Buying used detailing equipment and rainy day services

Mobile auto detailing equipment becomes very inexpensive around March of each year. If you look on eBay or the classifieds section of your local newspaper, you’ll see it. This is because mobile auto detailers are in a seasonal business. They find themselves scraping bottom when it’s too cold to work because the water freezes or it’s raining and it becomes hard to sell detailed services. Nobody wants to see their business cards when it rains. The only people who call them are their girlfriends, with whom they can no longer go out to dinner or to the movies. They can’t use their car phone because Verizon or Sprint turned it off. In a rainy year, their cash reserve, if they had any, was depleted in mid-January. They are eating Top Ramen in February. Your business no longer meets your needs. So they quit. Too bad for them; They are obviously not winners because: “Winners never quit and quitters never win!”

You will see a lot of used equipment on the market in February and March. April and May many will try to start over. They are undercapitalized. No money for marketing, no self esteem (deflated ego), no support system. Obviously, this means that there is no success. But if you want to add to your team or start a car detailing business, you can really build around all the weakened competition quickly. You can also buy equipment for $0.20 on the dollar, which isn’t a bad start.

If you start your business the first week of April, you can start marketing rainy day services and coupon discounts to build your customer base. If you have a hot water pressure washer, you can set up a night crew, who can clean concrete and heavy equipment at an average of $400-500 a night. Rent-A-Car companies clean their cars rain or shine. Federal Express vans are cleaned every night no matter what. Post office jeeps are normally cleaned on Sundays according to a calendar schedule. We have reasons to clean this type of vehicle and it doesn’t matter if it rains or not.

Sometimes in business the weather can play in your favor, complaining won’t help, so use it to your advantage and win. Think about it.