# Average price to dealerships?



## Cullers (Sep 29, 2009)

I'm playing around with a business plan financial template, what is the average price if a dealership/car sales asks you to do vehicles for them? I know it will be dependent on number but from my experience I have found they expect it to be done for a silly price. Feedback please?


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## *MAGIC* (Feb 22, 2007)

I wont deal with them.

Unless they fully understand what is involved and agree the price.


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## Leemack (Mar 6, 2009)

You going into valeting then Cullers


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## Cullers (Sep 29, 2009)

Well its either that or male escort/gigolo (or giggle-o more likely!).
I'm still doing some management/business consultancy but am seriously thinking about it. Spoke to a few people round here and they have said there is no-one doing it. 
Last weekend, I went into Tesco and there is a permanent kosova type car wash/valeting service outside (portacabin, cover, the lot) and they were attacking a Rolls Royce. Whats more I've seen them using aquablades on Porsches and AMG Mercs. Somebody has got to save the prestige cars of Eastbourne!!!


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## nicp2007 (Apr 25, 2007)

depends if you are goin to main dealer and wanting to detail there or if you are wanting a valeting contract with them with a couple of lads working under you,

if it's the later, then i know the dealerships round here pay around £25 for a used valet and £15 for a new and if you mentioned detailing they would cry,

if you are looking at detailing for dealers it will have to aim for the performance dealers, and then again they don't like to pay for it,

i know a guy round here is doin dealers cars for nearly half price,


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## Ti22 (Mar 24, 2009)

You'll not get much from dealers. Most have got their in house 'moppers' and don't want to pay the money. Was in mercedes bristol yesterday, and they have a v12 twin turbo CL in there for 46k. It's black and the paint is shocking. I asked if it had been prepared for sale and they proudly said their in house team have done it. I told them it was in a shocking state and needed doing properly..

It was met with a grunt, and a 'I can't see what's wrong with it'.


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## karl0308 (Mar 11, 2009)

sorry to hijack the post mate, I have just been offered a contract with a dealer. Not sure full details as yet until Thursday, its £35 used valet and have 8 to do to start with and we will go from there to see if they want me permanently. What I want to know is, If they want my services and I will require a couple of staff to work under me, What type of insurances will i need. Bearing in mind they will be working at the dealers. Thanks in advance


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## BIG BAVARIAN (May 7, 2006)

Most dealers around here use contract valet companies,direct valet or autoclenz.

I called into a local used supercar dealer around here, a while back,after i was told they would be interested in paint correction, on some of their cars,namely an aston DBS,i showed them my 10 year old bmw to which their jaws dropped at the finish,"O.k how much for a finish like that" ,so i quoted roughly £200 for 20-30 hours work, keeping it cheap to get a foot in the door,to which the showroom owner burst out laughing,i have a guy who will valet it inside and out and machine polish it for £50 !!!!.I did not bother to tell him the finer points of swirl removal, as i was obviously wasting my time,but thats about it living in west yorkshire ,you may have better luck in the south.


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## Divine (Jul 16, 2009)

Ok, short story - I was asked if I could do a weeks cover at a local Renault/mitubishi garage just doing a bit of valeting....I thought its probably better than doing nothing for the week...

We agreed a price of £40 for a full valet inside and out....I thought yea ok, so I ended up doing about 2 per day, but also getting paid (my prices, not his) £9 per hour on top of that...In the week I ended up getting a cheque for around £750! 

But heres the interesting bit, they didnt give a FLYING DUCK about the cars, I was also doing 'service washing' with a garden brush and NEAT G101 as a pre wash - It stripped everything! Its shocking, neat wheel cleaner which burnt my hands etc....The cars ended up AWFUL, I actually refused to clean a 09 plate Evo in Black because I didnt want to cause any damage to the car (Detailer at heart here) but I was told I HAD too as it was part of the service...I still refused and the owner actually thanked me! Shut the dealership up for a little bit...

