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Thinking of selling up :(

VIICarCare

VIICarCare

ClioSport Club Member
Car  255, 230, 172, R26
Having crap at work, really want to take up detailing pro but start of with renting a unit + doing it part time but could only do it if i sold the bat mobil :(

not happy, i'll regret it if i did sell her!
 
Get a van and kit it out, that way you can take a trip up here and do mine :rasp:
 
I'd sell if it was to fund a business venture. You can always buy another one once your business takes off! :)
 
I would check competition for detailing in your area. Theres a big thread on it on DW. I would say dont do it, i looked into it and detailing is too specialiased to take off and for yout to make enough.

IIRc Jay off here has done it, ask him for some pointers
 
Are there enought people who could pay upwards of £20 for a wash?

I couldnt see it 2 years ago. But things have changed and there are alot of car forums and detailing is taking off. But still i dont reckon its worth it.
 
Aren't you a girl? Sad, but I know of several people that would find that odd. Probably including me tbh, which is bad I know, but it's one of those jobs that would surprise me to find a woman doing it.
 
There is plenty work going. Polished Bliss up here are fully booked up till next year, and they are not cheap either!
 
I'd say you'd be better off buying a piece of land, setting up a handcar wash and charging £5 a pop, every weekend the one's round here are ram packed!
 
Justin said:
Yeah without a doubt. Clark is awesome. Decent guy aswell, but TBH its only polishing a car, not exactly rocket science!
Click to expand...

Yeah.. agreed but to make it worthwhile i would want upwards of £150 to do a car (exterior). How many people would pay that? ALso what a ballache for £150
 
riz said:
Yeah.. agreed but to make it worthwhile i would want upwards of £150 to do a car (exterior). How many people would pay that? ALso what a ballache for £150
Click to expand...
We're only saying that because of the money we make doing an easy job. I'd imagine for most people that would be a useful pay hike.
 
I'm doing Mobile Valeting at the moment and tbh it hasn't took off how i'd hoped it would. I bought a van, built all the racking in the back and bopught brand new equipment for it. Everything is presented immaculately. I have distributed hundreds of flyers and advertised on Yell.com and such sites but found it really hard to get alot of business. People ask how much then turn their noses up at having to pay the money. I have a few contracts that give me some income but nowhere near enough to do it full time. I'm actually thinking of selling up and going back to my youth work.

Good luck though if you do go ahead with it.
 
Well i asked how much to run a machine over my motor.
The prices i got via pm were anything from £40 to £220.
Dawn was one of the more reasonable, yet 2hrs away.
 
If you want regular business, customer needs to be loaded and running a collection I'd imagine. That type of person will be willing to pay, but would demand experience and a preofessional service. Not the kind of thing any start up could achieve quickly.
 
warren4 said:
If you want regular business, customer needs to be loaded and running a collection I'd imagine. That type of person will be willing to pay, but would demand experience and a preofessional service. Not the kind of thing any start up could achieve quickly.
Click to expand...

Yup, that's true. Unfortunately people just don't seem to have the money to have their cars valeted and would prefer to take them to the local car wash for a fiver and get the paint scratched to bits. Some people just see their car clean and not the damage that is being done to it.
 
Plus the vast number of company cars on the road. Possibly the worst time possible to start up a business that many would consider a luxury, these are the 1st things people cut back in a recession.
 
Sod doing detailing full time. The effort for the pay is not worth it!!

vee's are cheap, you can always buy another.
 
warren4 said:
We're only saying that because of the money we make doing an easy job. I'd imagine for most people that would be a useful pay hike.
Click to expand...


Sorry i didnt put it across properly. She has to factor in the rent for her unit aswell....
 
Justin said:
Yeah without a doubt. Clark is awesome. Decent guy aswell, but TBH its only polishing a car, not exactly rocket science!
Click to expand...

There is a bit of science behind it and they have LOADS of experience and tools at their finger tips. What would the average detailer do when they find out the Impreza they are detailing has weird paint and the polishes start sticking/bonding to the car. Takes quite a bit of confidence to take a rotary to a £30k car...and they do Ferrari's etc.

