The holidays are quickly approaching, and that likely means more traffic in and out of your dealership. Holiday germs spread via sick people—or, those with existing infections who don’t want to miss out on holiday fun! With so much traffic moving in and out in search of Black Friday deals, there is ample opportunity for germs to spread in a car dealership. Many people don’t think of car dealerships as being particularly dirty, and for the most part, they’re not! However, the importance of a professionally cleaned car dealership can’t be emphasized enough. To learn more about how to keep your facility looking its best, read on for a few tips from our team at 360clean.
At 360clean, we know what it takes to maintain a clean, hygienic, and inviting atmosphere for your car dealership. If you need help with your cleaning duties, contact us today to receive a free quote for our commercial cleaning services!
The Importance of a Clean Car Dealership
A dusty and neglected dealership immediately gives potential customers negative vibes. It can give off the appearance that you don’t really care about your business and that you don’t pay attention to detail. All of which are red flags for car buyers. Having a clean car dealership helps create a more positive overall experience for your customers and builds your reputation as a trustworthy and reputable business.
Additionally, a clean dealership helps ensure the health and safety of your customers, employees, and yourself. Cleaning often and with the proper disinfectants eliminates viruses, bacteria, and other illness-causing pathogens that lurk on every surface. This minimizes the chance of anyone contracting an illness or disease at your dealership.
And lastly, when you’re displaying anything, it always looks better against a crisp and clean backdrop. New cars are no different. Having an immaculately clean dealership can actually make your display cars look better.
Even though it doesn’t affect the performance of the cars, having dust or debris in your showroom can detract from the attractiveness of individual cars. On the other hand, a bright and clean showroom can take the whole area up a notch to create a strong, positive first impression and improve the chance of a sale.
How to Clean Your Car Dealership
Although every room needs attention, you should pay special attention to high-traffic areas, such as the reception desk, lobby, and showroom, when cleaning your dealership. As a general rule of thumb, it’s best to clean your dealership from top to bottom. So leave the floors for last. First, go through room by room and develop an effective plan of attack for each one.
The Lobby
As one of the most high-traffic areas in your dealership, the lobby requires daily cleaning. If your lobby has a kitchenette for guests who are waiting, start by cleaning and organizing this area. Wipe up any spills or crumbs and make sure the cups, creamers, sweeteners, and other accouterments are tidy and in the proper place.
Next, pick up any wrappers or other debris from tables in your lobby. If you have magazines available for customers to read, make sure they are in a neat pile rather than sloppily laid out across the entire table.
Then, wipe down the reception desk and any tables in the lobby with a microfiber cloth to get rid of crumbs and dust on the surface. Finish off your reception desk and tables with a disinfecting spray and allow them to air dry for several minutes.
Now it’s time to move on to the windows and doors. Use a microfiber cloth and glass disinfecting spray to wipe down every inch of your lobby’s windows and doors. This gets rid of fingerprints, streaks, and dust that can give your dealership a messy feel.
Finish cleaning your lobby by sweeping or vacuuming any debris that’s on the floor and by strategically placing air fresheners to give your dealership a pleasant smell. If your lobby furniture gets stained, it’s important to address it immediately or replace the furniture if the stain is bad enough. Your lobby furniture plays a big role in customers’ first impressions.
The Hallways
Many people overlook hallways and assume they’re not as important as actual rooms when it comes to cleaning. But the avenues your customers take to get from one area to another leave just as big of an impression as any room in your dealership. That’s why it’s important to sweep or vacuum them daily or every other day and visually inspect them for cobwebs weekly. If you have photographs or wall art hanging in hallways, dust them once a week to keep them looking sharp.
The Restrooms
Part of making your guests as happy and comfortable as possible is providing them with a clean and safe place to use the bathroom. Nobody loves cleaning bathrooms, but this small space has a big impact on the way people perceive your business. A clean and sparkling bathroom can give your dealership a more upscale and customer-focused feel.
