3-Day Auto Detailing Craftsman Program

 

3-Day Auto Detailing Craftsman Program

If you are looking to start your own auto detailing business or want to take your current detailing business to the next level, now is the time to enroll in our 3-Day Auto Detailing Craftsman program! We are Licensed by the Pennsylvania State Board of Private Licensed Schools in accordance with 22 Pa Code § 73.173 (c) so all graduates are awarded a framed diploma upon completion of the program. Our students come from all over the world and many have gone on to be very successful in operating their own auto detailing businesses.

See what recent graduates are saying by checking out our Student Testimonials. View the 2023 3-Day Auto Detailing Craftsman Program Dates.This program has been approved for VA funding making it easy for veterans to get funding to attend our Auto Detailing Craftsman program! Learn More.

  • DAY 1 – Classroom Training: Students learn how to start, operate and grow an auto detailing or mobile auto detailing business. Knowing the “business side” of operating and managing your auto detailing and reconditioning business is just as important as the actual hands-on methods and procedures.
  • Day 2 – Exterior Training: Students learn how to perform an exterior detail from start to finish on a vehicle. This is a hands-on training day where students learn the proper wash-up, engine cleaning and clay procedures, paint correction and protection steps, etc. The reconditioning services taught on this day include headlight restoration, plastic trim restoration, and paint chip repair.
  • Day 3 – Interior Training: Students learn how to perform an interior detail from the headliner down to the floor on a vehicle. This is a hands-on training day where students learn how to use carpet extractors, steamers, Tornadors, etc. to clean all of the interior surfaces including leather, vinyl, plastic, carpeting, upholstery, headliner, etc. The reconditioning services taught on this day include carpet dying, cigarette burn repair, odor removal.

*As an added bonus, we will be conducting a Ceramic Coating Demonstration to give the students an opportunity to learn more about ceramic coatings and how they are applied to the paint.

 

 

Why Choose Detail King Auto Detailing Training Institute, LLC?

We have been offering professional training programs since 1999. Nick Vacco, Detail King’s Former CEO & Founder, has owned and operated his own auto detailing business, after-market installation center, express lube and detail center, mobile auto detailing business and limousine company. Nick brings decades of knowledge to the table and shares his knowledge with our students to get them on the right track for success right from the start during our classroom session on Day 1. Nick has mentored hundreds of students that have graduated from our programs and has helped them achieve their goals of becoming a successful auto detailing business owner.

 

 

In addition to the Day 1 Business training, we spend an entire day on exterior detailing (Day 2) and an entire day on interior detailing (Day 3). Our seminar is unique due to the fact that we are Licensed by the Pennsylvania State Board of Private Licensed Schools in accordance with 22 Pa Code § 73.173 (c) and we can award a diploma to graduates. This is not just a certificate of completion and students must pass the necessary tests to graduate from our program. You are investing in your future and only deserve the very best and nothing less. This short video provides a perfect example of what you will see, learn, and hopefully do after training! 

Be sure to check out the 3 videos below of “The Impossible Detail” that our previous students accomplished with what we call “detailing one of the dirtiest cars in history.” In the first video a few our Detail King Team members removed the algae and moss. Then two recent training classes go to work on this 1982 190E Mercedes, Watch: Impossible Detail Exterior VideoImpossible Detail Interior Video.

All Detail King Auto Detailing Training Institute, LLC graduates have access to a special Logo that you can place on your web site. You can make this a link to a special landing page on our web site that can explain to prospective clients what it means to have been Certified by Detail King Auto Detailing Training Institute, LLC!

Details:

  • When: Friday/Saturday/Sunday from 8:00AM-4:30PM – View Upcoming dates
  • Where: 947 Old Frankstown Rd. Pittsburgh, PA 15239
  • Lodging: Discounted Rates are available at the Hampton Inn in Monroeville PA. Our students receive a 20% Discount off of their best available rates. Call 412-380-4000 or reserve your room online. If calling, provide our booking code – 3141664.
  • Cost: $1795

*We include coffee, donuts, and juice in the morning, lunch, and refreshments each day. The materials and supplies needed are provided for all three days of the program. Upon completion of the curriculum, the student will be awarded a framed diploma on Sunday at the end of the program.

Who Should Attend the Detail King 3-Day Auto Detailing Craftsman Program?

