Taking the plunge and starting an auto detailing business in Metro Detroit.

[Kevlarrockstar]

Hey autogeeks, My name Is Alexander. I have been in the process of starting two corporations, however as I wait on development teams to get them running I decided to spend the summer building a detailing business that hopefully can make enough to get a brick and mortar by winter.

The average multimillionaire has 7 avenues of revenue, and my goal is to have a Ducati by the end of the summer, an Aston Martin by the time I turn 30, and then I want to move onto properties, a family, and hopefully sooner than later a yacht... I mean, hey, if you aim for the stars but only hit the moon you can't be that upset right? Either way God blesses his faithful.

Yesterday I received my first order from Autogeek, and I'm Geeked. I ended up receiving a Mytee 8070 Lite, a Flex XC 3401, a Flex Kompakt3, odds and ends, and a Nanoskin kit.

So of course I had to put it all to use. I'm very pleased to say the least, I got 2 years of nicotine out of my headliner, got shined up, and best of all with the nanoskin I didn't end up killing myself claying my car.

I'm now trying to narrow down exactly what chemicals to run for different price points.

I want to be able to turn enough profit in the next month to start hiring employees so I am willing to do production work in addition to paint correction.

I already determined that I want to exclusively use Nanoskin wash mits, and wash soap to knock out the decontamination at the same time I wash because from what I've gathered time is money in this business.

For the production level on exteriors I was leaning toward the Pinnacle XMT 360 spray wax to keep it quick.

Next level up I was thinking pinnacle XMT 360 put on with the Flex machines.

Then for paint correction I'm leaning toward Wolfgang total swirl remover.

Sealants I'm trying to decide between Wolfgang, pinnacle black, and cquartz.

For extreme high end jobs I was thinking of topping the sealant with Wolfgang fusion. (I'm in Oakland County so there is old money here and I'm sure those people will pay to have their Bentleys, Ferraris, and lambos done up)

My major conundrums at this point are what to use along with the Mytee I'm leaning toward the Wolfgang line yet again however do I really need both the spot remover and the restorer?

Also I want to do everything in my power to minimize the time it takes to do interiors so I've been playing with the idea of getting one of those tornado tools, but I have no clue what chemical to run through it. If there is something out there that cleans, conditions, and protects all in one can someone point me to it? Even better would be something that works for both vinyl and leather.

My other option would be to get the stoner more shine less time or trim product but I'm skeptical about its cleaning abilities...

For tires and rims I was leaning back toward Wolfgang again.

For glass I'm a huge fan of stoner products, but I'd love input on glass, and headlight restoration products for the upsell...

Any input is welcome but I'd really like to hear from the guys who have made a real go of the detailing business, what chemicals and tools they run, if I've missed anything critical, and how they keep it simple Simon for employees.

Thanks for taking the time to read my post guys!

-Alexander Edward Kolanek

[Dunrite]

Hey Alex, I'm on my phone right now but I'll post a full response tomorrow from the computer.

Which area of Oakland County are you in? I'm in St Clair County and Northern Macomb County.

[Kevlarrockstar]

Commerce Township, I'll likely be covering Commerce, Milford, Novi, West Bloomfield, Bloomfield, and Birmingham.

[dcjredline]

My advice to you is more business related. Stay out of debt. That will maximize your profits the most. Look up Dave Ramsey and follow his principals. He has a book about owning a business and talks a lot on his radio show about investing in real estate. Good luck.

[Dunrite]

You're lucky you get all the top dollar areas!

[Kevlarrockstar]

The extent of my debt at this point is 1400 for all the chemicals, waxes, polishes, sealants, cleaners, and a few other tools I wanted to have but hadn't ordered like the tornador black. I got everything in bulk through that one website named after a south American region (I know there are forum rules on mentioning competitors sites on here, but the majority of what I ordered through them Mike has intrest in anyway) but they offered me 12 months no interest so it seemed like a good way to go instead of asking family for a loan for chems.

[Kevlarrockstar]

As for the top dollar areas I am aiming to get the majority of business inside commerce but I'm well connected in Birmingham and Bloomfield with high end attorneys(the benefit and drawback of spending a quarter of a million on a supreme court medical marijuana case) my aim for those areas is exotics, I mean I can't see myself not being able to talk an attorney into putting cquartz on his $160k Mercedes... When he charges people $750 an hour... Granted I'm looking to get really good insurance $2million minimum probably much higher when I start touching aircraft... God forbid I were to hurt electronics and there was a catastrophe I want to be insured out the rear end...

[Kengo123]

For a 1-step clean and shine interior product for the tornador, try mixing a little diluted apc and water based dressing.

Some people refuse to try it because its not the "right" way to detail, but it saves 30 minutes by not having to separately dress interior trim, and not cleaning more than is necessary. It's also suggested in renny Doyle's detailing book. Perfect for production detailing.

Also check out Meguiars quick interior detailer

[Kevlarrockstar]

Thanks Kengo I'll definitely look into it, I ordered extra bottles so I can switch and run different mixes quickly, I was planning to have tire and rim cleaner in one bottle, interior cleaner in another, dressing in another, and carpet and upholstery cleaner in another so I could hit really bad areas quickly before hot water extracting... But mixing cleaner and dressing may work well for production, I'm already planning to just use spray wax for production jobs...

[Dunrite]

Sorry for the delayed reply, been busy around here.

I don't have advice on all parts of your post but I'll give you what I can.

What I've found from production detailing is that people don't want a spray wax. I initially offered this as a cheaper option but customers would be disappointed and hesitant to return. Most don't understand anything about detailing and simply want their vehicle "detailed." What the expect is to see the results of paint polishing. An AIO works well for this. I use Klasse AIO. I like it because it's easy and quick to use and doesn't stain trim. I tried and liked using D151 however it does stain trim so it takes me longer to apply by prepping or utilizing extra caution. I've heard good things about XMT 360 but have not used. I still offer spray wax as a maintenance within 3 months of detailing. This is beneficial to both me and the customers. It gives them a cheaper alternative to polishing, but ensures the vehicle is still in decent enough condition to benefit from spray wax only.

With my Mytee I use CG fabric clean on the entire area. I scrub with either by hand or brush attachment on drill or rotary. For spot treatment I use Folex or CG APC+. CG Fabric Clean gives a great fresh smell and cleans well.

I treat all plastic inside with Meguiars Hyper Dressing diluted 3:1.

Headlights I wetsand, use M105/205 or Plast-x depending on condition. I seal with Meguiars headlight sealant.

I use Stoners Invisible Glass for windows and like it.

The biggest thing I found is to offer packages that give the majority of my customers what they want. Most don't want/need or know what paint correction is and won't choose a package with that as the selling point. I'm not saying don't offer it, but make sure you cater to the bulk of your customers.

I condensed my menu of options substantially. I offer 2 interior options (with or without extraction) and 2 exterior (AIO or paint correction). I then offer a "full detail" which is extraction and AIO. Along with all these I offer add-ons and things like that.

Best of luck!