It's fairly obvious that people who are frequent fliers have money, and maybe less time than they want to get their car clean. Why have your customer waste their time coming to you when they are in town. Why not cater to this opportunity? Have client drop off car at your place Shuttle them to the airport (they won't have to pay for parking) Go back to your home or office and take the time they are gone to work away Customer comes back to a clean car via you or taxi/limo/or you deliver car (granted customer trusts your driving (I would recommend business insurance)). Profit?
Don't drive the client's car. Other than that, very good idea. Keep in mind that they can return from their trip at any time day or night. So you have to be prepared to pick them up in your shuttle vehicle or at least be there with the keys when they arrive from the airport. Here in Seattle, detailers hook up with airport parking lots. The parking lot takes care of the shuttling and being there when the client returns and the detailer operates in a corner of the lot to detail the car. Just need a water supply and power.
Not a bad idea if you have a LARGE area to store the vehicle after you are done detailing it. Otherwise you are limited by the number of vehicles you can fit in your shop and at 1 time considering many business travellers are gone for a week at a time.
Good point Jason. I hadn't thought about that. Not only do you need to be worried about where to stash the vehicles, but also the liability of storing expensive vehicles. I say much better to partner up with an airport parking facility. The facility may not even charge for the space if they can see the value in have this service available to their customers.
Could be a safe option as long as you don't drive their cars and if you can manage it from a scheduling perspective. And yes, the storing of the vehicles is another thing, and you would have to obviously be properly insured wherever you keep these vehicles. Otherwise,I like the idea a lot. Very efficient.
i actually do like that idea...i would take them in my own personal vehicle (it's something about "you" personally driving them that makes them more trusting) then work on their vehicle until they come back, again picking them up in my own vehicle and bringing them to a perfectly detailed vehicle...very nice idea...alot of ways you can spin this to your own personality
Usually the clients with the big money will leave their car at a FBO at the airport when they get in a private plane. Most FBOs then take the keys and make sure the ride is washed when they get back. So there may be an untapped market working for a FBO...they always want new services.
most of my wealthier clients just leave the cars at home and have a limo/towncar service take them to the airports? and then have me visit the house while their gone. I'm sure this idea could work and without a doubt already exsists in many places. Trying to match it up with the right type of travelers is key.
I have a question about how insurance works in the States. If someone lends you their car, regardless of what reason, is it their insurance or yours that comes into play? Because here in Quebec, Canada, the vehicle is always insured under the owner, regardless of who's driving. It is the owners "responsibility" to make sure they lend the car to a responsible person, and if an issue were to arise that isn't anyones fault (earthquake, flood, gets hit while parked) then it's not possible to hold the other person liable. To follow: Why would you bother getting insurance for a clients cars, when they asked YOU to "do them a favor" by delivering it to them? I could understand insurance for damages you could cause, but not for things that are out of your control.
To follow: Why would you bother getting insurance for a clients cars, when they asked YOU to "do them a favor" by delivering it to them? Reason being is that if you are driving the car during the course of running YOUR business ( detailing ), then you are responsible for the insurance. Secondly, it wouldn't be very professional to have the owners premiums affected if you were in an accident, regardless of whether it was your fault or not.
In Quebec, insurance premiums don't go up unless you are at fault... But this was a question more oriented towards simply driving someone elses car, not for the sole purpose of detailing.