Future Auto Detailing Business Entrepreneurs and Current Auto Detail Business Owners, Managers and Sales Personnel from anywhere in the country. This course is for both Mobile & Fixed Auto Detail Shop Operators. If you are in the Auto Detailing Business or are thinking about starting your own business – Part Time or Full Time, You Should Not Miss this Educational Event!

Car Wash owners and operators are also urged to attend if you are thinking about adding auto detailing or express car detailing to your operation. For individuals who are interested in changing careers and seeking gainful employment in this field, our course will serve to be extremely helpful.

Day 1 – Friday

Day 2 & 3 – Saturday & Sunday

Laying Out The Groundwork

  • Develop a business plan
  • Determine if there is a demand in your area
  • Investigate local environmental laws with EPA
  • Check out the competition
  • Permits and licenses needed
  • Business structure
  • Business bank account
  • Determine the types of vehicles you will detail

Setting Up Shop/Mobile Operation

  • Choose a location
  • Determine type of vehicle & mobile equipment
  • Purchase adequate insurance
  • Communication system
  • Acquire a business credit card
  • Set up merchant credit card acceptance
  • Investigate state, city and county laws
  • Environmental issues requiring compliance

Advertising & Promotion

  • Choose a business name
  • Develop an advertising budget
  • Create a company logo for branding
  • Design professional-looking business cards
  • Design a service menu
  • Create specialty flyers
  • Display your company name
  • Dress for success
  • Promote your new venture
  • Promote your expertise
  • Website & Internet promotion
  • Yellow page advertising
  • Direct mail & email campaigns
  • Print media advertising
  • Cold calling – face to face campaigns

Operational Issues – Exterior

  • Determine what type of reconditioning a vehicle needs
  • Determine paint condition
  • Check for environmental fallout
  • Check for paint overspray
  • Check for scratches and micro marring
  • Check for paint over-spray, tree sap, excessive tar
  • Check for rock paint chips
  • Check for faded plastic trim
  • Check for foggy headlights
  • Excessively soiled convertible roof
  • Loose emblems and trim
  • Excessively dirty wheels
  • Paint in wheel wells
  • Condition of glass – water mark etching

Operational Issues – Interior

  • Customer’s personal items
  • Vacuuming and air purging process
  • Pet hair removal
  • Seating surfaces condition
  • Excessively dirty carpets/mats
  • Faded carpets
  • Vinyl and leather condition
  • Red stains/coffee stain removal
  • Headliner cleaning/condition
  • Foul odor removal process
  • Vacuuming and air purging

History of Base/Coat/Clear Coat Paints

  • EPA and auto paint companies involvement
  • base coat/clear coat process
  • Pros and cons of base coat/clear coat paint
  • How to protect base coat/clear coat paint
  • How to sell paint protection to prospects

Auto Detailing Clay

  • Benefits of using clay
  • Different clay grades and their use
  • How to sell clay detailing services

Service Menu Review – Features/Benefits

  • Review engine compartment services and precautions
  • Review exterior detailing services
  • Review interior detailing services
  • Review added-value services
  • Review detailing packages
  • Review new vehicle protection packages
  • Review VIP plans/cosmetic maintenance
  • Review the spectrum of services

Equipment & Supplies Needed

  • Mobile wash equipment and trailers
  • Vacuums and extractors
  • Exterior detailing chemicals
  • Interior detailing chemicals
  • Supplies, products and tools
  • Towels, applicators and brushes
  • Detailing terms glossary

Marketing & Prospecting

  • Definition of marketing and prospecting
  • Chamber of Commerce program and benefits
  • Promote at car clubs and show
  • Automotive business networking
  • Opportunities at dealerships
  • Opportunities at on-site locations
  • Target market niches
  • Insurance companies
  • Affluent health clubs
  • Real estate agencies
  • Transportation companies
  • Stand-alone car washes
  • Office building blitzes
  • Doctors/hospitals
  • Flea markets
  • On-site promotions
  • Welcome wagon
  • Referral program
  • Overspray removal accounts
  • Car rental agencies
  • Police and county vehicles
  • Food delivery services
  • Pet mobiles
  • Kid mobiles
  • Collector cars
  • Tractor trailer cabs

Reoccurring Revenue

  • Doing the job is only half the job
  • 2 to 8 Rule
  • Customer retention
  • Marketing/sales funnel
  • Success and failure
  • Learn to listen to customer needs
  • Propose a solution
  • Understand the “buying signs”
  • Understand the “right to fail”
  • Understand the “opportunity to win”

Costs and Profit Margins

  • Understand your costs
  • Determine your margins
  • Look for ways to increase margins
  • Always maintain quality of service
  • Review hourly overhead formula
  • Determine what you should charge

Questions & Answers

  • The students are able to ask any questions to the instructors before the class ends.

