Just got hired for detailing *sort of long intro*

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ryanf4i

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Hey everyone I'm Ryan i'm 22 and i'm from Maine. I just graduated college this spring in automotive. I almost wish i didn't go because As much as i love vehicle's i just don't have the patients to be a mechanic. I have a terrible irish temper when i can't figure stuff out. Soo i feel that i wasted $$$ & time soo right before i graduated i realized i gotta do something else when i got out. Soo i wanted to detail vehicle's instead of fixing them, that way i stayed with my roots. Back in highschool i got a job by going to this small car dealer in my hometown in need of a inspection sticker for my '99 GTP the owner knew my dad because he would take his vehicle to get oil changes and he always knew how well he took care of his vehicle's and the owner noticed how good of shape my my car was in and asked if i wanted a job and i took the offer. I learnt a good amount with the buffer and the waxes and the steam vac but it's been soo long i forgot alot. The reason why i signed up to this forum soo i could ask for advise and opinons, because i got hired for detailing at a toyota dealer. 3 months of searching and interviews for a detailing position it finally paid off, I'm excited because i have college bills a 1yr old to support! I really do have alot of passion for cleaning vehicle's i do mine and my family's vehicle's and my vehicle is always clean. Lately i have been watching video's online about detailing that way i'm not in the dark on my first day. I just want to know what it's like to be a auto detailer or what they call it auto recon(reconditioning) at a big dealership ? Now the way they are paying me i believe is not bad. It's minimum wage which is $7.50 i believe plus $15 for every car i do and it's $20 per car after 11 cars which i'm guessing is in one week cause their is no way i could do 11 cars in one day? soo that turns that crappy minimum wage into some decent pay. After i get into the job doing it awhile i would like to start my own little detailing business on the side to make extra $$$. Well thanks for the people who took the time reading my long intro and i will be looking forward to hearing from you.

-Ryan​
 
Welcome to AGO Ryan! You found a great place to learn how to detail properly.
 
:welcome:

There is a wealth of information on this forum. Never be afraid to ask a question and if you have the time then read, read, read, read, and read some more. I am just getting ready to do my car for the first time and it doesn't seem as daunting of a task as before I joined here.
 
Welcome to AGO! I'm on this forum for AT LEAST and hour every day. I have learned so much from it. I even have a couple of the guys on here phone numbers! I'm also 22 and still in college majoring in Computer Information Technology. A couple weeks ago I got some Collinite 845 and posted a topic asking for some tips on applying it. I got some great feed back, but a guy said "Hey Shawn, I have a shop about 15 min from you and I have some 845 if you want me to show you how to apply it" (How awesome the people are on here!) So we got to talking and he has a detailing business! One thing led to another and now I'm working for him! Tomorrow were going to remove some paint overspray on 5 cars. I'm not looking for full time employment because school starts next week and I already have a part time job but just goes to show you'll never know who you meet and how willing to help everyone here is! Just my little story, sorry it was so long lol Good luck!

Sent from my DROID PRO using Tapatalk
 
Welcome Ryan!
Congratulation on the Toyota job as well. It is nice to know that you like to detail cars. Learn as much as you can from the job as it will help you if you ever decide to start an auto detail business. I am also 22 and attending college here in California double majoring in Business and Criminal Justice (I know weird combo). Auto detail is the only way I can pay it and still have a life.

I would not let go of your mechanic proficiency as it can help you add more cash to your side business. Even simple stuff will do such as detailing cars while changing the brakes or giving them an oil change. I added this to my packages and it has been doing great so far. It also gives you an upper hand if you are competing with other detailers. Good luck in your ventures and keep learning as much as you can from the forum. I thought I knew a lot about detailing but I came on here and found a barrage of useful information.

-Roland
 
Welcome to Autogeek Online! :welcome:

It's minimum wage which is $7.50 i believe plus $15 for every car i do and it's $20 per car after 11 cars which i'm guessing is in one week cause their is no way i could do 11 cars in one day?
Click to expand...


Is this a huge dealership?

You might want to find out what kind of numbers they're thinking about as far as cars-per-day.


I don't know many detailers that have buffed out cars for dealerships and stuck with it for very long because it usually leaves a really bad taste in their mouth.


