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  1. #16

    Join Date
    Sep 2018
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    Re: Starting a part time detailing business

    Add to your list.

    Form a LLC.
    Get business insurance.
    Get a Pa Tax number for your business.

    Then your home and family should be protected.

  2. #17

    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Orlando
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    Re: Starting a part time detailing business

    Quote Originally Posted by Astouffer512 View Post
    Interior only. Didn’t know if it could be helpful when trying to find a way to get to some carpet stains more easily


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    I have not had an issue getting everywhere without one, yet. I use a carpet brush (like this one https://www.autopia-carcare.com/low-...ire-brush.html ) for all carpets and floormats, and have craft sticks (or popsicle sticks), a rubber brush for pet hair, and several small brushes for tight areas.

  3. #18

    Join Date
    Sep 2019
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    Re: Starting a part time detailing business

    Quote Originally Posted by kevk View Post
    Add to your list.

    Form a LLC.
    Get business insurance.
    Get a Pa Tax number for your business.

    Then your home and family should be protected.
    Planning on going about this the legal way so a PA tax number will be obtained. I also plan on talking to my I insurance company about additional insurance needed.

    For the type of business to form....I haven’t decided if it will be a LLC or a DBA


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  4. #19

    Join Date
    Sep 2019
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    Re: Starting a part time detailing business

    I want to talk polishing pads.....how do you guys who are in the business factor in the price of your polishing pads for a detail?


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  5. #20

    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    Green Bay, WI
    Posts
    2,879
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    Re: Starting a part time detailing business

    Quote Originally Posted by Astouffer512 View Post
    Planning on going about this the legal way so a PA tax number will be obtained. I also plan on talking to my I insurance company about additional insurance needed.

    For the type of business to form....I haven’t decided if it will be a LLC or a DBA
    When you say "insurance company" I assume you mean car insurance. Not all car insurance companies have business insurance. You might want to talk with the Better Business Bureau for suggestions who could underwrite a policy for your detailing enterprise. I assume you will need to be a registered business with your state and local governments AND have obtained the necessary licenses or permits from said government agencies as they apply to your local before applying for business insurance.

    Also, by registering as a business, regardless of the legal entity you will use, you will need to file quarterly income tax reports from your earnings with federal and state departments of revenue as well as paying BOTH halves of your FICA (Social Security) taxes, since you are self-employed.
    Quick Books is great book-keeping program to help you keep track of this.

    If you are fortunate enough in the area where you live, you might be able to find a Start-up Business Association who can mentor you on all the ins-and-outs on starting and running a business. This is especially true of any legal help or questions you may have.

    You are beginning to discover why legitimate detailing business charge as they do. There are a lot of "overhead business cost" that seem hidden to the average person who uses that service and business.

    Another thing, though, that many feel in America is `wrong" is all the "tax breaks" that businesses get and things that they are allowed to deduct or write off for their business taxes. A good example may be mileage traveled and value depreciation for a vehicle used in that business or professional development expenses, like going to a detailing seminar, that would help your business. I say this because starting a business is expensive and entrepreneurs take huge financial risks. "Tax breaks" are part of the reward for the willingness to taking on those risks and a "fringe benefit" for all the work it takes to keep a business viable.
    GB detailer

  6. #21
    wannafbody
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Posts
    8,145
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    Re: Starting a part time detailing business

    Forming an LLC will cost some money but if you plan on doing this as a real means of making money being a sole proprietor LLC can have some advantages. You really need to talk to a CPA.

  7. #22

    Join Date
    Jul 2021
    Location
    Las Vegas
    Posts
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    Re: Starting a part time detailing business

    A year old thread but very informative!!

  8. #23

    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    Green Bay, WI
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    Re: Starting a part time detailing business

    Quote Originally Posted by kevk View Post
    Add to your list.

    Form a LLC.
    Get business insurance.
    Get a Pa Tax number for your business.

    Then your home and family should be protected.
    While this piece of advice seems to be a "non-issue, this-doesn`t-apply-to-me-because-I`m-only-part-time-and-doing-this-for-cash", ANY detailer`s liability needs to be considered. How many vehicles you do per month (or per year) AND who you are doing for certainly has an effect on this liability.
    it is one thing to do 3 or 4 cars a year for immediate family (including in-laws), but when you start detailing vehicles EVERY weekend out of your own garage for a friend-of-friend or a business associate, then you are getting into that realm of a liability issue happening.

    Some municipalities had ordinances against running a "private" or "personal" business out of your home, especially in zoned neighborhoods.
    Or if you are part of a neighborhood association, there may be restrictions to businesses run out of your home or at home covered by those association covenants.

    Legal issues are just that: legal. They require compliance to the laws and ordinances of that municipality or community designed for the well-being and civility of all those who live in such an area. Now whether you think they are fair or decent or even if they apply to you, well, that`s your "right" to disagree. Breaking them is another issue in-and-of itself and they may have consequences.
    Good example:
    You may start washing a vehicle at 6:00 AM on a summer Saturday morning to begin your detailing regiment. By 6:45 it is time to dry the vehicle and you break out the Metro dryer outside in your driveway. The noise "disturbs" your usually good-natured next-door neighbor who happens to be suffering from a late night party hangover and calls the cops about it. While you can comply, now you have an "incident" on the local police file that can be accessed by the general public under an open-records law. Not good for you or your detailing business or the relationship to your near-by neighbors. (Yes, I do have that "reputation" with my neighbors, so I try to start by wash-n-dry detailing after 7:30 AM, which usually avoids any noise and disturbing the peace "issues" with them on Sunday morning in the summer.)

    The tax issue is one you have to decide for yourself. You make yourself very "vulnerable to suspicion" when they see you detailing a different vehicle every weekend in your driveway. There is a lot of under-the-table, fly-by-night, cash-only "business" going on these days, especially in light of the pandemic and work-at-home. There is little enforcement on a lot of things these days.
    Good example:
    You buy your detailing supplies on-line because you avoid paying state sales tax on it and its just easier to procure all your needed detailing supplies and equipment this way, either because it`s done in bulk OR is is specialized equipment that just is not available at brick-and-mortar stores.
    Here in Wisconsin you are "suppose" to report those on-line no-state-sales-tax purchases on your state income tax form. The state wants (and needs!) that 5% you did not pay. Are you going to report that for the state you live in??? What are the chances that your state Department of Revenue will look and check you financial records that you bought $1,000 of detailing items from the Autopia Store with your credit card? Do they REALLY "need" that $50? Is it even "worth" their time to go after it? There`s a pretty obvious answer to that question. Hopefully you never get a letter from your state Department of Revenue about that.
    It`s probably true about your Cash-Only business and "reporting" that income on your federal (and state!) income tax forms. Just don`t upset the neighbors so much that they call the cops and then an investigation begins. Your well-intended supplemental income detailing enterprise may come to a screeching halt.
    GB detailer

 

 
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