car lot accounts

Baesthetic

New Member
Hi I just got my first car lot account. I'm excited cause it's the first account that will generate some residual income. I was wondering if anyone could give me some tips and or what chemicals to use. I used some generic "vehicle wash" from Lowes. It wasn't good at all. Also how do I get around needing to wipe the cars down as to not leave spots. If I can just wash and rinse I know I can make some money doin cars. Wiping them down is just too labor intensive. Any advice is greatly appreciated!!

Jeremy Yoder
Business Aesthetics
Nixa, Mo

417.207.0179
BAesthetic@yahoo.com
 

Aplus

New Member
I couldn't imagine signing up work while not knowing how to perform the job....now that's scary.

You need to use the search function of this board and start reading everything you can find.

I know how exciting it is to line up new steady business, but it is paramount to have experience or at least a good knowledge of what you're going to do.

You are going to need to invest in some new equipment and chems to do this job effiecently. Hopefully you built that into your pricing.

Good Luck.

If there are particulars you can't find, then feel free to ask away.
 

Dan S

New Member
Tony,
You typed what most of us were thinking >> I cant add much more! Except I hope he is paying for insurance.

( I moved this thread to the proper place )
 
Last edited:

5 Star Johnny

New Member
BOY......are you in for a ride!! I agree with the previous posts in regard to obtaining an account without having all the proper knowledge or experience. That said, here's my input.

We use to (USE TO) wash roughly 3,000 cars weekly. Our method was cold water wash (1 sprayer) with 2 chamois guys behind. No chems! (Unless I'm missing something, don't know why you'd use chems unless what you're offering is a soap, rinse & dry. In that case, if you're not charging $3 - $4 per car, you're gonna' loose your A*!@#., and lucky if you could do 100 cars per day.)

We had to start at sunrise so we could be "mostly" done before the dealerships opened, and avoid the high heat in the afternoon. Even then, on a 300 - 500 car lot, we'd still be spraying during operating hours. Wandering customers will slow you way down. Every car dealer wanted washing no sooner than wednesdays, and most want Friday so the cars are "standing tall" for the weekend. This limits any other work you can schedule toward the weeks end. THEN...it looks like rain tomorrow!! The dealers never understood that rain doesn't clean the cars. We'd literrally be calling the crews at 10 - 11 pm, or 4 - 5 am to let them know if we were working that day. If we had to call off the wash, we'd have to hope there was something else to do to fill the void.

Spot free? An RO system (reverse osmosis) is the only TRUE way for spotless without chamoising. Extremely expensive option and not feasible to carry that much water for a large lot. Yes, you could do this with a large cube van with a mounted RO system, but maneauvering around a lot gets difficult. I tried all sorts of spot free rinse agents, soft water, etc. when I did winter washes - nothing really worked to our satisfaction.

Labor......A headache in any business, but......As I stated we had 3 man crews. If one guy doesn't show up, nobody works. I chamois guy can not keep up to a sprayer. Better have young, healthy people. That much bending, reaching, wiping, etc. gets REALLY tiring.

Insurance.....If you don't have it already, lock up your equipment and find another hobby please! Hoses get dragged over the fender of a car and leave scratches. OOPS - $500.00 Your spray pressure just lifted off loose paint on a used car (used cars demand greater attention from the sprayer because of loose paint, trim parts, etc.). OOPS - $500.00 Not to mention employee injuries that can occur and the fact that you have people walking around the lot between cars and suddenly pop out behind a row directly into your spray.

Maintenance......this work is hell on machine wear. There were times we'd be running 500+ foot of hose (between supply & pressure) which is not good for the pump. We'd run the machine non-stop for 1 - 2 hours at a time. Cars running over the hose, and on and on and on.

Our average price was $1.35 per car, averaging 55 cars per hour. We paid the crews per car - $.20 - $.25 per car, per crew member. At $.25 for instance, our gross profit was $.60 per car, which really wasn't bad but didn't outweigh the other issues.

The moral of this story: We completely cut out our car wash service. We maintained sales the following year by focusing on more profitable business and reduced our payroll by 85%!!! We eliminated a ton of liability and cost for maintenance etc. Now we're in control of our schedule instead of the dealerships.

Yes....you can make money doing cars. You can make money at ANYTHING if you have enough business sense and there's a market.

Hope all this info. helps. Good Luck!
 

the_GUNN_man

New Member
Let me start out by saying that I get between $2.75 and $3.20 per car. That is why we do more then most such as hand washing.

We use a light wash and wax soap. A 5 gallon bucket of our soap can wash about 8,000 to 10,000 cars. That is how much we cut it. Most dealership cars are just dusty. We soap the cars then we use wool mitts and mitt the whole car down. We use a car mop for the hood, trunk, roof, and windshields. After that we rinse using a soft water rinse and then follow that up with a quick DI rinse. Then we go back and towel dry the hoods, trunks, and windows. We find that even with DI water there is still some spotting. We do this with 2 guys and do about 22 cars per hour which is about $60 to $70 per hour depending on the price.

We have tried many many methods and this is what works for us. Many people think they can wash cars without touching them. I don't see how that is done. Even 3,000 psi won't take a dust film off the car. You still need to use something to break that bond. That is done by washing with mitts or using a chamois. RO water would be nice to use since it is a lot cheaper but them you must fill your tank at the shop with RO water. DI water is on demand so there is no need to bring all the water with you.
 

mountain view

New Member
Although I've never had a car lot account as a pressure washing contractor, I did deal with a couple of them when I was in the pressure washer sales business. With one, I sold a pretty elaborate DI system with cold water unit and a water tank mounted on a pickup truck so they could rinse the cars themselves. As a pressure washing contractor, I will never even look at car lot accounts. They are the biggest pain in the a**. Expect perfection for free.
 

jdmartin

New Member
Alot of peeps just give you the advice you ask for, sometimes you may not like what alot of knowledgeable and professional people have to say. You need to think about the first question you asked on this thread, maybe you would not be so upset at people that tell you the truth. Know your job, know your equipment plus types of chems to use and plan from point A to Z.
 

Etinik

New Member
Pricing for fleet

Hello,

I own a mobile detailing service and just landed a fleet account. 14 , 25 passenger busses. I'm trying to decide how to charge. They told me that they are paying $25 for a regular wash and $40 for the full detail. I thought that was crazy. Our regular wash package on a full size SUV alone is $50, so a bus (in my mind) should definitely be more than that. Is there a standard or system to use when trying to price fleet detailing????
 

Larry L.

PWN TEAM - Moderator Emeritus
How did you land the account without even knowing how much to charge for the wash,anyway..

If you'll notice the above post(s) they charge anywhere from 1.35 to 3.20 per car,I'm sure you get more in your line of work.Most of us get our price(s) from the speed we think we can do,in other words how many cars,trucks,buses we can wash per hour plus the size of the fleet has a bearing on price.We all have a set price we charge per hour,depending on the account as to size,ease of work and if water is on site.I get 30,35 and 40 for a tractor truck(18 wheeler),20 to 30 for the 53 ft. trailer.Some get 8 to 12 on the same tractor and 6 to 8 on the trailer.You can wash twice as many cars with a 5 gpm rig as to a 2.5 rig,gpm plays a big part in fleet pricing.For 14,25 passenager bus 25 is somewhat top dallor in fleet washing.
 

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