Ferrai detailing business?

Hey. I think it's great you want to get into a detailing business. I did it this year after being in the Marines for computers, and going to college. I realized I did not want to be a pencil pusher or data dink forever. No offense to those businesses, it was just not for me. I have always loved cars and enjoyed working on them. Detailing seemed to be the logical way into this field for me. I've gone to auto body school in High School and did not just want to work for someone else. Detailing was a semi affordable way to get into the automotive business.

As for breaking into the Ferrari market, it takes time and plenty of skill. What kind of experience do you have using a high speed buffer? I'd say that you need at least 100 hours behind one before you really start to get the hang of it.
Product knowledge is huge. With the internet, your clients are going to know a lot about different products and what they do and don't want for their $xxx,xxx car. It's your job to know what they want and come up with a solution that best fits them. Running a detailing service is nothing like a car wash.

You'll want to know what competition you have out there, what they're charging and what kind of work they do. This could mean hiring them to detail your car. There are tons of ways to market your detailing biz. Including some sneaky ones (gotta pm me for those though). Good luck with your venture, IU hope to buy you out in coming years ;-)

 

There are already many, many companies offering these services, how do you intend to be different?

"personalized" attention doesn't cut it, as they are ALL personalized, that is the whole reason you use them. They come to you, interview you, inspect the car, and do the work to your specific requirements. What is your specific background in car detailing?

This is the one I use, Aaron is in the Seattle area. http://www.3lgautodetail.com/
He has plenty of competition from others, such as MirrorWorks that also does mobile detailing.
http://www.mirrorworksdetail.com/


Also, you have to realize that you cannot try and specialize in Ferraris, the market is just too small for that. Even if you had the connections and reputation in the Ferrari community, I would think it would comprise no more than 20% of your volume, in order to be profitable. It is going to be the BMW, Audi, Mercedes owners that will alllow your business to thrive. If you only want to work around Ferraris, you will be disappointed.

 

Good points F355. Can I ask what has set Aaron apart from other detailers for you? Or was he the first one to come to you? Judging from their websites though, I would go with the one you go with too. He seems to do really good work and knows what he's talking about. The other site has sort of a "one size fits all" mentality with the 'executive wash'. My site is under some work so please don't judge me based on my site haha.

Passion and knowledge are huge things that can set you apart from others. As F355 said, everyone is 'personalized' today. I am working on something now that will set myself apart from others in my area. Once it is actually up and going I will be willing to post it. It's nothing spectacular, but it's something that isn't happening now in my area. So until I'm the first to market with this, I'll keep it quiet. Early '08 it should be rolling out in full steam.

Also like F355 said, you can't just want to do Ferrari's. You can decide to be 'high end' but just one make isn't going to work.

 

I think what won me over with Aaron is that he is essentially a one man shop. He does bring in an additional person now and then on a big job, but for the most part, you are dealing with the owner. Most other business have multiple employees and it is a different person working on your car each time. Aaron is also just an all around good guy, and extremely helpful and sharing of his knowledge.

 

Thats interesting. I am currently a 1 man shop and am enjoying it, but being 25 years old I have goals of becoming much larger. Thank you for noting your reasoning for picking the shop you did. This will help me much in the future. For example, when I do hire more people on, I will try to keep them detailing the same persons vehicles. Something I hadn't thought of until you brought it up. I guess that makes sense though. I always strive for consistency in my work. Consistency doesn't just have to be in the work you do, but also who does the work.

 

You know what I look for? Someone who can actually do the dang job, on a consistent basis. I went through a few people before I found the one I use, and I found him through word of mouth. Too many folks do a good job the first few times, and then take the customer for granted and start cutting corners and doing a lousy job.

Also, don't try to sell me some snake-oil hyper wax.

 

I think you're walking on thin ice with the 24 hour towing and so forth. If you are a detailer, detail. If you are a tow truck driver, bring my vehicle to where it needs to be. Catch my drift? Spreading services out too far will end up costing money. I had offered oil changes and a few other small services that didn't fit into the detailing niche. Rain-x however does fit into that niche... Also, picking up and dropping off cars is something lots of people do. Some clients like it, others don't want you driving their car.

Tillman, thanks for reinforcing the consistency of the work. Too many times you're right, people do a good job the first time to impress then start cutting corners. I keep a checklist for every vehicle I detail. This list ensures I don't cut any corners and is given to my client. If he/she feels that one of the things on the checklist wasn't completed, they get their money back for that portion of the job. It's that simple.

 

good luck. first thing you're gonna need to do is become one of the best detailers around. AFTER you do that, get back to us. few people i know are gonna let you anywhere near their car until you have demonstrated on other cars, many times, you are one of the best. unfortunetly for you, there are already many capable of this and few cars to go around. And we haven't even started to talk about the difficulty of starting and succeeding at a business, any business, yet. I was just talking to my wife five minutes ago about all of her unemployed 40 something friends that are starting craft business's because they want to do something special with their life. A women in her 40's just rented the warehouse space next to me to start her new career as a chinese antique furniture importer. She will not make it to year two. She will probably lose 10k minimum at this. Non of them will succeed. they will all be maybe break even hobbies. My advice to you, is don't expect to pay the mortgage with this new venture anytime soon. sorry to sound so pessimistic, but someone needed to inject a little reality. i have twenty years experience starting and successfully running small biz. but, don't take my word for it. look at your record. you have been trying to do this for twenty five years and you haven't gotten past the concept. Time to look in the mirror and ask yourself if you really can do this at this point. I'm assuming that you are not independently wealthy from your dream job and you will need some income from this to make it.

