advice on starting new mobile detailing business

[KrispyCorey]

I am planning on starting a Mobile car detailing business once I graduate from school this year and I have a few questions. First should I have to worry about people trusting me because I am 18? Second how do you get power for vacuuming if you are mobile? This will be a part time business, about how many cars could I reasonably be able to fit in a week? Would a pressure washer be a worth while investment or DA polisher if either?

Would this be a good list of products for my arsenal
soap- Meguir's D111
Clay- Pinnacle Ultra poly Clay
spray wax- Meguir's d156 x-press
tire dressing- Meguir's all season dressing d160
Meguirs all purpose cleaner
glass cleaner- Meguir's D120
Quick detailer/clay lube- Meguir's d155 last touch
De-greaser- Purple power

Thank you for all of the help!!!

[vanev]

I am planning on starting a Mobile car detailing business once I graduate from school this year and I have a few questions. First should I have to worry about people trusting me because I am 18? Second how do you get power for vacuuming if you are mobile? This will be a part time business, about how many cars could I reasonably be able to fit in a week? Would a pressure washer be a worth while investment or DA polisher if either?

Would this be a good list of products for my arsenal
soap- Meguir's D111
Clay- Pinnacle Ultra poly Clay
spray wax- Meguir's d156 x-press
tire dressing- Meguir's all season dressing d160
Meguirs all purpose cleaner
glass cleaner- Meguir's D120
Quick detailer/clay lube- Meguir's d155 last touch
De-greaser- Purple power

Thank you for all of the help!!!

- Get legal first:
You will go much farther in your business being a legal business and having proper insurance.
You will make much more money, and have a list of tax deductions, being legal vs trying to fly under the radar.

- Age:
You will have no trouble getting business due to your age.
Work within your skill level and don't sell services you are not capable of doing.
Be professional in all manner of your business.
Being legal and having proper insurance will only add to your credibility given your young age.

- Electrical Power:
Bring at least two heavy duty electrical cords, the longer the better.
A 100' and 50' would be a good idea.
Customers have no issues allowing you to use outside electrical sockets.
Just keep your eye on what machines you are running at the same time, in order to stay within the amp specs, and not trip the circuit in the homeowners breaker box.
A generator would be great to have, but for just starting out, this is one thing you can wait on and save your money.

- Volume:
That depends on a lot of factors.
1. What volume can you logistically handle?
2. What volume do you want have?
3. What services would be offered for said volume?

If you have a steady 5 - 10 vehicles a week starting out, that is good.
At that point gaining more business depends on marketing, how well you compete with your competition, and making smart business decisions.

- Pressure Washer:
That really just depends.
It is certainly nice to have, but on demand water is actually surprisingly easy to obtain.
Customers will have no issues allowing you to use their hose.
By comparison of a pressure washer to a hose, there really is not a great need for the added pressure of the pressure washer.
When starting out, this is another piece of equipment you can delay purchasing, and save that money.

DA:
A DA is a must for auto detailing.
Really, you need a solid rotary and a DA.
There are budget options out there, and I highly advise taking advantage of them when starting out vs purchasing expensive machines out the gate.

Also consider tools like:
1. Air compressor and a Tornador for washing exterior panels and getting into external crevices, as well as tires, wheels, and wheel wells.
2. Two gallon pump sprayers for the same application.

- Products:
What products and brand names to choose are subjective.
I will offer this advice.
Whatever product you choose for a specific task, and the option presents itself, choose the product that is free of color additives.
This is especially important when choosing interior cleaning products, as well as degreasers, and APC's.
Color additive adds a risk of color staining the surface being worked on, and can color dye your towels as well.

This is hard to do, as most cleaning products incorporate color additive for all kinds of reasons.
There are, however, more and more products offering clear/colorless cleaners without color additive.

[GSKR]

Agree.Do what you can afford and in time the money will come to buy equipment that will make your job easier.

[jem7sk]

This is one of my favorite threads here on AG:

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/...ling-unit.html

I learned a lot reading this as it was being written. Mrclean was very detailed in his discussion of how he did business and detailed cars right from the start of his professional career so you can see how he got started and where it took him. I wish he was still posting in the thread

[Mantilgh]

Starting out you may not need a DA, but it sure comes in handy if you need it and you can make some more money by upselling polishing jobs, scratch removal, and headlight polishing/restoration.

I don't know if you have seen this thread:

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/...k-through.html