Polished bliss do pretty much 95-100% corrections which is amazing. Most people couldn't afford to pay someone to get that level of correction as the time involved is huge. In 3 days it took to detail my car with a local detailer we got my Clio to about 80-90% correction and that cost a lot. They are also based on the outskirts of Aberdeen, which has rakes of people with too much money and not enough time.

For most people a good valet is enough...maybe a bit of correction here or there/more thorough clean. Need to tailor the services you offer to the customers that are available. Not reason you can't make it work.

If it takes 2-3 hours to give a car a good clean you'd be wanting to charge in the region of £30-40 to cover costs and a decent wage. I'm not sure I'd want to spend that much money when I can achieve the same thing in an afternoon.

There is a guy who owns 3 jet wash machines in Aberdeen. They are always busy with people popping in £1 after £1. I've seen him empty them, I'm not sure how often he does it, but there was A LOT of coins. Most people will have seen the guys in big multi story car parks who wash cars for £5, not bad idea. We used to have a guy who came to ASDA with what was effectively a car sized paddling pool to catch the water. Think he ran the jet wash from his van. £5 for a quick blast and scrub. Do 4-5 cars an hour and it might be worth it.

Basically you might make a bit of money detailing...no doubt about that...but you might want to look into building a solid base for it to work on 'just' washing cars...but doing it well.
 
riz said:
Sorry i didnt put it across properly. She has to factor in the rent for her unit aswell....
Click to expand...
I imagine the vast majority of these set-up's are mobile? Just a guess. But if I had a Rarri etc I'd want them to come to my house!
 
Hey Dawn...
Give that idea some serious thought.
personally i would invest in a van and kit the thing out, treat the valeting as a part time venture as i do, but do look into getting the insurance required also.
look at the valeters in your area and see if there is a demand to having a lock up, also think about the people you will target aswell. for me the whole valeting has gone very quiet, even the Impreza garage i do the work for. People arent wanting to spend money on others to clean their cars. the top market car owners will already have their own companys and will be reluctant to try newer firms. im not putting you off, and support the idea, but i would reconsider selling the car, a few stickers here and there and you have an awsome advertising tool...

(You still want the Bilberry?....Sorry..lol )
 
Tav said:
There is a bit of science behind it and they have LOADS of experience and tools at their finger tips. What would the average detailer do when they find out the Impreza they are detailing has weird paint and the polishes start sticking/bonding to the car. Takes quite a bit of confidence to take a rotary to a £30k car...and they do Ferrari's etc.
Click to expand...

You're missing my point. What I'm saying is, your average trained chimp could polish a car. Don't think it takes much confidence to attack a Ferrari with a Rotary either, he clearly knows what he is doing but before Polished Bliss began, he was just your average detailer.

If I spent 6 days a week with a rotary I'd expect to be up to his standards very quickly.

Not knocking Clark btw, I just don't think its a very difficult trade to learn. Hard work yes!
 
i just drove passed an arc carwash an saw a 1.99 wash an dry service the queue was massive :eek:

theirs alot of car valeters an detailers out their if you want to give yourself the best chance then offer a cheap wash an hover serivce on site an then see if you can pursade them to go for a detail even just a demo on a panel ;) i expect its a hard thing to get into start small but dont sell the vee until it takes off

you could aways detail planes ;)
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the input guys, im just really hacked off + ready to walk tbh! Im dreaming I suppose. I think I will start advertising etc, build up my clients more as I only have two mustangs, a bm + megane, plus the odd family/friends cars.

I have more aeroplanes than cars! :(

So who knows a good place to get some stickers made up? cheers again boys
 
Kinda same boat as me..

Word of mouth is your biggest weapon. I spent the day on my bosses Audi TT.. then everyone in work wanted it done. They told friends, family etc.. who told others ya know. It just spreads. I do the same 6 cars every single month now at £40 each. £240 all in.. and after reducting product.. it works out at about £180-£200 for myself which is between £7-£9 an hour really as its about a 4/5 hour job depending

Looked at units etc.. but have to keep rolling on & get more regulars
 
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