Starting an Express Mobile Car Wash Business. Any tips?

F

fellipe

New member
Hello everyone. I'm from Brazil and in my area there's a big market for express car wash and quick interior clean. For my business to be scalable I need to execute the service as fast as possible. I'm not talking about expert detailing. My clients are regular people that only want their car better than it was (cleaner).

So far I've researched and came out with this plan:

1) Vaccum the interior (while steamer is heating up)
2) Use steam to clean interiors, doorjambs and wheels.
3) ONR the exterior.
4) Tire dressing

My questions are:

In your opinion how long do you think the whole process would take with one person? And with a helper?

Is the above process good? Any improvement?

Any tips you think would help my business?

Thank you!
 
I would first ask about the setup you are planning to use. Water tank and generator? Using the clients water and power? Trailer and truck or van?
 
Thanks for the reply.
I'll be 100% self sufficient: water tank + generator. We'll use a small van (like the Fiorino).
 
That's great. I would really suggest investing in a small electric power washer. It doesn't have to be anything fancy or ungodly powerful, but something just to do wheels/tires/wheel wells with and to prerinse the really dirty vehicles before ONR. Steaming wheels and tires takes forever. It would really speed up your process. I would also try ONR on the door jambs. You might find that its faster than steam. If you were running a 2 man crew, one guy could be doing the wheel area with the power washer and nessesary chemicals/tools while another guy does the ONR wash. Total time would be in the 10 - 15 minute range per vehicle for that basic service. For a quick interior go around, probably another 15 - 20 if the interior isn't really bad. That of course isnt really "detailing" anything, but just making a good improvement. Good luck with it :)
 
Yes and no. A lot of it comes down to the machine your using though. I use a Mytee Firebird, and while its a great for what it is, its not great for carpet, seats, etc. What it is good for is tight areas such as vents, cracks, crevices, cup holders, and also things like mold and mildew. If your going for fast and not so meticulous, a good APC wipedown would be faster, and use the steamer for the tight spots. Now if you were using a machine like a VX or Dupray that has the triangle attachment, that's a different story. Those tools are capable of doing seats, carpet, dashes, etc. They are also expensive...just depends on how much you are planning on spending on one.
 
Just the exterior portion of what you're doing should average close to 20min with one person. One of the dealer accounts I used to handle required a service like this. Basically I would detail the car once when it came in, and then I would do a delivery prep on the day that the customer came to pick up the car. The prep consisted of an ONR wash, D156 application, ext glass cleaning, dressing of tires, wells and trim, window sticker removal and a quick vac. As someone already said, a pressure washer is essential to getting these types of washes done quickly and with minimal or no marring. Start by applying APC and wheel cleaner to the areas that need it (wheels, tires, jams, wells, etc), then give the car a quick rinse with the pressure washer. Quickly douse the car with ONR at QD strength, wash with quality towels and use something at the end of the wash (before your final drying pass) that can be applied quickly, eliminates streaks and adds a lot of gloss (Megs D156 is great for this). The key to making this profitable is to be very methodical and have a system that can be duplicated easily by employees. ONR + a spray sealant, clean and nicely dressed tires and wheel wells will create a big improvement in appearance for just about any car. A good vac, wipedown with something like Megs QID and a glass cleaning would make a similar improvement in the interior.
 
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