Chemical and Equipment Overview

  • Polishes – compounds – waxes – sealants
  • Rotary – Forced-Rotation – Long-Throw Orbital – Orbital
  • Exterior soaps, degreasers, cleaners
  • Interior soaps and aerosols
  • Dress products for exterior and interior
  • Plastic trim dyes
  • Carpet dyes
  • Non-silicone products

Auto Detailing Tools and Accessories

  • Brushes
  • Chamois and wash mitts
  • Applicators and dressing pads
  • Towels and micro-fiber products
  • Detailing tools and accessories
  • Bottles & chemical storage

Equipment Being Used For The Day

  • Forced rotation DAs
  • Long throw polishers
  • Hot water extractors
  • Air movers/interior dyes
  • Vapor steamers
  • High-pressure washers
  • Low-pressure washers
  • Air compressors
  • Generators
  • Mobile trailers

Exterior Wash, Prep and Engine

  • Check for any existing damage and document
  • Review washing steps
  • Tips to avoid scratching vehicle
  • Check for loose accessories
  • Select proper brushes
  • Select proper cleaners, degreasers
  • Wheels and wheel well cleaning
  • Door jamb degreasing
  • Bug removal
  • Engine compartment prep and cleaning
  • Moldings and trim cleaning
  • Prep rinse
  • Handwash and rinse
  • Plastic bag test for contaminants
  • Claying of vehicle
  • Chamois drying and water blade use
  • Tar removal
  • Tape uneven body panels
  • Tape plastic trim, cracks, crevices

Exterior Detailing Training: Paint Condition and Inspection

  • Oxidized and faded paint
  • Clear coat environmentally polluted paints
  • Tree sap overspray
  • Micro scratch removal (micro marring)
  • Water spots and acid rain removal
  • Road paint overspray removal
  • Surface scratches

Exterior Buffing, Polishing and Sealing

  • Deep scratch removal through wet sanding
  • Various paint blemish issues
  • Buffing/Polishing techniques
  • Compounding and glazing techniques
  • Orbital polisher techniques
  • Wax and sealant application
  • Dressing of tires, wheel wells and trim
  • Smear-free cleaning of windows and mirrors
  • Tips for the perfect detail
  • Final hand polishing and buffing
  • Removal of fine swirls
  • How to create a showroom finish even if paint was severely damaged
  • Ongoing paint cosmetic maintenance
  • Use of extra light-duty clay bar well after detail
  • Spray painting of exposed frame rails
  • Acid rain removal from glass
  • Final inspection of exterior
  • Presentation to customer

Interior Detailing Training: Inspection Of Interior

  • Check for damage components, missing buttons, levers, etc.
  • Check for and bag customer’s loose items
  • Check for unusual or potent odors
  • Look for red stains/coffee stains
  • Determine condition of leather and vinyl
  • Determine condition of upholstery

Vacuuming and Air Purging

  • Safety glasses • floorboards • under seats
  • Rear shelf • console • cracks and crevices

Interior Scrubbing Of Components

  • Headliner cleaning and precautions
  • Dashboard cleaning and detailing
  • Steering wheel and steering column cleaning
  • Door panel cleaning and detailing
  • Gas and brake pedal cleaning and safety precautions
  • Center console/glove compartment cleaning & detailing
  • Leather seat cleaning
  • Pre spot carpet/upholstery stains
  • Red stain/coffee stain removal
  • Traffic area soap application
  • Power scrubbing of heavily soiled areas including mats

Heated Interior Soil Extractor Usage

  • Major components of extractor equipment
  • Operation of extractor
  • Hands-on techniques for use of upholstery soil extraction
  • Hands-on techniques for use of carpet/mats soil extraction
  • Maintenance & prevention review of extractor
  • Check for faded carpets that may need dye
  • Apply fabric protection to upholstery/carpets