Keep us updated and try to hit the [ENTER] key after a few sentences to break up HUGE chunks of text. Most people won't read huge chunks of text, myself included, it's too hard to track with your eyes to know where you're at and for some people it just plain scares them away and they won't read it at all.

Like this.


See how I even have a two word sentence with what's called "white space" around the text. It makes it a lot easier to read and if your goal is to have people read what you write then you want to make it easy on them.


:)
 
Yes this is, i'm guessing that they will want me to produce as many cars as possible.

Thanks for the writing advise.
 
Doing production detail work for a dealership is a great way to get a lot of experience fast and also learn what you don't want to do.

At least take a stab at it. Be sure to post any questions you have about your work here and we'll do our best to help you...


ryanf4i said:
Thanks for the writing advise.
Click to expand...

No problem... reading on a computer screen is more difficult than reading black text on paper so you want to do the little things to help your reader.

Just some friendly advice...


:cheers:
 
Unless this is a Lambo dealer, 11 cars a day is what they will be "expecting" out of you. If you can manage to "push out" an additional one or two, they will toss you an additional 20/30 dollars....this sounds super lucrative

Take everything you know about detailing and toss it in the garbage. Your getting ready to learn some "methods" that will boggle your mind
 
Flash Gordon said:
Unless this is a Lambo dealer, 11 cars a day is what they will be "expecting" out of you. If you can manage to "push out" an additional one or two, they will toss you an additional 20/30 dollars....this sounds super lucrative

Take everything you know about detailing and toss it in the garbage. Your getting ready to learn some "methods" that will boggle your mind
Click to expand...

:iagree:

I know when us detailers want to buy a new car we ask for it to never be touched by anyone once it comes out of the factory lol. You never know what the dealerships might of inflicted on the paint or what they are covering up with glaze to temporarily remove swirls.

However, I believe you can still learn different things at the dealerships. Some "not to do's" when you make your own business and you will build some detailer stamina so you can do many cars in one day. My opinion.

I suggest you save most of your paychecks and build your own company. Buy everything seperately and it wont add up to a large amount of money. For example, one paycheck I bought a vacuum then the next I bought a buffer, and so on. You will have everything you need before you know it.
 
Flash Gordon said:
Unless this is a Lambo dealer, 11 cars a day is what they will be "expecting" out of you. If you can manage to "push out" an additional one or two, they will toss you an additional 20/30 dollars....this sounds super lucrative

Take everything you know about detailing and toss it in the garbage. Your getting ready to learn some "methods" that will boggle your mind
Click to expand...


I didn't want to post what Flash wrote but it's pretty much what I was thinking and my experience.

Doing production detailing for a car dealership is probably the best training on what not to do you'll ever get a chance to learn.

You can only move up after this job.

:laughing:
 
Flash Gordon said:
Unless this is a Lambo dealer, 11 cars a day is what they will be "expecting" out of you. If you can manage to "push out" an additional one or two, they will toss you an additional 20/30 dollars....this sounds super lucrative

Take everything you know about detailing and toss it in the garbage. Your getting ready to learn some "methods" that will boggle your mind
Click to expand...

I agree...this forum will NOT help you at this dealership, haha.
 
Mike.Phillips@Autogeek said:
I didn't want to post what Flash wrote but it's pretty much what I was thinking and my experience.

Doing production detailing for a car dealership is probably the best training on what not to do you'll ever get a chance to learn.

You can only move up after this job.

:laughing:
Click to expand...

I always tell my heavy equipment students, "If you pay attention long enough you'll find that there's always something to learn...even if it's what not to do." Those lessons can teach us things we'd otherwise never understand.
 
Welcome to the site.

This can be a very good learning experience for you in so many ways.

First and for most it gets in the door of the auto detailing world.

Second you will find out if this is for you.

Third you will learn about production detailing real quick and I do mean quick if it is a busy dealership.

When I stated detailing years ago, I started in a dealership for an independent detailer, who had a shop inside the dealership. He had to do between 12 and 15 cars a day himself, he would have me do a minium of 10 a day.

hopefully you find a busy dealership to make the pay worth it.

Now for the bad you will learn is what everyone has said " learn not what to do" for your own business in the future.

Good Luck to ya
 
I can't imagine trying to pump through 10 cars in a day solo.

What get's done?

Wash, wax, tires, vacuum,and glass. I can't imagine there is much time for anything else.

I need to go thank God for the job I have now.
 
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