What would you do

How long have you been in business and what was your business like in the past during the month of December?

What are your business goals per week, per month, per year?

What's the population around a 5 mile radius of your business and what's the median income?

How are you advertising and how much are you spending monthly on those services? If you're not advertising I suggest using Facebook Advertising to drum up some inquiries and make people aware you exist along with the type of service you offer.

Why does your BUSINESS Facebook page have personal and political opinions on it and not 100% focused on your work and services?

Why does the name of your business have Car Wash in it, if you are aimed toward detailing services? The perception of a car wash is far different than a premium detail service.

If you believe your services are worth $60/per then DO NOT drop your prices. I would never compete on price, but I would focus on my sales skills on how to educate the customer on why you would be the best choice to solve their problems and meet their needs.

If I were you, I would be brainstorming ways of reaching more people and showing the value of your services, and how you've helped people with their car care needs. I wouldn't worry about the $20 establishments because your ideal client wouldn't find that work satisfactory, and the price would turn them off. Quality doesn't live at $20, but if you're marketing yourself (due to your business name) as a car wash, and those other businesses are car washes then you're going to have a problem because people will assume that you're just an expensive car wash providing a similar service for a more expensive price.
 
One thing you really need to consider is that you can't always charge your higher hourly rate for every type of job, at least not if you want to keep a steady flow of work. It sounds like you area does not support the prices you are looking to make. You will have a hard time getting wash & wax jobs when you have an hourly rate of $60. It is one thing to have a higher rate for a task such as paint correction or a more intense interior job, but for basic jobs you need to realize that you will have to drop your rates down to stay busy. Really it will all come down to your business model and what type of work your looking to get. My business is a part time business and I don't do maintenance washes or wash and wax type work. I don't touch a car unless I am using a polisher on it. There are plenty of cheap wash and wax guys or businesses in my area, and I was able to establish my own market with higher end services for my area. Pricing is always a very touchy subject though, and in the end you need to charge what you feel your work is worth.
 
KMG said:
One thing you really need to consider is that you can't always charge your higher hourly rate for every type of job, at least not if you want to keep a steady flow of work. It sounds like you area does not support the prices you are looking to make. You will have a hard time getting wash & wax jobs when you have an hourly rate of $60. It is one thing to have a higher rate for a task such as paint correction or a more intense interior job, but for basic jobs you need to realize that you will have to drop your rates down to stay busy. Really it will all come down to your business model and what type of work your looking to get. My business is a part time business and I don't do maintenance washes or wash and wax type work. I don't touch a car unless I am using a polisher on it. There are plenty of cheap wash and wax guys or businesses in my area, and I was able to establish my own market with higher end services for my area. Pricing is always a very touchy subject though, and in the end you need to charge what you feel your work is worth.
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This^

You say you've corrected their vehicles, and if $60 per hr. is what you charged for that then it's all fine and good... But if you're still planning on that $60 per hr. to simply maintain those vehicles from here on out you may be pushing it. How long does it really take you to "wash" a customers car? Proper job, inside and out, and with the premium price of $60 per hr. you better include extra bells & whistles such as leather conditioning, fully dressed wheel wells, dressed trim, level 10 vacuuming, full interior wipedown, and whatever else a normL car wash doesn't include. Now can you do all that in under an hour? You better be damn good, because in reality doing all that and doing it good can take 1.5-2 hrs. And when it's all said and done how many normL people are willing to pay $120 let alone $60 for a maintenance wash?

Be realistic, you can't price everything you do the same way you price a full correction.


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Eldorado2k said:
This^

You say you've corrected their vehicles, and if $60 per hr. is what you charged for that then it's all fine and good... But if you're still planning on that $60 per hr. to simply maintain those vehicles from here on out you may be pushing it. How long does it really take you to "wash" a customers car? Proper job, inside and out, and with the premium price of $60 per hr. you better include extra bells & whistles such as leather conditioning, fully dressed wheel wells, dressed trim, level 10 vacuuming, full interior wipedown, and whatever else a normL car wash doesn't include. Now can you do all that in under an hour? You better be damn good, because in reality doing all that and doing it good can take 1.5-2 hrs. And when it's all said and done how many normL people are willing to pay $120 let alone $60 for a maintenance wash?

Be realistic, you can't price everything you do the same way you price a full correction.


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If it takes you two hours to perform a "swirl free" maintenance wash on a fully corrected exotic, and your hourly rate is $60/hr, then you should absolutely be charging $120 for the service.
 
Nicholas@Autowerx said:
If it takes you two hours to perform a "swirl free" maintenance wash on a fully corrected exotic, and your hourly rate is $60/hr, then you should absolutely be charging $120 for the service.
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True, but in this case where he's seeing his customers slip away to the $20-30 guys in his area, then it's a slim chance these cars are exotics with owners who are able to pay that kind of money on a regular basis.


