If you’re thinking of starting a car detailing business, you may already be familiar with the auto detailing industry. Starting out with a solid understanding of what you’ll offer is key for those learning how to start a car detailing business, but detailing knowledge isn’t all you need to find success.
We’ll go over everything you need to know to get your detailing business up and running, from the basic necessities to determining your type of shop, operating costs, insurance coverage, and more.
Getting Started
Before taking the first steps in setting up your business, determine whether there is a need for car detailing services in your area. Study your community carefully to find out where the need is highest, and where the traffic is best for exposure, and try to choose locations near other businesses like retailers, car dealerships, office and industrial parks, or upscale neighborhoods.
Check out the competition, too. Try having your own car detailed and asking questions during the process. Pay attention to their services and find any information available online. Are there gaps in their offerings that your car detailing business could fill, such as pick-up & delivery services?
Next, choose what you’ll offer. A well-rounded detailing business should provide at least four packages to choose from. Initially, you can focus on a few areas and move into more detailing services later.
Additional services include extensive paint correction, trim restoration, cigarette burn repair, vinyl and leather repair, dent repair, glass repair, and headlight restoration. Offering additional specialty services will create the opportunity to upsell and customize detailing packages.
Finally, determine which types of vehicles you will target primarily. Options aren’t scarce; you could choose from fleet vehicles, commercial vehicles, limousines and luxury cars, car dealer trade-ins, private cars, or rental car fleets.
Detailing opportunities don’t end at this list, though. There are also opportunities in boats, RVs, planes, motorcycles, etc. Developing specialized niches in your detailing business may require some additional start-up costs OR you can choose to add them down the road, but they will pay off in the long run regardless of when you add them.
Types of Detailing Businesses
Mobile detailing businesses are taking the world by storm thanks to their convenience for consumers. Starting a mobile car detailing business is a great way to capitalize on this trend. These companies can offer their services at customers’ homes or places of business, allowing them to forgo the hassle of sitting in a waiting room or missing work for hours.
Mobile detailers often work out of a van, truck, or trailer. You don’t necessarily have to go out and purchase a brand new vehicle for the business, but it’s important to choose one in good condition not only mechanically, but also visually – you don’t want to send the wrong message to your clients. After all, who would hire an auto detailer with a poor-looking vehicle?
When starting a mobile detail business, keep in mind the costs of gas and maintenance as well as potential parking challenges and limitations.
If you choose to open a brick-and-mortar detailing operation, you’ll need to consider rent costs, building maintenance, and location when selecting your operation’s headquarters. A few things to consider when choosing your spot:
- Is the facility large enough? You’ll need to ensure there’s enough space for your employees and all their appliances, detailing tools and storage.
- Is the location accessible? Unless you specialize in luxury 2-seater convertibles, you’ll need to make sure there’s enough space and accessible entrances to accommodate large vehicles like trucks and maybe even RVs.
- Where are your competitors located? Choose a location in close proximity to ample amounts of homes and businesses that can be good potential clients.
What Do I Need to Start a Detailing Business?
When looking into how to start a detailing business, supplies are top-of-mind. Mobile and brick-and-mortar businesses will need most of the same equipment and supplies.
A car detailing business kit should include:
- Towels, shammies, and squeegees
- Odor removal products
- Cleaning chemicals
- Polishing chemicals and equipment
- Vacuums and carpet cleaning equipment
- Detailing brushes for interior, exterior, and specialty cleaning
- Specialty cleaners for tires and glass
- Spray bottles or automatic sprayers
If you already have detailing supplies on hand and are in the process of upgrading your business, make sure to fill in the gaps in your stock of any of the above materials.
How Much Does it Cost to Start?
There’s a big range in what your starting investment can be for your detailing business. The cost to start out doing mobile hand washes compared with opening up a fixed location with multiple garages and the intention to grow quickly is going to be vastly different.
The first chunk of expenses to evaluate are the supplies and equipment.
For a “weekend warrior” looking to make some money on the side, you can get our Weekend Warrior Start-Up Kit for just over $2,000. Just add water and a power supply, and you’ll be ready to provide top-notch details. For this price, you’ll even have everything you need for paint correction and full carpet cleaning.
