Moving from weekend warrior to dealer?

Finemess

Finemess

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Good day all,
As stated in the title, may have a chance to go to work for a dealer. I enjoy doing my and friends cars, but don't know about doing every Tom, #### and Harry's work. Looking for advice and pitfalls. :xyxthumbs:
 
If you value quality, be prepared to be utterly disappointed. Most dealer could care less about quality work
 
I used to dealership detail. Was my second detailing gig behind an advanced car wash I used to work at. I worked at the southeasts biggest chevy dealer so you can imagine how busy we were all the time. 3 8-hour shifts every day, 5 days a week. The quality is not there for the most part. I mean, our place was very well stocked for everything we ever needed, BUT there's plenty of people who worked there that should not have been detailing. Not saying that I was the best one there, but I was definitely top 10 out of 75+ people. Some people's quality of work just sucks, and detailing isn't something you can really teach people over a few days. As I'm sure most of the pro detailers can all agree, we are always learning new things, how to be more efficient, etc.

So if you're looking at working at a high volume dealership, or any dealer for that matter, don't expect the quality of work to be super high. My dealer was pretty strict on good looking cars, but not every one is the same way.
 
If you have pride in your work then stay where you are.
If you're looking for a steady paycheck and don't mind turning out work in volume rather than quality then, by all means, go to the dealership.

The high end dealerships hire outside detail techs/businesses for a reason ....... no one wants the dealership to detail their ride.
 
My son sells cars and called me last night. He told me they had 10 cars that needed to be detailed as soon as possible. Their usual guy was sick. When he told me what they would pay I told him I wouldn't do hack work and cover with glaze for $125 per car to just crank them out. I told him that if they were interested in having them done right, and not give the customer a hologram covered swirled out mess, I would consider it. But not at $125.

Walter
 
Years ago, needed a job so worked for a dealership. Washes/details/auction runs etc. Had to put up with for 4-5 years till i could find something better. Pay was crap.( MIN WAGE ) All around a horriable job. Quanity not quality. Dont know if dealership detail dept. have changed since then?
 
whavens said:
My son sells cars and called me last night. He told me they had 10 cars that needed to be detailed as soon as possible. Their usual guy was sick. When he told me what they would pay I told him I wouldn't do hack work and cover with glaze for $125 per car to just crank them out. I told him that if they were interested in having them done right, and not give the customer a hologram covered swirled out mess, I would consider it. But not at $125.

Walter
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Actually, if they were to bump to 150, for a quality AIO, that isn't too bad at all. 3- 3 1/2 hours per car, unless they want full interior, but if not, I say go for it. Still 1000 times better than they would have got from their guy.
 
Billy Baldone said:
Actually, if they were to bump to 150, for a quality AIO, that isn't too bad at all. 3- 3 1/2 hours per car, unless they want full interior, but if not, I say go for it. Still 1000 times better than they would have got from their guy.
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Most dealers around these parts would tell you to go to $50 from $150.

It's about what it takes to make it look good to get off the lot and nothing more in dealer lots. Bare minimum in cost and no care what your effort is.
 
I did just the opposite. I went from working at a dealership to the weekend warrior. If you take pride in your work, dealerships are not the place to go. They want results FAST. I worked flat rate until I could no longer take it. Banging out cars as fast as I could was now how I wanted to operate. I enjoy working on cars at MY pace and taking the time to get it right. Most dealerships have 18 year old punks "Detailing" cars and not taking the time to do it right.
 
whavens said:
My son sells cars and called me last night. He told me they had 10 cars that needed to be detailed as soon as possible. Their usual guy was sick. When he told me what they would pay I told him I wouldn't do hack work and cover with glaze for $125 per car to just crank them out. I told him that if they were interested in having them done right, and not give the customer a hologram covered swirled out mess, I would consider it. But not at $125.

Walter
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I was told that a local "Buy Here, Pay Here" dealership was in DIRE need of a detailer for their cars. Now they have mostly mid to upper-mid end cars, that always looked fairly decent as I drove by, I never did stop and really look them over though.

I figured what's the harm, so I stopped in and asked if they were still in need of a detailer and was told "DEFINITELY!" I was taken into see the boss and they asked about my experience and I told them how long I've been detailing, what tools I use etc and what my end results were. I asked them if they paid hourly, or by the car and they asked what my hourly rate was and how long it took me to do a car (they never did say what they wanted done to the cars). I had asked up front if they wanted someone to sprinkle the cars with water and wipe them off, or do they want someone who knows what they're doing and can improve the condition/value of their inventory. They of course opted for #2. So I told them straight out that I usually charge $300-$350 per car (In and out, compounding & polishing as needed plus sealant, tires windows, interiors etc) and that it would take me most of a day to do a car. I also said I wouldn't use a rotary buffer as it is too easy to damage the paint.

Well long story short (I know, too late ;) ) they thanked me for coming in, said there's no way they could touch $350 per car and that they expected between 6 and 8 cars be done per day. To me that was shorthand saying, "We want a hack."

My wife was pissed that I blew a chance at a new job that was "perfect for me," but I just couldn't see myself running around like an idiot trying to shove out 6 or more cars a day and having them all look like unpolished turds, not to mention ME getting the reputation of being a hack.
 
Thank you all for your input, I had this feeling but wanted to ask and make sure. I'll be leaving things as they are.
 
Not much in the gross income earned department.
There is much that can be learned that would be beneficial to your detailing process and methodology that will transfer to your higher paying personal customer's vehicles.

My two cents.
 
Billy Baldone said:
Actually, if they were to bump to 150, for a quality AIO, that isn't too bad at all. 3- 3 1/2 hours per car, unless they want full interior, but if not, I say go for it. Still 1000 times better than they would have got from their guy.
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Oh, they would expect a full interior and exterior. The goal, in their minds, would be to have the car looking like it just rolled off the showroom floor. I know what the previous guy did, because I he prepped my Volvo before I knew better than to have them do it. Looked great for about three or four washes, then the holograms reared their ugly head after the glaze was washed off. I might do one every now and then for them, but will wait until I finish the July Detailing Bootcamp, so I can pick up some rotary experience.

Walter
 
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