How many details per day

[Teak]

I will keep my post simple. When working in a auto dealership detailing/reconditioning/doll-up department how many details or vehicle does a person need to complete per day?

Eric

[Superior Shine]

How much money do you "need" to make??

[George Wax]

Get this this coming Saturday at Beach City Detail Shop in Long Beach our Mustang Club will be having a detailing day. About 15 mustang's will be detailed exterior=clay,polish,wax and interior detail shampoo, clean, treat all four about $80.00 per vehicle. A crew of about 15 detailer's will be doing these mustang's..Should be a pretty crazy day. The detailing starts at about 7:00am and should end at about 7:00pm..

[Superior Shine]

George, Please email me your #.

This Saturday I will be for cruis'n for a cure in OC.

[Teak]

Originally posted by Superior Shine
How much money do you "need" to make??

Many of the dealers here pay an hourly wage to employees and not a percentage or other compensation methods . Atleast that is how I would want to be compensated.

George Wax
That is a lot of Mustangs to complete in one day. I guess It depends on the overall condition of the cars.

Eric

[SeabreezeDetailing]

It all depends on what you plan on doing to the vehicles.

I can get away with about 5 washes/vacs a day, $40-65 per

I can do about ab out 3 Wax jobs a day, $75-125 per

I can do 1 polishing/paint correction a day $45/HR

My rate is $32/hr for the above and $45 an hour for paint correction. After some time, youll learn how long it takes to do certain tasks on certain vehicles and you can come up with some sort of pricing.


EDIT: Just realized your asking about working in a dealership

[repo]

Its hard to find a dealership that pays well. I was making $7.50 (you can make a LOT more elsewhere) an hour at one of the local dealerships. Dealers are automagic freaks and dont really care about swirls or if its done right. Ive been in some crazy days where we have washed and vaccumed 30 cars in 8 hours, and a lot of dealers will tell you to cut corners. They just care about the "15 foot away look".

-repo

[Teak]

Thanks for the info everbody. Keep the info and experiences coming.

Eric

[Pete-FWA]

As a former dealership owner, reconditioning facility owner, and consultant, I've learned:

Depends on what type of dealership and how the managers look at the vehicles. Often, they tell you "as nice as you can", hoping to push you to the limts for very little money.

Truthfully, though, most used car lots expect about 3-4 hours on a "complete cleanup" from the trade-in row.

Engine, door jambs, interior, exterior are what they expect; however, unless it's a high line lot, they don't care so much about swirls or scuffs in the clear coat.
The tendency is to get a shiny coating on all the vinyl and rubber parts on the interior, scrub the carpets and upholstry quickly, be sure ashtrays/cupholders are clean, then get a two step cleaner/polish on the paint, followed by a wax. SHINY tire dressing and shiny engine bay are also very important to the used car guys.

Vehicles bound for the wholesale auctions don't always get this "full" treatment. Those often just get wash, vac, windows, one step on the paint, such as Quick Detail #66 or #80 Speed Glaze, and tire dressing. Those are about 2 hour jobs.

Don't forget how to do a car "right", because there are many retail customers who expect this. The sales manager will let you know which ones to do in such a manner.

[gregcavi]

I used to work for a dealership, but soon quit becuase the work ethic and idea of detailing was pathetic.

My experiences:

I got paid $12/hour to do what they called detailing.

I woudld pick up a car and wash it (dealer said dont wash it just wax over the dust and grime) I obviously washed.

I would vaccum the car, dress the tires, shine up the wheels and trim, and clean the windows.

I woudl then use #66.

I did way more work than the dealer wanted me to. he wanted the job done quick, cheap, and pretty much the wrong way, and the way that harms a car.

I quit this job like I said becuase I wasnt going to get paid to do mediocre jobs on cars and have my companies name on the car after I "finished".

I woudl reccomend NOT to work at a dealership even if work is slow. Keep workign hard on getting other customers and do the finest job possible and the word will spread.

Greg

[rusty bumper]

I saw an ad for a detailer at a high end dealership in Charlotte last week. I was thinking about contacting them about the job, but it was just too much driving expense to justify it for me.

Be sure to consider traveling expenses to & from work.....What with gas being as high as it is.

Sorry I couldn't be of much help, but at least I bumped up your post again.

[Teak]

Thanks for keepig the info coming about working for dealers.

RB,
You make a good point about commuting cost, because I saw an ad for a detailer which paid $8.50 or $9.00 per hour. The commute would have been 50+ miles round trip a day and the maintenance and gas cost would eat in to the net pay real quick.

Eric

[pepseeboy]

I work for a high end dealership (mostly Ferrari's) and we are not pressured with volume, a $200,000 car should look like a $200,000 car, we are paid hourly + per car detailing, we can do a wash an hour and hit everything but we get a lot of pre-owned cars that have lots of paint issues and the sales manager just wants it to look awesome at any cost

[Teak]

Thanks for the info.

Eric

[repo]

pepseeboy, sounds like you scored a sweet job