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Yeah for reference the popular chain automatic car wash here is $20 no interior no towel dry just spray it a little then through the tunnel

It's the area that will dictate price it's almost Christmas for those who celebrate it and most are not wanting to spend on non Christmas related things


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Eldorado2k said:
True, but in this case where he's seeing his customers slip away to the $20-30 guys in his area, then it's a slim chance these cars are exotics with owners who are able to pay that kind of money on a regular basis.


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If that's the case I would just stop offering maintenance wash services all together. Except having "car wash" in the name of the business kinda seems like that's what they focus on.
 
Zero money to be made at those prices and they will learn and work hard for zero profit.Even at 30.00 a car doing 10 cars a day split that between 2 people is barely enough to live on.I have 2 vehicles that I do maintenance washes for 60.00 a piece.They don't give me any problems and I don't commit to a certain day on being there.But for 60.00 those vehicles are getting wash vac Windows spraywax tires and wheel well dressed,inside wiped down rain X on windshield and a coat of collinite on the front end for those nasty bugs.Takes 1.5 hrs per vehicle.I dropped a customer with a huge black new Lexus.4 kids and a disaster on the inside.Rear floor mats shuffled under the front seats and candy wrappers in every pocket not to mention the owner was a slob as well.I stopped to ask myself is this worth it heck no.Stray from car washes those people don't care about quality work and you will never upsell them.
 
Here is what stands out to me, most of which has already been mentioned.

- The business name.
Car Wash in your name is not helping you.

- No website, that is not helping you.
I speak from experience on this point.

- Hourly rate.
This is something that gets talked about a lot in social media.
How you price your hourly rate is your business.
If you are comparing to what many any social media state their hourly rate to be, you are competing against a moving target, and a lot of locker room talk at that.
Consider the economics of your area, and the specific detail service you are providing.
Maybe take another look at your hourly rate.

- No second job?
I work a night job part time.
Without it, I would be in bad shape.
Business can be hit and miss.
Sometimes, I myself can go 2-3 weeks without business.
Highly recommend a second stream of income.

You might be the best detailer on the planet, but even still, all the logistics and economics have to line up in your favor.
Keep us posted.
 
You guys have really given me a lot to think over. I really do love this forum and it's members, thanks everyone

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For your own sake, I think you need to be blunt in your assessment of the area you're in. If the money or desire for your services are not there, either lower your expectations or move. There are a lot of nice places to live in this state/country. I don't see why you would hold yourself to Mojave.

You know, your life's ambition could have been to be a lifeguard. Would you stay in Mojave and complain that the local community pool doesn't pay enough or would you move to an area close enough to access the beaches where guys can make a career out of it? I know there are holes in this analogy, but I think you get the point.

I personally am in a position where I want to get back into the construction/repair field on a limited basis. But, I don't believe the area I'm presently living in has the resources to make it worthwhile. My wife likes to tell me that I'm wrong. "There's people in this area with money for your skills". The problem is there are too many people without the money for my skills. I'll wait until I moved to a better area in the next couple years to put out the effort to start up again. I don't need to spend my time on tire kickers who don't have the disposable income to hire me.
 
ducksfan said:
For your own sake, I think you need to be blunt in your assessment of the area you're in. If the money or desire for your services are not there, either lower your expectations or move. There are a lot of nice places to live in this state/country. I don't see why you would hold yourself to Mojave.

You know, your life's ambition could have been to be a lifeguard. Would you stay in Mojave and complain that the local community pool doesn't pay enough or would you move to an area close enough to access the beaches where guys can make a career out of it? I know there are holes in this analogy, but I think you get the point.

I personally am in a position where I want to get back into the construction/repair field on a limited basis. But, I don't believe the area I'm presently living in has the resources to make it worthwhile. My wife likes to tell me that I'm wrong. "There's people in this area with money for your skills". The problem is there are too many people without the money for my skills. I'll wait until I moved to a better area in the next couple years to put out the effort to start up again. I don't need to spend my time on tire kickers who don't have the disposable income to hire me.
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Very true analogy of the way certain things or businesses work.I was gonna suggest that he move to another area,but as you know it's not that easy.I can all day long get more money per car in nyc compared to fla.He will have to figure out or make the move if he is going to do this for a while.I feel sorry for him for the setback but at the end of the day we are responsible for our destiny and making the wrong decisions can have a setback which in time you don't get that time back from life .learn from your mistakes and move forward.Great advice ducksfan.
 