Anyway, It was horrible, I hated doing it, I told them im used to spending at least 1.5 hours outside on the wash bay, I actually attracted a crowd at that comment as I was then told I had MAX 5 minutes on the wash bay....

But, cant complain for £750 for a weeks work...


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## adam87 (Dec 11, 2008)

Why do people come on to DW and ask for advice on how to run their business?? :tumbleweed:

How much to charge, do I need insurance, what do I do, how do I use this? 

eh?

It's YOUR business, not DW's. Unless you want to give DW a % of your business for helping you a long the way? :wall:


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## james_19742000 (May 8, 2008)

I think its a fair question to ask on here about things, many people on here have detailing etc as a hobby, and many would ideally like to make a living from it of they could, I believe there is a certain amount of a trade off between financial benefit and doing something you enjoy?

But I think what people try to get from this site is the basic understanding of, is it worth me switching careers and doing something I really enjoy and earn a living at the same time, or do I stay in the same job with a guaranteed wage??

Personally I think I would enjoy doing something I have a passion for (done it with another hobby years ago and got a great deal from it) however my personal circumstances dictate these days I couldnt even if I wanted to.

So yes, I think its a fair question to raise the queries about insurance, equipment, costings etc etc etc

And yes I believe DW does stand to gain, as the OP if he so decided to take his thoughts to a proffesional level could well become a supporter of DW and have teh ability to post in 'The Studio' which I believe comes at a price, we get to see some of the work acheived, and surely having more pro detailers out there cant be a bad thing can it???

Anyway, just my view!


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## Andy300zx (Mar 18, 2010)

james_19742000 said:


> I think its a fair question to ask on here about things, many people on here have detailing etc as a hobby, and many would ideally like to make a living from it of they could, I believe there is a certain amount of a trade off between financial benefit and doing something you enjoy?
> 
> But I think what people try to get from this site is the basic understanding of, is it worth me switching careers and doing something I really enjoy and earn a living at the same time, or do I stay in the same job with a guaranteed wage??
> 
> ...


Excellently put


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## Lewis-D (Dec 22, 2009)

Ti22 said:


> You'll not get much from dealers. Most have got their in house 'moppers' and don't want to pay the money. Was in mercedes bristol yesterday, and they have a v12 twin turbo CL in there for 46k. It's black and the paint is shocking. I asked if it had been prepared for sale and they proudly said their in house team have done it. I told them it was in a shocking state and needed doing properly..
> 
> It was met with a grunt, and a 'I can't see what's wrong with it'.


in house valeters my a** !!!! i work for autoclenz and i can safely say that last year autoclenz had staff working there!!!! it may have changed since i moved from the bristol area but i can find out! i dont like admitting the fact i work for this company as the reputation it and its (self) employees isn't exactly the greatest but there are a few car care nuts who work for them, such as myself, im not the greatest with the machine polisher but im going to be buying my own soon and i will be attending one of the classes run through DW in the aim of not being one of these " moppers "

as i said befor i work for autoclenz/pinacle, i work at a mercedes dealership, and i know that they charge mercedes 25 for a used valet and the valeters take 14 of that, for a new car they charge 15 and valeters take 7, they charge 25 for a mop and valeters take 9. i'll try find out more charges later on.

the work is plentiful but you get treated like a scumbag in most places, here however we are actually treated quite well by mercedes, but by autoclenz we're just an opporator number... it's essentially slave labour not for minimum wage!!

if you need anymore inside autoclenz info then just ask and i'll try to help!


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## paulmc08 (Feb 3, 2009)

Lewis-D said:


> in house valeters my a** !!!! i work for autoclenz and i can safely say that last year autoclenz had staff working there!!!! it may have changed since i moved from the bristol area but i can find out! i dont like admitting the fact i work for this company as the reputation it and its (self) employees isn't exactly the greatest but there are a few car care nuts who work for them, such as myself, im not the greatest with the machine polisher but im going to be buying my own soon and i will be attending one of the classes run through DW in the aim of not being one of these " moppers "
> 
> as i said befor i work for autoclenz/pinacle, i work at a mercedes dealership, and i know that they charge mercedes 25 for a used valet and the valeters take 14 of that, for a new car they charge 15 and valeters take 7, they charge 25 for a mop and valeters take 9. i'll try find out more charges later on.
> 
> ...


