Winter business in cold climate?

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bmwsmity

New member
I'm thinking of starting a second business doing mobile detailing to supplement my other business which is seasonal. I've always had an interest in mobile detailing (mostly because I'm a car lover), but just never made it happen. Now I have a large cargo van for my current business, so I have the capacity to do just about anything.



My question is, I live in an area where it gets very cold in winter... is the mobile detail business better or worse in the winter months? I would think people have less desire to clean their cars in winter and are more apt to pay to have them detailed then...but as we all know, customers don't always make sense in their decisions.



Thanks for the input...I appreciate it immensely! :xyxthumbs
 
Temperature will slow your progress unless you have a heated bay. As soon as it gets into the high 20's, the washing fun ends.
 
yakky said:
Temperature will slow your progress unless you have a heated bay. As soon as it gets into the high 20's, the washing fun ends.
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its not so much my comfort i care about... i do irrigation work in 95 degree heat which i hate way worse than cold weather work...its about business viability and expected revenue during this time i'm concerned about...



with that in mind, what can i expect?



thanks for the reply!
 
bmwsmity said:
its not so much my comfort i care about... i do irrigation work in 95 degree heat which i hate way worse than cold weather work...its about business viability and expected revenue during this time i'm concerned about...



with that in mind, what can i expect?



thanks for the reply!
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What I mean is, once it gets below 30, the water will freeze on you! You will get ice on the surface of the car as you try to wash.
 
Once the snow starts to fall you better have some dealership work lined up or you will be very hungry.



I could quit my 9-5 today if I lined up dealership work for the winter months but dealership work does not interest me.



Another idea is to put a plow on a truck and push snow during the winter
 
yep once the snow fly's you had better have something else lined up other than detailing. Customers won't pay for a service only to have to drive it back out and ruin the detail. Dealer work puts food on the table through the colder months. Although it's not great work by any means..
 
I used to live in a very cold climate and detail year-round. I had a heated garage, but had to wash outside with boiling hot water. The shop had an extra hot water heater just for outdoor winter washing. Even with the hot water and heated garage, the job was a nightmare. It is always cold and everything would freeze. As soon as you drive out of the garage, your detail job is trashed with road salt. Business came to a slow trickle as soon as the snow begun to fly and we had to switch over to plowing with the company truck. Most people just don't want to pay for detail jobs in the winter. You better have something else lined up or else you become a professional TV watcher real quick.
 
I think it really depends on your location. Here in NOVA, business definitely slows. My maintenance clients keep me fairly busy year round though. It gets pretty cold, starting in December through March, with occasional snow. Most days it is above freezing. I could not imagine Detailing in the winter in a the northern states.
 
I still do detailing in the winter, I stay reasonably busy with maintenance washes, new car preps, and some corrections (though that slows down a lot). I supplement it with some body shop work (sanding, compounding) and some commercial work (like...car commercials), so I stay pretty busy. I'm 7 days a week spring/summer/fall, ~5 days a week winter.



In terms of mobile detailing, if I am going mobile in the snow I require the client has a heated garage, no exceptions. If they don't they can come to me or we can wait. Washing under 0C (32F) gets pretty difficult not only on you, but on the car.
 
Interesting, everyone's experience with winter. Even here where I live, where it gets fairly cold, and it snows a good amount, detailing doesn't grind to a complete halt in the winter months. People around here don't care so much about their exteriors, it's the interiors that matter to them. Winter is terrible on interiors, snow, slush, gravel, sand, and of course it's cold so an interior never dries out. Yes it slows down, for sure, but it doesn't grind to a halt.



You also wouldn't believe the amount of people willing to get a complete detail just so their vehicle can thaw out overnight in a heated bay. When it's -30 degrees (-22 F) outside for 3 weeks in a row, it's nice to let your ride thaw out.
 
I worked all winter in cold climate, it really is a pain in the tail correcting at 35 degrees but if you want it, you can get it done. This stuff is where you find your favorite products to work with:)
 
i live in toronto...it snows a lot here...winter months the car game in general slows down. i do some delear work every now and again, no exteriors just straight shampoos...so its not really a big problem. most of my regular customers dont do anything in the winter and I'm not about to go out and wash anybody's car in the cold lol...



if you have made enough money during the busy season you should be alright to sustain yourself in the winter months...I work 7 days a week in the summer so I don't have to work as much in the winter...that's the time I get to relax and take vacations and figure out the game plan for the next season...
 
Im with you ^^ But there is always business if I end up getting bored and for the customers that stick with me in the cold, Ill stick with them
 
Nakkamura said:
Does it snow? I can't imagine people will pay for detailing if it's just going to snow the next day.
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I agree. I live in central Pennsylvania, and get plenty of cold weather and snow in the winter. I keep my cars clean, especially my GTO. It would be nice if I can detail my cars during the cold months, but there really isn't much of a point, when it will get covered in road salt the very next time they get driven. Thankfully, I have a garage to store my GTO, and a Durango to drive all winter, so the GTO doesn't see any salt or rain anyway. The Durango on the other hand takes the beating. I mostly just try to give it a good cleaning and a few good coats of collinite to get me through the winter. But from my perspective, I just think that most of the people who have cars that they love enough to pay $$$ for a detail job for it:



a) probably don't drive them through the winter if they don't have to anyway.



b) still probably won't want to pay for a detail when it will get devastatingly dirty again as soon as it is driven again.



c) still give it a good protection wax detail right before winter. At most they will probably just pass their vehicle through a no-touch car wash every now and then until winter thaws out.
 
I am willing to wash a person's car, so long as it is 40 degrees outside. I wash and dry it outside and then pull it in for the rest. make sure you get the water out of the hose though (if you keep it outside) or it will freeze.
 
Try offering more services. Dent repair, wheel repair & refinishing, windshield replacement, paint & body work, leather repair. The more services you offer the better off you will be :)
 
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