How to Open & Operate a Financially Successful Car Detailing Business

By Eileen Sandlin

Are you looking to open a business that offers an endless stream of repeat customers, has a flexible work schedule, and allows you to make as much money as you are willing to put into it? If the answer is yes, then perhaps the car detailing business is for you. The average price for a complete car detail is $150 to $300.

With this book, you will learn the most efficient ways to start and run a full-time business with a minimal amount of money, all in a minimal amount of time. This complete kit will address the question of whether you will have your own shop or whether you will be a traveling service, going straight to the customers’ locations, as well as the business information that you will need to know to handle each situation.

If you plan on opening a full-scale detailing operation, this book can help you with information on how computer systems can assist you with saving time and money, how to hire and keep a qualified professional staff, and much more. This book outlines thousands of great tips and useful guidelines so you will be well on your way to working at the car wash — and owning one.

The Companion CD-ROM is not available for download with this electronic version of the book but it may be obtained separately by contacting Atlantic Publishing Group at [e-mail].

Atlantic Publishing is a small, independent publishing company based in Ocala, Florida. Founded over twenty years ago in the company president’s garage, Atlantic Publishing has grown to become a renowned resource for non-fiction books. Today, over 450 titles are in print covering subjects such as small business, healthy living, management, finance, careers, and real estate. Atlantic Publishing prides itself on producing award winning, high-quality manuals that give readers up-to-date, pertinent information, real-world examples, and case studies with expert advice. Every book has resources, contact information, and web sites of the products or companies discussed.

This Atlantic Publishing eBook was professionally written, edited, fact checked, proofed and designed. You receive exactly the same content as the print version of this book. Over the years our books have won dozens of book awards for content, cover design and interior design including the prestigious Benjamin Franklin award for excellence in publishing. We are proud of the high quality of our books and hope you will enjoy this eBook version.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Atlantic Publishing Group Inc.
• Release date: Nov 14, 2010
• ISBN: 9781601386809

Book preview

How to Open & Operate a Financially Successful

Car Detailing

Business

Eileen Figure Sandlin

With Foreword By RL Bud Abraham,

president of Detail Plus Car Appearance Systems

How to Open & Operate a Financially Successful Car Detailing Business: With Companion CD-ROM

Copyright © 2010 Atlantic Publishing Group, Inc.

1405 SW 6th Avenue • Ocala, Florida 34471 • Phone [phone] • Fax [phone]

Web site: www.atlantic-pub.com • E-mail: [e-mail]

SAN Number: 268-1250

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be sent to Atlantic Publishing Group, Inc., 1405 SW 6th Avenue, Ocala, Florida 34471.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Sandlin, Eileen Figure.

How to open & operate a financially successful car detailing business : with companion CD-ROM / by Eileen Figure Sandlin.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-13: 978-1-60138-279-5 (alk. paper)

ISBN-10: 1-60138-279-0 (alk. paper)

1. Automobile detailing. 2. New business enterprises--Management. I. Title. II. Title: How to open and operate a financially successful car detailing business.

TL152.15.S26 2010

629.28’72--dc22

2010004187

All trademarks, trade names, or logos mentioned or used are the property of their respective owners and are used only to directly describe the products being provided. Every effort has been made to properly capitalize, punctuate, identify and attribute trademarks and trade names to their respective owners, including the use of ® and ™ wherever possible and practical. Atlantic Publishing Group, Inc. is not a partner, affiliate, or licensee with the holders of said trademarks.

LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or Web site is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Web site may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Web sites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.

A few years back we lost our beloved pet dog Bear, who was not only our best and dearest friend but also the Vice President of Sunshine here at Atlantic Publishing. He did not receive a salary but worked tirelessly 24 hours a day to please his parents.

Bear was a rescue dog who turned around and showered myself, my wife, Sherri, his grandparents Jean, Bob, and Nancy, and every person and animal he met (well, maybe not rabbits) with friendship and love. He made a lot of people smile every day.

We wanted you to know a portion of the profits of this book will be donated in Bear’s memory to local animal shelters, parks, conservation organizations, and other individuals and nonprofit organizations in need of assistance.

– Douglas and Sherri Brown

PS: We have since adopted two more rescue dogs: first Scout, and the following year, Ginger. They were both mixed golden retrievers who needed a home.

