Mobile Car Washing - Dealing With Angry Fixed Site Carwash Competitors

There is quite a bit of competition in industry, and there is quite a bit of animosity between various companies doing their businesses slightly differently in the marketplace or competing in the same sector using different business models. Take for instance a mobile carwash and a fixed-site mechanized carwash. Obviously, the fixed site carwash has $1 million invested; well over $200,000 in equipment, $300,000 in a building, and let's not forget the $500,000 value of the land which sits underneath the carwash.

Yes, that's a good chunk of money, and that will represent a large number car washings to ever reach a return on investment. Now then, when it comes to a mobile carwash chances are the mobile carwash operator - including all the equipment, vehicle, and everything all combined - has less than $30,000 invested. And therefore, their return on investment is much easier to attain, and thus, they can charge a lower price. Because of that, a fixed site carwash owner might get very angry if mobile carwashes are running around washing all the cars and taking their business away.

Further, there are all sorts of rules and regulations that fixed site carwashes must deal with constantly. With mobile car washing, there are only a few rules and regulations they must consider. Another reason that fixed site carwashes don't appreciate their mobile competition. This anger and animosity between the two types of businesses in the carwash sector causes tremendoes of friction. But, sometimes it is better to cooperate than to compete. Let me explain, and I have four points of I'd like you to consider;

1. Advertise
2. Co-Market
3. Water Purification
4. Zone Marketing Cooperation

First off, there are some vehicles that carwashes cannot wash because of their size and shape. There are also fleet vehicles whose business owner doesn't want to pay their employees to drive over to the carwash. It makes sense to co-market and co-brand, even co-advertise with a carwash and allow them to sell washes on location for motor homes, and fleets of vehicles. Allow them to do the billing, and charge them a reduced rate. Those customers belong to the carwash owner, but he contracts with the mobile carwash to do the cleaning.

Next, I'd like you to consider water purification. Did you know that fixed carwashes use reverse osmosis water for their spot free rinse? Wouldn't it be nice for the mobile operator to fill up every morning with spot free water? Why not buy that reverse osmosis water for a couple cents per gallon to fill up the mobile operator's tanks? It's an added revenue stream for the fixed carwash, and it makes the mobile carwash's job much easier.

Lastly, I'd like you to consider that the average trading area for a carwash is about a 5 to 10 mile radius and the carwash may have customers that are beyond that point, and fleets of vehicles, where the customers don't want to drive to the location based carwash. Why not let them hire the mobile carwash. Indeed I hope you will 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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Motivating Independent Contractor Mobile Car Washing Teams

Before I retired, I had built up a mobile car wash franchising company. Towards the end of my career the Internet started to become quite a factor in the business. It became a great recruiting tool and having a website made our franchisee real, and we noted that our competitors that had no website, at that time, were not taken seriously by the customers. Today, of course some dozen years later everyone has a website in the industry.

During this time concierges started to enter the industry. These folks would set up a website portal, grab all of the traffic online, and then attempt to find operators to do all the work, while taking a percentage of each job for their efforts. Many operators were angry about this because, these companies basically took the web traffic by using SEO type strategies and then sold the customers back to the actual operators. I had always told such companies where to stick it, when they contacted our company to use our franchisees to cover all of their promises to the customers who emailed in orders.

One thing I noted when dealing with concierges was that they would be quite pushy with our franchisees, demanding that they dropped whatever they were working on right then, and handle their referral customer first. This was unfortunate because our customers which we were working on at the time, were steady customers, and they were quite important us. However, the concierges would demand that their clients get first treatment, and if we didn't give them top-of-the-line priority and put their customers in advance of our own, they threaten to cut off their referral flow, and give those customers to one of our competitors.

I can tell you that if you are running a business using independent contractors and mobile carwash teams to service your clientele that this is a mistake, not only is it in bad form, it's unprofessional, and it will lead to animosity between the contractor, and the concierges. Another issue that happens is if one company has too much business it will refer its excess business to a secondary competitor or an independent contractor.

Currently with all the employment restrictions, withholding taxes, worker's compensation insurance, and now ObamaCare, it really doesn't make sense for mobile carwash owners to hire more people unless they have enough to keep a whole full rig busy. There would be no reason for them to expand their business or hire more people, therefore they either go down to the local Labor Ready and pick up a few workers, or they use an independent contractor.

When paying independent contractors, there should be a bonus for happy customers as well as immediate payment. If this occurs then all of a sudden it is worth the independent contractor's time to stop what they're doing and do your work first, if not all the threats, belligerent attitude, and demands are liable to get the concierges or the contracting company on the blacklist of the independent contractor. Indeed I hope you will please consider all these thoughts and think on it.

