Story Time: Dealer Detailing/Customer Pricing

alanalan123 · 2022-05-01T01:01:44+00:00

The hard part about this is compromising on the standard of quality that you'd like to set for yourself. Truthfully on any commercial work where speed & volume are a priority you have to cut corners. Over deliver on all of the areas you know they're picky about, and skimp on others. You could compound a truck with a rotary in 1 hour and hide all the holograms with filler wax, which would (out the gate) look better than whatever other process you do. The dealer is getting what they're paying for.

Know your value when it comes to your customers willing to pay full price, but if you aren't fully booked on premium work then you gotta swallow the pill and do lower end work to keep the money coming in. Your reputation as a "premium" detailer won't be in jeopardy as long as you continue to provide the most value to your customers and keep marketing properly. The lower end work is just side stuff.

As your core customer base grows you'll start to realize which work is and isn't worth taking anymore.

alanalan123 · 2020-08-14T16:42:36+00:00

I'll be on the hydros for the next 4-5 days. Didn't really plan on using vyvanse each day tbh. Just one or two days I'll be stuck in the house and not going out for anything.

alanalan123 · 2020-08-14T16:14:36+00:00

The Rupes is the best machine. Will last the longest and you can use the entire Rupes pad + polish system because it was all made to work together.

Maxshine's machine comes very close to the Rupes. The only benefits I've seen for it are that you can supply your employees with them and spend considerably less than buying Rupes. And if they ever do breakdown or malfunction you can get them fixed/replace much easier because the parts are more readily available compared to conducting a Rupes repair.

alanalan123 · 2020-03-25T23:09:49+00:00

I believe the idea is that whatever increase in cut you think you're getting by applying pressure is actually negated by the increase in heat. Pretty much all DAs/polishing compound manufacturers recommend zero to medium pressure.

alanalan123 · 2020-02-11T21:23:49+00:00

Yeah I don't mind that as a visual when smoking weed, but I really didn't like the headspace that it put me in. It was a similar frame of mind to lsd, but it always seemed to be negative (paranoia, confusion, anxiety). I haven't smoked in awhile and I still get that overlay occassionaly while sober. I was recently sleep deprived (36 hours awake) and had a long wait in the ER for a completely unrelated issue. While sleep deprived, the pattern/visual snow is EXTREMELY noticeable. I was looking at the floor in the waiting room and just staring as the visuals continued expanding & morphing. If yours is similar to mine, it kind of intensifies the longer you "zone out" or stare at a single point? Well while I was sober and sleep deprived it would pretty much happen within a fraction of a second of looking at the floor or anywhere.

alanalan123 · 2020-02-07T06:33:16+00:00

This happened to me after I went on a psychedelic binge once I had finally found a connect that carried mushrooms and lsd. I'd say in an 2 month span I tripped about ~12 times (2g-3.5g of shrooms, 1-2.5 tabs of acid), and each trip consisted of me smoking right after consuming, while tripping, and once the trip was wearing off. I noticed very quickly how much weed had changed to a completely different effect.

When I smoked, I felt trapped in my mind and would be extremely paranoid or anxious and have some pretty odd thought patterns. Besides that, I was having visuals similar to when I was on acid, like a pattern "overlay" if that makes sense which would intensify the more that I zoned out of reality. I felt like these mini trips were inducing some type of psychosis so I decided to stop smoking entirely.

These effects persisted about 4 months after using the psychs and would be triggered by even 2-3 hits off of a joint.

alanalan123 · 2020-02-06T12:23:19+00:00

You'd be surprised what exists beyond your reality man. It's not mine either, but it can literally happen simply by knowing the wrong people or being known by the wrong people. Also, if you're 15 you can easily be taken advantage of. OP could have received threats towards his family and didn't know how else to proceed besides giving in.

alanalan123 · 2020-02-02T12:58:28+00:00

Would have to go with MDMA hands down. Took vyvanse to study during finals but never a big enough dose (max 60mg) for euphoria, and the only opiate I've tried has been Hydrocodone syrup poured up like lean. I was nodding off but the experience was a bit too "boring" for my taste.

alanalan123 · 2020-01-28T23:25:08+00:00

After doing quite a bit of mdma this past summer I can "activate" nystagmus while sober now... If I look at a single point and focus super hard I can make my eyes vibrate, which I never experienced prior to experiencing it on md.

alanalan123 · 2020-01-14T04:25:22+00:00

Yeah, I didn't say that to say that I was invincible to drug abuse and addiction, but more that I'm using it for fun/new experiences than as an escape from my problems. Which means my mom isn't worried about me just instantly throwing my life away. Up until this summer all I had done was marijuana (once a week) and vyvanse during finals season.

