How to start my own Car Washing Business?

Now three years since I retired and moved to this little town in the area where I grew up.

Know most people who are in business, am well known at both my boat clubs, old time friends who own bodyshops, one is a custom restorer of vehicles, etc.

Am known and addressed as either Ketch or Grumpy by most.

When my buddy and I restored the old Allstate, and people started to see it around, the older folks recalled the custom cars I built in the late 50's and early 60's (still talked about to this day) and they started asking me "can you do this or that?"

Seemed like a perfect opportunity for me to make a little cash and buy more tools and goodies for my home shop, which I had named and put a sign up that said "Grumpy's Garage".

It got known as well, so when my buddy and I got talking about how to make some cash money to pay our club bills, we had to come up with a name for our venture.

Everyone we talked with said basically the same thing, "you got it-Grumpy's Garage"

They were right, everyone knows Grumpy's Garage but we do more than restore old bikes, between us, we have a lot of talent.

The business cards read "Grumpy's Garage-Old Guys Repairing and Restoring Old Things.

No address, just our phone numbers.

I used VistaPrint for the cards, what a deal!

We are booked pretty well through the end of the year, restoring old brass door hinges/knobs, other brass and copper antiques, etc for home restoration companies, three old Coke machines to restore, a 1962 Triumph Bonneville to restore, plus our own projects.

The point of this is that the young man, if he and his family are known, if he is starting out will be relying on family and friends to build the first part of his business.

If in a larger city, he will have competition from established shops, if a smaller town, and his family has been there for sometime, his name is already known.

So take advantage of what is known by the population, use his name in the name of his business.

No need to get fancy with a name for a start up business that is going to rely on who and what is already known.

"Bob's Hand Wash and Detailing" says it all for example.

Just some thoughts.

Grumpy
 
A friend and I cleaned apartments Including cleaning the toilets, shower, floors, kitchen counters, vacuuming, washing windowson one summer. We each made 10$ per hour.
 
I'll jump in and give my tid bit of advice as a newbie to detailing. I personally would start with just washing the exterior and interior. No clay, wax, polish or anything fancy.



There are a dozen how-to articles on washing cars. Read those and write down the products people use. Then go to autogeek and read the product descriptions. Some of these products sound so good I'm convinced my car will turn into a million dollar exotic if I use them. Use some of those descriptions in a brochure you can make. Anyone can put up an ad saying "I wash cars". Make a brochure that educates the reader. Teach them something and they will know that you know what you are doing. Use some of the terms from the product description to make yourself sound more professional.



A big selling point for me would be cleaning all hinges and door sills. Washing the undercarriage and maybe even the engine bay. The average person doesn’t do this and typical car wash places don’t either. Or even bash the car wash places. Say they “use hard towels that create swirl marks and marring while you use Brazilian sheep’s wool wash mitts that gently massage the car.”



Don’t spend money on advertising yet. Use your home computer and print out brochures on plain old paper. Post them up at local grocery and auto part stores. See if some mechanics will let you leave them in their waiting area. I see them all the time. A single page of paper with the rip off phone numbers at the bottom. Go on craigslist and post some ads.
 
If you market it and get enough customers, you can make a good living by just WASHING vehicles. I do a wash, spray wax, and tire shine for 35.00 now and do and average of 20 a week PLUS my other detailing work. Most take me 30 minutes to do so I do those in 10 hours. This a pretty nice hourly average. I still do full details along with my power washing and glass cleaning. If I focused my energy to just washing exteriors only, I bet I could I could 40+ a week..........and that's in a small town.
 
Malves85 said:
I'll jump in and give my tid bit of advice as a newbie to detailing. I personally would start with just washing the exterior and interior. No clay, wax, polish or anything fancy.



There are a dozen how-to articles on washing cars. Read those and write down the products people use. Then go to autogeek and read the product descriptions. Some of these products sound so good I'm convinced my car will turn into a million dollar exotic if I use them. Use some of those descriptions in a brochure you can make. Anyone can put up an ad saying "I wash cars". Make a brochure that educates the reader. Teach them something and they will know that you know what you are doing. Use some of the terms from the product description to make yourself sound more professional.



A big selling point for me would be cleaning all hinges and door sills. Washing the undercarriage and maybe even the engine bay. The average person doesn’t do this and typical car wash places don’t either. Or even bash the car wash places. Say they “use hard towels that create swirl marks and marring while you use Brazilian sheep’s wool wash mitts that gently massage the car.”



Don’t spend money on advertising yet. Use your home computer and print out brochures on plain old paper. Post them up at local grocery and auto part stores. See if some mechanics will let you leave them in their waiting area. I see them all the time. A single page of paper with the rip off phone numbers at the bottom. Go on craigslist and post some ads.
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This is great advice!

If you polled most customers, most just want a CLEAN and SHINY car. They don't care about swirls or 6 months durability. If they did, their cars would already reflect that!



I would rather have 50 car wash customers out there talking about me than 2 full detail customers. Do the math and tell me which one is the best buck for advertising.



I personally only use my DA 15 hours a month and make TWICE the money I did when I used it daily. I'm in it to make money.
 
justin I have no idea how you can wash a car in 30 minutes, but more power to you! I washed a porsche cayenne today as fast as I could with a 3 min interior vacuuming and it took me 50 minutes...with a hose, not just ONR.



pre-rinse quickly

wash

rinse whole car

take nozzle off and sheet

clean wheel outers and inners

dress tires

glass

door jambs

vacuum



I dont see where a PW would yield faster results as this car isnt really ever dirty.

