Standardize the Bay.
Compress Cycle Time.
Uncontrolled chemical pouring and ad-hoc cleaning protocols cause bay bottlenecks, high unit COGS, and extended inventory holding costs. Our standardized SOPs compress trade-in Time-to-Line (TTL) while unlocking hidden retail service revenue.
The 45-Minute Used Car Interior Standard
Strict five-stage sequential protocol to decontaminate, extract, wipe, clean glass, and dress trade-in interiors.
De-Trash & Air Purge
- • Pull rubber/carpet floor mats out to wash rack.
- • Sweep loose trash from door pockets, console & trunk.
- • 90 PSI air blowgun: blow under seats, dash vents & seat seams.
Top-Down Vacuuming
- • Top-Down rule: rear deck, seat cushions, crevices, floor pans.
- • Stiff nylon brush agitation for embedded sand & pet hair.
- • Headliner dry check: light dry brush only (never wet spray).
High-Touch Wipe & Spot Extract
- • Wipe wheel, gear shifter, touchscreens & cup holders.
- • Degrease door cards, armrests, kickplates & jamb perimeter.
- • Manual spot extraction: mist enzyme cleaner on coffee/grease stains.
2-Towel Interior Glass
- • Towel 1 (Waffle): Mist cleaner, scrub in vertical passes.
- • Towel 2 (Plush Dry): Immediately buff dry to 100% haze-free.
- • Use windshield triangle tool to reach lower cowl glass.
OEM Satin Dress & QA
- • Apply non-greasy satin UV dressing to dash & consoles.
- • Neutralize smoke/pet odors (no heavy perfumed maskers).
- • Lay paper floor mat, hang mirror QA tag, release to lot.
The 30-Minute Exterior Recon Wash Standard
Designed to eliminate swirl-inducing brush drag, reduce standing water dwell times, and accelerate front-line gloss.
Wheels, Tires & Pre-Decon
- • Spray non-acid wheel cleaner onto dry rims and rubber.
- • Agitate tire sidewalls with nylon brush; scrub barrel.
- • Pre-treat bug splatter on bumper and mirrors with citrus remover.
Touchless High-Foam Dwell
- • Blanket entire vehicle using foam cannon or hand pump foamer.
- • Allow 90-second dwell to soften road traffic film.
- • Pressure rinse bottom-to-top, followed by top-down flood rinse.
Two-Bucket Contact Wash
- • Wash strictly top-to-bottom in straight lines (never circles).
- • Grit guards in both wash & clean water rinse buckets.
- • If paint is rough, glide synthetic clay towel while panel is soapy.
Forced-Air & Plush Towel Dry
- • Air blast side mirror housings, fuel door, grilles & emblems.
- • Single pass with damp twist-loop 70/30 plush microfiber.
- • Open doors & tailgate to wipe residual water from jamb sills.
Express Sealant & QA Tag
- • Mist express polymer sealant & buff to front-line showroom gloss.
- • Apply non-sling solvent-free tire dressing with curved foam.
- • Exterior glass clean (horizontal passes). Hang rearview QA tag.
The 2-Towel Streak-Free Glass Protocol
One towel smears road oils and dried minerals. Two towels physically isolate emulsification from dry flash buffing.
Fold Both to 8 Faces
Fold Towel 1 (waffle) and Towel 2 (plush dry) into neat palm-sized quarters. Never bunch towels into balls.
Box the Edges First
Split windshield in half. Mist Towel 1 directly. Wipe the outer rubber border first to pull grime trapped in window sills.
Horiz. Out / Vert. Inside
Wipe EXTERIOR glass horizontally and INTERIOR glass vertically. If an inspection streak appears, you know instantly which side it's on.
Towel 2 Dry Buff <10s
Within 10 seconds—before cleaner evaporates into haze—buff firmly with dry Towel 2. Pinch mirror shell corners to drain water pockets.
Dealership Financial Mechanics: Cost Control vs. Service Revenue
Bridging the friction between Used Car Inventory capitalization and Service Department retail profitability.
Capitalized Inventory Asset
Billed via Internal RO and added straight to the capitalized stock book value. When the vehicle sells, every dollar spent on detailing flows directly into COGS, dollar-for-dollar reducing front-end gross margin.
Direct Selling Overhead
Charged directly to the new vehicle department's monthly operating expense ledger. Cannot be capitalized. Management actively minimizes this expense line to protect departmental net profit.
Fixed-Ops Revenue Center
Repositioning wash bays to bill customer-pay express washes ($39.95) on regular mechanical Repair Orders. Creates 80%+ gross profit margins while elevating Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI).
TTL Inventory Holding Cost Recovered
$50/Day BenchmarkFixed-Ops Service Wash Profit Engine
$39.95 Retail / $3.00 COGSBay Chemical Lineup & Rep Order Sheet
Human-readable SKUs (No company prefixes) matched to descriptions for fast invoice coding and dry-erase poster mapping.
| Category | Human-Readable SKU | Assigned Chemical / Product Name | Manual Dilution / Notes | Target Cost | Rep Order Qty |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tire Dressing | SSHINE-5GL | Ready-To-Use with contoured sponge | $0.25/car | ||
| Bug & Tar | 3D-BUG-1GL | RTU fine mist spray on mirrors/grilles | $0.35/car | ||
| Paint Sealant | PS-BEAD-16OZ | Mist 2 oz per vehicle, plush microfiber buff | $1.20/car | ||
| Degreaser (APC) | CG-DEG-5GL | Manual mix: 10:1 interior; 4:1 wheel wells | $0.65/car | ||
| Carpet & Fabric | FCC-CLN-1GL | Manual mix: 10:1 with warm water | $0.45/car | ||
| Spot Enzyme | ENZ-PRE-5GL | RTU stain spotter for organic spills | $0.85/car | ||
| Microfiber Wash | TK-DET-1GL | 2 oz per laundry load of shop towels | $0.15/load | ||
| Wash Media | MITT-WASH-EA | Dedicated two-bucket contact wash only | Tool | ||
| Plush Drying | MF-PLUSH-BLU | Lint-free dry buff and glass stage 2 | Media |
Safety Data Sheet (SDS) Fast Lookup Portal
Planned integration: https://DeepSouthChem.com/sds/?sku=[SKU] for bay QR code scanning.