I have just gotten a dealership as a regular client so I can tell you a little bit how the thinking goes.
The place I work for ask me to prep 2-4 cars per week right now. Could be more but I have taken a part time job like I do every winter and I am not ready to leave that job unless I am certain the orders will keep coming from the dealership.
Anyways...
They are specialised in slightly used luxury, sports and exotic cars. They already have a detailer for their very expensive cars (Ferrari, Lambo and the like). They have started offering lower end cars (BMWs, Audis and the like) and needed someone to prep them.
So the initial conversation went like this: We have a very good detailer but he won't cut corners, and we can't afford to pay 600$ to prep a 25K car. Is there a way you can do it for 150-300$?
So I told him I could do an AIO polish to save steps, work on the minimum needed and evaluate each car with them before starting the work.
So far I have done a BMW 328i, Audi S4, Audi Q5, Mustang GT, Acura MDX and a few other similar cars.
Each car needs at a minimum an engine detail, Debadging (from original dealership), exterior detail and quick interior cleanup. Most have scratches, some need touch up paint, and about half have some swirls.
So far my biggest challenge is the interior. I normally spend 4-5 hours doing a full interior. After doing about 7 vehicles for them I have cut that down to about 1h30. So that means crack blowouts with compressed air, vaccum, wipedown to every surface, very quick seat shampoo if needed only, no dressing of the interior and removable mats cleaned thoroughly.
For the exterior my go to is Megs's Ultra Polishing Wax. So far it's working well. The amount of time I spend on the polishing depends of the paint condition. Same goes for pad selection. So on some cars I will do 2 quick passes with a foam polishing pad, and on some other cars I will do 4 slow passes with a microfiber cutting disk.
So it's sometimes frustrating not to get the car in perfect condition, but it's not that different from my normal clients who might want a wash and wax when the car clearly needs a compound and polish.
It's all about profit margin for them, so they don't see the value of spending a lot on the prep as long as the car is presentable and they can selll it. Thankfully pretty much all the cars I work on are 2015 so they are still in decent shape for the most part. One was covered with mud inside and outside, that was a challenge to clean quickly without doing a shampoo but it came out nice.
I spend on average 5 hours total on each car. So it will help me speed up my processes. I am thinking about trying to use my rotary polisher that I never use and see if I can shave a an hour or two and still get a good result.
