What to charge for set rate for dealership.

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Bradmerritt

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Hey guys I was wondering what I should charge dealerships for full details and as well as auction cleans? I'm in rhode island and would be doing wash, vacc, shampoo interior, clean and dress all interior vinyl, clay, polish wax etc ? Thanks guys
 
I don't do any dealer cars so I have no personal experience. When I get calls from the small lots they always want to know what kind of volume discount I give. I don't offer a volume discount and the dealers do not want to pay full price.

From what I hear and from what I read on the forums it seems like the going rate is $100 to make the car look brand new. Seems like a lot of work for a Benjamin.
 
Yeah it's slave work but it's to fill in empty days ya know? And to keep up with the bills I can bang em out in like 4-5 hours usually it's more to keep my bills up and the retail wok is profit and some bills and product
 
A dealer recently contacted me about doing 20-30 cars for them per month at about $100 a pop. I'm just not sure I want to put my name behind the kind of "details" they are looking for. When they started asking me if I could cake on Armor All and let it "bake into the dash" in the sun I got a little sick to my stomach.

I think $75-100 per car seems to be the going rate. Otherwise a dealership will just hire a minimum wage employee, hand them a rotary, and give them a bottle of 3m glaze and say "go to town."
 
I have done one dealership in 2 years - and charged full price for the details..... we made about 7 or 8 hundred in a week from them and that was the end of it..... most dealerships want the works for peanuts - expect that! This dealership realized that they could get somewhat equivalent services for half the price of repeatedly failing detailing businesses. It happens to be right down the road from where I live and there is always a new company there.... Im sure one can make it work with the right crew and the right price, but I never pursue dealerships. Goodluck man
 
Nicholas@Autowerx said:
A dealer recently contacted me about doing 20-30 cars for them per month at about $100 a pop. I'm just not sure I want to put my name behind the kind of "details" they are looking for. When they started asking me if I could cake on Armor All and let it "bake into the dash" in the sun I got a little sick to my stomach.

I think $75-100 per car seems to be the going rate. Otherwise a dealership will just hire a minimum wage employee, hand them a rotary, and give them a bottle of 3m glaze and say "go to town."
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Haha your right about that. I hate it when I see that. I took a job at a dealer just Saturday's for that kind of wrk and doing real detailing on weekdays. After working so hard and learning so much made me care about doing quality work it's almost like I think the at deserves better... These guys at dealers don't give a shot they'll swirl the he'll out of cars hack interiors etc.. And the dealers just dont care... To me that's not fair to the customer that their cars weren't treated with any respect or care like they should have...
 
I think $75-100 per car seems to be the going rate. Otherwise a dealership will just hire a minimum wage employee, hand them a rotary, and give them a bottle of 3m glaze and say "go to town."

Pretty much that's what happens.
Good luck!




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B&B Tennessee said:
I have done one dealership in 2 years - and charged full price for the details..... we made about 7 or 8 hundred in a week from them and that was the end of it..... most dealerships want the works for peanuts - expect that! This dealership realized that they could get somewhat equivalent services for half the price of repeatedly failing detailing businesses. It happens to be right down the road from where I live and there is always a new company there.... Im sure one can make it work with the right crew and the right price, but I never pursue dealerships. Goodluck man
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Thanks man I have already done side work for dealers an they always bug me for work but I just don't have the time till I open up. I think 125 would be fair for what i do for them. And they keep coming back do hopefully I could get that and probably like 150 for the stuff I buff out a lot of scratches and swirls
 
Bradmerritt said:
Thanks man I have already done side work for dealers an they always bug me for work but I just don't have the time till I open up. I think 125 would be fair for what i do for them. And they keep coming back do hopefully I could get that and probably like 150 for the stuff I buff out a lot of scratches and swirls
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Ha! good luck with that.
 
ChicagoAutoPros said:
Ha! good luck with that.
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I've already done jobs like that for dealers so how would you know? I was just seeing what anyone else was getting and I know that I could get that much for lot vehicles because the dealers around here care about the quality
 
I just got a hold of a dealership myself and did my first 3 cars for them at $75 per vehicle. The dealer buys about 100 cars per month so he said he could keep me busy. I was wavering at first between 25-30% and then just blurted out the $75. Which basically turned out to be a 25% discount for the dealer.

I didnt realize it until I showed up that after agreeing to 3 vehicles for $75 each that one was a 4 door sedan covered in dog hair, another was a 4 runner and the other was a white sebring convertible which had been sitting outside for a while under trees. I thought with a dealer it shouldnt take long for a quick wash,wax, & interior since all vehicles had been bought at an auction. I figured it should only take about 1.5hrs max for each vehicle before I saw them. 7 hours later I left with just my $225 initially agreed upon. I was a little bummed but after thinking about it, my rates currently are just $45/hr for basic services and $60 for paint correction so it wasn't really a bad deal after all.

If the dealers give you plenty of business I dont see why offering a discount would be such a bad thing if it was steady work. In the back of my mind right now I have 2 other dealers that want me too so I'm starting to think about maybe hiring on 2 more people; one to do the dealer vehicles and another to be my assistant for the true detailing projects.
 
I work for a GM dealer and also detail some of our trade ins. I usually charge between 100 and 250 per vehicle. Depends on size cleanliness and time it takes me to do it. I try to make a minimum of 30$ an hour to cover time and product. I told them i will not cut corners i do my thing proper with no short cuts. they have been very happy with my work and have had no issues with pricing
 
Bradmerritt said:
I've already done jobs like that for dealers so how would you know? I was just seeing what anyone else was getting and I know that I could get that much for lot vehicles because the dealers around here care about the quality
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I'm sorry how insensitive of me...... If you have already done accts getting that money, good for you......keep them. I personally don't like doing dealership cars, (there's just no reward for doing them, no appreciation) but I like making money..... so if I can hire a couple guys and get 25 cars a week @ $90/car that's about $50,000/profit a year (after labor and expenses). Do your own math and make sure it make sense for you. Some of the higher end dealerships will pay a little more, but they expect perfection. Good luck!
 
I've found that dealerships will commonly go for 70 exterior, 80 interior and 100 full detail.
 
I did a "trial" car for a used car lot, did my express package. He was blown away by the results. I said that's a $50 job. He said he paid his last guy $40 per car, but was no where near my quality of work. I did one more car and never got another call from him. 6 months later he was out of business. That taught me quality really didn't matter t them. The chose a low-ball rate and now the don't do anything. Oh we'll.
 
Yeah dealerships want the best work for the cheapest price. A detailer has to learn ways to get threw things faster and the products that give the best results for the time needed... 40 and 50 are both way to low if your ever considering hiring!
 
I do some work for used car lots and some recognize quality and are wiling to pay for it.

Others want a full detail on a trashed car for $50.

With the latter I have found it much more profitable to turn down the full details but offer ala carte services such as headlight restoration, paint correction, touch up and carpet cleaning.

For example I have a lot that wanted me to do 5hr details for 75 I Won't do that but they do like my ala carte services.

Today I one stepped a mini in 3.5 for them and got $100 much more profitable
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Chad @ divine details
 
I did some for a dealer last summer. Hard work for less money then normal. Did a full detail Engine Bay included for 100. But I am just starting out and was happy to have the work.
 
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