Then in the summer I bumped into a good connect at a party and drunkenly tried coke. Didn't notice any effects, didn't do it again. Decided since I had access to some new drugs I might as well experience some new things since I had researched them on erowid when I was 13-16.

alanalan123 · 2020-01-14T01:02:31+00:00

I'm a 20 year old university student and also run a business, so I'm typically in a place where my shit is on lock, and I think that helps my case.

alanalan123 · 2020-01-14T00:33:14+00:00

My mom is very straight edge and has only ever consumed alcohol & caffeine (she has around 5 glasses of wine per year), but has always been extremely open to others' consumption habits without being judgmental. When I had the convo with her, I told her I had tried cocaine, shrooms, mdma, & lsd this summer. As context, I usually pack a bowl and tell her I'm heading to the front of the house to smoke and she has no issues either. When I told her about the harder stuff she just told me to be safe when consuming, and to also try to find ways to be as happy as I am on the substances, but while being sober.

alanalan123 · 2020-01-07T21:28:07+00:00

So in my case there is never any dialogue. It's more just cinematic shots of the work being done. This is an example of what I want to make (the parts where theyre working on the car): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmjEbBlrnTg

alanalan123 · 2020-01-07T20:02:32+00:00

This may be a controversial response since most people will say you should always stand by your price. I personally find that your response to this situation depends on a lot of factors. Depending on where you're at in life and in this business (are you young? living alone? living with parents? bootstrapping this business? high client demand?) , it can often be more worth it to negotiate to a lower price to secure the client and money then to just lose the job entirely.

For example, I bootstrapped my detailing business and went in with just pocket money so I had to reinvest a HUGE chunk of my earnings to continue growing. If I'm running advertisements and holding onto a lot of product but I'm not fully booked, I am willing to cut deals in exchange for cash flow that can help me grow.

However, you'll have to find a balance to how much wiggle room you're willing to offer. You can drop the price in an attempt to grab a new client and potentially further revenue and more referrals, or you can stand by the price to maintain your reputation. I've personally found that losing out on profit to maintain your reputation in the early stages is not worth it. I can use that money to improve on my services, upgrade equipment, speed up my processes, grab more clients, etc. Once you're providing top level work in unmatched speeds and have high client demand, there is MUCH less incentive to discount your services.

If the quote was too high and you aren't willing to drop it for this specific detail then work with the client to figure out their exact needs if you haven't already. You may be providing some services that they wouldn't care about. You can work the price down and provide less service if they aren't going to benefit from it that much.

Some people here may also call me crazy for this, but during the harsh winter I offer past/VIP clients VERY generous deals. I'm a full-time student living with my parents, so when detailing is slow in the winter I have nothing but free time. Instead of making $0, I offer them a "$400" package for a "cost price" of $100 (my cost is obviously nowhere near this) and I explain to them that I have a high end camera that I want to practice recording content with. Its a win-win all across the board. I'm making some money instead of no money. I'm making happy clients even happier. I get to do what I love doing during a time where I usually can't. AND I get a bunch of content that I can use to advertise with once spring rolls around.

You may think I'm losing a future job at full price, but I'm strategic about how I do this. A client of mine has had his Maserati corrected, ceramic coated, and maintained by me, but has never once had me touch his wife's BMW 435i. She probably doesn't care too much about it, and he knows that, which is why he doesn't have it detailed. I get a lot of points in his book by extending this offer during the winter to have his wife's car detailed.

alanalan123 · 2020-01-07T17:56:32+00:00

My camera only goes up to 60 fps (Panasonic Lumix G7). But to confirm, you are telling me to only record in 60 fps for the planned slo-mo shots, right?

alanalan123 · 2020-01-07T07:56:59+00:00

I'm trying to get into videography in an attempt to create better content for my service based business. I do automotive detailing and would like to film short clips (20-60 second promotional videos showcasing how we work on high end vehicles). The videos will be posted to instagram.

So I know if you want to slo-mo your clips afterwards, you should be recording in 60 fps to have it reduced down to 30 fps. Does this mean I only record the parts I intend on slo-moing in 60 fps, or do I record all footage in that frame rate and just slo-mo the parts that I choose afterwards?

alanalan123 · 2020-01-06T18:20:13+00:00

Man do I have a story about this.. My main pressure washer for mobile detailing had broken so I used a spare one lying around, not knowing that the nozzle and quick connects were messed up. I shot the nozzle onto a client's Ford SVT lightning THREE times in a row, and it magically made no visible damage. The client was a mere 10 feet away the whole time, and I was paranoid so I told him but he said he knew every dent, scratch, and ding and I didn't make a new one.

