Mobile car wash/valet. Good business idea for CH?

Finance, Taxes, Banking, Insurance and Retirement
21
I got fined in ZH for washing my motorcycle in the street .

22

very odd that the swiss have one of the best companies in

http://www.swissvax.co.uk/

yet the only place I have seen them for sale here is the zurich motorshow

the have a place near the airport that does open days every now and then with workshops etc

23
How much was the fine?

24
Come to think of it, I think he did say he could only do it on private property (golf course car parks, private drives etc)

Tio be fair to him, his prices include polishing and on some levels, plastic and tyre painting/polishing so a lot more for your money

Thanks, I'll pass that on to him to be sure he understands the potential pitfalls!

25

If you love your car...

I don't love mine enough.

26

you have to remember ZY that a mans car is an extension of his.........errr......

..... foot ( ya, ya thats the ticket ) and having it polished...............nevermind.

"he likes to keep his fire engine clean, it's a clean machine"

27
I was always lead to believe it was a "woman's" car, apparently that was the reasoning behind the hot wax ..

28
I'm getting a very strange visual image of a car needing a bikini wax.

time to go home now I think.

29
Buy a VW Fox and tell everyone you got a "Brazilian".

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Fox

30
I think this will be my next car...

31
I had the same idea a while back but more a stationary detailing company. playing with some provisionary numbers the equipment is fairly expensive. You need your own water supply....(if you are doing the deluxe carwash service you cannot really go and ring the doorbell I find. Then there was the environment issues (you need a holding tank for the dirty water, then there is insurance if you drive their car. etc etc. the only way I see it working is with the steam wash with is still pretty unpopular.

I used to be a valet and there would be insurance claims on a DAILY basis including customers trying to rip you of by blaming existing damages etc etc

32
This doesn't seem to have been answered in my quick scan but is this just a guy with a bucket, soap and an old brush who is going to butcher the paint on the car or is he going for a full detailing service to remove swirls and correct the paint?

If it's the latter then has he got experience doing this? If it is done incorrectly it will result in paint which is worse off afterwards!

33
I spoke to this chap at the weekend (at least, if it's not him two people have started exactly he same business, down to the water efficiency, at the same time) and he's aiming at luxury cars, using really professional products (royal warrants an' all). Can't vouch for the quality of his carwashes as I don't own a car out here, but his target market is people like you.

34
He has had full training in the UK with one of the big car wax companies, all the cleaning stuff seems to be high tech. He has done some demos polishing half a car with normal car wax and the other with his and the difference is very noticeable. He even brings his own tent to cover the car so sunlight doesn't dry the wax before he's ready.

And he also has comprehensive insurance against damage and for driving the vehicles (of the first few vehicles he has done, one was a Bentley).

The only other area I think he needs to concentrate on is the corporate image of the business, for such a modern type of service here, and for a relatively premium service to boot, he needs a slick image and for that you usually have to pay, an important investment that many small businesses starting off fail to appreciate.

35
I know a few people in the US that do this. Although the image is a big factor when starting up...word of mouth is what really brings in the customers for him.

If he does a great job and the car looks great then the clients rich friends will notice.

Good luck to him. Some of the things these car detailers do is amazing

36

quite off topic.. but I picked up one of these "hide the scratch pen's" at Casino last night.. and on the instructions it has "let the surface dry in the sun from 1-48 hours" I wonder where the guy that wrote that instruction lives.

37
in Heliocentric orbit.

38
A friend of mine ran a company that did this in the UK.

In general, his experience was that it's the company fleets that keep your business alive - washing individual cars is low-margin (due to the travel involved to get there) low volume (e.g. once every now and then) and low repeating (e.g. not every customer will re-use your service every time the car is washed)

Getting deals with company fleets means regular work, at a set agreed income, at scheduled times - and more importantly means you can plan cashflow based on monies coming in monthly / quarterly.

I'd tell your mate to put all his energies into getting as many of these kind of contracts signed as he needs to cover his monthly overheads, then spend time making sure those accounts are serviced to an excellent standard, and only then worry about individuals.

To me, the danger would be that in racing across town to do a valet for "a mate" or "a mate of a mate" or "someone on EF who will pass word round" that that standard ends up slipping on the "bread and butter" fleet accounts that pay the bills.

39
Hi Guys

I was out on Saturday In zurich watching the footy, and this guy was wearing a t-shirt saying that's exactly what he does...I took this number of the back of his shirt...0798 867 771....and called him and he filled me in on what he does...sounds good...i'll give it a go...

Just thought i'd let you know as I saw this posting last week..

40
So true Grynch, I can never get an appointment with these guys (they're at Signy Centre right?) they're always full !!