Want to help animals and the world? Here are a dozen easy suggestions you and your family can implement today:

Adopt and rescue a pet from a local shelter.

Support local and no-kill animal shelters.

Plant a tree to honor someone you love.

Be a developer — put up some birdhouses.

Buy live, potted Christmas trees and replant them.

Make sure you spend time with your animals each day.

Save natural resources by recycling and buying recycled products.

Drink tap water, or filter your own water at home.

Whenever possible, limit your use of or do not use pesticides.

If you eat seafood, make sustainable choices.

Support your local farmers market.

Get outside. Visit a park, volunteer, walk your dog, or ride your bike.

Five years ago, Atlantic Publishing signed the Green Press Initiative. These guidelines promote environmentally friendly practices, such as using recycled stock and vegetable-based inks, avoiding waste, choosing energy-efficient resources, and promoting a no-pulping policy. We now use 100-percent recycled stock on all our books. The results: in one year, switching to post-consumer recycled stock saved 24 mature trees, 5,000 gallons of water, the equivalent of the total energy used for one home in a year, and the equivalent of the greenhouse gases from one car driven for a year.

Dedication

To Edward and Eleanore Figure

Your boundless love and support make my heart soar.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Introduction

Chapter 1: Detailing 101: Business Basics

Chapter 2: Putting Your Business Into Gear

Chapter 3: Test Driving Your Market

Chapter 4: Legal and Administrative Details

Chapter 5: Mapping Out the Business

Chapter 6: Setting Up Shop

Chapter 7: Car Love

Chapter 8: Buffer Zone

Chapter 9: Your Pit and Polish Crew

Chapter 10: Owner’s Guide to Advertising

Chapter 11: Publicity 101 for Fun and Profit

Chapter 12: Financing Primer

Chapter 13: Approaching the Finish Line

Conclusion: Start Your Engines

Appendix A: The Sample Business Plan

Appendix B: Sample Performance Evaluations and Employment Forms

Appendix C: Market Research Survey

Appendix D: Resources

Glossary of Terms

Bibliography

Author Biography

Foreword

For years, auto detailing was nothing more than an automotive car care service done by or for the auto dealer to get used cars ready for resale.

If an individual was doing the work for the dealer, he or she typically did it from a back-alley operation that had access to water and could handle a few cars. There was little professionalism about the work, the people, the technology, or the facility itself because the only thing the auto dealer cared about was a cheap price and a fast turn-around to get the vehicle to the lot for resale.

In the late 1970s, we began to see some changes occurring in the U.S. and Canadian market — mainly, the rise in vehicle prices. As prices increased, the financing terms began to increase from the 12- and 24-month contracts of the ‘70s to the 60- or 84-month contracts today. The average price of a new car in 1978 was $6,379. Today, that price is $27,000. The average length someone owned a vehicle in 1978 about three years. Today, it is reported to be about six years. People are paying more for their vehicles, keeping them longer, and recognizing that they represent a substantial investment, often the second-largest investment next to their house.

Couple this with changes that were occurring in society. More women were working outside the home, and families had more disposable income, but less time. As a result, people became more protective of their leisure time and did not want to spend weekends washing and waxing their cars, cutting their lawn, or cleaning their gutters. They began to seek others to do these things for them. The United States and Canada were moving from a do-it-yourself economy to a more do-it-for-me economy. And in the automatic carwash business, you see a huge proliferation of such facilities springing up all over the country, reflecting the consumer demand for others to take care of their motor vehicles for them.

All of a sudden, auto detailing, which had long been the ugly duckling of the car care industry, was a car care service that motorists were looking for but could not find it because most of the operations focused on providing the work for auto dealers only. Furthermore, typical motorists were not even familiar with the service. They knew they wanted someone to polish and wax their cars, clean and shampoo their interiors, and maybe steam clean the engine, but they were not aware what this was called or where they could get such services done. Many turned to the auto dealer, the gas station, the body shop, and the car wash in search of such a service. And, in most cases, they were rebuked because even these auto care businesses did not provide such services to individuals. However, as motorists became more persistent in their request for the services, automatic car wash businesses realized there was a potential to offer such services to their customers, and that began the retail auto detailing business.