It would be great if I could just pick up and leave but as said it's not that easy, I can't just uproot my kids and wife, she has her own stuff going on and my kids as well. I was not always in this position I've been basically the top stop and had no issues with money when I came to detailing it's just been these past few months that low end detailers have popped up over night and all offer these super low end prices. I don't see how they can do it. I had one car today and it was just the interior but I still see clients I had getting there cars done by these other detailers. I spoke to one client today and just mentioned that his car was looking pretty good and he said "yeah sorry I haven't come by but I've been going to XXX and while they are not as good as you are, they don't cost as much" of course I asked what they did and it was just a wash, spray wax, wipe down, and I could already see the marring and swirls in the paint. He didn't seem to care though he just wants the lower rate and a shiny car.

I guess I could always lower my prices use cheaper soaps and not clay bar like they do but that's not how I like to do things. Heck one guys can looks like the Wal Mart car aisle puked in the back of it with just turtle wax and eagle one items.

Idk I've been trying to see how I can lower my washes to attract more traffic but I'm still working on the process overall so hopefully I can get it set in stone soon.

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Cruzscarwash said:
It would be great if I could just pick up and leave but as said it's not that easy, I can't just uproot my kids and wife, she has her own stuff going on and my kids as well. I was not always in this position I've been basically the top stop and had no issues with money when I came to detailing it's just been these past few months that low end detailers have popped up over night and all offer these super low end prices. I don't see how they can do it. I had one car today and it was just the interior but I still see clients I had getting there cars done by these other detailers. I spoke to one client today and just mentioned that his car was looking pretty good and he said "yeah sorry I haven't come by but I've been going to XXX and while they are not as good as you are, they don't cost as much" of course I asked what they did and it was just a wash, spray wax, wipe down, and I could already see the marring and swirls in the paint. He didn't seem to care though he just wants the lower rate and a shiny car.

I guess I could always lower my prices use cheaper soaps and not clay bar like they do but that's not how I like to do things. Heck one guys can looks like the Wal Mart car aisle puked in the back of it with just turtle wax and eagle one items.

Idk I've been trying to see how I can lower my washes to attract more traffic but I'm still working on the process overall so hopefully I can get it set in stone soon.

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Define cheaper soap vs. top of the line soap. I'm curious as to what you would consider the answer to be... My best guess is the top of the line soap would be Wolfgang Auto Bathe, but that's simply based on price as I find it very hard to believe it does anything special that other quality or even halfway decent car wash soaps don't do.

What kind of car wash soap do you use now? Is it worlds better than 3D Pink? I would consider 3D Pink a budget friendly car wash soap for a detailers profit margin, but at the same time I wouldn't consider using it to be any kind of sacrifice on quality. IMO all the car wash soaps sold on AG are very marginal in difference as far as the final results. The only real thing that separates them is a bit of fanboyism. Lol.

So what's cheap soap? And how much $ do you think you'd save by switching to it?


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@Cruzcarwash. Do you remember that thread in which someone posted the advertised special of a local detailer in their area... You said something like "holy crap"!

Now for you to say "holy crap" it proves that it sounded impressive even to you. You thought man I get all that for only $75?! Remember how I broke it down to simplicity and how easily it was probably accomplished while sounding like a premium level detail to the average Joe who reads it?

Maybe you could use a bit of freshening up on your marketing approach? I have no idea how you advertise your service or put your name out there to potential customers, but perhaps it's been the same for too long and could use a bit of a makeover? Just trying to spark some ideas that you may have already thought about yourself.


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I do remember that, I'd have to read it again, it did make more sense after you broke it down

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It sounds like to me the problem is the supply side of the business. You said the area just doesn't have a lot to support a higher-end detailer like yourself, but just the $20 wash. You mentioned McDonalds and Rite Aid was about it.

I see you have two options to stay in the game.

1)Lower your price to $30 and cutback on your quality, basically making it a numbers game to get through as many cars as you can just to make up for the price drop.

2) Focus on the area that is 45 minutes away. It sounds like it has more supply for you to target and people with more disposable income, higher end cars and people that know the difference in a cheap car wash and a good detail.

To me, the second option is the better one so you can focus on perfecting your quality and continue to gain referrals. If you just drop your prices, someone will always try to beat you on price and the area you are in sounds very price sensitive already, so I don't see this as being successful. Make your quality something that can't be beat.
 
Dropping prices in half are dramatic.He is the only one who knows how much he needs to live on.You may at all cost have to uproot yourself somehow.It will sting but pay off in the long run.Hope things get better for you but my advice is don't waste another year if this is gonna be a daily struggle for you.what other skill do you have for back up if you still want to stay there.Dont drive 45 minutes and start doing carwashes,it would have to be production or Highend detailing.I would of done the 45 minute commute spend a day and hand out cards.Its better than not trying it.
 
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