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Mobile Wash Competitor - Ignore?

Red Baron

Red Baron

Active member
A local mobile wash guy seems to be getting a little traction in this town of 2200. He's now washing cars for what were some of my regular customers. It's delicate in a small town because I don't want to be seen as squashing a little guy, but I think he operates with an unfair advantage by not having to pay property taxes, huge sewer fees and pit mud disposal costs.

Now I'm spending good money to add a 2nd IBA and feel as though I need to protect my rice bowl.

Should I ignore the guy?
 
It would seem to me that he's catering to a different clientele. It wouldn't hurt to check him out, make sure he's operating legally and honestly so you have some traction yourself if you feel you need it.
 
Sorry, I missed that bit. I meant as a rule, self-serve and detail customers are pretty separate - I assume in a town that small there isn't an existing detail shop? You may have been getting the customers you normally wouldn't have if they'd had the option before.

Have you considered offering any detailing service yourself? Maybe the way to keep your customers is to offer both, auto/self-serve for maintenance between complete details.
 
Any thoughts on working together instead of fighting? We always get inquiries in regards to detailing which we don't do. I, personally, haven't found the right guy yet who I can refer my customers to. But other than this it could be profitable for both sides.
 
mac said:
What I find puzzling is that you are adding a second automatic in a town of 2,200.
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Hey, it's only money. :-)

The numbers work; I wouldn't be doing it if they didn't, nor would my banker. That said, part of my goal is to eliminate the Idiot Magnet created when I built my open top bay thinking I would attract lots of RVs. Thirdly is to discourage anyone from building another wash in this "bedroom community."
 
You may be preventing someone from opening a wash like yours, but obviously some entrepreneur decided to go after the business himself by bringing the wash to the customers.

Options:
1. Buy him out.
2. Go to the city to see if what he's doing is legal/appropriate. Such as all those chemicals, etc. going down the storm drains.
3. I'd probably start going on the offense with advertising and really promote how "Green" a professional wash with drains to the city sewer/reclaim is. "Do you know that when you wash your car at home or in a parking lot, that dirty, chemical-laden water is going down the storm drains polluting the streams, rivers, and surrounding lakes?"
4. ...

Just some thoughts.
 
I would approach him to see if there is an opportunity to work together. If not, I would check to see if his operation meets city codes and is legally licensed and paying any appropriate taxes.
 
rph9168 said:
I would approach him to see if there is an opportunity to work together. If not, I would check to see if his operation meets city codes and is legally licensed and paying any appropriate taxes.
Click to expand...

Good point. Shouldn't he owe sales tax on each wash since he's providing the labor?

This could backfire on me so I don't intend to cause the guy any problems unless he starts taking some real money from me.
 
Yeah what he said, we don't pay Sales Tax here. My CPA had to look in to it to make sure. As I understand Texas tax law, the mobile wash guy should be collecting, reporting, and paying sales tax. That said, I've decided to take the high road with the guy. Next time I see him washing cars next door I'm going to take him a couple of boxes of tire dressing and other vending products I don't use anymore. That should confuse him big time. :-)
 
from my understanding, we also must pay sales tax on chemicals, because we are "reselling" them by using them...is this incorrect? (in texas)
 
In Texas, it would be under sales use tax. The assessor/collector doesn't require everyone who orders something out-of-state to get a permit in order to pay the tax, so it's really a non-issue.
 
In most intrastate cases the end user or the one who consumes the product pays the tax on the product. In the case of car wash chemicals the operator is the one who consumes the product and normally pays tax on the products. In body shops it gets a little more complicated. Paint is normally considered a consumable so the shop should pay the tax. Some argue that it becomes part of the vehicle so the owner should be taxed as a part but most states still require it to be paid by the shop since the shop mixes it and applies it. Tax for any other parts they use goes to the owner of the vehicle.

Interstate transactions vary quite a bit. Many states are now trying to tax interstate transactions with the rise of on-line purchasing by requiring sellers to purchase tax licenses if they sell products into their state. Difficult to enforce that but many are trying.
 
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