what do you think?

[godoman]

hey all,

looking to use the flex for quick jobs that I offer my customers. I find that most customers out there, in my area, do not care about 95% paint corrections and want a quick exterior detail followed by a very good interior detail with "shampooing" as they say and a thorough wipe down.

here is my plan of attack to do three to five cars a day for only 100 dollars per car. looking to do quantity mixed in with some quality paint corrections so that I get some money as my passion grows in the paint correction field.

Exterior:

Flex 3401 LC Green/White depends on paint softness/hardness

AIO prodoct, will probably go with Menzerna AIO unless you guys know a better product (from experience please...)

May buff out some deep scratches with a Tuf Buff black buffing pad and then follow up with the AIO that way the customers does not feel that I am just quickly waxing. sometimes customers really want someone to come over and work on their car because they keep seeing this one scratch on their car that they got from a parking lot run-away cart or door ding.

Wax, collinite 845 for a topper, still trying to think if I should charge extra for this since the AIO should seal the car while lightly polishing at the same time.

Interior:

Vaper Chief Steam clean interior, water extraction for extremely dirty carpet conditions. will pre-treat the carpet with Adam's carpet and upholstry cleaner to make sure everything gets removed. the vapor chief should remove the majority of everything smelling and dirty in the car but will let you know when I get the ball moving on this in the next week.

my question is about the flex. what is the best pad/product combo with this. I know a guy that uses flex/greenlc/menzerna 203s on hard paints by audi, porsche, merc and other cars and finishes with a blue lc finessing pad and 85rd. this sounds great. why do I mention this? because the pad choice is very non aggressive being a green pad and using 203 so I was wondering if you guys feel that with the power behind the flex 3401 and the cut and finish of 203 if I will get close to the same results using an AIO product with the flex/lc gree pad.

so what I am trying to ask is which pad to use with the AIO product. I do not have customers that care for their cars alot at all. did my bosses car on thursday (detail part time) with IP and a wool pad and he was just covered in spiderwebs and deep scratches all over the truck. the majority of my customers are like this. dont have any serious enthusiasts coming to me yet.

I am hoping that I can hit these cars with major spider webbing with a LC white and aol in one and go over the entire car with one pass and that should do it. if not I am lost or will have to just have to play it off as a "wash & wax" and it will cost more if you want every single scratch removed.

will the flex do what I am looking for it to do?

thanks

[BlkTAWS6]

WOW, lots of info/?'s it seems.

Well, first thing, where are you located?

I ask because if you are in Orange County, CA double your prices ASAP. I start at $100 for a detail on a small car that isn't too dirty with light carpet shampoo needed. And I am just waxing the paint, not doing any kind of correction at all to the paint.

If you are doing correction I would charge a per/hour fee (I use $40-50, depends on who I am talking too)

[godoman]

seattle/tacoma, wa area

yes rates should be much higher up here but I am starting out, dont really have a rep yet so have to spread around alot of hard work for a really low price until people pick up on what I do an start spreading the word for me.

yes I do list alot of information because I want a full outline of what I do and what I charge to get feedback from all of you. my biggest weakness in this business is the business side itself. I have no idea what to charge, what packages to offer, what should be included in those packages and/or how to market myself without getting too many customers at once because I am working full time.

trying to transition from full time job to this while going to college.

you just wax? that means they can see all of the scratches and swirls in their paint still and they dont mind that? hmmm. sounds like maybe I should do that.

anyone else with feedback on this package I am offering? want to get 3-5 cars a day out of this one

thanks

[BlkTAWS6]

Well, on the "business" side of things I would...

Call your competitors, ask there prices and what it includes, and adjust accordingly.

I wouldn't start out low priced while trying to build your rep. Don't sell yourself short. It has come back to me sometimes with my "cheap" customers. Especially when you get the referrals from them and they tell your new customer the price you charged them, so then you are stuck charging a low price. If people actually have a problem with the price or the kinda moan when you tell them the estimate, explain to them what they are getting versus the "other guy." Ex. I am 100% mobile and I get people complaining sometimes when I tell them $20 for washing a car. They sometimes come back with, "well the car wash down the street charges $14." I just try and sell them on the conveince of having me come to their office and them not having to take up their lunch break waiting at the car wash. Or even the fact that the minimum wage paid guys at the car wash are trying to get as many cars out the door as possible cause they are working for that next tip and they dont really care about how your car looks when they are done. Me on the other hand depend on referrals so I am going to do my very best to make sure you keep coming back and tell plenty of people about me.
To me the "selling yourself" aspect of the business is the easiest part there is. It is definitely an important part, too.