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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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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Setting Revenue Goals for a Mobile Car Washing Company

Last year, someone contacted me from Flagstaff AZ and he indicated to me that he couldn't find work in his area of expertise there due to the recession and was going to start his own business cleaning cars. A mobile car washing and auto detailing company, was the business that he'd convinced himself was needed in that city. Well, I've been to Flag before and surely, such a business could work there, although it would be seasonal too, since you can't wash cars outside very well when it is snowing.

It turns out he had read one of my many entrepreneurial articles about the need to put together a solid business plan, but that is where he got into trouble having never been in the mobile washing business before. They were putting together their pro forma and attempting to set revenue goals, but they didn't know where to start. Okay so, perhaps we should talk about this, and it might give you some insight in case you to have the same challenge ahead.

First, the reality is that; it depends. Indeed it depends on a lot of things. In Flagstaff Arizona they have seasonal issues which make it tough to wash in the wintertime, but the salt on the roads also mean that people eventually have to get their cars washed otherwise they will rust through. Likewise the fleet vehicle owners and businesses have no choice but to maintain the quality of their equipment; delivery trucks, trailers, and over the road trucks.

Secondly, if he and his wife planned on cleaning cars at office buildings and at large corporations, so there will be some days when no one will wish to have a carwash, because as soon as they drive their car it will get dirty again right away, due to the weather. Thirdly, their market segment and market mix between fleet vehicles and personal cars matters very much.

This is because when you're cleaning fleets of vehicles were all the cars are parked in a row you can wash quite a few cars in an hour, whereas washing one or two cars at each location means you have to travel between locations which takes up time in your day, and therefore even if you are charging more money per car, you will make less money by the end of the day.

Before you ask this question of; how much money can I make? You must ask yourself what type of mobile carwash company you wish to run; do you plan on doing personal car detailing, and cleaning cars at office buildings, or you plan on specializing in fleet washing. Once you figure out those questions and your market mix, then it is much easier to address the challenges of setting revenue goals for your first year in business. Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.

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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Mobile Car Washing and Fleet Cleaning Cost Cutting Considerations

The other day, I received a question from a mobile car washing, detailing, and fleet washing entrepreneur in the South. He was happy to be busy and still in business even with our slow economy. He has been steadily expanding his company, and has trained a new crew and bought a new unit to help keep up with his new accounts.

Still, there are always cash flow issues to watch in service businesses, especially during times of expansion, with large corporate customer contract accounts that often pay slow. Okay so, lets' talk about some of the real life challenges out there shall we - the entrepreneur and mobile service operator asks:

"Dear Mobile Car Wash Man, I have some good accounts, but they are a good distance from home. I am spending a good amount on supplies as well as fuel. I am also paying employees. So the money I make is basically going out the door. What kind of advice do you have for me?"

Well, there are several things you can do to streamline your operation in this case. You see, what you need to do first, is to find some nearby "extra accounts" near those large fleets that you travel too, just a couple of smaller accounts nearby or along the way on the same schedule will help a lot, plus attempt to find some cash accounts along the way, where you can clean vehicles and be paid on the spot.

If you end up adding a lot of "billed customers" then you need to also add in some pay-in-cash customers to offset the costs until you finally receive the checks in the mail. Also, consider only taking one other employee on the jobs far away, until your cash flow improves, yes more work, but less money to pay out too.

Also, try to pull your trailer empty to and from and fill up water when you get there and dump any extra water before you return, this way you can drive on cruise control. Also make your workers bring a lunch to save additional money.

You might also find a worker who lives near those accounts to pick up and help you, thus, not have to pay them all that traveling time. Indeed, I think if you will do these things you can tighten up your outlays and costs, and increase revenue at the same time without putting you in the poor house waiting for those big checks to come in. Please consider implementing these strategies as soon as possible. Okay, next questions!

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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Mobile Car Washing Will Hone Your Interpersonal Relationship Skills

The other day, I got a blast from the past. I met a gentleman that I hardly recognized, and hadn't seen in 25 years. He told me that he used to work for me back in the 80s. Back then I was running a mobile car washing company which had grown quite large serving 53 cities at that time. He told me he missed the good old days. Still, today he is a County Sheriff and I asked how he was doing with the budget cuts, and he was doing fine, he didn't think crime was going to stop anytime soon. Ha ha ha, I thought, indeed.

Indeed, I was interested in how his experience washing and detailing cars in the good old days helped him do his job. He said; "Yes, it has helped in the interpersonal relations needed for good communication in dealing with people in public." Indeed, I wasn't surprised at all because I believe it is one of the best jobs anyone could have to help them learn about business and dealing with people in all sorts of situations, as one learns how to read people from 12 feet away as you approach them.

In fact, I told him that at one point I could tell what people did for a living, and various aspects of their lives merely by the way they stood there. Thus, could figure out how best to deliver a one-liner to break the ice. He agreed completely, and it makes sense considering he is now a Country Sheriff who may get into situations where how he conducts himself will make the difference. Being able to deal with hard to deal with people, being able to diffuse situations, and being able to develop immediate report is extremely important is so many professions.

