But, what if I don't believe in tipping?

The price point is too low for me to believe they'll do a decent job. There are already mobile car detailers here in Portland, and a good exterior detail costs around $100. That's because the companies are licensed and bonded. If I'm going to go cheap on a car wash, I'll do a $6 drive-through special at Washman on my way to the grocery store.

Not knowing the coverage area before signing up is a problem for me as well. My email address and phone number are private - I'm not giving them up until a company gives me something in return.

There aren't any. The problem is that car washing is an extremely low-margin and low-volume business relative to other industries. High margins are measured in the singles of dollars; high volumes frequently means reaching double-digits in customers in a single day.

Cherry's business model actually increased the costs of business substantially by adding in costs for traveling, equipment, employee or subcontractor acquisition, insurance that would apply to infinitely variable service sites, and marketing costs that a normal car wash service would not have to deal with (note: making a distinction between a car wash service and a car wash facility; the two are separate and distinct business models). Thus, economically, it was essentially impossible for Cherry to succeed without first conquering the basic problems that dog existing car wash services.

Also, more insight regarding the materials your service utilizes (ie soaps, brushes, mits, wax, compound - if any, etc) would be great. If this is on the site already, I apologize, I did not register nor did I really dig around (Maybe I wanted to know a bit more to justify my time spent registering).

People dish out serious amounts to pamper their automobiles. Some take this very seriously and can be critical of the process.

Once established, there is plenty of room to both deepen and widen the product offering here - premium services: compound treatment for swirl marks, waxing, 3m clear bra, paintless dent removal, and so on.

I'm assuming you may be trying to create a labor network of sorts and started with basic car washes. Either way, I believe there is a market here, more details on the execution would be great.

*Provided these are hand washes and you're targeting a middle-upper class market, the price point is actually perfect. In my area (NY) I pay ~$30 for a hand wash, and I have to bring it in. I will not bring my car to a regular car wash, even so called "brushless" as they are terrible for your paint. If you're targeting the general public, it may be a bit high.

Given the whole, "we come to you", makes me think of washing the car in the office parking lot, which could indicate a White Collar demographic. I also see homes, but personally I'd just do it myself if I had a house and driveway.

One more question, how do you handle water at an office building?

I know that I don't want a random kid to wash my 50-60-80k car, not do I want keep using those $8 a pop touchless carwashes at gas stations all the time. From time to time I wouldn't mind paying $50 to have the car handwashed and cleaned (but not detailed). Or this is too unsustainable?

On-site car washing (or any other type of on-site auto service (YourMechanic guys should pay attention)) is very low on margins, and competition is tough. You have to compete with every 13 year old kid who wants to buy a new playstation game and will wash cars for $5. You will also have to compete with every other joe who will basically wash a car for a couple of bucks. So creating a solid customer list is tough.

There are also logistics issues. Getting a group of car washers who are not complete and total fuckheads is impossible (I'd say its easier to win the lottery twice). Cherry tried to circumvent that by having sub-contractors, which in other words means giving some random joe $5 to wash some car. They only provided them with some basic equipment. If you have ever washed a car in the cold, you know that you need more than a fucking soap sprayer and a sponge. There is a lot of equipment needed to correctly wash a car in diverse weather conditions. Sub-contractors did not buy equipment because they were being paid shit. So, getting good employees is impossible, getting good sub-contractors is like finding out you have a rich uncle who died and left you money and that suddenly, every hot celebrity out there is hot for you.

There is also the issue that people dont give a shit about cancelling an appointment 30 seconds before it is due. That plus rain, shady owners trying to blame you for "missing stuff", and people who smoke. Its just a shitty business to be in. The only people who manage to do something in that market are the professional detailers. Those guys do make some good money, but have to spend a shitload of time on a single customer, and cannot (in most cases) reliably duplicate their business in order to have any horizontal growth. The high end market is also very competitive and customer loyalty is very high. No Porsche owner will have some unknown detail his baby in order to save $50.

Also, I so called this. This is one of those "investments" that makes you go "huh?".

Edit:

And here I was feeling bummed about wasting $600 on car washing equipment. 5.25 million bucks! Hell, give me $500k and I'll make Nuuton so awesome that people will say "Google? What is that?" :)

I'm curious too. In the process of looking for relevant information (which I haven't found yet), I see that each washer Cherry contracts with in California will have to pay for a $250 per year car washer license. They'll have to do a pretty large number of washes before they start making any money.

http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/HowToObtainCarWashRegistration.ht...

Your sub-contractor part does hit me straight in the heart, because I'm a sub-contractor right now. Its not all rosy and nice, but I do get to work remotely and make my own schedule. It also allows me to work on Nuuton without having to worry about IP issues with an employer. But would still consider a good remote job offer. ;)

Edit:

I also have to add that I studied this market from every angle. Even went as far as testing an android app to get customers to order car washes through it. People would download the app and just create an appointment through the app to get their car washed. Payment would be handled by the app itself. But it tested horribly and the local market did not want it. In the end, its just one more business that did not work out. After a dozen or so, it doesn't make you feel bad about it failing. :)

Then there's the usual benefits, one of the main points of leverage employers would have over any of their employees who drive or are even thinking of driving, is that in fact en masse the employer could ensure these workers for oil changes for a tiny fraction of that list price. Maybe as low as only $500-$800 per month.

This keeps people from being "self-starters" who fail to produce value for large companies, instead they would have to negotiate with our federated program on a per-individual basis.

But there is a big problem with both of the above utopias: unlicensed practitioners. Sure, if you look at the third world where people are free to try to put whatever they want into their cars, anything from sand to little pieces of plastic toys they melt down - at great risk to all drivers on the road should the cars explode, not to mention to themselves - the oil change prices are very low. Barely the cost of oil that has next to no research into it, plus labor that is about the skill-level of a barber in the middle ages. They do not have 14 or even 12 years of schooling, nor debts even reaching $200K let alone an amount that would motivate them to keep charging the federated prices.

So the first step toward utopia is really, we have to clamp down on unlicensed car washes and oil changes. We need a board certification that includes deep understanding of all parts that make up a car, from basic metallurgy to internal combustion and battery technology chemistry. Yes, some people will wash out of metallurgy classes, or projectile calculus, but are these really the people you want taking care of your only means of transportation?

Transportation is literally one of the few things that separates us from people in the middle ages, allows us to live and work more than a few meters apart, and enables us to live meaningful lives. Without transportation, we have nothing.

So it makes sense to clamp down on the unregulated practices related to serious procedures such as oil changes as well as elective, cosmetic procedures like a car wash. Where the prices are such that certain individuals might not be able to bear the full burden, that's EXACTLY what insurance is for!

And see, you just said something very important. You see yourself using them. But tell me, who washes your car right now? How much do you pay them? How come you don't have one of the local on-site car wash businesses come by and work on your car?

In austin, there's a downtown car wash place walking distance from our main park / pool / mini golf.

They seem like just about one of the easiest businesses to run. Minimal employees, low variable costs, likely a reasonable long term investment in the actual rental estate.

In many ways, this the same as gas stations, convenience stores, and CVS/rite-aid/walgreens. People don’t want to go out if their way.

However my neighbor used to own a chain of car washes in the suburbs and going by his 11,000 sq-ft house, I'm guessing it was pretty profitable!