£25 for a used valet? is that in and out,seats steam cleaned,plastic's cleaned and dressed,glass cleaned,and then exterior washed,de-tarred,dryed,polished,plastic's and trim's dressed also tyre's,glass cleaned.


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## markcoznottz (Nov 13, 2005)

adam87 said:


> Why do people come on to DW and ask for advice on how to run their business?? :tumbleweed:
> 
> How much to charge, do I need insurance, what do I do, how do I use this?
> 
> ...


Probably because they dont know anything about the trade?. It kind of gives it away when people ask basic questions about start ups.

Pretty scary trade to be going into, and as has been mentioned you will not get main dealer work as a newbie, autoclenz, direct, motorclean, have all the big contracts sown up. Best way to learn is on the job, go work for one of these companies for a year, you will hate but you will learn LOADS.


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## JasonPD (Jan 8, 2010)

I knew dealers didn't pay much and you were never going to get rich from valeting/detailing for them but £25 for a used valet certainly shocked me :doublesho

I guess the majority of customers are happy with the way the car goes out though or they would get lots of complaints. Saying that I've worked on several cars that have just been picked up from major dealers and the customer has just taken the car elsewhere to be prepped properly.


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## catch the pigeo (May 17, 2008)

adam87 said:


> Why do people come on to DW and ask for advice on how to run their business?? :tumbleweed:
> 
> How much to charge, do I need insurance, what do I do, how do I use this?
> 
> ...


I think the beauty of this forum is people will nearly always answer
a question if we did not have questions then what would the forum be?
And judging by the posts of Cullers IFhe sets up a detailing business he will pay the fee.
Cullers gave me some free advice that was very useful regarding a hr matter
he did not have to but chose to help me do you get the point?


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## Lewis-D (Dec 22, 2009)

paulmc08 said:


> £25 for a used valet? is that in and out,seats steam cleaned,plastic's cleaned and dressed,glass cleaned,and then exterior washed,de-tarred,dryed,polished,plastic's and trim's dressed also tyre's,glass cleaned.


engine steamed and dried, full exterior wash, wheel arches cleaned, door shuts and boot shut cleaned and dried, metals polished, seats wet vac'd if needed if not then just hoover, all stains removed from trims dash door cards carpets etc, de-tarred, dried, polish, machine polish if need be, glass cleaned and polished inside and out, plastics and trims dressed, tyres dressed.

like i said before autoclenz charge the dealership £25, the valeter only gets paid £14 out of the £25.


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## BIG BAVARIAN (May 7, 2006)

Do you have to pay N.I and tax out of that £14 you earn ?


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## karl0308 (Mar 11, 2009)

adam87 said:


> Why do people come on to DW and ask for advice on how to run their business?? :tumbleweed:
> 
> How much to charge, do I need insurance, what do I do, how do I use this?
> 
> ...


You obviously don't understand what a forum is for. 
I run my own mobile Valeting business, I am self employed one man band and know nothing about employing people! I thought I could come on and ask a question to people who have experience in employing a valeter.


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## tony2 (Jan 31, 2010)

What about Paying to advertise In main Prestige dealers or super car dealers?

Surely they would take the extra cash and I know if id seen an advert in Audi id have probably taken the number and given them a call,

And after all an after sales Detail/Valet Isn't something dealers offer is it?

Anthony


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## SteveOC (May 26, 2007)

tony2 said:


> What about Paying to advertise In main Prestige dealers or super car dealers?
> 
> Surely they would take the extra cash and I know if id seen an advert in Audi id have probably taken the number and given them a call,
> 
> ...