There were some bumps in the road to legitimize auto detailing as a retail service, but by-and-large, car wash businesses began to enjoy excellent revenues by offering detailing to the public. For many, the commitment to providing full-service restoration detailing services was more than they wanted to do, so the car wash industry began to focus on a more simple detail service, what is now known as express maintenance detailing services. Whereas restoration services were performed on older cars in poor condition, maintenance services were performed on new or well-maintained cars in 30 minutes or less. This fit perfectly for the car wash operation, where a customer was already there for ten to 30 minutes.

As the consumer demand for detailing services continued to grow, alert investors began to enter the business, both individuals and franchise-type operations. Not knowing much about the business, many of these early operations failed due to lack of information. This brings us to How to Open & Operate a Financially Successful Car Detailing Business: With Companion CD-ROM, a complete resource for anyone wanting to know what it takes to establish a detailing business. The information in this book has been well researched, calling on detailing industry experts from both the supplier and operator level to provide information and insights for the budding entrepreneur. The writing is fun, humorous, and not at all boring, as many how-to books can be. The reader is given a basic, step-by-step primer of the necessary steps to establish a business in general and also the specifics involved in a business that offers detailing services. While this book is not the final answer, it offers the reader more than enough information to get them started and provides excellent sources to find more information on every subject discussed.

As the founder of Detail Plus Car Appearance Systems and a 40-year veteran in the carwash and detail business as an operator, distributor, and manufacturer, I found the information in this book invaluable, and you will, too, in your quest to establish your own detailing business. Even experienced detailers — many of whom do not have a great deal of business savvy — can benefit from reading this book and taking advantage of the resources provided. How to Open & Operate a Financially Successful Car Detailing Business is a well-written, easy-to-read, informative publication that anyone involved in or interested in getting into the detailing business should read.

RL Bud Abraham, president

Detail Plus Car Appearance Systems

Portland, Oregon

RL Bud Abraham, founder and president of Detail Plus Car Appearance Systems, is a 40-year veteran in the car appearance industry and is considered the top expert in the worldwide car detailing field. He is the founder and executive director of the International Detailing Association, a member of the Western Carwash Association Board of Directors, and has served as a board member for the International Carwash Association on three occasions. He writes regular columns on the subject of auto detailing and appearance care in several major trade journals, and consults on the subjects worldwide.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Americans love their cars. They rack up billions of miles on their odometers every year, they deck them out with custom wheels and accessories, and they lovingly pamper them in garages all across the United States so they can show them off in custom car shows or street cruises, or just have them gleaming in their driveway. So it is no surprise this love affair with cars and other vehicles — which has spanned more than 100 years — has spawned a very lucrative, professional car detailing market.

Car detailers do much more than just wash, wax, and clean or shampoo the interior of their vehicles, although those services are certainly at the heart of their job. They also provide a number of specialized services to help restore vehicles to showroom condition. This may include everything from upholstery reconditioning and odor removal, to window tinting, paintless dent repair (PDR), paint protection, carpet dyeing, and much more.

That is where you come in. Because you are reading this book, you are probably a car aficionado and enjoy sleek new cars, family sedans, and vintage autos alike. A career as a detailer could be the dream job you have always wanted and, best of all, you can make plenty of money doing it — a lot of money, in fact. All it takes are good detailing skills and a dose of savvy business acumen to keep the whole operation cranking.

You will find all the information you need to launch your own car detailing business — from the behind-the-scenes administrative work to the actual task of buffing and polishing — right here in How to Open & Operate a Financially Successful Car Detailing Business. So let us get our engines roaring.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Detailing 101: Business Basics

Despite the huge upheaval in the American auto industry in 2009 because of the bankruptcies of the giant manufacturers General Motors and Chrysler, American car culture is still very much alive. The Federal Highway Administration reports that the U.S. has the most passenger vehicles of any country in the world. A 2006 U.S. Department of Transportation survey pegs that number at nearly 251 million registered vehicles, which far exceeds the number of licensed drivers. In fact, according to the U.S. Census Bureau POPClock, the population of the entire country was more than 308 million in late 2009, so in essence there is more than 4/5 of a vehicle for every person — babies, toddlers, and children, too — in our land.

