Everyone’s car gets dirty; you can enrich yourself by making them clean again.At a time when getting the so-called white collar jobs is  very difficult, it is important to, once again, discuss another type of business which is quite easy to start, and which does not require any strenuous training; car wash business is an example of such a business.

How To Start
When starting a car wash business, it is important to bear three things in mind:  the size of the car wash business, the needed items and equipment as well as the location of the business.

The size of the business determines, to a large extent, the kind of equipment that will be needed and, subsequently, the start-up capital that will be required.

For a moderate car wash business, the major equipment required is a pumping machine.  Other necessary materials needed include soaps of different varieties, brush, dusters, buckets, tanks, among others.

The location of a car wash business matters a lot.  When siting your business, ensure that it has a good proximity to a major source of water like streams or rivers, otherwise, a borehole or well must be dug so as to ensure that the most important item required in this business – water – is never lacking.

According to Mr. Sunday Tony, a worker in one of the car wash centres visited by Saturday Tribune, the bulk of the start-up capital depends on the acquisition of land for the business, which could be either purchased or rented, as well as the purchase of equipment like a pumping machine.  “Apart from these items – land and equipment, which take the lion’s share of the start-up capital – other items are quite easy and cheap to buy,” Tony said.

Another operator of a car wash business which is located along one of the major expressways in Ibadan, Mr. Kunle Oladeji, declared that whoever intends to go into this business must be ready to set aside a substantial amount of money as capital.  “I will categorise a good car wash business as a medium scale business, because any standard car wash centre must, among other things, boast of some equipment like pressure machine, which is useful in washing the inner parts of  cars’ engines as well as a spraying machine used in washing the underneath of vehicles that are beyond the reach of the human hands and eyes,” Oladeji stated.

Oladeji also added that some of such equipment could be purchased as the business progresses. 

“There are some other useful equipment like the vaccum cleaner, which is used in cleaning the interior of vehicles including seats and rugs, there is also another equipment called the steam washer. 

All these equipment are very useful but expensive.  For example, a pressure machine now goes for about N150,000, this is quite huge, therefore, many car wash business operators, like me, resort to manual washing of cars’ exterior and interior parts,” he added.

Also, another operator, who preferred to remain anonymous, said that manual washing of cars, with little or no dependence on modern equipment, though has its own disadvantages and limitations, is a good way to start.

“If  you cannot wash your customers’ vehicles very well manually, then it is almost certain that you won’t be able to do so even with the most sophisticated equipment.  So my advice to anyone who intends embarking on this business, and who does not have huge capital to buy all sorts of equipment, is to make the best use of whatever resources and materials available to him/her,” he declared.

Profitability of the business
The amount made each day depends on the number of cars washed.On the average, washing of the exterior of cars and buses costs N200. General washing of vehicles, i.e washing of the exterior and interior parts of cars as well as engines, goes for N1000 or N1,200.  However, these prices change during dry seasons which could see the cost of washing cars and buses rise up to N250 or N300.

“When business is good and patronage is high for me, I can wash up to 10 or 15 cars each day, and when business is low, at times, I wash about four or five cars per day,” Mr. Tony said.

But Oladeji said that  he could wash up to 30 or 40 vehicles per day when business is at its peak, “however, like any other business which can experience periods of low patronage, I wash about 10 vehicles on days when business is at its lowest ebb,” Oladeji indicated.

Challenges of the business
According to expert car washers, the challenges associated with this business are mainly seasonal  in nature. For example, Mr Adeyi Olayinka,  who has been in the business for about 10 years, said: “The major challenge we face is the shortage of water during dry season. 

Since water is the most important of all the materials that we use, it  becomes very difficult to carry out our business if there is shortage of water, because at no time must good service be compromised,” Olayinka said.  He, however, added that with the availability of wells and boreholes as well as good water storage facilities like tanks, the effect of the problem could be overcome.

Another challenge of the business is the fact that the equipment used e.g. pumping machines, could develop faults any moment.

Other tips for running car wash business
The following are useful tips in making a success out of the business of car wash:
•    Ensure that you use good water that has no foul smell to wash people’s cars.

•    The soaps used in the business must be of good quality.

•    Also, other accessories used in cleaning vehicles e.g. car wax must also be of good quality.

•Get a location that needs car wash business. A high-profile location, such as a busy street with good visibility, is recommended for this kind of business.

•Conduct a small research of your own about the business.

•Make a good business plan. You will need to have every aspect of opening and running of the business worked out, not just for the short-term but also for the long-term.

•Since you cannot control seasons and weather, ensure that you make the best of the rainy season, in terms of giving your customers the best service possible. This is because car wash  business is always at its peak during rainy season, because rains create mud, and mud makes cars dirty.

This is important because many car washers, as a result of the high number of cars they have to attend to during rainy seasons, fail to give their best, such people seem to forget that a well treated customer will always come back even when the rainy season is over.

Car wash business is a kind of business which, apart from serving as a means of income generation, also serves as a means of adding value to others;  commuters will generally prefer well cleaned  cars to dirty ones and drivers of well washed cars,

irrespective of the types of cars they might be driving, often have an aura of confidence around them. Therefore, as a car washer, you will not just make money, you will also be helping in building someone else’s self-image and confidence.