I think this would directly conflict with trying to sell something like Supagard to clients with very large margins.

Steve O.


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## Lewis-D (Dec 22, 2009)

BIG BAVARIAN said:


> Do you have to pay N.I and tax out of that £14 you earn ?


yep... self employed sub contractor. end of the year send of tax returns blah blah blah!


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## tony2 (Jan 31, 2010)

SteveOC said:


> I think this would directly conflict with trying to sell something like *Supagard to clients with very large margins*.
> 
> Steve O.


Yeah Suppose, Thats a shame It wouldnt really interfere if the car and supaguard had all ready been sole but i suppose eventually it would cost the dealer money,


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## dcj (Apr 17, 2009)

Cullers said:


> Well its either that or male escort/gigolo (or giggle-o more likely!).
> I'm still doing some management/business consultancy but am seriously thinking about it. Spoke to a few people round here and they have said there is no-one doing it.
> Last weekend, I went into Tesco and there is a permanent kosova type car wash/valeting service outside (portacabin, cover, the lot) and they were attacking a Rolls Royce. Whats more I've seen them using aquablades on Porsches and AMG Mercs. Somebody has got to save the prestige cars of Eastbourne!!!


If there is no one else around offering a valeting service(bar the hand car washes) then wouldnt you be better off offering your services to business and private customers? It would be much easier to do a mini valet at £20-£25 on a regular basis than to spend ages on a full valet for £30-£35.


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## Lewis-D (Dec 22, 2009)

tony2 said:


> Yeah Suppose, Thats a shame It wouldnt really interfere if the car and supaguard had all ready been sole but i suppose eventually it would cost the dealer money,


dealer charges at least £300 for application of supaguard, the dealer i work for charges £358... as a valeter i get paid £7 for this application ontop of either a used car full valet(£14 paid to me) or on top of a new car full valet (£7 paid to me)

ridiculous considering the dealers doesn't pay much in the way for supaguard or the valet... pure profit!


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## chrisc (Jun 15, 2008)

Cullers said:


> I'm playing around with a business plan financial template, what is the average price if a dealership/car sales asks you to do vehicles for them? I know it will be dependent on number but from my experience I have found they expect it to be done for a silly price. Feedback please?


whats this template cullers as im thinking off getting back into something i used to do besides the courier work.


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## swiftshine (Apr 17, 2008)

Lewis-D said:


> engine steamed and dried, full exterior wash, wheel arches cleaned, door shuts and boot shut cleaned and dried, metals polished, seats wet vac'd if needed if not then just hoover, all stains removed from trims dash door cards carpets etc, de-tarred, dried, polish, machine polish if need be, glass cleaned and polished inside and out, plastics and trims dressed, tyres dressed.
> 
> like i said before autoclenz charge the dealership £25, the valeter only gets paid £14 out of the £25.


Lewis, your posts are fascinating me. I had a vague idea that valeting for a dealer would not be all sunshine and roses, but you are really opening my eyes :doublesho.

How long on average would it take you to do the above used valet?

Cheers.


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## Dan J (Jun 18, 2008)

swiftshine said:


> Lewis, your posts are fascinating me. I had a vague idea that valeting for a dealer would not be all sunshine and roses, but you are really opening my eyes :doublesho.
> 
> How long on average would it take you to do the above used valet?
> 
> Cheers.


i know where lewis is coming from on this one as i used to work for a dealers just down the road from me years back and i used to have to do what lewis has said and id get a tenner for that and fiver for a new car alot of the time the motors were skips and took hours to get nice again but its demoralising tbh because no matter how hard you graft your money stays the same and they just throw more sh1tters at you, i didnt stay too long and foooked off and set up myself.