Offering only hand washes and wax application will put you at an even lower starting cost – as little as a few hundred dollars. However, business growth will be more gradual.
For new businesses looking to open up with multiple wash bays ready to go, the starting cost will be a lot higher, but there’s a lot more room for quick growth. Our Start-Up Kit 3 includes plenty of equipment and supplies to exceed the expectations of more than one customer at once.
The next piece of the puzzle is the cost of either a physical location or a dedicated work van, depending on your business type. Detailers looking to start out at the lowest possible cost will often work from their home garage or run a mobile operation out of their personal vehicle.
Finally, determine what your monthly costs will be, as you’ll need to be prepared to begin paying those as you get started. We’ll get into some of those costs in the next section.
How Much Can a Detailing Business Make?
Car detailing can be a lucrative business opportunity, with full-time detailers earning upwards of $100,000/year. But numbers like this don’t just appear on your balance sheet; you first have to determine your break-even numbers which will help you develop pricing that will provide a good value for your customer. Let’s break down how to calculate these numbers:
- Calculate all your fixed monthly costs: Fixed costs are expenses that don’t change month to month, like rent, vehicle payments, loans, and insurance premiums. Don’t forget to include any subscriptions or membership fees in this section.
- Calculate variable costs: These costs can’t quite be predicted in the same way as fixed expenses. Car detailing tools and supplies will need to be replaced as they run out or wear out, utility costs will vary based on weather conditions and usage, and employee wages and taxes will fluctuate. These will likely be harder to calculate in your first year of business, so it’s a good idea to overestimate and leave some wiggle room for higher costs.
- Use these costs to create a four-month average: When you arrive at this total, divide it by the number of working days you’ll be detailing. For most months, you will work about 26 days—but don’t forget, how much you work is up to you as the business owner!
Now that you’ve determined your bottom line, it’s time to develop your service menu. Choose prices for your services that are acceptable to customers but also meet your bottom-line needs.
What is the best place to start when setting prices? Start by setting your own hourly wage. Whether you’ll be detailing cars yourself or delegating jobs to employees, determine how many hours each task will take to complete and what the rate will be.
After factoring in wages, you’ll need to take the average overhead cost you calculated and consider what you’ll need to charge to make sure those bills get paid.
Most successful car detailers quadruple their break-even prices in order to maintain a healthy profit, so don’t be afraid to increase the cost of your services beyond hourly wages and supplies.
How to Charge for Auto Detailing
Now that you’ve determined the cost of your services, how will you collect payment? While dealing with the hassle and fees of credit card processing may seem like a racket, in reality, your business must be able to accept payment via card. While accepting cash, checks, or cashier’s checks is fine, many customers only carry plastic these days—meaning if you don’t have a way to run their card, they may turn to a competitor who does.
Credit card processing platforms like Square provide the equipment and processing technology you need for a minimal fee.
How to Write a Business Plan
You’ve already taken a few of the necessary steps toward your goal of starting a car detailing business, but you can’t really dive in without first creating a business plan. You can use our in-depth car wash and detailing business plan outline to get started, but we’ll also summarize the steps here:
- Create a mission statement: Summarize your company’s goals and values to determine what you bring to the community you serve.
- Determine what customers you’ll serve: Share where your customers are and how you’ll reach them. Share whether you’ve chosen a physical location to serve a specific area or opted for mobile detailing to expand your reach.
- Decide what services you’ll offer: Car wash, paint correction, chrome polishing, RV cleaning—the possibilities are endless, so be sure to include every service you’d like to offer in your business plan to help potential investors determine your value. That may include pick-up and drop-off services or coming straight to the customer.
- Financing: Speaking of investors, you’ll need to create a plan for how to fund your car detailing business. You can opt for self-funding, raising venture capital from investors, crowdfunding, or taking out a business loan.
- Create a marketing plan: Determine how you’ll draw in customers—this plan should include your online presence, local connections like the Chamber of Commerce, off-site advertisements like signs, billboards, and newspaper ads, and, of course, auto detail business cards to distribute.
- Share the cost and profit model you’ve worked out above: Investors and lenders need to know how your business will make money, so be sure to share the calculations you used to determine your pricing.
