Mobile Detailing Question

T

topnotchtouch

New member
I have been seriously considering starting a mobile detailing business some time in the not so distant future. For now I want to get more experience detailing friends and families cars and get what training I can find along the way.



One question that comes to mind right away is logistical. What do you do in a situation like a University Campus where most have paid parking. If an employee of that University calls you to come in and detail their car while they are at work how would you handle it? If they are parked in an employee lot you will likely not be able to get a pass to park there and even if you could the campus police would probably not be too happy about someone coming on campus property doing commercial work without prior approval. I imagine this might also be a problem at large businesses with their own security as well. The town I live in now is a University town and I fear that I may get quite a few customers that will fall into this situation and I would like opinions on how to deal with it.



Thanks in advance :wavey
 
Your customer will have to get permission for you to come on to campus to detail or you can move the car onto a public street.
 
Wash_Me said:
Your customer will have to get permission for you to come on to campus to detail or you can move the car onto a public street.
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I have worked in higher ed doing computer support for the better part of the past 15 years so I know what a pain it is to try and get permission for this sort of thing. I have had problems getting permission to allow people to come on campus and tint my windows and another time when I needed a window replaced. Both times I wound up just going to a vendor rather than go through the hassle. I was hoping my experience though was out of the ordinary.



I think I need to look into getting blanket approval although not sure if it is possible. I would imagine you have to become an approved state vendor. It would also involve getting a service vehicle pass to be able to park in places necessary to do the work.



I also don't want the liability involved in getting behind the wheel of a customer's car. This is one of the reasons I chose mobile detailing.



I would really like to hear from mobile detailers that have run into this issue on a regular basis and would like to know how you deal with it.
 
rjstaaf said:
I have been seriously considering starting a mobile detailing business some time in the not so distant future. For now I want to get more experience detailing friends and families cars and get what training I can find along the way.



One question that comes to mind right away is logistical. What do you do in a situation like a University Campus where most have paid parking. If an employee of that University calls you to come in and detail their car while they are at work how would you handle it? If they are parked in an employee lot you will likely not be able to get a pass to park there and even if you could the campus police would probably not be too happy about someone coming on campus property doing commercial work without prior approval. I imagine this might also be a problem at large businesses with their own security as well. The town I live in now is a University town and I fear that I may get quite a few customers that will fall into this situation and I would like opinions on how to deal with it.



Thanks in advance :wavey
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You should also be aware of the VERY stringent laws being passed requiring the use of a containment mat to catch all waste water and you must dispose of it properly as well. I have a transport truck place that called me for advice on this because they were being investigated for polluting because a mobile detailer who was washing their rigs did not use one and washed all his waste waters into the storm sewers - BIG MISTAKE.
 
ShineShop said:
You should also be aware of the VERY stringent laws being passed requiring the use of a containment mat to catch all waste water and you must dispose of it properly as well. I have a transport truck place that called me for advice on this because they were being investigated for polluting because a mobile detailer who was washing their rigs did not use one and washed all his waste waters into the storm sewers - BIG MISTAKE.
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Thanks for the heads up, didn't know about that. Are these local, state or federal laws? From what I have found so far they appear to be local laws and not very wide spread as of yet. Not that I am against it as it would be the responsible thing to do.



Anyone know of a good site to check out reviews of detailing products? Kind of like the product discussion forum here on Autopia but more geared towards mobile detailing equipment?



Thanks
 
If your going to try to reclaim you waste water I would not even try start your buisness. The time it take to do all the work to reclaim makes it very hard to make a profit.
 
Wash_Me said:
If your going to try to reclaim you waste water I would not even try start your buisness. The time it take to do all the work to reclaim makes it very hard to make a profit.
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I guess it really depends on what your margains are. I haven't sat down to figure that out yet. This is all still just an evolving idea in my head. I am in no position at this point to quit my day job. At best this will start out as a part time proposition and hopefully will grow.



