Advice on negotiating with car rental agencies for fleet work

[vanev]

Advice on negotiating with car rental agencies for fleet work.

Info:
- Mobile detailer.
- I am only one person, do not have a crew.
- looking for small lots with less than 50 cars.

Using 25-50 cars as a baseline to go by:
- What advice would you have on negotiating this?
- Is rental car fleet work worth the effort?
- What are some pitfalls to look out for?
- All thoughts and advice welcome.

[Calendyr]

Hum... are you sure they need a detailer?

I have a friend who used to work for a car rental company. They had about 20 cars. He made minimum wage.

The way they worked is that they had him wash and clean the cars as soon as it came back from a rental. So it could be ready to rent again.

I am not sure having a detailer would work at all for a rental company because you would be more expensive than having a minimum wage worker no matter the contract you get with them. Also you can't be on their lot all the time so their cars would sit dirty and unable to be rented until you can clean them.

With that being said, maybe you can find a way to make it work, but I think you would be more profitable doing pretty much anything else.

What you could do is offer them paint correction service. They most likely use automatic car washes or untrained people to wash their cars and swirl removal is very likely needed. That would be more lucrative for you if they decided to use your services for polishing.

[vanev]

You make great points.

In my area, the local rental agencies advertise all the time for detailers and car washers.
You are right in that they want someone on staff, full time, pay minimum wage, etc....
The problem these rental agencies seem to have is high turnover.
They can never keep employees too long.
It is common for such employees to not show up for work, or just quit, etc....

My approach is not to try and get on full time, nor work out some massive fleet contract with any one rental agency.
What I am trying to do is begin conversations and build business relationships with individual store managers.
This to let them know that if there guy/crew does not show up, the consider contracting me for the day, or an itemized service that must get done.

If I am available that day, I say why not.
Cash flow, right?

[expdetailing]

You could also tell them you can handle situations where their staff cannot, such as fixing paint transfer from bumpers, certain cloth stains, engine detailing, etc.

[GSKR]

You could also tell them you can handle situations where their staff cannot, such as fixing paint transfer from bumpers, certain cloth stains, engine detailing, etc.

Car rental corps won't fix any dents or scratches unless it poses a safety hazard,as soon as they total 30 k on the odometer,they will take the loss at the auction.This enables them to sell at black book wholesale or below and still under warranty.

[Lt1xL82]

I have rented countless cars from virtually every generic car rental agency in the USA. Never once has a car been even remotely close to detailed.

"Boutique" agencies that rent exotics and specialty cars may be a possibility.