- Equipment and product needs: You’ll also want to share the products and equipment you’ll need to run your car detailing business. Curate the lists you’ve made into a digestible format for investors and lenders to look at.
- Determine your best practices: Sharing your methods and procedures will help build confidence in your brand and let investors know you’re truly experts in the car detailing field.
- Licenses, permits, and regulations: List all permits, licenses and anything you’ll need to comply with in your area so investors know what their capital is covering for your startup.
- Business structure: Share how your business will hire employees and the hierarchy of staffing. This creates a sense of organization, and smooth operation for both your employees and those interested in funding your new business.
- Growth plans: If your marketing is successful, you’ll need a plan for how to maintain quality work when your business takes off. Plan to stay ahead on hiring and equipment maintenance so you’re prepared for an influx of new customers.
Insurance Considerations
Insurance is a necessity for any business, but for auto detailers working with cars, boats, and other vehicles well-loved by their owners, there’s more than just monetary liability at stake. The importance of having the right insurance and certifications truly can’t be understated. Two of the most important coverages for car detailing businesses are “garage keeper’s liability” and “general liability” coverage.
Garage Keeper’s Liability coverage is a necessity for both mobile and fixed detailing operations. This will cover damage to the vehicle that may occur during the detailing process. Consider adding coverage for picking up and dropping off vehicles, to cover yourself in case you get in an accident while driving your customer’s vehicle.
General Liability will protect you against trip and fall accidents by customers whether at your shop or on site while you are performing car washing and detailing services.
Most states will require you to have Worker’s Compensation Insurance if you will have employees. This will provide medical and wage-loss benefits to employees who are injured while working.
It’s also a good idea to insure your building or mobile rig, your equipment, your supplies and any other necessary tools like computers, desks, etc. in case of theft or natural disaster.
Read more about auto detailing insurance coverage.
To limit the possibility of needing to file a claim, everyone at your business should look into additional training and certification opportunities like Detail King’s training courses. With proper training, you’ll be able to avoid common mistakes that could turn into big problems.
Trainings & Certifications
Receiving proper training is an excellent way to ensure that you’re providing your customers the best possible service. Further, earning certifications will show your customers that they can trust you with their vehicle. Make this a part of your business plan.
Detailers can receive training and certifications through private institutions or organizations like the International Detailers Association (IDA).
Here at Detail King, we regularly offer courses designed to assist experienced and new detailers alike, including our Auto Detailing Craftsman Program, our Ceramic Coating Certification, and our Advanced Paint Correction & Ceramic Coating Certification.
3-Day Auto Detailing Craftsman Program
Our three day program covers everything from how to start, operate and grow an auto detailing business, to how to perform more specialized services like paint chip repair and headlight restoration. Detailers go home with a solid foundation of interior and exterior detailing processes that they can then confidently offer to customers.
Graduates of this program will receive our Diploma to display proudly.
1-Day Ceramic Coating Certification
With classroom time and hands-on time, students will learn about offering ceramic coating services and the proper application. Attendants will perform paint correction on the exterior and ceramic coating installation throughout the vehicle with help from our experienced instructors.
Upon completion of this course, students will be certified installers through Jade Ceramics and have a certificate to back it up.
The more experience, the better. Hands-on training allows detailers to grow their skills without the stress of making mistakes on a customer’s vehicle.
After receiving proper training, you’ll be able to start your auto detailing business with confidence in your own work.
FAQs:
How do I choose a name for my auto detailing business?
Choose a name that reflects both what your company does, and who you are. Make it simple, easy to remember (and spell), and easy to differentiate from your competitors.
How do I market the business?
Marketing detailing businesses isn’t much different than marketing any other business.There are many options — you can grow your online presence by posting useful or entertaining content, meet with other business owners to collaborate, offer discounts or rewards programs for referrals, or explore paid opportunities like online ads or media placements.
How do I grow the business?
The most important thing you can do to grow your business is to provide quality work. By combining expertise with marketing plans and networking, you’ll prime your business to take on more customers every day.
How do I hire employees?
Set best practices for your hiring process to ensure every new staff member has the same hiring experience. To find new employees, make sure to clearly and accurately represent the positions that are open. Try posting on job sites like Indeed or spreading your message on Linkedin to leverage your connections.