Obviously I am speculating but, from the containment mats I have seen it would appear that setup and teardown shouldn't take any more than 20 minutes tops and maybe another 5 minutes to extract the water. Is that really enough time to wipe out your profits? Not trying to be sarcastic, I am serious.



This would obviously depend on the local laws. If it is required there really is no choice but to do it.



Thanks
 
rjstaaf said:
I guess it really depends on what your margains are. I haven't sat down to figure that out yet. This is all still just an evolving idea in my head. I am in no position at this point to quit my day job. At best this will start out as a part time proposition and hopefully will grow.



Obviously I am speculating but, from the containment mats I have seen it would appear that setup and teardown shouldn't take any more than 20 minutes tops and maybe another 5 minutes to extract the water. Is that really enough time to wipe out your profits? Not trying to be sarcastic, I am serious.



This would obviously depend on the local laws. If it is required there really is no choice but to do it.



Thanks
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Washing cars is a waste of time on its own anyway. Full details and waxes or shampoos is where you will make your money. The laws governing waste water runoff are federal in the USA so check the EPA website for details. I personally believe it is irresponsible to be flushing anything into the storm sewers so IMHO you should get the mat if you are going to pursue this.
 
Take my word for it reclaiming waste water is a pain; I hate it and only do it if it’s really needed. To do it right you need a trailer to pull behind your van to keep all that dirty mess away from your detailing supplies. I was driving to home depot today and saw over 15 charity car washes going on not one of them where reclaiming. Funny thing is that this law does not pertain to them only us mobile detailers.



I could go on forever about this as it burns me up :grrr
 
ShineShop is correct it is a federal mandate. Here is a link to more information on the EPA's website.



Surface & Groundwater Impacts & Regulations



It does appear though that enforcement is at the state and local level where it does appear to be spotty at best.



From the few products I have seen so far in my research on this it doesn't appear to be that much of a pain though to do the water reclamation and it may not need to be done all the time. The EPA site seems to indicate that it is permissible to let the water evaporate. The main concern is that it is not allowed to just flow freely into a storm drain.
 
rjstaaf said:
ShineShop is correct it is a federal mandate. Here is a link to more information on the EPA's website.



Surface & Groundwater Impacts & Regulations



It does appear though that enforcement is at the state and local level where it does appear to be spotty at best.



From the few products I have seen so far in my research on this it doesn't appear to be that much of a pain though to do the water reclamation and it may not need to be done all the time. The EPA site seems to indicate that it is permissible to let the water evaporate. The main concern is that it is not allowed to just flow freely into a storm drain.
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Most mobile detailers know all about the EPA and there spotty enforcements. If you fine a system for reclaiming waste water that is not a big mess and not a pain to use, please let us all know about it.
 
Wash_Me said:
Most mobile detailers know all about the EPA and there spotty enforcements. If you fine a system for reclaiming waste water that is not a big mess and not a pain to use, please let us all know about it.
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I guess it just depends on your definition of a big mess and a pain. I have done some pretty dirty manual labor in my life and not too much bothers me these days :) The worst had to be right after high school. I took a job stacking sod on palets. I was one of two guys on the back of a tractor and had to grab the sod as it came up a conveyer and stack it on the palet. At the end of the day it took about an hour get all the dirt and bugs off. Didn't wear gloves either as they slowed you down and it was all about speed as you got payed by the number of palets you did.



The full containment mats for complete recovery that I have seen are just a large mat around 13'x20' (would seem ideal) with a barrier of some sort around the edges to stop the water. Once you wash the car just use an extractor to recover the water, fold up the mat and put it in a large rubbermaid container to keep any remaining water from getting all over the place.



Since the object seems to be to just stop the water from flowing into a storm drain you may not even need a full containment mat. You can probably just get away with some sort of barrier to prevent the water from flowing away from your work area.



How about working it into your pricing structure? Charge a handling fee if you have to reclaim the water.



Thanks for all the input guys, really helps me get an idea of issues involved. Keep it coming :)
 
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