What’s Holding Back the Auto Detailing Industry

The auto detailing industry isn’t suffering by any means, but it just doesn’t seem to be expanding. Whether you’re an avid customer wanting to encourage the industry or you’re a detailer yourself wondering how you can expand your business, we’ve found the answer to your questions.

So what is it holding back the auto detailing industry? The answer isn’t so simple.

Prices are just too low

Anyone who has ever spent hundreds of dollars on auto detailing services would probably struggle to believe that this could be something happening to the industry, but hear us out.

We’ve all seen the pop-up detailing operations that offer “quick” exterior detailing services for just $5 or $10. While some don’t trust a detailing service offered so cheaply, many take advantage of the significantly lower price.

But what does this have to do with the rest of the detailers in the industry? It’s simple; they can’t compete.

Everyone wants the service that takes less time and costs less. The major problem is that these services are also much lower quality than the auto detailing services for which you pay hundreds.

Employee struggles

The fact of the matter is that good expert car detailers are hard to come by. A big part of the auto detailing industry’s struggle is finding quality employees that stick around.

If detailers are good, they’ll go on to start their own independent company. If they aren’t, you’ll struggle to get the work done you need.

Detailing businesses also tend to struggle with a high employee turnover rate. Many detailing operations don’t offer benefits and society, on the whole, tends to look down on those in this line of work, seeing it as more of a hobby than a business.

The auto detailing industry is in a transition period

Like many other industries, the auto detailing industry is struggling to get a grip on its place in the 21st century.

While mobile auto detailing is clearly trying to bridge the gap, even that industry hasn’t regulated itself enough to be an established practice; each mobile detailing business operates differently.

The auto detailing industry itself is in a transition period, trying to rebuild and restructure itself to better fit their 21st-century customers. Over the next few years, the kinks will hopefully be worked out so that the auto detailing industry, though the same at the core, better suits its modern clientele and their needs.

What does all this mean for the auto detailing industry?

Some, who are very accustomed to auto detailing staying the same for as long as it has been an industry, will be alarmed by this, thinking it the end of the auto detailing industry as they know it.

However, modern customers shouldn’t be concerned at all; they should be excited!

The industry is restructuring itself to better serve its 21st-century employees and customers so it can continue to provide a necessary service, rather than become obsolete.

Think you know another reason the industry is being held back? Leave us a comment below.