Local services · idea 26 of 52
Mobile car detailing at the customer's driveway
People will pay well to not spend their Saturday cleaning a car, and more to not have to drive it anywhere. You bring the water.
- Who pays you
- Car owners pay you per vehicle, by package (interior, exterior, full), at their home or workplace, by card or transfer on completion. Regulars book monthly or quarterly; small fleets book in batches.
- Outcomes
- 0 receipts. Nobody's reported back on this one yet. Receipts open when accounts launch.
How it works
Detailing is cleaning done thoroughly: interior vacuum and shampoo, plastics and leather treated, exterior washed, decontaminated, polished and protected. The mobile version brings everything to the customer, which is the part they pay a premium for. You start with a few packages at fixed prices, do excellent work on a handful of cars, and let the cars themselves advertise in office car parks and driveways.
What it actually takes
- A water tank, a pressure washer or a waterless system, a wet-dry vacuum, a polisher, and a serious supply of chemicals, towels and brushes. A few hundred to start properly; more as you specialise.
- A vehicle that carries all of it.
- Technique. Bad polishing damages paint. Watch, practise on your own car, practise on friends' cars.
- Booking discipline: two or three full details a day is a real day's work.
Where it goes wrong
- Underpricing the interior. A car with kids and a dog takes three hours, not one. Charge for the state of the car, not the size.
- Water rules. Some cities restrict runoff from mobile washing; waterless and rinseless products exist for a reason.
- Paint damage claims. Photograph every panel before you start, every time.
- Weather. Rain days are lost days unless you have a covered space or an interior-only offer.
Published 5 Aug 2026