Looking for Site to set up Car Wash&Valeting Business!!! (South London, Surrey, Kent)

[Manzoor]

Hi all.

I hope everyone is doing well.

I'm looking for a site to operate a Car wash and valeting business at an Open retail park,

Supermarket, Shopping center, Multi-storey, Stand-alone, Fixed bay or Petrol stations.

Any advice or an offer is welcome.

Many Thanks

Manzoor

 

[fisicx]

You will struggle to find a location. Pretty much all the available slots have been taken up by east European groups.

 

[WaveJumper]

Best bit of advice I could offer would be you need to get out and about in your local area, see if you can spot any likely sites that might make for a good location which are not already being exploited, retail parks are going to be a little harder to strike a deal with the landlord but its always worth a try you can normally find the landlords details from one of the retailers onsite.

 

[Ozzy]

From what I have seen, doing deals with garden centres, supermarkets or other large car parks is a good opportunity - but you may find most if not all may have already been snapped up. Also look for closed down fuel stations.
Either way, this is likely to involve getting on your bike/car and doing some travelling around and searching.

 

[WaveJumper]

Car washing brings back fond memories - sitting in my office minding my own business one day (many moons ago now) I was raided by the Council and Environmental Control plus some gentleman from some Water Authority. My poor PA never stood a chance.

Whats up people says I, they say "for months we have been tracing the source of pollution coming out an outfall pipe in Barking and we have traced it to your building and the multi-storey car park where you have illegal car cleaning taking place.

Oh say's I you mean the multi-story car next door owned by you the council that has nothing to do with me or the owners of this building.

They left my office as fast as they had stormed in. Give the gentleman from the Water Authority his due they did come back and apologise.

Made me smile thinking about that this morning, plus all the crap these water companies discharge and seem to get away with these days

 

[PentechMoulding]

Hello Manzoor

My son-in-law partnered with a vehicle parking facility, They drop clients to the airport and park their vehicles in their yard in West London.

He owns his car wash business cleans and washes the parking facility customer vehicles and also does his own clients' vehicles there.

The advantage of running at such a facility is that you don't have overhead expenditure, My son-in-law charges the parking facility for cleaning their client's vehicles 20% - 25% less.

He has been successfully running this little venture for the last 3 - 4 years and has taken on another staff to efficiently run his business.

Trust this helps

 

[fantheflames]

Finding a location for your car wash and valeting business in those prime locations will be a challenge. ?

Consider reaching out to car dealerships with plenty of space as potential partners. They may be interested in offering your services to their customers. Additionally, explore retail parks, supermarkets, shopping centres, or standalone locations where there's high foot traffic and demand for car services, as @Ozzy said!

Building connections and partnerships will be key to securing a suitable spot. Good luck!

 

[bodgitt&scarperLTD]

You will struggle to find a location. Pretty much all the available slots have been taken up by east European groups.

Indeed, and cars are not all they wash!

 

[fantheflames]

Indeed, and cars are not all they wash!

?

 

[fisicx]

Indeed, and cars are not all they wash!

I seem to recall one of them paying tax….

 

[japancool]

I seem to recall one of them paying tax….

Fake news.

 

[Mark James]

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Maybe get a actual unit on a industrial estate and aim your business model at high end cars only.

 

[WaveJumper]

Again they will stop at nothing ? a multi-storey which was in my portfolio had some strange going on's. My operations manager had been made aware quite a few cars were being left overnight, ok not an issue until we checked the records and found no overnight parking charges had been applied. Ok first thought , was this our own security skimming off the top, easy to check, but no it was not.

Long story short cars were coming in and going out like a merry go round, those that had been in over night going out on the tickets from the new vehicles coming in. Now when I tell you we were pretty close to a rather large London airport you may have guessed the "enterprising scam" next time you drop your car off to have it parked and valeted .........do you really know where its going.

Clamping all the overnight parked cars and installing number plate recognition cameras seemed to upset their business model somewhat.

 

[fisicx]

There was a Heathrow long parking businesses would collect the cars from you at the terminal and take them to a secure site. Except it wasn’t. They would hire out the cars or park them in residential streets. They got caught when a car got caught speeding and the owner got the ticket.

 

[Ozzy]

A nearby industrial park has a car wash business on site. They pick your car up and take it to their space, clean and valet as needed, and bring it back to you. Always seems very busy.

 

[Ian J]

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Maybe get a actual unit on a industrial estate and aim your business model at high end cars only.

Wouldn't owners of high end cars expect you to go to them?

 

[WaveJumper]

if you have a high end motor the last place I would be taking it is to a car cleaning site all those lovely rags scraping my paintwork and leaving nice swirly marks everywhere - no thank you - but your right there's a completely different market for the high enders and I know several who do this running around in their vans charging several hundreds of pounds for the service obviously finding the clients is always the hardest part, most I know do this from attending car meets etc and being "seen" in the scene

 

[fantheflames]

A nearby industrial park has a car wash business on site. They pick your car up and take it to their space, clean and valet as needed, and bring it back to you. Always seems very busy.

Yes, I've seen a couple too and they are always very busy. They have some good signage as well on nearby corners so you know where they are... although, it would be pretty difficult to miss them with the sound of the car washing! ?