I received a call today looking for some information about costs associated with providing a "quick rinse off" of brand new cars parked outside of the final assembly plant. They explained that they have warranty costs due to atmospheric fallout landing on the cars which if left on for too long damages the paint job. I am familiar with truck fleet pricing, and have read anywhere from $1.00 - $2.00 per car for dealership cleaning, but this job is a bit different.
They are not looking for a typical car lot wash since the vehicles will be prepped and cleaned once they arrive at the dealership. He just wants the horizontal surfaces rinsed off, no soap, no DI water, no drying.
The good news, they need it done every 7 - 10 days and there is always at least 500 cars there, sometimes 1,000. The bad news is there is only water at one end of a very large (he said acres) lot. I have the ability to bring 400 gallons, and figure I could run enough supply hose to keep me full for at least the first 200-300 cars. I figure if I use 3 gallons per car (5.6 gpm machine), I will be able to do roughly 130 cars before I would have to stop and refill my supply tank. Therefore I should be able to wash approx 400 cars before I have to stop to refill. If there are 500 cars, there will be one refill required, if there are 1000 cars I would have to refill 5 times.
If I assume they can supply water at 8 gallons per minute (will verify when I walk through the site), that is 50 minutes to refill, and in the case of 1000 cars would add up to four hours of time spent waiting for the tank to refill.
So, my question is: how would you estimate the job, a value per car, if so how much? Or an hourly rate, if so, how much? Please keep in mind this is the Auto industry, in MI, but they already have a certain dollar amount set aside per car for warranty paint repair so this is actually a way for them to save money.
I appreciate your thoughts and opinions.
