5 ways To Grow A Mobile Detailing Business From Scratch

Detail microfiber wipe

If you have the entrepreneurial spirit and are good at detailing cars, becoming your own boss may be easier than you think. The one thing that all businesses need to survive and grow is sales, and we’re going to cover five ways to find a new business when you are just starting. Surprisingly it is hard for some auto businesses to find and retain detailers. Body shops and dealerships seem like they always have an ad out for a detailer, and this is where you can start.

  • Auto Body Shops- Auto Body shops are busiest on Mondays when they take cars in and Fridays when most people pick up their vehicles. Even if a shop already has a detailer, it’s typically just one guy, and a good shop can fix 12-15 cars a week. If you have a mobile detailing shop and can get to your customers onsite, chances are you could probably pick up a couple of jobs a week just by demonstrating some reliability. Auto Body shop detailers are the most entry-level position, and as a result, they are some of the most unreliable employees at a shop. But the cars must be detailed before they are delivered so an excellent strong business acumen, skill, and reliability could probably land you some new customers very quickly, especially if their detailer calls out.
  • Dealerships- Just like auto body shops, dealerships are always struggling to keep detailers. The beautiful thing about dealers is the cars need to be clean to sell, and they sit out all day long and get dirty. It is a great way to get some early work for your detailing company if you can be a mobile detailer, especially after major weather events such as heavy snow, or a particularly rainy week.
  • Fleet owners- This may take a little more salesmanship on your part, but anybody that has a large fleet of vehicles has a lot of business, which also means that they know how to market themselves. Think of your local HAVC guy or plumbing company where you see their trucks all the time. Offer to come in when the trucks are off the road for the day and get them cleaned up by the next time they go out. The pitch here is reminding the fleet owner that their image is what got them there, and a clean vehicle sells more than a filthy one.
  • Large Office Complexes- Every town has an industrial complex with multiple businesses with tons of employees. Surprisingly not many people come through these complexes offering their services. You may run into some non-solicitation issues. Step one would be to try and approach the office manager or receptionist and offer a group rate just for that business. The second option would be the old-fashioned flyer under the windshield wiper. The trick is to get the first couple of jobs in that office complex. Use your network to try and get a couple of jobs even if you have to give one away. Once employees see you out there cleaning co-workers’ cars while they are working, word will spread fast.
  • Amazon Last Mile Depots- This one will be the hardest for you to get into, but once you do, it will be the most lucrative. In every major city, there is an Amazon last-mile depot. This is where packages get sorted and delivered to individual locations. These are typically called DPX’s. Each depot has multiple fleet owners inside some having anywhere from 5-20 sprinter style vans in their fleet. The key is getting to one of these owners, and identifying them is as simple as asking your next delivery guy for the name of the company they work for and who to contact and at what number. The guy delivering your package in that grey Amazon truck does not work for Amazon; they work for a Logistics company that Amazon has a contract with. Get in with that one fleet owner, and you have access to dozens of more owners just like him. Also, Amazon trucks are typically parked overnight in a leased parking lot. With a mobile detail business, you could have more vehicles than you can handle if you do a little hustling. The key is to get them clean before they head out for the next day. 

So there you go, five ways to get started in your mobile detailing business. And once you get up and running, be sure to check out AMT’s suite of customer management products to virtually eliminate all the annoying back-office work that you will need to do to get paid on time.