Here is another interesting statistic: A study by the National Automobile Dealers Association indicates that the average age of the cars in operation in 2007 — the latest year for which statistics are available — was 9.2 years, while the average age of light trucks was 7.1 years. People are holding on to their cars longer for many reasons, the biggest of which might be the unstable economy. And as vehicle quality improves, so does life expectancy. The escalating cost of cars and other vehicles also undoubtedly plays a role in the public’s decision to drive the wheels off their wheels.

What all this means for you, the aspiring car detailer, is that you will have many opportunities to bathe, buff, polish, restore, and otherwise pamper those vehicles to make them look like new again. If history is any indication, Americans’ love for their cars will not be dimmed by encroaching age. If anything, car buffs and ordinary folks alike should be more interested than ever in the restorative services you will provide as a car detailer.

Detailing as a profession has been around for only a few decades, but the concept actually was conceived in 1901 when furniture polish maker Frank Meguiar Jr. realized that the excellent wood polish he mixed with an eggbeater also could be applied to the sides of the wooden horseless carriages produced by Ransom Olds and Henry Ford. Until the 1940s, however, only the wealthiest citizens had the means to have their vehicles detailed. After World War II, auto dealers realized that a little spit and polish could make used vehicles look new and exciting again, and they started adding full-service detailing departments to their establishments.

While detailing pretty much always has had a place in car culture, the profession experienced a renaissance toward the end of the 20th century, no doubt because of the tendency of car owners to keep their vehicles longer. Back in 1969, the median age for cars was 5.1 years. As the average age has increased, so has the demand for auto-detailing services — as well as the need for new detailers to handle all that business.

If you have ever painstakingly washed and waxed your car (by hand, of course), then you already have the basic skills needed to be a detailer. But as mentioned earlier, there is much more to detailing than cleaning, shampooing, and polishing. Other services commonly offered by detailers include PDR, paint touch-up, odor removal, upholstery repair, windshield chip repair, and carpet dyeing.

But before moving on, it is important to note what detailing is not. Detailing in the purest sense does not involve pinstriping a car, adding bodyside moldings, bolting on bike racks, adding fender flares, or applying window graphics; those are customizing services. Detailing refers only to the cleaning and polishing of vehicles. This is not to say you cannot offer customizing services as part of a full-service detailing shop. But, frankly, it is much easier to start a new business that focuses on just a few services rather than to try to be the king — or queen — of automotive services right out of the gearbox. If you try to do too much, you will quickly find yourself overwhelmed and burned out. Instead, start small and aspire to big things later.

Case Study: A Sense of Professionalism

RL Bud Abraham

Detail Plus Car Appearance Systems Inc.

P.O. Box 20755

Portland, OR 97294

Phone: [phone] (toll free)

Fax: [phone]

E-mail: [e-mail]

Web site: www.detailplus.com

RL Bud Abraham has been involved with the car care industry for nearly 40 years. He was the owner of two Detail Plus Detailing Centers in Portland, Oregon, for ten years and is the founder and president of Detail Plus Car Appearance Systems Inc., a leading manufacturer of auto-detailing systems and related car-care systems and products. There are more than 25 Detail Plus centers around the world, including locations in the Middle East, eastern and western Europe, Central America, Mexico, and the Mediterranean.

A graduate of the University of Portland with both Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees, Abraham has served the detailing industry in many ways. He was a member on the board of directors for the International Carwash Association and, at press time, was a member of the Western Carwash Association. He is the founding member of the Professional Detailing Association and the International Detailing Association, as well as the first executive director of each organization. He is or has been the detailing editor for several trade journals, including Professional Carwashing & Detailing, Detailer’s Digest, and Auto Remarketing and is a frequent contributor to numerous auto-detailing online forums. He is a frequent speaker at industry trade shows, including Car Care World Expo, Mobile Tech & Detailing Expo, Midwest Carwash Association Expo, and Car Care Expo.

Abraham has witnessed many changes in the world of detailing over four decades, but notes that the industry’s basic technology and methodology has remained the same.

It is still an industry using primitive technology, like heavy electric buffers, shop vacuums, chemicals in plastic bottles, rags, and buckets, he said. There [continues to be a] general mess and disorganization in shops, which are operated mostly by wanna-be entrepreneurs with no formal training and not much business savvy.

This is one thing Abraham said he would certainly like to see change. He believes the low cost of entry for mobile-detailing operations has contributed