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## Lewis-D (Dec 22, 2009)

swiftshine said:


> Lewis, your posts are fascinating me. I had a vague idea that valeting for a dealer would not be all sunshine and roses, but you are really opening my eyes :doublesho.
> 
> How long on average would it take you to do the above used valet?
> 
> Cheers.


i'll spend anywhere from an hour to 2 hours on a brand new off the boat car depending on size and weather the customer wants supaguard, then half hour to an hour in the showroom going over final details under showroom light, i'd love to spend more but for the little money i get paid it's sadly not viable financially for 7 quid and possibly another 6 for supaguard.. new cars are relatively quick to do seeing as it's a case of removing stickers, plastic seat covers and protective plastics, very quick hoover as there is nothing to hoover, new mats in, full exterior wash door shuts wheel arches engine bay steam clean, dry, polish exterior, clean and polish glass inside and out, dress plastics and tires...

as for used cars, i'll spend anywhere anywhere 3 hours upwards on a used car, again depends on what the car needs, machine polish etc,again for 14 pound its not financially viable to spend a day or two on one car, if i get an absaloute dog of a car that will require me on it for a day then i'll ask for a daily rate that autoclenz offer (£45)... im not the fastest member on the team but my work is by far the best according to the dealership manager,and i'd rather get paid a little bit less and take my time and not have my work rejected and have customers come back to me for more work!



dubplate Dan said:


> i know where lewis is coming from on this one as i used to work for a dealers just down the road from me years back and i used to have to do what lewis has said and id get a tenner for that and fiver for a new car alot of the time the motors were skips and took hours to get nice again but its demoralising tbh because no matter how hard you graft your money stays the same and they just throw more sh1tters at you, i didnt stay too long and foooked off and set up myself.


the work is hard, the days are long, and the rewards money wise are not great, but the look of a clean and well detailed car is priceless imo!!!
im using autoclenz to train up as well as DW write ups ,private work and soon hopefully a machine polishing tuition session through DW.. with the ultimate aim of setting up on my own one day in the near future!!!


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## slug boy (Aug 12, 2008)

Lewis-D said:


> a daily rate that autoclenz offer (£45)...


are you joking??... that's less than minimum wage!!


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## Dan J (Jun 18, 2008)

Lewis-D said:


> the work is hard, the days are long, and the rewards money wise are not great, but the look of a clean and well detailed car is priceless imo!!!
> im using autoclenz to train up as well as DW write ups ,private work and soon hopefully a machine polishing tuition session through DW.. with the ultimate aim of setting up on my own one day in the near future!!!


thats what kept me going was the end result, if i was doing it for the money i would of quit many years before, ive been doing it 15yrs now and started at a volvo dealership where i did my training and luckily for me got trained well the wages were pants but the bug had got me during my training so i stuck at it then eventually moved onto another dealership work in the same manner as you do now then got pig sick of the monkeys i was working with who didnt have a clue how to do a good job,that and sh1t wages pushed me to start planning my own set up, had to clean aircraft inbetween to keep us going till we were set properly, had loads of invaluable help from the princes trust. im currently not fully operating atm due to my wife having a breakdown and is in hospital as we speak so im looking after her atm and my 3 kids.
you have my upmost respect dude as ive been where you are now go for it mate your get there in the end:thumb:

Dan


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## Lewis-D (Dec 22, 2009)

slug boy said:


> are you joking??... that's less than minimum wage!!


nope £45 daily rate.... sucks massive donkey schlong i know, but i'd rather have that than sign on for 90 quid every 2 weeks, plus i enjoy the results my job brings!


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## paulmc08 (Feb 3, 2009)

Lewis-D said:


> engine steamed and dried, full exterior wash, wheel arches cleaned, door shuts and boot shut cleaned and dried, metals polished, seats wet vac'd if needed if not then just hoover, all stains removed from trims dash door cards carpets etc, de-tarred, dried, polish, machine polish if need be, glass cleaned and polished inside and out, plastics and trims dressed, tyres dressed.
> 
> like i said before autoclenz charge the dealership £25, the valeter only gets paid £14 out of the £25.


holy sh1t,that does sound like slave labour,by the sound's of it mate you know what your job well,and if i were you i'd try and find a detailer/valeter looking for good worker's such as yourself,that dont need training up and that will be appreciated a bit more,not alone to say the money would/should be alot better,but credit to you for sticking at that place for now.It would drive me nut's to know the dealer is charging £300+ for the supposedly super dooper paint protection,and that i would only be getting pittance for applying it,anyway i wish you all the best in which ever route you decide to take.


