How many offer fleet washing

I offer fleet washing, truck washing, tractor washing and trailer washing here in South Texas.

Mainly here in Corpus Christi Texas for truck washing but I do other areas here in South Texas.

There are other guys on the bbs that offer fleet washing along with their other services or primary services, I am sure that they will join in the thread.
 
I have steered away from that area myself. I just didn't see the earning potential when I looked at it and my insurance agent said the insurance was considerably higher when you start washing fleets and auto's. Funny though I get probably 1-2 calls a week asking if I would come and wash someones car. Hey Christopher please let me know how you do it and if its a money maker if you don't mind.

Thanks,
Dan
 
I am very happy that I wash fleets as that is a great percentage of my income but I will not talk more about that here.

There are areas of the country that have huge opportunities for fleet washing and some that there are not many fleets to wash but if you are willing to travel then you can make your opportunities.

You have to like washing trucks or it will not be agreeable with you no matter how much you can make.

It looks like you did your homework and chose that it was not a field you wanted to get into and that is ok, fleet washing is not for everyone.

There are many reasons for people to get into fleet washing and not get into fleet washing, it is all choices that we make or are made for us.
 
Well stated Chris, Like any job or career it has to match up with you and your goals to really be successful.

If you are looking for a good source of income fleet washing is definitely a consistent source. For over 20 years fleet washing has been the backbone of my business in Milwaukee and across SE Wisconsin.
 
Fleet-washing has been our main business for 31 years. It has been good to us over the years but it is getting hard to earn a buck. With fuel and insurance and everything else going up it seems profits are shrinking and we are looking at way to make things more efficient. GPS tracking, smaller fuel nozzles in our diesel burners, etc.

We are now looking into the residential market of home and roof cleaning since we attended the tampa event. Along with growing our surface cleaning aspect of business. I think we may even hire a salesman who has experience in outside sales to help cover more ground than just what Frank and myself can cover.

Fleet-washing is definitely the bread and butter of our company and I don't see that changing!!!


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=38.791796,-90.183602
 
Yea Hp there is no money in our area i would just look for other ways to make some cash.Funny about the phone calls about washing the cars lol.
 
We offer it but dont make much money at fleets. Residential is were we make the $$$$. Power wash guys around me are only charging $20-$30 for a 24-26ft straight job. You cant make any money doing that.
 
I do one small fleet 53' trailers inside and outside tractors with sleepers, brings in 400-500 a week depending on whats on the lot when we wash. I like it, wish i could find more.steady cash flow.
 
$30 for a straight truck, if you wash 8-10 an hr, per man, 2 guys on a rig, reoccuring account, bi-weekly or even weekly. thats actually alot of money. I dont like residential, you go out and bid every job. It ends in the winter time, its hard to find guys that you can send out by themselves to do the work, since every job is diffrent. I think fleetwashing is great!
 
I would not advertise your prices as you should know by now that competition will see them and start shopping your customers.

No matter what you think, it has happened to guys here on the bbs and can happen to you also.

It would not be hard for someone in your area to figure out who your customers are to start lowballing them to try to take your account.

Some people here offer fleet washing and some don't, I would not try to sell people on the idea of adding fleet washing because you can not only add a lot more competition to your own area but breed lowballers that destroy the markets they go into while trying to make beer money and weekend money then everyone is making less money, not just in your area.

Just like a while back you had a couple guys bragging how easy it is to do roof cleaning and house washing and put up youtube videos. Soon there was a lot more competition since they were educating the competitiors in their own back yard while doing the bragging. Soon prices drop as there is a lot more competition, lowballers, hacks and people out there doing this for weekend money. Then it is a harder job to sell the better quality work as people think that everyone does the same thing and just focuses on price.

Just my own opinion.
 
Some really good information. Just proves you can find your niche in your service area, perfect it and be profitable (hopefully). I really don't see how some of these guys make any money. I lost some bids on residential to folks charging less than $25 a hour. Though I am new to this industry, I do understand business and I can't make money and maintain the quaility that we strive for. Let me thank everyone for sharing it really helps a new guy. And Ron thank you for all I have seen you share on here!
 
Christopher said:
I would not advertise your prices as you should know by now that competition will see them and start shopping your customers.

