Thinking about offering a "green detail"

Blake's Mobile Detailing

Blake's Mobile Detailing

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I was thinking about offering a package to students in my area(college kids). The only thing I can think of is doing a ONR wash, spray wax, wheels, tires, wheel wells and windows. I would do interior but I will probably be doing a lot of cars on campus while being by student dorms so electrical equipment is out of the question. I would also market this as "green" since no chemicals are going down the drain.

This is just me trying to appeal to more people. Please tell me what yall think.
 
Blake's Mobile Detailing said:
I was thinking about offering a package to students in my area(college kids). The only thing I can think of is doing a ONR wash, spray wax, wheels, tires, wheel wells and windows. I would do interior but I will probably be doing a lot of cars on campus while being by student dorms so electrical equipment is out of the question. I would also market this as "green" since no chemicals are going down the drain.

This is just me trying to appeal to more people. Please tell me what yall think.
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It definitely can be done.
I do a rinseless wash and use Duragloss Aqua Wax during the drying step. Wash and wax in a very short time.
But..... Getting people to accept a rinseless ir waterless wash is going to take some selling.
I use them almost exclusively and I know they work, but many people think you absolutely have to have the bucket of soapsuds and a hose to wash a car.

I do think you can build a clientele in time from word of mouth advertising.

One other thing, keeping their car clean consists of driving through the local quick wash for lots of/most college kids.
 
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I know it sounds kinda lame(the whole "green thing") but at my school and in this state, the green industry is starting to boom. I am only marketing as a "green wash". The truth of the matter is, the idea came to be through me thinking of a way to get a student clientele who have extremely nice cars in campus, but no one does mobile detailing except me. So I was trying to make a niche market for myself.
 
Get some kids and give them a sample and show them and it will go around fast, explain to them how its bad to go through a car wash, and maybe some flyers about the damage to car in car wash and post it everywhere on campus. Make sure you don't charge too much remember these kids are college students.
 
I'll be honest with you. MOST college kids don't give a rat's ass about how their car looks and the one's that do will do what you just mentioned. On top of that, the people that have the vehicles you WANT to do detail more than likely are on the mommy and daddy fund and again could care less.

If you charge more than $5 they'll laugh and say "Well, I can just take it to a $5 wash at the gas station and it'll be just as good." Good luck convincing them otherwise.

I say this because I am a college kid and it's how it is around here. That's why I don't even bother with them and keep my business in different areas.
 
zinc02gt said:
I'll be honest with you. MOST college kids don't give a rat's ass about how their car looks and the one's that do will do what you just mentioned. On top of that, the people that have the vehicles you WANT to do detail more than likely are on the mommy and daddy fund and again could care less.

If you charge more than $5 they'll laugh and say "Well, I can just take it to a $5 wash at the gas station and it'll be just as good." Good luck convincing them otherwise.

I say this because I am a college kid and it's how it is around here. That's why I don't even bother with them and keep my business in different areas.
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I agree with you there. That's why its so hard, you might get a few but nothing drastic. But it doesn't hurt to try :D
 
No, it never hurts to try, but DEFINATELY do not get your hopes up.
 
I agree with Zinc, college kids dont care about their cars. Im in college now and ya they dont care if the paint is falling off. If they will be the ones paying for it then they just wont and if mommy and daddy will pay for it frankly they still wont. You have to remember you are competing with the good old 12 pack on friday nights.... Im sorry to say 98% of them will go with the beer.

Good idea though, and try and push it but I wouldnt drop your lifes savings into this idea personally.
Best of luck
Jon
 
zinc02gt said:
I'll be honest with you. MOST college kids don't give a rat's ass about how their car looks and the one's that do will do what you just mentioned. On top of that, the people that have the vehicles you WANT to do detail more than likely are on the mommy and daddy fund and again could care less.

If you charge more than $5 they'll laugh and say "Well, I can just take it to a $5 wash at the gas station and it'll be just as good." Good luck convincing them otherwise.

I say this because I am a college kid and it's how it is around here. That's why I don't even bother with them and keep my business in different areas.
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onexvi3tboi said:
I agree with you there. That's why its so hard, you might get a few but nothing drastic. But it doesn't hurt to try :D
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JonnyBob said:
I agree with Zinc, college kids dont care about their cars. Im in college now and ya they dont care if the paint is falling off. If they will be the ones paying for it then they just wont and if mommy and daddy will pay for it frankly they still wont. You have to remember you are competing with the good old 12 pack on friday nights.... Im sorry to say 98% of them will go with the beer.

Good idea though, and try and push it but I wouldnt drop your lifes savings into this idea personally.
Best of luck
Jon
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Add me to the list of skeptics (unfortunately).
I recall the days back in college and what little money there was available went to partying or food. Everything else could wait until the semester was over (and we'd be back home with our cars at that point).

It's just not the market where you're going to find extra discretionary spending that'll be non-booze related.
 
I understand. I might still add it to the menu because all of the teachers here are very big into the environment and it wont hurt my pocket to add cause I already use ONR on my truck when feeling lazy. Thanks everyone.
 
Even ONR goes into the drain. The best way to be "green" would be to have a reclamation mat. Then make sure all your chemicals are environmentally friendly. Market it as such, on recycled paper. If you have a water tank, see if you could use reclaimed (but clean) water in it, or rain collection. Of course, you will have to sell this as a premium to cover your costs.

I'm not sure how green MS is (assuming you are in Mississippi), but this would work pretty good in CO or northern CA.
 
Yea, that would be a huge premium. I use recycled paper as it is on my flyers(printer place option) I dont know how I would get reclaimed water unless I collected it myself and then treated and filtered the water. Its starting to sound like this is a bad idea. thanks for all the input though. Im thankful that you all didnt just right this thread off.
 
Does it rain much down there? When I lived in Hawaii, we had no water supply, and used a fine nylon mesh stretched over a 200 gallon open-top tank that would get the run off from the roof. Probably cost about $200 total. Since it rained every day there (close to Hilo, Big Island), we almost never ran out of water.
 
It does rain a good bit and that is a very good idea. I am living in an apartment and going to school right now so I would not be able to do that up here. In a lot of my classes we talk about rain water harvesting and I am going to do it whenever I move into a house but for now its all city water for me.
 
Good deal, man! Please keep us posted on your progress!
 
When I was in college I definitely coundn't afford to pay anyone to detail my piece of junk car. I was lucky if I could even afford gas for it. Most of the time I had to ride my bike around to classes and the store.
 
lol green detail. what's next, kosher kar wash?
 
Along the same lines yup I'm a skeptic too! the ones who have the "detailable cars or the high end cars are probably heading home on the weekends and Mommy or Daddy do it for them it is a good thought though. trying to go green is the wave and I applaud you for trying to "save our planet" but I don't think you would make much more than a little beer money trying to detail on a college campus even trying to appeal to the sandal wearing granola heads by going green.....good luck manIm the MAN
 
I've done ONR washes at a local high school. I charged $20 for a wash and wax (spray wax). Didn't make a lot of money doing it, but even the nastiest cars looked a whole lot better afterward.

If your looking at colleges, I suggest you might want to start with the staff and professors.
 
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