Buying a Mobile Car Wash Business That Services Auto Dealership Lots

The mobile car wash industry is one that can be started for a very low cost, and if you work your butt off you could build it up and make it into something really good. I know this because for 10 or 15 years I ran my own mobile car washing rig, built up my business, and eventually franchised around the country. "Thank God for dirt," I would always say, as we washed cars on car lots all day.

Not long ago a gentleman asked me if I thought he should purchase a mobile car washing business which specializes in the cleaning of cars on automobile dealership lots. In describing the business here's what he had to say;

"I recently looked into a mobile washing business for sale that has [a huge number] of accounts for car dealerships split 50/50 for large and small accounts."

This is a good mix because, car dealerships can be done in the early mornings, and the fleets can be done after hours. The commercial side of the business is nice, much better than the persnickety consumer markets, especially as consumer cash flow gets tight. Also it seems that the consumer market is somewhat saturated with office building "detailers" almost to the point of being a nuisance for property owners and companies with all the solicitation.

Personally, although the auto-dealership can be good, it is very aggressively priced. The only reason I enjoyed that market segment was because it usually led to more business on the auto-detailing side of things, i.e. new car preps, car washes for customers spending money on maintenance, and used car detailing on-site - usually using one of the car dealership's bays at first, eventually a local shop very nearby.

A five-star dealership of any of the major brands moves a good number of cars each month and takes in a lot of cars in trade, most are peddled at the auto-auctions, but the ones they keep to re-sale turn out to need a good bit of extra detailing to bring them up to speed for the new car dealership's pre-owned sales lot, see that point?

The question isn't it is this type of the business the right business for you? You must know that it is very hard work. It takes a lot of labor, and most car dealerships are fairly slow to pay on their invoices, especially when the auto sales market is so slow, for instance after this recession. Indeed, I hope you will please consider all this.