Auto Detailing - Mistakes to Avoid When Ordering and Purchasing Professional Detailing Supplies

Indeed, I probably had the best time of my career running a mobile car washing and detailing business. It was quite exhilarating and fun, and our customers loved us. You see, out in California everyone loves their car, and being able to take care of someone's pride and joy and make it sparkle puts a smile on everyone's face, and quite a few tips in the hands of my crew. Okay so, let's say that you are considering starting a mobile detailing company. I don't blame you, it's a fun thing to do, but I suppose I should give you a little bit of advice on which products you buy and use.

First, I hope you won't fall for any of those products on television because very few of them live up to their promises, and most are just gimmicks and trinkets. Next, I hope you don't buy your detailing products from the retail shelves just because it has the manufacturer's name that you most prefer. You see, many of these companies have strong brand names, but they also have consumer-based products, and they are not the same as the Professional Detailing Supplies they sell to the industry.

Yes, they have the same brand name, and nice packaging, perhaps even more enticing packaging that you get from the professional detail supply warehouse, or the mobile brand which sells products for auto detailers, but still, they are not the same. Next, if you hire detailers to work with you that have experience, chances are they have certain types of products they like to use, and they use them in such a way to get the best results.

You'd be surprised that if you put five exceptional detailers in a room, all of which have been in the industry for over a decade, every one of them will prefer different types of products and supplies. This is quite common, and you should understand that. Using the wrong type of product; for instance waxes and leather, rubber, and vinyl dressings will not give you the results you're hoping for. Indeed, it can cause you to use more product than you need to, and let's not forget these products are quite expensive.

In fact the prices have increased over the last two decades almost triple, and I don't see where they might be coming down in price anytime soon. I hope you will take these tips, suggestions, and advice and consider it when ordering and purchasing your detailing supplies for your new company. Please consider all this and think on.

Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank. Lance Winslow believes writing 24,222 articles by July 22, 2011 at 2:22 PM is going to be difficult because all the letters on his keyboard are now worn off now..

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Mistakes to Avoid When Towing a Mobile Car Washing Rig

If you are going to start a mobile car washing company or a mobile detailing company the first thing you need to decide is if you should get a trailer, or some sort of skid unit put in the back of your pickup. Most people like to tow trailers because they can unhook the trailer at the end of the day and still use the truck as their personal vehicle. That makes sense right?

Sure it does, and that's why so many people do it that way. Now then, let's talk about some of the challenges when towing a mobile car washing rig with 100 gallons or 200 gallon water tank.

It doesn't matter if you have a large water tank inside of a vehicle or on a trailer, that much water swishing around can be a problem. Water tanks on trailers and in trucks or vans are much more dangerous when they are half full, especially if they do not have any baffles. If you come to a stop and the water is still moving back and forth, it can hurt the gears in your transmission, eventually your transmission will fail.

It is also very hard on the brakes, and it takes a lot more power to stop the kinetic energy caused by the movement of the water, and the extra weight of the vehicle. Worse, when it's raining things can get rather dangerous. When the roads are slick, the stopping distance is very poor and it's easy to have a trailer jackknife or have your van or truck slide sideways. It's hard to stop in intersections and it's easy to slide on those large cross-walk markings which are very slick when wet.

Attempting to tow with a vehicle that weighs less than the trailer is not wise without trailer brakes, both surge and/or electric. Let's say you are towing a mobile detail trailer with a half ton or three-quarter ton pickup. If the trailer weighs 1200 pounds, and 200 gallons of water weighs 8 pounds per gallon, now you have 2800 pounds, plus the other equipment and whatever is in the back of your pickup truck. If your trailer isn't perfectly balanced, it could easily cause you to jackknife when turning a corner and hitting the brakes.

Sometimes it makes sense to get a tandem axle trailer which distributes the weight over a larger area, making it much safer. However there are problems with tandem actual trailers as well. Tandem axle trailers rip apart tires, and that costs money. They especially wear quickly if you are making lots of turns in parking lots or in fleet vehicle areas. Therefore, it makes sense to make sharp corners at very slow speeds so that when you are dragging the back wheels on a tandem trailer, you are not taking the tread with you.

Indeed, I hope you will please consider all this and think on it, because over the years I've seen far too many accidents, increased insurance premiums, blown out tires, dented front ends, and costly repair bills.

Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, http://www.carwashguys.com/ and now runs the Online Think Tank. Lance Winslow believes writing 24,222 articles by July 22, 2011 at 2:22 PM is going to be difficult because all the letters on his keyboard are now worn off now..

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Things to Avoid When On Your Mobile Car Washing Route

Indeed, I guess it goes without saying that your best customers are your regular customers, those people that come into your store each week, and always buy something. Yes, it's nice to get the big orders once in a while, and that sure helps pay the bills too, but it is those steady regular customers that keep your small business going. Now then, to illustrate this point, let's discuss a mobile auto service business, a mobile car wash business for instance.

There are many things you need to avoid when running this type of business. Let me give you an example. Often you will get a call from a very good detailing client, who wants you to come detail their car right now! You know that you can make $150 for a very easy job in less than an hour. Sure you could drop what you are doing and go detail that car, but don't forget you will have a minimum of 15 minutes each way plus that hour, so it's really an hour and a half for $150 or $50.00 per hour. Is that worth alienating your regular mobile car washing customers on your route?

Another issue is trying to up-sell all of your customers on certain types of services that may add a few dollars to their total bill, but will take you a lot more time to complete. Many mobile auto washers will try to up-sell everyone on a vacuum and interior cleaning - I'd advise not to push those services. If you are going to push extra add-on services, push quick-waxes or express details for $45.00 (wash, wax, vacuum, tires) or exterior wash and wax for $28 to $35.

If you are going to up-sell or suggestive-sell additional services, they should be services that are of a high profit margin, not just busy work. Now then, when it is a cloudy or rainy day a mobile car wash operator on his route may up-sell people for interior and vacuum services due to the weather. That makes sense, because anyone getting a carwash that day will realize that if they drive through the puddles of the rain their car will get all dirty again, but at least the interior will be clean.

And it's better to clean the interior than have no work at all. Thus, in that case it makes sense to give them a discount on the carwash, and charge them the regular price per the interior with a few extras. Perhaps even offer a deal on carpet shampoo, leather conditioning, or Rain-X for the window, which will keep their windshield from fogging up when they are driving in poor weather. I hope you will please consider all this because these are tips that I have learned over a 20 year period working in the industry.

Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, http://www.carwashguys.com/ and now runs the Online Think Tank. Lance Winslow believes writing 24,222 articles by July 22, 2011 at 2:22 PM is going to be difficult because all the letters on his keyboard are now worn off now..

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