Mobile car detailing business

You need to keep up the client list to make it work. You are assuming you can just trip over 2-3 customers a day

The guy I use has a nice van that comes to my house. He's on time, professional, and responsive. He charges $100 and stays about an hour and a half. I figure he does 3-4 vehicles a day. Five a day would be a really long hard day. He makes a good living, but I wouldn't say he's building wealth or anything.

I do quite a bit on the side, been doing it for about 10 years. However, I do more wet sanding and correction rather than just weekly cleanups.

The biggest thing I’ve learned is to set your prices to your target market. In my case, $300 is very low as I typically spend 2-3 days per vehicle depending on the condition. I’d rather spend the time with higher end clientele and expectations vs competing with every hood car wash that will wash and vacuum your car for $20. Id rather turn down the customers that haggle non stop or say “oh well my normal guy does it for XYZ, why can’t you?” I GUARANTEE that’s not the customer base you want to do business with.

The guy I use has a nice van that comes to my house. He's on time, professional, and responsive. He charges $100 and stays about an hour and a half. I figure he does 3-4 vehicles a day. Five a day would be a really long hard day. He makes a good living, but I wouldn't say he's building wealth or anything.


Is that just his basic rate?
Does he shampoo seats/and or carpets?

Might as well try it out and see how many quality customers you can find and serve.

If you have a job already, don’t quit but do this as a side hassle until you replace your job income or have a clear path to doing so.

There are a couple of ways to make good money. One is to get a bunch of reliable clients paying for regular details and maintenance washes. You could also focus on paint correction, coatings, tint and and PPF. I have a buddy that makes good money and does some really nice cars but he is a one man shop and works a million hours.

The most money can be made training people to do all the services you want to provide and branching out, but then you just bought yourself a management position and there is NO way you can maintain the same level of detail doing it all yourself, but again, you can make more money hiring people... in the future.

I do it on the side for extra cash. If I fully poured myself into it, I could make a six figure income.

You get what you pay for. I have seen countless videos of $300 details that look fully restored, like mint condition. Not only do the products they use make it easier to clean the interior, the exterior takes longer to accumulate dirt after being waxed.

It is a good business and vehicles are really nice looking considering the products and equipment they use.

If you can find a company with a fleet of vehicles that you could wash/clean at one site would be a good deal.