Trunk Cleaning and Shampooing

  • Wear protective eyewear
  • Clean trunk underside lid and quick wax if needed
  • Purge compressed air onto carpet/floor to loosen debris
  • Hand scrub with shampoo, then gently extract

Dressing, Chrome, & Plastic Trim

  • High-gloss dressing of all vinyl components
  • Low-gloss optional dressing of vinyl components
  • Aerosol spray dressing of AC vents/pockets/console
  • Conditioning of leather seating surfaces
  • Plastic and chrome trim hand polishing and smear removal
  • Wood grain cleaning and conditioning
  • Windows and mirror cleaning/polishing

Interior Final Inspection & Customer Prep

  • Check for smears and smudges
  •  Check for lint deposits
  • Check overall appearance of seats and carpets
  • Place static cling reminder sticker for next detailing service
  • Move vehicle outside and cover up or make contact with customer to have vehicle picked up or delivered
  • Customer presentation and walk around
  • Complete customer paperwork/ask for referrals

Exterior Reconditioning Services
Saturday – Lab 1

Interior Reconditioning & Ceramic Coating Services
Sunday – Lab 2

Paint Chip Repair

  • Evaluate rock paint chips
  • Paint application methods – shoe polish method/squeegee method
  • Excess paint removal
  • Final polish process
  • Customer marketing approaches

Plastic Trim Restoration

  • Evaluate plastic components
  • Mirrors, door handles, moldings, running boards, wheel flairs
  • Masking and preparation
  • Applying dye
  • Customer marketing approaches

Headlight Restoration

  • Evaluation of headlights to be restored
  • Cleaning steps
  • Preparation methods
  • Sanding procedures
  • Hand buffing
  • Final glazing
  • Customer marketing approaches

Dying of Carpeting & Mats

  • Preparation of articles to be dyed
  • Liquid dye application
  • Aerosol dye application
  • Apply plastic sticky mats for protection

Mal Odor Elimination

  • Removal of source causing the odor
  • Cleaning and deodorization methods
  • Definition of Ozone
  • Ozone generator operation
  • Ozone treatment
  • Ozone precautions
  • Customer marketing approaches

Cigarette Burn Repair

  • Repair cigarette burn holes in fabric/carpet

Ceramic Coating Demonstrations

  • Ceramic Coating paint application demonstration
  • Ceramic Coating maintenance demonstration
  • Ceramic Coating trim demonstration
  • Ceramic Coating glass demonstration
  • Ceramic Coating express services demonstrations

As you can see we cover a ton of information during this 3-Day Auto Detailing Craftsman Program. Many of our previous students have gone on to become very successful auto detailing entrepreneurs as mobile detailing operators, detail shop owners, professional detailers, and detail shop foreman.

Auto detailing is very labor intense, that is why it is so important to know all the steps and how to perform them in the right order and execute those steps properly. You can save a lot of time by knowing the proper methods and procedures to professionally detail a car, truck or van.

GET STARTED NOW – SELECT YOUR TRAINING WEEKEND BELOW:

3-Day Auto Detailing Craftsman Program

Price: $1795.00

Date: April 5, 2024 - April 7, 2024

Available Spaces: 5

3-Day Auto Detailing Craftsman Program

Price: $1795.00

Date: May 3, 2024 - May 5, 2024

Available Spaces: 14

3-Day Auto Detailing Craftsman Program

Price: $1795.00

Date: June 7, 2024 - June 9, 2024

Available Spaces: 20

3-Day Auto Detailing Craftsman Program

Price: $1795.00

Date: July 19, 2024 - July 21, 2024

Available Spaces: 22

3-Day Auto Detailing Craftsman Program

Price: $1795.00

Date: August 16, 2024 - August 18, 2024

Available Spaces: 21

3-Day Auto Detailing Craftsman Program

Price: $1795.00

Date: September 13, 2024 - September 15, 2024

Available Spaces: 22

3-Day Auto Detailing Craftsman Program

Price: $1795.00

Date: October 4, 2024 - October 6, 2024

Available Spaces: 22

3-Day Auto Detailing Craftsman Program

Price: $1795.00

Date: November 1, 2024 - November 3, 2024

Available Spaces: 21

3-Day Auto Detailing Craftsman Program

Price: $1795.00

Date: December 6, 2024 - December 8, 2024

Available Spaces: 20

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