Then there are the issues of learning how to run a business, give customer service, and stay efficient in production. All of these and more are reasons why young people ought to consider running a mobile car washing or auto detailing business in their teens, or as a young adult, perhaps to pay for college?

In fact, it may turn out that it assists them as it will propel success in their career, regardless of which line of work one chooses in the future. Now then, am I bias in my observations? Certainly, but I also know what I've seen and experienced. This is why I make these bold statements at this point in my life. I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.

Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank. Lance Winslow believes writing 23,900 articles by July 4, 2011 is going to be difficult because all the letters on his keyboard are now worn off now..

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Mobile Car Washing and Detailing in the Age of Scarce Water Supplies

Before retirement, I franchised a company which set up mobile carwashes across the country. In some areas our business did quite well because of water shortages, especially when they closed down the local carwashes due to their water use. Our units used quite a bit less water, and were as efficient as 4 to 5 gallons per car. That surely beats washing your car in your driveway using 100 gallons of water, or even the most efficient recycling carwashes using 8 to 12 gallons of fresh water per car.

Now then, often the municipalities that shut down the carwashes would get complaints from the carwash owners that we were still operating. We would try to educate the local code enforcement, and City Hall that we use quite a bit less water, so we were even more efficient. But in times of level III drought, it wasn't just that, it was also the spirit of the rules, and the cities felt if we were still washing cars, it was giving the wrong idea to citizens that it was okay to wastewater. Now that's a Catch-22 isn't it?

In other words even though we were not wasting water, and that we were the most efficient car wash method, we were still barred from doing business due to perception. And therefore we had to stop. It seems to me this is quite unfair, and yet we had another competitor in the marketplace; waterless car wash companies. They wash cars without using any water, rather they used a solution that one could smear on the car, and then wipe off along with the dirt and dust.

They immediately said that they were the solution, and that we were inefficient because they used no water, and we used 5 gallons. Even though we were more efficient than the carwashes, and even quite a bit more efficient than anyone washing their own car in their own driveway, even with a shutoff nozzle. It just goes to show you that there is a lot of competition in the marketplace for who is the most water efficient car wash. And during level III droughts everyone's water is restricted. It doesn't matter if you are a homeowner, farmer, industrial user, or a carwash, regardless of what type.

Indeed, I expect such conflicts within the mobile car washing community to continue. And there will always be a battle between waterless carwashes and mobile carwashes and mobile detailing companies that use pressure washers to clean the cars - just as there will always be bitter animosity between mobile carwash owners and fixed site carwashes, especially in the age of scarce water supplies. Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.

Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank. Lance Winslow believes writing 24,000 articles by July 24, 2011 is going to be difficult because all the letters on his keyboard are now worn off now..

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In Mobile Car Washing Size Matters - The Smaller the Vehicle the Better In fact

Over the years, I've designed and developed many types of mobile car wash units. And I worked with our vendors, contractors, and other companies in the pressure washing industry to come up with what I believe to be the most efficient mobile carwash trucks, trailers, vans, and setups. One thing I can say is that when it comes to mobile car detailing, and mobile washing size very much does matter. And often it is the smaller size which is most efficient. Let me explain.

You see, before retirement I ran a franchising company which sold mobile car wash units, and depending on the type of washing one would do, it often made sense to go with a larger truck to hold more water, that is to say a larger plastic water tank, which would support the weight. Remember water weighs 8.2 pounds per gallon, so if you want to take 300 gallons of water you're looking at a 2500 pound payload. That's a lot more than the average truck can take. Remember, 2000 pounds equals 1 ton.

Indeed, I also came to realize that sometimes 100 gallons of water or even less was sufficient for doing high-end cars at people's homes, or at their office buildings. And we discovered that working out of the back of let's say a Cushman Scooter, or a small three wheeled vehicle often made a lot of sense. This is because you were never in someone's way in a parking structure, parking lot, and it didn't take very long to walk around the work vehicle to get supplies.

Working out of a bigger vehicle, or a large trailer is not as easy as you might think. Then there is the issue, especially now with the price of fuel on saving money buying gasoline. A small three-wheeled vehicle may have a two or three cylinder motor, and they're pretty much a fuel sipper, which means you'll have more money at the end of the day because your costs are lower.

In fact, over time we developed international units which were very small trailers, and they could easily be towed by a three-wheeled vehicle, or even modified to be moved around like a pushcart or a rickshaw. Anyone going into the mobile car washing or detailing business needs to consider the importance of the size of the vehicle based on the type of work you will be doing because size really does matter.

Therefore, you need to do some strategic thinking here, consider all the options, and surf around the Internet until you find exactly what you need to get the job done at the lowest possible cost. Please consider all this, and e-mail me if you have any other questions, comments, or concerns.

Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank. Lance Winslow believes writing 23,850 articles by July 4, 2011 is going to be difficult because all the letters on his keyboard are now worn off now..

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