A car detailer cleans, restores and protects vehicles: paint, glass and interior trim.
BLS counts detailers under Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment (SOC 53-7061), a broader group than detailing alone, and the job titles O*NET reports for that group include Automotive Detailer, Detail Technician and Reconditioner.
The occupation's jobs sit mainly in automotive repair and maintenance (an industry aggregate that includes car washes), automobile dealerships and rental and leasing, and retailers such as CarMax and Carvana run dedicated reconditioning facilities.
This guide covers the work, the employers, requirements, pay and career paths.
What does a professional car detailer do?
A professional detailer cleans and reconditions vehicles inside and out: washing, polishing and waxing the paint, cleaning and polishing glass, and cleaning the interior until the car reads as cared-for rather than merely washed.
BLS carries the work as Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment (SOC 53-7061), a group broader than detailing alone, and the job titles O*NET reports for that group include Automotive Detailer, Detail Technician and Reconditioner.
O*NET's task list for the occupation reads like a detailing menu.
It includes the following.
- Applying paints, dyes, polishes, reconditioners, waxes or masking materials to preserve, protect or restore color or condition.
- Cleaning and polishing windows.
- Mixing cleaning solutions.
- Inspecting vehicles for cleanliness and damage.
- Driving vehicles to or from workshops or customers.
The inspection line matters: the same task list covers cleanliness and damage, so the detailer checks a vehicle for both.
The driving line matters too, because it is one part of the job federal rules gate for teen workers.
The job also has a chemical, on-your-feet side.
In O*NET's survey of the occupation, 89% of respondents reported exposure to contaminants every day, 74% wore common protective equipment every day, and 41% stand continually or almost continually.
Where detailers work: dealers, recon centers, detail shops and body shops
BLS OEWS May 2025 counted 380,430 wage-and-salary jobs in the occupation nationally, and its industry rows show where they sit.
- Automotive repair and maintenance, 158,990 jobs — a count that includes car washes, so it is not all detail-shop work.
- Automobile dealers, 75,270 jobs.
- Automotive equipment rental and leasing, 23,300 jobs.
Automobile dealers employed 75,270 of them, and dealerships run their own reconditioning: NADA Data 2025 counted $75.81 billion of dealership service labor sales, with $12.22 billion of it internal work — reconditioning is the example NADA gives for that category.
Two large used-car retailers take reconditioning into dedicated facilities.
CarMax operated 256 used car stores as of February 28, 2026; its production stores do vehicle reconditioning, and it also runs seven stand-alone reconditioning and auction facilities.
Carvana routes vehicles to inspection and reconditioning centers (IRCs) and ADESA auction sites; 16 ADESA sites had IRC capability as of December 31, 2025.
Each Carvana reconditioning site carries trained technicians, vehicle lifts, paintless dent repair and paint capabilities, and its inspection covers controls, features, brakes, tires and cosmetics.
Body shops are the collision side of the trade.
The industry rows above do not carry a body-shop detailing line, so no jobs count for that setting appears here — and, as the bullet notes, the repair-and-maintenance figure includes car washes, so it is not a count of detail shops either.
Requirements to work as a car detailer
What a particular shop asks of its detailers appears in that shop's own posting.
Beyond employer requirements, two sets of federal rules shape who can do which parts of the job: child-labor limits and teen-driving limits.
At 14 and 15, federal child-labor rules allow work on cars and trucks only for dispensing gas and oil, courtesy service, and hand car cleaning, washing and polishing.
That carve-out excludes work involving pits, racks or lifting apparatus, and it excludes inflating tires on rims with removable retaining rings.
Driving is a listed task for this occupation, and federal rules gate it hard for minors: 16-year-olds may not drive motor vehicles on public roads for work at all.
At 17, driving is allowed only occasionally and incidentally to the job: no more than one-third of a workday and 20% of a workweek, in daylight, in vehicles up to 6,000 lb GVW and within 30 miles.
The 17-year-old conditions continue: a valid license, no moving violations at hire, completed driver education, and never towing or transporting more than three passengers.
Industry certification exists as well.
The International Detailing Association (IDA) runs a two-phase program: Phase I written exams earn the IDA Certified Detailer title, and Phase II hands-on assessments earn the Certified Detailer, Skills Validated title.
Certified detailers at every level keep the credential current with 8 hours of detailing-related continuing education every 2 years.
It is an industry association's credential, not a state license; what any particular shop requires appears in its own postings.
Confirm the current rules
How much detailers make
Detailers appear in federal pay data inside a broader group: Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment (SOC 53-7061), which is wider than detailing alone, so the figures describe the whole group rather than detailing by itself.
In BLS OEWS May 2025, the group's national median was $35,830 a year, or $17.23 an hour; the 10th percentile was $27,380 and the 90th was $47,610.
The employer industry moves the number: the median at automotive repair and maintenance was $33,810 ($16.25 an hour) across 158,990 jobs, while automobile dealers paid a $35,500 median across 75,270 jobs — above the repair-and-maintenance figure, from the same May 2025 release.
The car detailer salary page carries the full BLS tables for the occupation group.
Detailer career paths
BLS folds the trade's titles into one occupation: Automotive Detailer, Detail Technician and Reconditioner are all titles O*NET reports for the same group.
The lot porter is a separate role with its own path.
Detailing's own task list includes vehicle moving, though: O*NET lists driving vehicles to or from workshops or customers among detailers' tasks.
Reconditioning inside used-car retail is a related destination.
CarMax's production stores do vehicle reconditioning, and Carvana's inspection and reconditioning centers carry trained technicians, vehicle lifts, paintless dent repair and paint capabilities, with inspections that cover controls, features, brakes, tires and cosmetics.
Moving to the mechanical side of a shop — lube, tire or general service work — is a change of role with its own training route.
The craft also has specialty exam areas in IDA's Phase I — Paint Correction & Protection is one of its ten exams.
The workforce mix differs from the technician trade, too.
CPS 2025 counted 396,000 employed cleaners of vehicles and equipment, and women were 20.7% of them — compared with 1.8% among automotive service technicians, also CPS 2025.
Opening a detailing business of your own is a different kind of move: an ownership decision, not a rung on a shop ladder.
Find car detailer jobs
The occupation carries several titles for the same BLS group — Automotive Detailer, Detail Technician and Reconditioner — so searching across titles widens the field.
The employer mix in BLS's industry rows is the target list: dealerships, repair and maintenance shops, rental and leasing operations, and the reconditioning centers retailers such as CarMax and Carvana run.
The repair-and-maintenance figure is an aggregate that includes car washes, so detail shops are not broken out within it.
On AutoTechHires, listings are grouped by role, so one page covers every title variant: browse car detailer jobs to see what shops are posting.
Career information, not legal, tax or safety advice; confirm child-labor and driving rules with the U.S. Department of Labor and certification details with the International Detailing Association.