Seeking Advice for Small Mobile Detailing Business Startup

[struby]

First off, my name is Andy and I live in the suburbs of Philadelphia.

Recently I have been looking for side work to make extra money. I don't have a bunch of talents that are usefull for income on a very part time basis. I work Monday through friday until 4 and have off every other Friday. Through high school and college, I worked at a car wash or two and did a little detailing. I felt I was pretty good at it and so it has become an option i'm very interested in for supplementary imcome. Theres my bio, here's what I'm working with and my concerns:

I do not have a goal in mind for money. As long as when my "business" expenses are removed from my profits, I'm making above minimum wage.

I'd ideally have a job or two a week, which I would potentially increase if I found things were working well.

I want to keep things very basic to start: Exterior services including, wash, wax, removal of bugs, tar, minor blemishes that I can remove with compound. Interior I would likely have a small shampooer or steamer and do the obvious, windows, vacuum, detail brush and spray. Its not that important exactly what, but just that you know I'm not getting into buffing and such, because I never learned that.

Here are the obstacles I'm struggling with:

I am a renter who parks on the street, so I certainly have no space available to do this, so that's the first obstacle. The business would be completely mobile.

If I am able to work outside, will excessively fast soap and wax drying cause me problems in the summer and winter?

Would I need any liability insurance? I'm not so much afraid of things I could break, but things desperate people might claim I damaged etc... At a small workload such as 2 cars a week, am I really working with enough capitol to insure myself, or are there other options. I wouldn't be driving their car, so is there a disclaimer I can use that would remove the risk, and if so, would that drive away

Is the need to use the customers water and electricity going to narrow my customer base too far to get business?

I am looking for general feedback about whether or not this is a good idea at all and some specific feedback about the liability issue.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Perfections]

A lot of detailers work without insurance. I've never ran into a problem using the customers water or electricity even at businesses there are usually places along the building on one of the sides that's out of the way, you just need long extension cords and water hose. As far as working out in the heat, don't use conventional washes, stick to optimum no rinse, and if the vehicles to dirty for onr wash pre spray the panels making sure the water is faced downward. Onr works on panels up to around 145-147 degrees f. Above that it tends to steam and dry up to fast to properly dry the panel. Keep it simple at first like you said, believe it or not you can make just as much money washing cars as you can polishing them. Good luck

 

[struby]

What kind of risks am I running by working without insurance? For example, what if someone claims I damaged their car, or worse tries to claim they got into an accident because of something I did to their car?

 

[Texsox]

As part of your start up expenses swap out detail work on an accountants and lawyer's cars. You have more to fear from the IRS than your customers. ( only slightly kidding )


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