Start by cleaning and disinfecting each stall using a toilet brush and an FDA-approved disinfecting cleaner. Then, move to the sinks and wipe down the entire countertop and each sink with a damp cloth. Apply a disinfectant and let the surface air dry. Then, move on to the mirror and make sure it is free of smudges, fingerprints, and watermarks. Lastly, you should thoroughly clean bathroom floors every day to ensure a sparkling finish.
The Service Area
Your dealership’s service area probably gets pretty grimy with cars coming in and out every day. But a dirty, greasy, or unorganized service area can erode a customer’s confidence in your service and deter them from coming back. Keep the tools and equipment in your service area organized neatly and the floor free of grease and dirt to make a good impression and create returning customers.
The Show Room
Your showroom is arguably the most important—and busiest—room in your entire dealership. It’s where you get to show off your inventory and highlight the best models you have to help sway prospective customers. As such, it makes sense to hold it to a higher standard than the rest of your dealership when it comes to cleanliness.
Luckily, it’s not too hard to keep a showroom sparkling and blemish-free; it just takes attention to detail. At least once a week, you should clean your showroom windows with a disinfecting cleaner to keep them looking pristine. Additionally, you should promptly pick up any debris that falls on the floor. At the end of the day, give the floors a little more attention to ensure their radiance the following day.
Employee Offices
Leave the individual desk maintenance up to your employees to avoid intruding on their personal space. Instead, focus your cleaning efforts on the windows, floors, and furniture. Windows and floors should be cleaned daily, the same way you clean them throughout the rest of your dealership. It’s a good idea to invest in chairs with vinyl, leather, or other water-resistant upholstery to make daily disinfecting easier.
High Touch Points to Remember
As you clean your dealership, it’s easy to forget about the little details. But many of the surfaces that slip your mind are high touch points. This means they get touched frequently throughout the day and therefore, have the highest likelihood of transmitting germs from one person to another.
Some examples of high touch points in car dealerships include:
- Door handles
- Soap dispensers
- Toilet paper dispenser
- Pens
- Clipboards
- Railings
- Bathroom stall doors
Don’t overlook these crucial areas in your car dealership.
Cleaning & Disinfecting Car Dealership Floors
Sweeping and vacuuming are easy and effective ways to keep your floor clean on a day-to-day basis. But when your dealership’s floors need a little more love, the type of flooring you have dictates the best cleaning method.
Hardwood Floors
Hardwood floors should be mopped with a damp mop and a gentle hardwood cleaner once a week to remove the dirt and grime that sweeping missed. Additionally, it’s a good idea to reapply a finish once a year if your floors are looking dull or the seal is wearing off. Lastly, give your floors a facelift by having them professionally refinished every ten years.
Tile Floors
Tile floors, especially those in bathrooms, can withstand a little more. Bathroom floors should be mopped daily and thoroughly scrubbed at least once a week. Other types of tile floors, such as stone tile, should be mopped weekly using a gentle cleaner.
Carpet
Unfortunately, carpet is the hardest type of flooring to deep clean. Carpets in high-traffic areas should be deep cleaned with a commercial carpet cleaner at least once a month. Carpets in low to moderate-traffic areas, like offices, can get away with a deep cleaning every two to three months.
Get Your Car Dealership Looking Like New
At 360clean, we know local car dealerships are invaluable. Our professional commercial cleaning services can help simplify your day-to-day operations, take some responsibility off of your shoulders, and impress your employees and customers.
Remember, the most important attributes of a clean car dealership cannot be seen. Germs live in every public place in the world, and this is why we offer our JaniMed® Cleaning System and processes. The system consists of specialized training, hospital-grade disinfectants, touch surface disinfection, and state-of-the-art equipment, like micro-fiber technology and Hepa Vacuums with four levels of filtration. The best part is, many times, we can implement our JaniMed® system at the same price or even less than your current commercial cleaning service.
Reach out today to receive a free quote!