New member with some detailing questions.

Hello, first I want to introduce myself. My name is Keith, I'm 25 and currently in my last year of college in Pennsylvania. On top of full time school I work full time as a detailer at the largest Honda dealership in PA.

Anyways, what brings me to this site is that I plan on moving to the Charlotte area (Lake Wylie) in May or early June when I finish school. When I get there I will be opening a high line mobile detail business, and was wondering what high line owners such as yourself look for in a detailing service?

I've also done some searches online for detailers in the area currently and haven't come up with anything targeted directly to this market. Where do you take your cars to be detailed?

Thank you in advance for any help
Keith

 

I do my own detailing (see www.fca-se.org/concours.htm) but if I was having someone else do it, I'd look for a shop that has a lot of high end cars in there frequently, and that the owner's car is also impeccable and show-quality. I realize you'd just be starting out, so do make sure your own car is in outstanding shape on display. You might get involved with your local car clubs, and offer some free detailing certificates that they can give as door prizes at their events to help build your client base.

 

It seems to me that the secret to success in that business is word of mouth. Because of forums like this, if you do a good job on just a few cars, word will spread quickly. If you don't, well the opposite is true. There are certainly a few here who could attest to that.

 

Keith - I own a detail shop in central PA and I also went to West Chester. I think in terms of detailing that doing high line cars is not entirely different than regular retail vehicles. Usually the cooler a car looks, the harder it is to detail, especially when reconditioning the paint. All the air intakes, scoops, and crazy body lines can make buffing and polishing a challenge.
Make sure you stay up to date on new cars and also read forums about older cars. The first time I detailed a 348 I couldnt figure out what was wrong with the dash because it was sticky and wouldnt come clean. There is a whole thread about this on this forum.
Your customer service needs to be excellent to do highline. Make it easy for the customer to do business with you. Offer pickup and delivery, loaner cars, or a shuttle service. You could also offer mobile services, but it is harder to do a good job outside of your shop.
Detaiilng is a tough business and I would suggest that you also offer some other services like paint touch up, paint protection film, window tinting, or interior repair. These services are generally more profitable and you have to detail lots of cars to make a decent living.

 

I do my own cars as well because I've not found someone in this area who cares about them as much as I do (and because I find it therapeutic when I have the time). That said, there are two things I would think are necessary to be a successful high-line detailer (other than what's mentioned above).

1. You must differentiate your services to the people you are targeting. In my area, everyone who can do a hand wash/wax, vacuum/shampoo & Armor-All calls themselves a detailer. They charge $75-150/vehicle, usually based on size, and that's what people think of when they think average detail shop. To me, that is not a detail job - it is just a hand wash.

To me, detailing is in the DETAILS!! The one person I use for my non-exotic cars is a DETAILER. This means he goes the extra mile in every detail - he removes interior trim panels to clean the edges of their seams. He pulls the seats out of the car when shampooing to get what's underneath. He doesn't just wipe off textured plastic panels - he's in there with a toothbrush making sure the grain is clean. He doesn't give the car back to me where every engine hose or plastic surface is slippery from silicone or Armor-All - when he does it, the surface is CLEAN, not just SHINY.

You can expect exotic owners to be pickier in every respect, and you need to be prepared to perform to our expectations and to mentally deal with our attitudes. Most of us are very nice 'car guys' on this forum, but you will also have your share of pricks and they can sure make it not seem worth it to spend your whole day on their car and then have them spend an hour picking apart your work and wanting a discount. You need to differentiate your services enough that your customers understand why you are different from every other $75 guy with a sponge and why they should be willing to pay you MORE because of it. Most people with exotics are more than happy to pay higher prices as long as they are getting higher value. That is your responsibility.

2. HAVE GOOD BUSINESS INSURANCE!!!
If you don't own or know exotics, you are treading on some extremely dangerous ground in detailing them. For example, it will take you a while to learn that the spark plug holes on a 308 will fill with water from a wash, making the car sometimes run rough or not at all after you wash it. Even if the problem goes away when they're dried, now you've paid for a tow to the shop or the dealer, and $125 for that shop to inspect the car and tell the owner you got the plug wires/extenders wet. Now you're out $200 on a $150 detail job, and the owner thinks you're an idiot who not only didn't have his car ready on time, but had to have it towed to a garage too.

Worse yet, you spray the engine cover on a TR and get water in the engine computers, which sit on top of the right fender in the engine compartment. Now you're out $2500 (EACH!) to replace the engine computer, for your $200 detail fee. Every exotic has its items like that, and you need to know them and to protect yourself with every job. In fact, it would be a good first step to go and meet the service writers at every high-end dealership you can find and ask them about these kinds of problems with their models and take copious notes. And remember, if the business is going to be successful, you can bet that it won't be you doing all the detail work because you need to be doing sales. Now if some doofus teenager you hire to help rakes his cell phone holster down the side of someone's Gallardo, you can bet the teen won't be paying for that re-spray out of HIS pocket.

Protect yourself and do a careful job! Best of luck!!

 

Thank you for all of the advice. I will keep everyone posted on progress!

 

Tks a bunch CGPERRY

There are a bunch of " professional detailing clinics " held all over the country annually by so called experts. This bit of advice you have handed out tops a great deal of these seminars that seem focused only on generating income for these promoters rather than equipping the eager to serve the people they really dream of serving.