Have you thought of adding Headlight Repair to your auto detailing business? A new set of sealed beam headlights on a New Jeep Cherokee could run as high as $70, however your team can make money lightly sanding and coating these headlights with the Micro-Glass product in the Micro-Mesh Kit by Micro Surface Corporation. It is important for the detailing companies to constantly review such products, this innovation has propelled our team to come up with the solutions for our fleet customers and help us bundle services to compete against the other large vendors to these fleet companies. One company we compete with out of New Jersey does offer this service, but we do and we are able to use this to our advantage on bidding on fleet detailing work.
This is just one more way you can bundle services to provide a value added service to your customers. We have talked to managers of fleet wash companies and fleet detailing companies in their various markets. Some of these managers have told us they have been looking into doing headlight restoration, because their customers are now asking for the service. Many of the high-end to Auto detailing shops do offer headlight restoration using various methods. Recently with the floods that we’ve had in the United States, we have seen Auto auctions start to offer this service also. Generally the Auto auctions that we’ve seen do not know how to deal with sealed beams, instead they’re much better with none sealed beams, and by removing the lens and wiping down the inside and using glass wax they are able to make the lenses look transparent and therefore the car looks sellable as runs through the auto auctions.
We have noticed a new trend with our fleet customers, and they are wanting to save more money. In the last couple of decades large car and truck fleet managers have often removed and replaced normal wearable items. Today as fleet customers want to save more money, due to a take mean of the belts of upper management onto middle management, they are asking for repairs on things like mirrors, bumpers, body trim, seats and even headlights. It all started with windshield repair about 15 years ago. Rather than replacing a window or windshield you would simply replace the hole or crack with resin. This trend is increasing.
At the last mobile tech Expo in Orlando, Florida we saw at least 10 vendors for windshield repair, to vendors for plastic repair, six vendors for upholstery repair, and even a vendor who sold a acrylic headlight and lens repair in a small box kit. The cost to replace headlights for a fleet of vehicles can easily cost thousands of dollars. We have found that there is actually competition, which approaches fleet shop owners and managers asking for ways to keep their fleets headlights in shape.
Detailing Under the Hood correctly can bring in extra business for a Detail Shop, which often does wholesale detailing for new car dealerships with trade-ins or used car dealerships with a never-ending stream of hap hazardly detailed cars from the auto auctions. One thing many detailers do not pay enough attention to is the Battery Box, Battery, cables and terminals. When a car buyer looks under the hood and sees the battery is covered with greenish-white residue they are hardly impressed. When the car does not start either it is a little tough to sell. Also a light film of battery acid on the out side of the battery can be enough to cause a 2% negative charge and slowly drain the battery. You can get an extra ten dollars for a battery cleaning.
If you wholesale detail price is hovering around $65.00 you will find that for an extra $10.00 that most dealers are willing to pay for it. When customers come in on a retail level we often get $15.00 for battery and terminal cleaning. You do not need very many supplies to do this. A plastic terminal wire brush cleaner, a metal brush with a wood handle, air hose, safety glasses, one-half inch wrenches, loctite battery protector and sealer, an empty water bottle with a pot sip cap, one gallon container of distilled water, some solid gloves and some baking soda. A tray to lay your equipment on is also a good idea. If you do this on a retail detail advise the customer that they will need to reset everything afterwards. Clocks, etc.
Car detailing is an absolute clean up program for your car. Its a perfect sprucing up curriculum and is not just about cleaning, washing and polishing the exterior of the car. It involves a lot of tidying of the interior as well. Routine car detailing is sure to prove beneficial for your car. Every penny you spend for the detailing job (if you go for professional detailing services) and every effort you put in (if you decide to do it on your own) will go on to prevent damages to the vehicle and restore its good looks.
The car detailing job is not all that complicated and you will not need to pick up any special skill or technique for it. The first detailing tip suggested by most car manufacturers and professionals providing car detailing services is to start cleaning from inside. This is essentially a three-step plan involving vacuuming, cleaning and conditioning.
From 1990 to 1995 we saw a rise in automotive related services. Service related industries represent the fastest growing sector of the national economy and automobile related business services will continue to reflect that growth. These services as a whole grew in excess of 125% over the five-year period from 1990-1995, compared to an overall GNP growth of 29.5% during that same time. These trends continued from 1995 to 2000 and then leveled off. After 2002 another steady climb ensued with as much or more vigor than in the 1990-1995 period.
As the United States moves to more economical and ecological fuels, some automobile related services will drastically decrease; businesses such as Oil Change companies, Tune Up companies and Engine Repair companies, but we cannot expect this for at least another 5 years and then it will only be visible. As electric cars are introduced, these services simply won’t be needed. Car washing will go unchanged. In the United States, the automobile will always be a status symbol and extension of one’s personality; therefore car washing will always be a valuable service. The last three years, while the GNP has been recorded with goog percentages, the mobile car wash and auto detailing industries have continued to enjoy expanded markets and substantial profits.