Dealership Cleanup Help!!!

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ramiz

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Hi, Autogeek

Apart from doing details, my boss and I also go out to dealerships and pressure wash all of their cars. We usually would pressure wash the cars then have 4-6 people dry them with shammies. Some other companies use spot free water to just wash the cars down and do very little drying. Well we do have issues keeping employees, so I want some advice on how to get the cars clean without drying them. We don't want to sacrifice the quality. Do you guys and gals have any ideas on how to accomplish this. I want to clean as many cars as possible as fast as possible. What do you all think about using a hot water pressure washer with filtered soft water. Or is there any solution we can spray on the cars through a pressure washer that will lift the dirt off to where we can just rinse the dirt off with soft water? Any advice would be great. Thank you
 
Whats the cheapest way to get spot free water. I was thinking about getting two guys to soap up the hood roof and trunk and then another guy rinse the cars down making it for an effective and quick wash. When we dry each person spends about 4 minutes a car.
 
Maybe wash the top parts of the cars as you suggested and dry the tops with a water blade
 
ramiz said:
We charge around 1.85 per car and typically wash around 300-500 cars a day.
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That is a bunch of cars in one day. I worked at a car dealer for 20 years and we had trouble finding anyone who would wash cars on the lot. Every person that was hired wanted to be transferred to the detail shop or new car prep where it was cool. Spending 8 hours a day alone washing cars on an asphalt lot in 90 degree heat gets old for most people.
 
ramiz said:
We charge around 1.85 per car and typically wash around 300-500 cars a day.
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I have noticed that most wash companies do not wash the cars, only spray and wipe. Do you ever notice any scratches using this method? Does any company wash cars these days or do they all just spray and wipe?
 
Real Riders said:
I have noticed that most wash companies do not wash the cars, only spray and wipe. Do you ever notice any scratches using this method? Does any company wash cars these days or do they all just spray and wipe?
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Most dealerships just ask for a spray and dry but there are a few dealerships we actually wash. For the washes we charge twice as much. How much does it cost to get Spot Free water?
 
Many of the larger mobile lot porter who "rinse" the cars at big dealerships here, use the Culligan DI system, often with multiple cylinders.

I am guessing they use multiple cylinders so they can use higher GPM

I have never seen them actually "wash" anything
 
Try a website called Waterfilterman. I use them primarily for constant top up of my koi ponds. But I also use the filters for my car clean too. What you are looking is high flow rate filters.

http://www.waterfilterman.co.uk/

May not be US based but you'll get the idea. Just don't buy anything that says "koi" on it or it'll be double the price.

S
 
spot free water sounds like it would be the best route. You save time and save swirls from the clear coat at the same time.
 
I tried doing the math of a DI system alone, a RO in line with a DI system and other combination + the cost of employees + insurance + chemicals + clean up of towels etc... and there is no way I could be profitable at less than $5/car, so I never approached the idea of dealership details. Add to that the cost and time of an actual wash (time and chemicals) and my bottom dollar could not be less than $7/car

I think by the time you calculate the initial cost of the machine, add the running cost of the resin and chemicals for the RO and DI (to get 0 TDS) you will see that it is not feasible at the prices you charge.
 
ramiz said:
Most dealerships just ask for a spray and dry but there are a few dealerships we actually wash. For the washes we charge twice as much. How much does it cost to get Spot Free water?
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Ebg18t said:
There must be professional units, but the consumer units need filter/additive changed every 300 gal.

CR Spotless Rolling De-ionized Water Filtration System, deionization system, water de-ionizer, purified water systems, cr-spotless, spot free rinse,
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I just did a cost analysis on the DI Unit you linked. You can see it here (third post)...
http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/auto-garage-accessories/88759-spot-free-rinse-systems.html
The cost for producing DI water is directly proportional to the TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) level of the tap water you start with. The higher the TDS, the higher the cost of the treated water. For example, if the starting TDS is 400 vs. 200, the water will cost twice as much to produce because the filter/resin will need to be changed twice as often.

I built my own rinse system utilizing RO + DI because it is much more cost effective than the DI unit alone. But my system is only for my own personal vehicles and use. It would never work for a task like the OP is describing.

For the OP, check around and see if you can buy bulk DI water locally. Then get yourself a small trailer with a storage tank and a pressure washer. I know that is what some of the mobile detailers around here do. I'm not sure of the cost though for the bulk DI water.
 
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