No matter what you think, it has happened to guys here on the bbs and can happen to you also.

It would not be hard for someone in your area to figure out who your customers are to start lowballing them to try to take your account.

Some people here offer fleet washing and some don't, I would not try to sell people on the idea of adding fleet washing because you can not only add a lot more competition to your own area but breed lowballers that destroy the markets they go into while trying to make beer money and weekend money then everyone is making less money, not just in your area.

Just like a while back you had a couple guys bragging how easy it is to do roof cleaning and house washing and put up youtube videos. Soon there was a lot more competition since they were educating the competitiors in their own back yard while doing the bragging. Soon prices drop as there is a lot more competition, lowballers, hacks and people out there doing this for weekend money. Then it is a harder job to sell the better quality work as people think that everyone does the same thing and just focuses on price.

Just my own opinion.
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You make a good point but imagine lowballing 6 bucks. What would you offer 5 and change or would you just drop the dollar. You would have to do 17 an hour to get 100$ say to actually make 100$ profit you would have to do 31 trucks an hour yourself and thats a little conservative for me.
 
Sometimes youve just got to know when to say no. and wait it out. I wouldnt do them for 5, unless they were maybe postal trucks, I could blow threw those, We actually put a bid in for some small buses one time. 3 times a week, 4 dollars a pieces, they supply soap, water, and no reclaim. That adds up tho. They had ALOT of buses....If you cant wash trucks fast and effecient, you cant make any money. Keep in mind, I said wash, I didnt say detail. I dont detail trucks, I dont wash owner operators. Those guys want a truck wash quality at a mobile wash price. You cant make any money that way
 
RGilliam said:
Sometimes youve just got to know when to say no. and wait it out. I wouldnt do them for 5, unless they were maybe postal trucks, I could blow threw those, We actually put a bid in for some small buses one time. 3 times a week, 4 dollars a pieces, they supply soap, water, and no reclaim. That adds up tho. They had ALOT of buses....If you cant wash trucks fast and effecient, you cant make any money. Keep in mind, I said wash, I didnt say detail. I dont detail trucks, I dont wash owner operators. Those guys want a truck wash quality at a mobile wash price. You cant make any money that way
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Yeah soaping postal trucks would be closer to 5$. Small busses would be cool at 3 times a week, how dirty could they get in a couple days. I agree most of the o/o's are a pain but we got a couple good ones. I think those are the guys that want the detail for the rinse price and expect it to be a perfect wash job.
 
I used to wash trucks, and for a long time they were my bread and butter. I was doing about $6000 a weekend in truck washes. Not a ton of money, but not terrible.
I gave them up about a year ago. There were multtiple reasons. One was that every driver thought you were their slave, and were an idiot. The manager would not reign them in, and they wanted a detailed truck, thinking that we were making bank. We weren't making as much as they thought, with all the over head, but, we were doing okay.
Next reason was the number of employees that were required to wash that many trucks. Keeping in mind, we never washed on Sunday, and still pulled that type of revenue, it is basically amazing. The employees were a killer. My favorite was the time that "they were going to show me" and all took off work on the same weekend. I started on Friday night, by myself, worked until dark, which was about 8 pm, since it was summer, and was up at 4 the next morning. I finished up at dark that night. I washed 95 belly dumps, by myself in that time. Needless to say, I was exhausted, and honestly, kind of proud of myself for pulling it off. No one was the wiser.
Then of course, in my neck of the woods, there are millions of independent entrepreneurs that make Phoenix their first stop as they make their migration north, east and west. These independent entrepreneurs are typically very happy making $15 an hour, for a short time, so the prices are low, until they figure out that they could have charged way more. By that time, they have ruined the market, and I would consistently get the "the last guy charged us X, why are you so much more?" At that point, I would always ask why the didn't use the last guy, and they would get mad, and get the point, and move on to someone else that they could get to do the trucks for X.
Fleetwashing is a tough gig. It is even tougher if you do it at a time when your children are small, because you are working when they are home from school. It really sucked to be always leaving the house as they were walking up to the front door.
I don't miss it much at all.
 
Washed trucks years ago when we started but I couldn't find the volume to make the money worthwhile with employees. Bid out accounts for Frito Lay and trucking companies galore and they all were expecting what I considered ignorant rates :)
 
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