By Richard Yarrow

Selling car care products and treatments has become an integral part of boosting dealership profitability.

Paint and upholstery coatings such as Supagard and Diamondbrite are probably the best- known – the latter’s development dates back to the 1980s – but the range of offers has since expanded to include services such as premium valeting and even SMART repairs.

“The way manufacturers set things up, it’s all about the customer experience – more so than ever,” said Martin Peters, sales director of dealership valeting provider

Autoclenz. “It’s about people walking into showrooms and feeling special because of something that adds value. If you can put something on a car which has a wow factor, it does that.”

The reason is obvious; customers can’t see new oil or swapped filters, so when they return to collect a serviced car and notice it has been cleaned, they feel staff have gone the extra mile. The trick is upselling, turning that little something into an offer that makes money. The amount may be small, but volume potential means it’s worth having.

John Boseley is managing director of Jewelultra, Diamondbrite’s parent company. He explained: “By using our protection products, it’s a double whammy for the dealers. They’re selling a better-prepared vehicle, and it’s proven time and again to improve their CSI score.” The result in both cases is improved revenues, from a high sale price and manufacturer bonus respectively.

With a retail cost from £200 to £450 depending on the size of the car, the product remains a popular extra with dealers, said Boseley. UK customers include Vertu, Jardine, Cambria, Drive and all TrustFord sites.

“The feedback from their customers is really positive and from a dealer’s perspective – if they handle it correctly – it is a profit centre for them. The key to that is for us to train their salespeople on how to sell it properly, and that means educating them on the product. We also train their valeters or contractors on how to apply it.”

At the other end of the cost spectrum from Diamondbrite is the Platinum surface protection system, launched this year by Gtechniq. The company has more than a decade’s experience creating chemically-bonding products for master detailers, who will spend tens of hours polishing a single car.

"We’re looking to improve your bottom line, but also the level of service you provide and your customer satisfaction”Rob Earle, managing director, Gtechniq

Gtechniq is looking to move into the franchised sector. Managing director Rob Earle believes the paint protection business has been maligned in recent years – with push-back from unhappy customers – because the job isn’t being done well enough.

“I would say to dealers that we’re trying to add value, because we’re delivering a much higher standard of vehicle prep and protection to your customers. We’re looking to improve your bottom line, but also the level of service you can provide and your customer satisfaction.”

Gtechniq has divided the country into 50 territories and has already sold 40 to detailers, who have been going into franchised showrooms for years, though in an unofficial capacity. Earle said he was looking to formalise that relationship in one of two ways.

“We can have an accredited vehicle detailer offer a fixed-price service to a dealership, or we train and certify in-house staff on how to prepare cars to a higher standard. That would be a single-stage polish, with applications of the coatings taking four to five hours.”

For the accredited service, the cost to the dealer is about £700, with a retail price of about £1,200. For the certified service, the respective figures are about £350 and £850. Earle acknowledges this is luxury and performance car territory rather than volume brands, but said the product offers better durability than traditional waxes and is guaranteed for five years. It also comes with an aftercare kit, so the finish can be maintained.

“Lotus Silverstone has become the first franchise to become certified. We’re looking for dealerships that want to offer vehicle detailing to their customers and to flip a cost centre into a profit centre.”

The same positive result can be achieved in valeting by promoting an enhanced offer to service customers whose vehicles would traditionally just get a quick jet-wash and a vacuum.

Motorclean is the UK’s largest provider of valeting services to dealerships, working with more than 650 and carrying out more than three million ‘cleans’ every year.

“The argument for outsourcing valeting, which circa 50% of dealers now do, rests largely on freeing up staff time to focus on sales,” said managing director Steve McBrierty. He believes providers such as Motorclean have the necessary equipment to offer upgraded valeting and dealers can take advantage of economies of scale.

“There’s an application of particular chemicals, which make it a superior clean, and we call it ‘Spruce & Shine’. The reality is that there’s a significant financial benefit if that’s properly done.” He believes ‘properly done’ is dictated by the level of engagement between the dealership and customer, adding: “Success is the difference between an employee who says ‘I’ve got this product if you’re interested’ and someone with a script they go through, which actually sells it.”

Typically, the dealership will charge up to £17.95 for the treatment, with a profit margin included. Successful sites have take-up in excess of 20% – a figure McBrierty says is good because it’s one of many things the dealer is trying to sell.

“My message to the dealers is that you should look at every avenue to improve the bottom line. We’re working with you in partnership, so uniquely placed to assist.”

Pete Smith, aftersales manager at Drive Vauxhall in Aldershot, said his workshop has used Motorclean for three years for washing, valeting and Spruce & Shine. That means three or four people on site at all times, doing about 40 service cars every day.

He believes high-volume garages like his can suffer from poor customer satisfaction results because people feel like they’re on a conveyor belt: “When they’re paying a premium to come to a franchised dealership, they expect to get added value. One of the ways we can do that is wash every car. Using Motorclean has added value.”

The maths make sense. When every car cleaned and vacuumed costs Smith £3.50, a Spruce & Shine retailing at £9.99 means not only is he saving that, he’s also making £1 profit. He said he’s finding more and more customers will subsequently ask to have it done again if they come in for a seasonal health check between services.

As Peters said, the profit isn’t much, but that’s not the point. “If you’re doing 80+ cars a day, it builds up over a year and it’s a ‘visible’ reason why the retail customer will come back to the dealership in the future.”

SMART repairs have traditionally been viewed as a distress purchase by customers following a parking scrape. The ‘man in a van’ model remains popular, but increasingly it’s becoming a franchised dealer service.

Revive is a nationwide mobile paint repair service with 135 technicians. Managing director Mark Llewellyn said a medium-sized dealer can have up to 50 cars a day coming in, and about half will have minor damage, such as a scuffed bumper or alloy.

“It’s just another way of helping the dealer keep that customer for longer,” explained Llewellyn. “The owner doesn’t care who is doing the repair – us or the dealer – as long as it’s being done on site while the car is there so there’s no need for them to return on another day.”

Llewellyn added that the latest trend was dealers selling SMART repair insurance, so the vehicle owner gets up to 10 repairs in three years for a set fee. “If that was £399 and the customer has a finance package, it’s something like an extra £5 a month. We’ve seen a real growth in this because the F&I guys are looking for products to replace GAP and payment protection and this seems to fit their criteria.”

He said the added value for the dealer wasn’t necessarily from a monetary point of view, but from the fact it is another touchpoint with the customer.

“The profit comes by offering good service. If the cars are prepared right, the dealer should sell more cars at the price he wants to sell them.”