I believe the “four-pass” technique is an efficient method for producing consistent results in detailing vehicles at the finish line.
As the name implies, the technique is to begin at the front or rear of the vehicle, your choice, by working in teams of two people, each on one side.
Holding a pair of towels folded in quarters, employees make four passes along the length of the car completing specific tasks in each pass. At the end of the 4th pass, the vehicle is ready!
A company known for using this technique is Simoniz Car Wash chain.
Simoniz has nine washes in CA under various brand names. Perhaps one of the stores is using the technique and you can visit and observe.
Another way to improve speed of final detailing is to eliminate bottlenecks.
For example, when I operated full-service, our basic package included vacuum, wash, towel dry, wipe dash, console and
door jams and clean windows.
Our flow line measures were an average of five minutes at starting line, five minutes tunnel and five to ten minutes at finish line which equals 15 to 20 minutes to produce a wash.
However, the top package was very labor intensive including exterior/interior dressings, mat cleaning, hand wheel cleaning and tire dressing. These extra services took about 10 to 15 minutes to complete. So, total service time would be 25 to 35 minutes.
The customer’s problem is usually not price or waiting but comingling of different service completion times at the finish line which can unbalance the line causing complaints – why is my 15 minute carwash taking 35 minutes?
There are at least two ways to solve this.
Segregate cars by completion time at the finish line. This works only if you have lots of parking space available.
The preferred approach is to take the labor intensive elements out of the top package and place them in the express detail program. Typically, everyone is happy with this (customers and employees), and you make more money in the process.
Does anyone know if there is a technique to finishing a car/truck to make the service clean but fast? I've tried creating my own but sure someone else has done it better. Is there a Manuel somewhere of what is best practice? We are a full service hand car wash and detail center so I'm always trying to find a more efficient way. I've gotten faster but feel like I'm sacrificing quality which will get me no where Thanks for your time.
