Mobile car wash! Need opinions..

Feckthis

Well folks, I am toying with the idea of a mobile car wash. Basically I would drive to your house and wash your car using my own power washer and water. I already have a use for my equipment this would be a add on to my business.

I am looking for opinions (good and bad) on this idea. I'm just doing abit of market research here on it. Would you pay money for this service if so how much? Would it be an advantage in your life? Would you be happier not having to worry about keeping your car clean?

If it was feasible I would be hoping to get to each customer every second week, so you would always have a clean car. Thanks. Hope to hear some opinions on this. Hope this is ok with the mods!

LawlessBoy

Only problem I could see is the costs on your side. To cover yous costs depending on the area you would be working in it would be a pretty expensive car wash

Staplor

I'd be interested.

Really though there's an issue with booking you recurring. Most people work midweek, so the car would only be at the house Saturday and Sunday daytime, plus I'd then be tied down until the car wash man arrived. Even if it was parked up and I went off for the day, how would I pay you?

If it'd work I'd pay a bit of a premium though, I reckon I'd pay €10 considering a regular handwash place is €6.

MuppetCheck

No way you could make it pay just for a car wash imo. I'd you were a mobile detailer or valetor it might (MX detailing do it) but I can't see people being interested in getting someone to call over for a car wash.

I'm lazy when it comes to doing anything to the car and I'd definitely just drive somewhere to get it done.

polan

Plenty of mobile valets around make sure you see what you are up against first

Toyotafanboi

I suppose if you already have the gear for doing something else and the investment isn't too big.

This is probably not the best place to ask as most of the lads will say unless you spend a bomb on products and use the 50 bucket wash method and a wash mitt made from unicorn pubes, it won't work, but these are the very people who would never use your business anyway.

It's hard to know if demand would be there for 2 main reasons

- 90% of irish people have no regard or interest for their car, nor how it is maintained, nor how it looks and would have no interest in paying a lad €20 to wash it when they can get the machine to do it at topaz before Christmas and weddings for €5

- the rainy season in Ireland is 12 months long. For example, I had genuinely made an arrangement to have my car washed today at a nice detailing outfit for €15. Woke up this morning and it was spilling rain. Absolutely no point in getting it done, it wouldn't last me to the end of the road , so I held off.

coylemj

Staplor wrote: »

If it'd work I'd pay a bit of a premium though, I reckon I'd pay €10 considering a regular handwash place is €6.

There's your answer OP, someone who considers that you can fit out a van, drive to his door and clean his car for €10 is paying a 'bit of a premium' price for the service. That's what you're up against.

TomMc

It simply wouldn't pay you for all the costs involved with fitting out and running a van, not to mention the time spent (wasted) travelling to a customers location and back to base again afterwards for a job paying you a tenner for possibly 30 minutes of your time from start to finish (before expenses/overheads). Then you have all the hassle involved with setting up before and packing up after every job. Many car valeting operators (experienced ex mobile ones) are now renting workspaces at vacant garages, filling stations and the like where there is lots of passing traffic as car washes are by and large an impulse buy. You really need to be at a fixed location nowadays and wash cars in volume for it to be a feasible business. And we won't even go into the wastewater regulations, insurance, long hours (including weekends) and so on.

NickDunne

coylemj wrote: »

There's your answer OP, someone who considers that you can fit out a van, drive to his door and clean his car for €10 is paying a 'bit of a premium' price for the service. That's what you're up against.

Bang on.

Rest of the world's motto: Give me the best service possible

Irish motto: Give me the cheapest service possible

We don't do quality in this country, we do chaaaape :rolleyes:

Lellostag

I suppose if you could strike a deal with a number of business parks to do their employees cars on a regular basis it might just work, as in the office people sign up and pay for it themselves. That would be one way to get a bit of volume business and you can do it daytime.

wandererz

As an example, the guys in the Blanchardstown Shopping center outside of KFC charge €35 for a wash and interior clean.
I happily pay that for one of my cars that has been put through the car wash a million times. Vehicle comes out almost glowing on the outside and sparkling clean inside.

If someone was able to come out to my job and clean the vehicle outside then great. It saves me time as well.

The other car only gets washed by me though.

JoeA3

I'd agree with the points made my Toyotafanboi and TomMc.

1. People who care about their car and have no qualms about actually spending money on maintaining their cars will not use your service!. You need to have a "pro detailer" reputation (such as Spirit Detailing) to make any inroads in that market.

2. That leaves you with the casual car washer, the lads who do it once a year or the morning of his sisters wedding. You won't make any money out of these fellas when they consider a tenner in a the Topaz jet wash a job done.

vintagevrs

Unicorn pubes

jimmycrackcorm

coylemj wrote: »

There's your answer OP, someone who considers that you can fit out a van, drive to his door and clean his car for €10 is paying a 'bit of a premium' price for the service. That's what you're up against.

I think the answer is thinking that someone would be prepared to pay €10 for a car wash is the real problem.

Staplor

Sell the service to a business, loads of vans in a lock up overnight, if you wash the vans it means their reps don't need to and can spend more time earning.

All the vans in one place mean that your efficiency numbers go way up.

ironclaw

I would echo the daytime office trade. Would be fairly decent if I could drop my keys at reception and for the car to be valeted inside and out by the time I went home. You would need to do both however, most people will take a €6 machine wash on the way home but actually doing the inside of the car is a yearly job for some people.

As regards payment, you could easily set up an online system for people to book in and pay for it, and have a schedule for different office blocks / industrial estates. That said however, you can't just start blasting away with a jet washer in a tight office car park. You'll probably need to do it water-less or by hand.

I'd strongly suggest forgetting a door to door consumer trade. It just won't pay. Any time I do a job I consider an hour before or after part of it as well as that's the time its going to take you to get to or from there. If you price this at the bare minimum of €10 an hour, thats €20 before you even wash the car. No one will pay that type of money.

Lord Nikon

wandererz wrote: »

As an example, the guys in the Blanchardstown Shopping center outside of KFC charge €35 for a wash and interior clean.
I happily pay that for one of my cars that has been put through the car wash a million times. Vehicle comes out almost glowing on the outside and sparkling clean inside.

If someone was able to come out to my job and clean the vehicle outside then great. It saves me time as well.

The other car only gets washed by me though.

Definitely, I use these guys about twice a month. For €20 they wash the outside, and hoover the inside. The car is immaculate inside and out, and they do a great job everytime. They are constantly busy, so must be making money, and they have been there for a few years.

My mate was running a car wash in Fleet Street carpark, he moved on to other employment, but I'm not sure anyone has reopened a car wash there. He was always busy, and was always making money.

Might be an idea to be based at a location, because you will have repeat customers. While you may worry about costs, insurance/waste water etc. you will probably not make any money having a mobile unit, while most of your profits would be spent on fuel.