People often ask me in retirement if they can make a living washing and waxing cars using a mobile setup. Now, in this Q&A session today on the mobile car wash industry, we’ll be discussing pricing structures, making a living, and receivables collections. The first question is:
“What can I expect to win a year?”
This depends entirely on your market mix, scheduling efficiency, but you need to work at a fast pace and charge $1-$2 per minute, with 2 man crews for car washes in office buildings or detailing cars. Fleets should cost between $2 and $4 per minute. This takes practice and a lot of work to keep you busy and as you add units you better share the profits with the crew leaders or they will rob you blindly, you can’t trust the humans. Just like you can’t trust a Christian who walks around telling you “You can trust me, I AM A CHRISTIAN!”
You ask: “How is the payment collected?”
First, in times of recession, big corporations pay very slowly, letting their suppliers finance their cash flow so they can maintain shareholder capital and quarterly profits, expect to be 120 days out, and the government, well, they’re still worse, you can expect 120-180 days for accounts receivable from all levels of government. Therefore, when bidding for government contracts, be sure to write 2;10, n/30; 2% per month late. And make them stick to it as they will try to pay you late without paying you interest, imagine if you try to pay your taxes late and tell them bad luck.
If you are doing office laundry, you must have mobile cellular credit card payment options, please pick up checks at a cash box at the front desk on laundry day. Customers who detail, that is, 4 washes per month, a detail, must be automatic with a credit card to their account. Be careful with online charges, because someone will ask for services and then you won’t be there, you already loaded the card, they demand a refund and you have too many of those, your interest rates go up on your business accounts and you run into difficult situations. .
You know, I hope you don’t mind that I’m being frank with you. Because, most of the so called experts in this industry are so full of Bull, that sometimes it’s just unbelievable. I prefer to just tell it like it is and this sector of the industry is hard work, good workmanship is hard to come by and you could lose all your money and go broke so be smart about it if you decide to start your own business. car wash and detailing