 

I agree. The only way I let a young detail guy get near my car was on the recommendation of Gary Bobileff (Ferrari tech here in San Diego.) No offense, but there are ton of twentysomethings who want the cachet (real or imagined...) of a Ferrari-related job, or a clientele that can afford these cars, and you need to establish some credentials.

FWIW, the guy who detailed my car (before I moved on to the detailing dept at Symbolic Motors) would do several cars at the homes he serviced regularly. Sometimes that meant a Ferrari, sometimes a Lambo, sometimes a Jag/Porsche/Range Rover/BMW. Mostly he focuses on maintaining that roster of big clients. He does a decent job, but ultimately I needed a place that would tackle the engine bay and interior, and do a proper job on the inside sections of the wheels.

 

No, that is nonsense. if belief in yourself and loyalty to your customers would make you successful, everybody would be doing it. If you stumbled on the cure for cancer and had absolutely no belief in yourself and no loyalty to your "customers" you would be successful in business. the opposite is not true.

There are many things you need to be successful in business. But one thing you absolutely need to have is a product and a NEED. I am so sick of people thinking they can start business' because they WANT to. It doesn't matter what you want. Does someone want what you HAVE? A perfect example is in my business. I have an aquarium service business. Most of the guys that do what i do want to own a retail store. So when they become even slightly successful, they open an aquarium store. This area doesn't need another aquarium store! None have survived that have opened over the last decade. It doesn't matter that your dream is to open the bestest aquarium store in town. We don't NEED another one.

If you are serious, which i don't think you are from your posts, my advice to you would be to take a job in that line of work. or, get another job that pays the bills and start doing this with acuras on the weekends for a couple of years. AFTER you have the skills you are trying to sell, do a market analysis. If a need exists, and you think you can fill it, move ahead.

i mean seriously, you are asking peoples opinions on opening a business detailing and towing the most expensive automobiles and you have never done either.(as far as i can tell from your posts). stop wasting our time. if you weren't here just jerking our chain, the least you would have done is pay the $15 and post this in the right forum.


sorry for being so harsh, this is just a pet peeve of mine.

 

I agree with wetpet on this one. There has to be a need for your service in the area you live in. You mentioned you're from Huston and there are plenty of exotics there. Why would someone choose you over any of the other detailers that have been there for a while?

I disagree with bullfighter though. Age is a number. I'm 25 and have detailed cars for magazines, and have detailed the first jet powered Air Force One. I've been involved with cars for over 10 years including school for auto body. I'm far from inexperienced at what I do. I didn't get a gig detailing Air Force One and 5 other museum aircraft because I'm not good at what I do. I honestly believe I am the best in my area. Luckily for me, my area is a growing area (Charlotte) and there is a need for my business. Being first in market can be a major factor of success. However, just because I feel I'm on the right track for success, I am not successful yet. That takes time. I forget the guys name, but he owns Patron said "It's a cinch by the inch, it's hard by the yard". It is a very true statement. Take small steps toward what your ultimate goal is.

Now, while I believe wetpet is right. I don't believe you should give up on this if it is something you are truly passionate about and really want to do. But as he said, get a job that pays the bills first and do cars on the weekend. Make a name for yourself. Currently I"m in my first year of owning my own detailing business and I'll say that detailing makes up about 20% of my time. The other 80% is out looking for markets to get into, meeting people, paperwork, proving myself as knowledgeable, et cetera. I'm lucky enough to be able to live with my parents right now and have low overhead so I can put my time into this business to make it successful, and I'm well on the way. But it's not like I wake up in the morning with Ferrari owners flooding my phone to have me detail their vehicles. At least not yet. It starts with one, then they tell their friend... I'll be honest, my Marine background got my foot in the door in the high end market. I was at an event and started talking to a guy with an AMG Benz. Turns out he was a Marine too. "Semper Fi" is tattooed on my back and instilled in the hearts of every Marine. It's latin for "always faithful" and this gentleman showed his faithfulness to the Corps by letting me prove myself to him and helping me out. Once you get your foot in the door, it gets easier. You just have to make sure you're ready when opportunity knocks.

I hope I've not been discouraging, but detailing isn't an easy biz to get into. If you're going at it full time right off the bat, be ready to sit up at night wondering how you're gonna pay next months bills sometimes. It happens. Nothing in life worth having comes easy. How bad do you want it?

 

First, thank you for sharing your experience with us. I really like Fchat for such insights on 'real life'. Nevertheless, I have an example of the opposite of what you describe here, and funnily enough, it's about Aquarium stores. We have plenty of stores related to pets around, and some specifically to fish. But the guy who owns the lot next door decided to start another Aquarium business some years ago, he's really passionate about that stuff. He placed 2 garages on the land serving as his storage and set up a small sign in the middle of the town saying something to the lines of "John Doe Aquariums, Anystreet 15". Nothing special so far. Customers have to ring his bell at his home, he then drives to his garages here while the customers wait outside, gets them whatever they want, takes the cash and that's it. No fancy marketing. No flashy store, not even a store at all.His success is solely based on his passion and his comittment to the subject, he fully depends on mouth-to-mouth propaganda, but his business runs that good that he's bought himself a BMW M5 some time ago...

 

certainly, anything can happen. i am surprised he is able to make enough money to support himself and buy a nice car solely based on what you describe. My town, and most in the us are a little different. My point really was that wanting to do something and believing in yourself are only a starting point and not really even the most important. as squeek stated, luck is probably more important than believing in yourself or thinking that your loyal. believe me, after about 100 ****** customers, you'll be questioning your undying loyalty to your customers. it's the product/service that you have and whether anybody wants it that is the most important factor.