Auto Industry News

Whether you own a carwash and are looking for additional services to offer customers to increase revenue or simply tired of Corporate America, detailing might just be your ticket. There are many options available to you. If you are just starting out with limited capital you may want to consider a pre-packaged business opportunity complete with manuals, equipment, custom signage, and trailer or truck mounted unit.

One great business opportunity with all these things is National Detail Systems. They have a comprehensive web site at; www.nationaldetail.com. The President is Greg Dumond who is well versed in storm wastewater laws and NPDES permitting all over the country, they are based in CA. Another business opportunity although not quite as comprehensive is Curbside Carwash formerly Union Jack Carwash, based out of Ft. Myers, Florida.

There are also several manuals you can buy on the subject. We do not recommend the one by Entrepreneur Magazine, as it is very generic. We recommend Sean Frey’s Manual 1-503-480-0017 in Atlus, OK, or Nick Vacco’s Manual out of Philadelphia, information about this manual can be found on the Delco Cleaning Systems Website, www.dcs1.com. The best manual we’ve found is a compilation of articles written by Bud Abraham of Detail Plus and can be bought from his website at www.detailplus.com, it is well over 300 pages. Power, Inc. has several sections in their "How to Run, A Carwash" and "How to Market A Carwash" manuals which are always on sale at the Carwash Association Meetings. To find other updated information we recommend that you join the Professional Detail Association for the newsletter, and subscribe to the following magazines such as:

Mobile Tech News

Carwash Magazine

Auto Laundry News

Detail Digest

Clean Car America

And also subscribe to online newsletters from; www.mobileworks.com, www.dcs1.com, www.carwash.com, because they are free and often very informative.

If you are already in the business and are relatively confident that you can go it alone, you can buy equipment from many sources such as www.aaapws.com, www.dcs1.com, www.karcher.com, www.landa.com, www.envirotech.com, www.detailerschoice.com, www.airparkdetailing.com. Many of these equipment vendors offer great financing programs. Business Opportunity and Franchise Companies also offer great financing programs as well.

Best of luck in your new auto detailing business and glad to be of service to my industry. You might even check out our company website to give you ideas on pricing , techniques and how to comply with storm drain waste water rules. Think about it. www.DetailGuys.com

"Lance Winslow" - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/