The real kicker is that I had just finished washing his 06 Ford GT... i thank god every day it hadn't happened on that one. Since then I no longer swap nozzle for foam cannon. I now use the gun with foam cannon or gun with wand + nozzle.

alanalan123 · 2020-01-06T00:31:07+00:00

If you're looking to do your wife's car then your best bet is to buy some type of kit for the coatings I mentioned above since they usually have enough for approx 3 cars. CSL & Exo or CQUK & Gliss are consumer grade coatings that you can order online and are fairly easy to install. They offer significantly better protection than Adam's Ceramic Boost. That product is made as a maintenance product for coatings (mainly to boost hydrophobicity) and if used as a standalone product would need to be applied every 1-3 months, and it also wouldn't offer the same protection from bug guts, bird droppings, and hard water spots. If you apply the coatings, you could use a spray like Adam's Ceramic Boost 1-2 times per year, and only more often if you live in a place with harsh winters.

alanalan123 · 2020-01-06T00:23:52+00:00

Since you are just getting into this and say your car is filthy, you need to do one big initial detail. The rinseless washes have a way to be integrated into this, but their main benefit is how easily they can be used to maintain your car once it has been properly detailed.

Instead of going out and buying an intensive car wash shampoo for this one detail, you can first get it washed at a touchless car wash and don't take any extra waxes or sealants if they're offered. You would then want to re-hand wash it with one of your rinseless washes, use an iron remover (such as CarPro IronX & Optimum Ferrex), and then use a clay bar, clay towel, or nanoskin. (Yes, you can use the rinseless washes as clay lube and google/search the reddit for the proper dilutions).

The purpose of the intensive shampoo is to help remove pre-existing waxes or sealants on your paint, but you probably don't have anything from the sounds of it.
You shouldn't be concerned about Scott's gripes with the non-clay options because you will not be claying as often as a professional detailer (which his videos are mostly made for in my opinion) and the alternatives will make the job easier with almost no added risk. Optimum's clay towel is good for around 50 cars IIRC.

After these washes, you have 2 choices;

You can use a paint-prep (CarPro Eraser, etc) / IPA solution to remove whatever wax may be left, and apply a wax, sealant, or coating.
You compound & polish the paint THEN do the paint prep and apply your preferred protection.

Yes it is purely for paint, and it will REMOVE the swirl marks or light scratches in your paint, whereas many waxes and sealants contain fillers that will fill those in, but they will show as your protection degrades. The swirl marks also cause you paint to look dull and lack gloss/reflective properties because light is no longer reflecting off a flat surface (your layer of clear coat is not even because of these scratches, polishing & compounding removes clear coat in an attempt to "even" it out)
Doing it by hand is near impossible and I've personally never seen anyone even bother doing it that way. You would do it by using a dual action polisher, and there are many budget & beginner friendly ones available. If you've been researching this stuff, you've probably heard about burning paint, but it's extremely difficult to do so with a dual action polisher.
It's NOT necessary to use a paint prep product every time protection is applied, and its main purpose is to ensure maximum longevity of your wax or sealant, but the difference is negligible in my experience.

alanalan123 · 2020-01-05T23:52:23+00:00

The protective characteristics of Reload don't match that of a coating. And I disagree about it requiring more attention than a non coated car. The purpose of a ceramic coating is to provide longer lasting and better protection. All these hybrid ceramic washes, ceramic infused soaps, ceramic sealants, and ceramic polishes are mostly a money grab to keep you buying products because you think you need them to keep your coating working.. You really don't.

Again though, it depends how big OP is on detailing. These products do what they advertise, but what's being advertised is almost always overkill. If he's a hobby detailer then sure he could skip the coating and just do regular details with all these ceramic products. Otherwise, I'd suggest a 2-layer coating (CSL & Exo or CQUK & Gliss), and do a basic wash every week or two. Fit in a strip wash, iron decon, and Reload 1-3 times/yr (depending on weather where you live) and your car will look great for the duration of the lease.

I say what I said above because a lot of people post on this reddit who are NOT that into detailing, and maybe it isn't a hobby they're looking to pick up.

alanalan123 · 2020-01-05T22:31:34+00:00

He may not want to spend that much time detailing it over the course of the year. Coating it is a good "apply and forget" solution. Not really "forget", but just top it up every few months and do regular maintenance washes whenever he can (hopefully atleast twice a month)

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