Just wash it please

[HUMP DIESEL]

Alright,
I have emailed a fellow AG poster about this, but I wanted your take.
I previously owned and operated a mobile car wash and detail service. We did okay, but looking back and doing some cost analysis, I don't see how I made money doing just washes. At least doing a wash the way I would do one now. I basically treat a wash on my personal car as if I were going to start correction aside from the stripping of any prior sealants. I foam my car now, and I wash using the three bucket method ( I count the wheel bucket). Typically to clean my car the way I like, it would take me approximately 1.5 hours to do it. If I charged $20, which is what I used to charge for a wash, I would not be making enough per hour to even justify doing the work. This puts me into a predicament with some new contacts, because I am quoting now based off what I want to make an hour and it is by far higher than what they would ever expect to pay at the corner wash bucket.
Granted, I am not detailing full time, maybe never will, but I want to garner the clients whom deem the service as a great compliment to what I already have done to their cars.
Any thoughts?

HUMP

[VP Mark]

Well.. there's not a ton of options for you with this...

Charge what you need to make for the level of wash you are doing
Charge what you used to charge and Dont make anything
Find a more efficient way of doing maintenance washes such as rinse less. This is what I would recommend.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using AG Online

[STPETEDALE]

I had roughly20- 30 maintenance washes at 35-50 per vehicle.Most were two car stops.So roughly $1000 a week. All vehicles required a full detail before maintenance washes began. Also every other month a coat of wax or sealent +++. After labor and cost maybe $700 left from maintenance washes. I did this for a couple years. As of today I no longer offer maintenance washes. I only have two package's I offer now. Best decision I made. Eliminated my need for a helper as I enjoy being a one man show.Others will disagree but it works for me. Car washes are a lot of work.

[HUMP DIESEL]

I had roughly20- 30 maintenance washes at 35-50 per vehicle.Most were two car stops.So roughly $1000 a week. All vehicles required a full detail before maintenance washes began. Also every other month a coat of wax or sealent +++. After labor and cost maybe $700 left from maintenance washes. I did this for a couple years. As of today I no longer offer maintenance washes. I only have two package's I offer now. Best decision I made. Eliminated my need for a helper as I enjoy being a one man show.Others will disagree but it works for me. Car washes are a lot of work.

And this is where I am myself.

[Bill1234]

Alright,
I have emailed a fellow AG poster about this, but I wanted your take.
I previously owned and operated a mobile car wash and detail service. We did okay, but looking back and doing some cost analysis, I don't see how I made money doing just washes. At least doing a wash the way I would do one now. I basically treat a wash on my personal car as if I were going to start correction aside from the stripping of any prior sealants. I foam my car now, and I wash using the three bucket method ( I count the wheel bucket). Typically to clean my car the way I like, it would take me approximately 1.5 hours to do it. If I charged $20, which is what I used to charge for a wash, I would not be making enough per hour to even justify doing the work. This puts me into a predicament with some new contacts, because I am quoting now based off what I want to make an hour and it is by far higher than what they would ever expect to pay at the corner wash bucket.
Granted, I am not detailing full time, maybe never will, but I want to garner the clients whom deem the service as a great compliment to what I already have done to their cars.
Any thoughts?

HUMP

I think 20 is a bit low for a wash, charge double or even more depending on how you wash

[dcjredline]

Yeah, my basic wash & spray wax is $35 and I can barely get anyone to cough up the $. Luckily I do it on the side and have a regular income.

[HUMP DIESEL]

Yeah, my basic wash & spray wax is $35 and I can barely get anyone to cough up the $. Luckily I do it on the side and have a regular income.

This is what I have ran into as well, so my focus group gets smaller.

HUMP

[STPETEDALE]

I have the two basic packages and mostly do corrections. I also cut out all dealers too. It was nice having vehicles that needed done rain or shine but most dealers are cheap. Working for a large dealer in my teens really taught me how not to detail a vehicle.

[tpr1634]

I find most people really don't care that much about their vehicles as we do. For them a five dollar car wash with free swirls is all they want. I also do this on the side and work very reasonable and some still look at me like I have lobsters crawling out of my ears. I have told a few go to a detail shop and see what it cost.:buffing:

[SlightlyBent]

Whatever you charge, be sure you do an excellent job. We use a mobile detailer at work, and I used his services on my previous car. First for a wash, then for a detail.

I was unimpressed and haven't bothered with him since. Hence my foray into detailing... Had he done a good or "impressive" job on my previous car, he'd have my business today, and I would have saved the 10 hours on Saturday allenk and I spent on it...

[TundraPower]

You cannot compete with large commercial detail operations in terms of just "washing". A friend of mine owns one. His operation can "wash" a car at a cost of about 96 cents in less time than it takes you prepare a two bucket set up. His cheapest "wash" is $10 which is about a 1000% profit margin. You have to hit them where it hurts, and that is quality. To them, time is money, not quality. But even if you do a fabulous wash you will struggle. Look at my web site. Take a guess at how many "external cleansing" only services I have done in the last year.....