Auto Detail Business – Considered Surviving Through a Recession

Well, before I retired, I was in the franchise business, in the automotive service industry. One thing that he had noticed over the years was that the economy was doing well or badly. That is, there was a period of expansion or a period of contraction, growth or recession. One thing I can remember is that many of our franchisees complained when the economy was bad because it was difficult for them to make money. Actually, just by adjusting your menu and the types of services you offer, it’s pretty easy to switch to a high-volume, low-cost business model and actually make more money during a recession. Okay, let’s talk, shall we?

In fact, I realize that it is a very bold statement, but I can tell you from experience and real life observations that it is true. Too often, wealthier people stop wanting to pay for the $ 150 car specifics, and the middle class finds other options, perhaps even building their own car from time to time. One thing I can say that never goes out of style is the five dollar exterior car wash. You could say it’s crazy to wash a car for just five bucks. However, during a recession, there will be a lot of business at that price. Better yet, it’s not too difficult to do more than 100 cars per day in office building parking lots.

Why am I mentioning this now, you ask? Well, our economic growth has only been around 1.7% in 2012, and I imagine that in 2013 we will go back to recession and have a negative growth rate. This means that there will be fewer people with jobs and less money floating around in the economy. It also means that a lot of your competitors will shut down, and who knows, if you don’t take my advice here, you might as well. Of course, that leaves more business for those who are still in business because they weren’t too proud to try something new.

You don’t have to ruin your prestige or your auto detailing brand. You can simply call the new line of services that you perform; Mobile car wash. The rest of the time, you can perform automatic detailing at the highest price. In this way, you are now offering two types of services, even though the auto detail business will be much smaller than during good economic times.

I think what you will also discover is that by having hundreds and hundreds of mobile car wash customers with significant volume, through those economies of scale you will find more people willing to get a detail than ever before. Yes, you may need to lower the price of all your details as well, but you should be able to stay in business during the recession without a problem. Consider all of this and think about it.