If you can, print up some good quality cards and get a shirt made to make yourself look profession and go find a chamber of commerce meeting or a BNI or networking meeting somewhere. Plenty of business people there. Would be a good way to start of building a "good" reputation. Well, thats how I did it. I have NEVER paid for advertising or had to go beat the street for business.

And, yes, I do just wax. But I do also offer paint correction services too. As you said, some people just like a clean car, but there are those certain people who want their car looking gooooood. Thats where the fun and $$$ is.

Sorry, kinda long

OK, im done

[godoman]

well said and great info on meeting up with other business people in my area!

[ScottB]

Optimum Poly-seal versus Menzerna Acrylic Jacket IMO.

[BarryK]

A couple of observations:

first of all. $100 for a interior/exterior detail is WAY too low.
I charge $160 to $225 for that service and am seriously considering raising my pricing. The price varies depending on size/type of vehicle - for example the $160 is for a SMALL 2 seater car like a Miata or a Smart car. The $225 is for a large SUV such as a Suburban.
Most vehicles fall in the $175 price range.
For these prices the customer gets:

Exterior Detail
• hand wash and dry
• light bug and tar removal
• wheel well wash
• wax with high quality professional wax*
• clean exterior windows
• clean and dress tires and rims

Interior Detail
• vacuum interior
• clean interior glass
• clean and dress dash/console areas
• Q-tip vents
• shampoo mats
• clean/condition leather and vinyl seats
• clean and dress door panels
• all other interior panels cleaned and dressed
• vacuum trunk/storage areas
• doorjamb areas cleaned
(very heavily soiled interior areas such as carpets, leather, etc may incur additional charges)

The exterior gets Megs D151 Paint Reconditioning Cream as standard which is a polish/wax AIO one-step product.
I typically apply it with a LC CCS 6.5" white pad with my Flex 3401. It gives some minor paint correction but a "standard" detail does not offer or promise full paint correction. If that's what a customers needs and wants than I'll offer a full paint correction service but that's done at a per/hour rate - usually $65/hr.

For what you are describing as the amount of work you want to offer and with the expense of the products you want to use I can't see how you are going to make any money at $100/car.

Second point is that with all you are talking of doing with your description I have NO idea how you plan on doing 3-5 cars a day if you are working alone.
For one of my Deluxe interior/exterior details as I've listed above I allow 3/4 day to do an average vehicle so if I start on it at 9AM I'm usually done by around 2-3PM barring any problems or issues. Stubborn wheels issues, bad carpet or leather requiring extra time, etc., could take me an extra hour or two so I only schedule one full detail a day since i work alone.

believe me, you are much better, especially if just starting out, to schedule less cars a day and do an EXCELLENT job on each car you get than to try to squeeze in more cars a day just for more money than you are rushing thru each one as fast a possible, missing spots, and not doing as good of a job.
In the long run the fewer cars that are done to a higher quality level will help build your business better than rushed low quality work.

On EVERY detail job i get I do everything possible to EXCEED my customers expectations. not just match their expectations but exceed them.
If you are rushing thru 3-5 cars a day, which I can't even see as possible based on what you list as what you want to offer as your list of service, I can guaranty that you are not going to exceed your customers expectations - you will be lucky if they are even happy at all.

[SpotlessDetail]

3-5 a day??? no way. I might could do 3 with no paint correction and given the cars were clean to begin with. Paint correction of any kind is very time consuming. And so is carpet. May wana re-think your pricing.

[gewb]

Echo the others - price is TOO LOW.

Given your goal of three per day, have you considered:

> You need to replace pads during each detail as you will not have time to wash and dry pads

> For a small car you need at least three pads, probably four (so you will need at least 10 to 12 pads per day)

> You NEED a professional pad cleaning system

> You will need at least twenty EACH of three different weight micro fiber cloths (watch the BOGO page!)

> You need a quality vacuum

> You NEED hearing protection that is comfortable and good - I use a noise cancelling headphone set

I'm sure there is more...

Regards,
GEWB