Express Detailing

[Pete-FWA]

Anyone offering this service or know of it in your market? We have one such facility that opened in our area about 6 years ago. They promise a complete "detail" in about an hour.

What you get is a team of people swarming the vehicle, doing a cursory prep wash and pass over the carpet, seats, ashtrays, windows, and finishing with a one step wax and tire dressing.

When this facility started, they were sure it would be the new big thing. The investors in this company were sure it was a big hit since it was building steam in all the major markets. I have seen it in the Chicago suburbs, but that's the extent of my experience.

Curious if it is working or if that market's about at its peak--financially, it takes a volume of business. If not, you'd lose money with 5-6 people standing around for 30-60 minutes waiting for the next job to roll through.

[Five Star]

to make it a profitable business model, just imagine what you have to pay the help.

somewhere in the neighborhood of $6 an hour

but you get what you pay for

I imagine the damage claims would put you out of business fast

[Pete-FWA]

You're probably right on the wages and the damage claims. It just seems too risky, too laden with shortcuts that equal errors.

My sister-in-law took their new Suburban to one of those places last year. It was only a few months old at the time, but they have young children.

The express job didn't damage anything on hers, but the carpets were soooo wet when it was finished. They also weren't very clean. They put that quick wax on the exterior (better than nothing) and dressed the tires. It was acceptable on a nearly new vehicle.

This might be a good service for the dealers sending large volumes of wholesale units to the auction. When I was in business, we did a great deal of vehicles where they only wanted a "fluff" kind of cleanup. We'd set up shop for a day or two, depending on how many units we'd get at a time, and do nothing but these express jobs. Long days, tons of vehicles passed through the shop, and somehow many of us felt we didn't do much beyond glorified car washes.