Books
Full Detail: Two Car Detailing Books
A practical manual for the craft and a numbers-first guide to the business, written by a detailer who ran a shop for years. Both are Kindle ebooks on Amazon.
- 2
- Books
- 147
- Pages
- 6
- Free spreadsheets
Amazon sets the prices. The current price is on each book’s page.
Which car detailing book should you read first?
Start with the craft book if you want to learn or improve the hands-on work: washing, interior, polishing, paint correction and protection. Start with the business book if you can already do the work, or are about to, and want to price, market and run it as a business.
The business book leaves the technique to the craft book, so many readers will want both.
The two books
Book 1: The craft
FULL DETAIL: A Professional’s Workflow for Car Detailing
A complete, step-by-step car detailing workflow covering exterior, interior, polishing, paint correction and protection, written by someone who spent years doing it and training others.
Inside the book
- The safety rules and working principles that prevent expensive mistakes, on the car and on you
- Exterior detailing from wheels to engine bay: hand washing, decontamination, and when and where you can safely skip steps
- Interior detailing section by section: headliner, seats, leather, floors, glass and drying methods
- Polishing and paint correction from the clear coat up: machines, pads, compounds, and how to match them to soft, medium and hard paint
- Wet sanding for the extreme cases, with a full headlight restoration walkthrough
- Sprays, waxes, ceramic coatings and PPF compared honestly: what each one does and how long it really lasts
Good for detailing your own car, building a skill toward a trade, or working already and wanting to know why you do things the way you do.
Book 2: The business
FULL DETAIL: The Business Side of Car Detailing
A practical, numbers-first guide to starting and running a car detailing business, from researching your market to pricing your services, building a team and keeping clients coming back.
Inside the book
- Researching your market and competitors, with a worked example scoring a real city factor by factor
- Forming your service menu: packages, add-ons and bundling that creates natural upsells
- Choosing a location and equipping the shop without overspending on gear
- Fixed costs, service costs and markup: pricing built from your numbers, not your competitors’
- Your startup budget and a realistic payback timeline
- Client communication scripts, from the first walk-in to handling a complaint
- The four documents that protect every job: quote, vehicle handover, work order and invoice
- Marketing that works for this trade: short-form video, before-and-afters and getting past clients to return
Comes with a free resource pack of six spreadsheets. Good if you are still deciding, have booked your first client, or run a shop that never got the systems side sorted.
What is in the free resource pack?
The business book includes six spreadsheets. The download link is inside the book.
Market scorecard
Score your local market factor by factor.
Competitor tracker
Keep track of who you compete with and what they offer.
Location scorecard
Compare possible locations side by side.
Equipment checklist
Plan what to buy first without overspending.
Pricing calculator
Build prices from your fixed costs, service costs and markup.
Startup budget and ROI calculator
See what you need to start and how long payback takes.
Books or video courses?
They cover the same areas in different formats. The books are written manuals you can read and look things up in. The courses are short video lessons on Udemy: the interior, exterior and polishing courses cover the craft, and the Business course covers the business side.
Who wrote the books?
I’m Stefan Nikolić. In January 2016 my brother and I launched Titanium LTD in Belgrade, importing and distributing Chemical Guys, XPEL and later Auto Finesse across Serbia, and running our own detailing shop. I handled the brand and marketing side, taught detailing workshops, and worked on cars from interior cleans to full paint protection film installs. Every method in the books was tried, gotten wrong at least once, and rewritten until it worked consistently, first in my own hands and then in the hands of technicians I trained. Read my full story.
Frequently asked questions
Which Full Detail book should I read first?
Read the craft book if you want to learn or improve the hands-on work: washing, interior, polishing, paint correction and protection. Read the business book if you can already do the work, or are about to, and want to price, market and run it as a business. The business book leaves the technique to the craft book, so many readers will want both.
Are the books for beginners?
Yes. The craft book is for people detailing their own car, building a skill toward a trade, or already working in detailing. The business book is for people still deciding, people who have booked their first client, and people running a shop that never got the systems side sorted.
What is in the free resource pack?
The business book comes with six spreadsheets: a market scorecard, competitor tracker, location scorecard, equipment checklist, pricing calculator, and a startup budget and ROI calculator. The download link is inside the book.
How long are the books?
The craft book is 60 pages and the business book is 87 pages, both in English and both published on August 8, 2026.
Do I need a Kindle to read them?
No. The books are Kindle ebooks, and you can read them in the free Kindle app on a phone, tablet or computer, or on a Kindle e-reader.
Do the books replace the video courses?
No. They cover the same areas in a different format: the books are written manuals you can read and look things up in, and the courses are short video lessons. Many people use both.
How much do the books cost?
Amazon sets the price, so the current price is shown on each book’s Amazon page.
Ready to read?
Both books are on Amazon as Kindle ebooks.