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## markcoznottz (Nov 13, 2005)

Its one way of keeping fit/thin!. I know of a few lads who came from labour intensive jobs such as making suites, labouring on building sites etc,..they didnt last 5 minutes doing trade valeting, I still say there is no more physical occupation, if you stop moving you aint earning, simple as that.


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## Auto Finesse (Jan 10, 2007)

It depends how your looking to go in to this, if your talking about doing the odd bits and bobs for dealerships (ie rescue jobs) then its going rate - trade discount (make of that what you like but ours is less 15% (manual labour cant be discounted much))

If your looking to get to be in house valeters at dealerships and hit it mob handed then your in a competitive market, and as said its around £35 for a used car and £15-£20 for a new car prep you take the rough with the smooth and you can make money, IF! you have the management right but its all about turnover and numbers.

We deal with a few dealerships and have good relationships with the ones we work for, we only do the "rescue" type work, ie if a clients not happy with the finish of a new car its sent down to us and they have an account thats paid monthly, a couple are pretty highend dealers and they will send us any used "dark" coulored cars that are looking shabby and we will attend to them, it works well for us as a business, as we can maintain our levels of quality and it gives us some extra work each month to get on with, if we are rained off off get a quiet day or two we will usually have something to be getting on with, the majority are sent to us to get on with at our own pace or will be in "the compound" for us to go get on with at our earliest convenience, so the discount on price is out weighed by being able to do them when we dont have a private job to do. 

We do a fair amount of this work and some for the UK arms of the manufactures, however none of it comes to light on forums as we feel its unprofessional of us to show the condition of these vehicles before they are up for sale, but we always click a nice finished pic for our own portfolio


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## markcoznottz (Nov 13, 2005)

Lewis-D said:


> dealer charges at least £300 for application of supaguard, the dealer i work for charges £358... as a valeter i get paid £7 for this application ontop of either a used car full valet(£14 paid to me) or on top of a new car full valet (£7 paid to me)
> 
> ridiculous considering the dealers doesn't pay much in the way for supaguard or the valet... pure profit!


But the Dealer had to adverstise and attract the customer in the first place. Dont forget massive running costs of a dealer, supagard kit maybe £30 trade price to the garage. Profit?.. unknown, depends on the overheads, which will be huge.


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## Whitty_1811_d (Jun 5, 2009)

£35-50 trade valets my my way depending on the state/size of vehicle


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## Lewis-D (Dec 22, 2009)

markcoznottz said:


> But the Dealer had to adverstise and attract the customer in the first place. Dont forget massive running costs of a dealer, supagard kit maybe £30 trade price to the garage. Profit?.. unknown, depends on the overheads, which will be huge.


the dealer would of already attracted the attention of the customer with the car they are trying to sell... supaguard is an extra to them just like optional sat nav better floor mats alloys etc. it's not something they actively advertise with posters banners and the like, but something they try to get the customer to add on to the purchase of there car. ( also helps the salesmen with their targets at the end of the month )

yes there are massive running costs of a dealership, but when you buy a supaguard kit for lets say 30 quid, pay the valeting company £35 quid for the valet and application and charge the customer £358 for the privilege of this, your talking a profit of £293 ontop of the sale of the car... obviously the supaguard may cost more but i'd imagine that it would be in the region of 30-50 quid seeing as they buy in bulk. nether the less profit for the dealers!

this is just my opinion from what i have seen within the dealerships i have worked at, and info i have gathered from questions i have asked!


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