference between a swirl and a squirrel. He also understands the effort needed to remove swirls and the time it takes.
 
Remember dealers regular pressure wash the cars in the lot awaiting purchase. Water spots. What's a water spot?!!!


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