how to get started?

[two in the goo]

would love some tips or advice on how to start up a valeting buisness , i have always loved cleaning my cars and motorbikes to a very high standard and friends always tell me i should do it for a living. do you need any special training? i could post some of my cars for you all to judge my efforts if anybody wishes. Any help or advice would be great......

[Dan J]

firstly experience, being extremely thorough on each car is a must and being able to do it quickly and well, its a tuff market to get into and you need to be very good at what you do to build up a good reputation. you'll need a fair bit of wedge as you'll need quite a bit of equipment and the equipment will get a hammering so it needs to be of good quality or you'll be replacing stuff on a regular basis which isnt cost effective,lots of chemicals as you need different stuff for different jobs etc, insurance can be expensive depending on what type of cover you need for what your doing, if your doing alot of correction work rotory training is a must as you can cause expensive damage with one of these. you can run it out of a car but a van is more ideal and looks more proffesional or get a unit(can be mega money ).
advertising of some sort ie website/lineage ads etc etc
dont know what else to put really unless you want a list of equipment and chemicals that youll need?

[two in the goo]

do you find people dont understand the difference between a proper wash polish and wax to what they can get for £15 at the local garage by 5 foreign blokes?

[Dan J]

yes definatly mate, i think the scrub monkeys at asda,sainburys,tescos should be banned from touching peoples motors, i detailed my own car last week and went to asda and unfortunatly parked next to someone that had there car washed i mean scrubbed with a grit ladened sponge and they got the sh1tty water all over the side of my car and i went mental, they offered to wash it off, i wont repeat what i said but it wasnt anything nice put it that way. ive had to listen to people saying they do a good job makes my blood boil seriously.

so the answer to your question is no people dont understand at all until they see a car thats had it done properly with care and attention to detail.

[Neo Badness]

yes definatly mate, i think the scrub monkeys at asda,sainburys,tescos should be banned from touching peoples motors, i detailed my own car last week and went to asda and unfortunatly parked next to someone that had there car washed i mean scrubbed with a grit ladened sponge and they got the sh1tty water all over the side of my car and i went mental, they offered to wash it off, i wont repeat what i said but it wasnt anything nice put it that way. ive had to listen to people saying they do a good job makes my blood boil seriously.

so the answer to your question is no people dont understand at all until they see a car thats had it done properly with care and attention to detail.

How much would a "proper" valet cost?
Speaking as someone who lets rain and puddles wash their car as I speand more time either driving them or under them

Having said that I will be respraying in the non too distant future and want to keep it nice...

would love some tips or advice on how to start up a valeting buisness , i have always loved cleaning my cars and motorbikes to a very high standard and friends always tell me i should do it for a living. do you need any special training? i could post some of my cars for you all to judge my efforts if anybody wishes. Any help or advice would be great......

Dependant on how old you are you maybe eligible for low interest business loan from Princes Trust and or Speak to the Business Gateway if you are serious, get a business plan and figure out how much start up capital you need, expected turn over etc.
FYI My mate used to this but then moved into industrial contract cleaning as that's where the "real" money is, apparently

http://www.bgateway.com/bdotg/action/home?site=202&furlname=scottishenterprise&furlparam=scottishenterprise&ref=http%3A//www.google.co.uk/search%3Fhl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DYJk%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla%253Aen-GB%253Aofficial%26q%3Dbusiness%2Cgateway%26meta%3D%26aq%3D0%26aqi%3Dg10%26aql%3D%26oq%3Dbusiness%2Cgat%26gs_rfai%3D&domain=www.bgateway.com

NB

[Dan J]

prices for a proper valet vary greatly, everyone charges different prices. size of vehicle and what you want done all determin the price.

the princestrust helped me and the wife set our business up and were very helpfull and we got a mentor thrown in aswell which is extremely handy.

yes definatly mate, i think the scrub monkeys at asda,sainburys,tescos should be banned from touching peoples motors, i detailed my own car last week and went to asda and unfortunatly parked next to someone that had there car washed i mean scrubbed with a grit ladened sponge and they got the sh1tty water all over the side of my car and i went mental, they offered to wash it off, i wont repeat what i said but it wasnt anything nice put it that way. ive had to listen to people saying they do a good job makes my blood boil seriously.

so the answer to your question is no people dont understand at all until they see a car thats had it done properly with care and attention to detail.

How much would a "proper" valet cost?
Speaking as someone who lets rain and puddles wash their car as I speand more time either driving them or under them

Having said that I will be respraying in the non too distant future and want to keep it nice...

would love some tips or advice on how to start up a valeting buisness , i have always loved cleaning my cars and motorbikes to a very high standard and friends always tell me i should do it for a living. do you need any special training? i could post some of my cars for you all to judge my efforts if anybody wishes. Any help or advice would be great......

Dependant on how old you are you maybe eligible for low interest business loan from Princes Trust and or Speak to the Business Gateway if you are serious, get a business plan and figure out how much start up capital you need, expected turn over etc.
FYI My mate used to this but then moved into industrial contract cleaning as that's where the "real" money is, apparently

http://www.bgateway.com/bdotg/action/home?site=202&furlname=scottishenterprise&furlparam=scottishenterprise&ref=http%3A//www.google.co.uk/search%3Fhl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DYJk%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla%253Aen-GB%253Aofficial%26q%3Dbusiness%2Cgateway%26meta%3D%26aq%3D0%26aqi%3Dg10%26aql%3D%26oq%3Dbusiness%2Cgat%26gs_rfai%3D&domain=www.bgateway.com

NB

[two in the goo]

heres some of my toys ive cleaned

[Guy]

I think there is a massive difference between cleaning your own cars and enjoying it and valeting cars day in day out even if you don't feel like it!

You have to bear this in mind when you are thinking whether you really want to do it...

other things you might need...

capital/a very good financial plan
good motivation
website/marketing
an understanding mrs

and no.. no one understands that you aren't a sponge monkey and expects the moon on a stick for a fiver

[two in the goo]

thanks for all your help and advice guys its much appreciated, i think the only thing i lack is the capital 

[Dan J]

i still have this problem now, people gasp when i give them a price for what they want, swear they think its a five min job and easy aswell

and no.. no one understands that you aren't a sponge monkey and expects the moon on a stick for a fiver