Car Wash Detailing Hack

[Rob Ibarra]

Need the BP brains to help me with a Car Wash hack. I'm looking at buying a self-serve car wash and force value / revenue by installing a car port / detail bay for a mobile detailer to be stationed there weekly and offer custom detail services. Has anyone here done that and/or know what I should be charging for booth rent, services, percentage of profits. Any and all advice is appreciated and welcome. Thank you!

[Don Konipol]

Quote from @Rob Ibarra:

Need the BP brains to help me with a Car Wash hack. I'm looking at buying a self-serve car wash and force value / revenue by installing a car port / detail bay for a mobile detailer to be stationed there weekly and offer custom detail services. Has anyone here done that and/or know what I should be charging for booth rent, services, percentage of profits. Any and all advice is appreciated and welcome. Thank you!

A couple of years ago I financed a car wash with four self service bays, two drive through automated bays, and a detailing station.  The whole thing was owner operated, and the detailing accounted for over 50% of the profit. 

I personally think the detailing MAY be a great idea, IF the location of the car wash is on a highly traveled street in a neighborhood with lots of residences within a 2 mile radius. 

Your rental agreement with a detailer is going to depend on the experience, quality and track record of the detailer.  If you rent to someone relatively new in their first ownership venture, the most probable agreement is one calling for a monthly payment with a percentage of the revenue on top.  Of course, the risk of failure/underperformance is high.  With an established, experienced detailer you can expect a monthly rent only, unless you have a location so great that detailers are dying to get in.  

By leasing out the detailing "bay" to a third party detailing business you are still a "passive" investor as you are not operating the detailing with employees. If it cost you say $50k to build out a detailing space and you receive $600 monthly rent double net then you've got a 14% ROI. My gut is you can do better than that. On a small property in a relatively volatile business without credit tenants I would require a minimum 20% ROI. So if it cost $50k to build out I'd be looking for net rental income of $10k annually.