I dont see where I can save any time other than not doing the wheel inners and just wiping the outers only.
 
toyotaguy said:
justin I have no idea how you can wash a car in 30 minutes, but more power to you! I washed a porsche cayenne today as fast as I could with a 3 min interior vacuuming and it took me 50 minutes...with a hose, not just ONR.



pre-rinse quickly

wash

rinse whole car

take nozzle off and sheet

clean wheel outers and inners

dress tires

glass

door jambs

vacuum



I dont see where a PW would yield faster results as this car isnt really ever dirty.

I dont see where I can save any time other than not doing the wheel inners and just wiping the outers only.
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Well, first of all, I'm only WASHING.......no interior work.

A pressure washer assists you like another person in my opinion when you're looking for speed. The whole nozzle off sheeting step you're doing is easily a five to ten minutes step. The most amazing thing here isn't my 30 minute wash but your 3 minute vac! How can you vac a vehicle like that in 3 minutes?
 
Remember, the direction that you take your business is up to. Don't let me or others sway you in any way from what you like to do. I know of detailers that make a lot just doing corrections and others that just do wash and vacs make a lot too. You have to know your target area and know how to market it.



I live in a building boom mountain town that is suffering from a hurt economy. I had to change my business a year ago or vanish. It actually opened my eyes to what MY customers wanted.....not what I wanted to do. I have a family to feed so for me to say I only do corrections would be selfish to them.



I challenge the thread starter to spending 3 days just evaluating his area. Got to businesses and ask what they would like to see as far as a clean car. Most will tell you the interior and shiny tires! LOL! Why do you think the high volume tunnel washes stay so busy?



I have a good friend that marketed sub divisions. All he does is washes. The customers pull their cars out on the day he comes to that area. He has another employee that helps. He averages 17 per day......7 DAYS A WEEK! He charges 25.00 per car. He get's the owners credit card info once and then charges accordingly. He never ever sees the customer. He is in the process of getting another truck and three more employees. He will focus his efforts on training and business management. That is the key to being successful in my opinion.
 
I agree that car washing has a huge potential to bring in maximum revenue from an individual perspective. I think it can be way easier, cheaper and much more profitable then detailing. It's mandantory to establish a quick workflow to minimize vehicle touch time.
 
This guy hardly has any dust in his car, let alone dirt. He is the ideal client!



water sheeting takes me two minutes, but allows me MUCH less time drying.



makes sense though, wash outside only, wash wheel outers only, dress tires, windows, door jambs = 30 min. I see that.



Nice that you saw the demand change and were able to adapt!
 
I think even more time could be saving if you invested in RO/DI water. It would totally eliminate the need to dry, blow out and there wouldn't be any water spots/drips.
 
David Fermani said:
I think even more time could be saving if you invested in RO/DI water. It would totally eliminate the need to dry, blow out and there wouldn't be any water spots/drips.
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Ive never been able to "blowdry" a car with either a leaf blower or a compressor in less time than it takes me to towel dry a car after water sheeting...its not rocket science, start at the top, hit the crevices, then hit the panels. using a leaf blower with 220 MPH takes me about 10+ min, plus I still have to go back and touch up the crevices. Drying after a two min water sheeting takes me about 5 min, then i move on to the jambs and whatnot...



To the OP, talk to justin about volume washing as it seems he is pulling in about 60-70/hr doing washings...which IMO, its VERY GOOD since I cant get more than 30 per car, but it takes me 60 min to wash a car, so I dont even bother with it since I make more per hour doing paint corrections
 
Not saying to use the blower to dry the car. That would be a complete waste of time. I use them after hand drying to blow out the cracks to eliminate drips and water spotting. BUT, this entire drying step/process can be eliminated just by simply using RO/DI water. Now that's a time savings and a dramatic reduction to the potential of drying enduced marring (which could be a great marketing tool btw). Win-Win. :cheer2:
 
IMO a pressure washer means the pre-wash rinse is much faster and well as the post wash rinse. You can get most of the crap off the wheels and tires too. You get faster rinsing, more stuff removed off the paint and you actually use less water. The extra bonus is in the fact that the PW knocks off all the abrasive particles. This means you don't need to do a two bucket wash, you don't need to keep re-dipping your mit, you can wash faster because you are only dealing with the oily/grime layer on the car and not actual dirt as that has been rinsed off.



Second, the blower, while on the surface appears that it takes longer, in the end it saves time. I don't go for completely dry, I aim to knock off 90% of the water and the goal is dry enough to QD. Where most people will dry then follow with a final drying pass with QD, I can skip that step. You also get water out of the mirrors and crevices as well as dry the tires. Drying tires/wheels by hand is not fun and takes a while. You end up with drips that mess up the tire shine.



I'm not saying it's for everyone, but I have compared my wash times with and without the PW and blower, and I get better and faster results with them, even though they take more time and hassle to setup and use, the overall effect is time saved with better results.
 
With my washes, I power wash the vehicle after applying an APC to the front bumper, windshield, tires, and wheels. Now the vehicle is ready for a rinseless wash. I have a 65 gallon tank and can do 10 medium sized SUVs per tank. That's 6.5 gallons per wash. A normal wash would used 15-20 gallons for pre wash and rinsing.



I have used conventional washing and conventional washing using RI/RO water. The above technique yields the best results for me and my customers love it.
 
David Fermani said:
... BUT, this entire drying step/process can be eliminated just by simply using RO/DI water....
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IF (deal-breaking "if" in my case) the RO/DI water is used for the entire wash. Otherwise, no matter how well I DI-rinse, there's still "regular water" in the nooks and crannies and it leads to some degree of spotting.
 
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