Do you want to outsource the detailing of your car?

All organizations must assess their core competencies. As a car dealer, selling, maintaining and repairing cars is definitely your main focus. What about washing and detailing cars?

Conversations with general managers, sales managers, and service managers indicate that managing the detail department is frustrating:

• Fixed cost for a variable service

• High turnover, less professional worker.

• Artistic Personality: Visual thinkers are not a good fit for a dealership’s technical workforce.

• Control of chemicals and equipment is time consuming and distracting

• Performance is critical to overall CSI score

Outsourcing to a professional company with standards, processes, and ethics can be a great way to simplify a basic process and, if done right, turn it into a strategic partnership: a working auto detailing service.

Variable cost structure. By negotiating a price per car for each type of service, you take a fixed cost and make it variable. Plus, by pricing sales preparation and delivery services at one price, you know exactly how much investment you’ll have in a vehicle.

No more staffing problems. Find an outsourced company that provides on-site administration, as well as area administration and marketing support. You end up with a great experience and support at no additional cost. The cost of hiring, including ads, interviews, background checks, and motor vehicle reports, is passed on to the third-party partner.

Reduce the cost of damage. Part of the business of detailing and washing cars is that accidents will happen. When using an outsourced company, the cost of damage associated with the details is the responsibility of the organization causing the damage. This should lower your out-of-pocket deductible costs and lower your insurance premiums.

Invest in a partnership instead of buying a commodity. The real opportunity to outsource the detailed process is in selecting a “professional company” as a partner, rather than just a simple car wash company.

Our sources indicate that with clear performance targets and focus and an outsourced company can help improve CSI scores by providing new and used cars for customer delivery that meet customer expectations. The most common reason for a low survey score is that the car was not clean or presentable, from the perspective of the car owner.

A partner notices that they are working at the “dealer’s house.” Although they recognize that they are guests on your property (using your bays, water, and electricity), they understand that they need to understand your business as a member of the dealership team.

A partner will offer services that the dealer can augment and earn additional revenue: paint touch-up, odor removal, stripping, tin removal, headlight restoration, etc.

In general, by outsourcing the car detailing function to a dealership and selecting the right strategic partner, a car dealer should be able to get the best out of a car detailing service:

• Go from a fixed cost to a variable one

• Simplify personnel headaches

• Add services to expand customer offerings and earn profit

• Improve the consistency of detail quality.