How to start a detailing business.
The whole path, written down: what to buy, how a job runs, the quality bar, the insurance step, and what your first week looks like. No fluff, no get-rich promises. Just the playbook we hold our own network to.
Why detailing
The classic starter craft, for good reasons.
The lowest cost of entry in the trade
No lift, no bay, no franchise fee. A solid mobile detailing kit costs less than a transmission job, and you can build it piece by piece.
Every car on the road is a candidate
Commuters, rideshare drivers, parents with cereal in the seats, sellers prepping a listing. Demand never runs out; it just needs to find you. That part is our job.
The skills compound
Detailing is the front door to the higher-ticket crafts. Paint decontamination and polishing lead straight into ceramic coating, and SleekRide has a lane waiting when you level up.
The starter kit
Buy the basics. Earn the upgrades.
You can start taking SleekRide jobs with the core list, a hose connection, and a driveway or garage. A few hundred dollars assembles it if you shop smart. Add the level-up gear as jobs justify it; every item on the second list pays for itself in capability.
Brands are your call. Consistency beats labels: the same products, used the same way, every job.
Day-one core
- Two-bucket wash setup with grit guards (the cheapest insurance against swirl marks there is)
- pH-neutral car shampoo, an all-purpose cleaner, a dedicated glass cleaner, and an interior cleaner
- A stack of quality microfiber towels, sorted by job (paint, glass, interior, wheels) and washed separately
- Wheel brushes, detail brushes, and a stiff carpet brush
- A wet/dry vacuum with crevice attachments
- Clay bar or clay mitt for paint decontamination
- A spray sealant or wax for protection upsells
Level-up gear (when jobs fund it)
- A dual-action polisher with pads (the gateway to paint correction money)
- A compact extractor for deep fabric stains
- A steamer for sanitizing interiors without chemical overload
- Portable water tank + generator if you go fully mobile
- A pop-up canopy: shade keeps products from flash-drying on hot paint
A job, start to finish
What a SleekRide detail actually looks like.
The job lands
A customer books and pays on SleekRide. It hits your dashboard with a 1-hour window to accept. Accept and the address unlocks; pass and it cascades to the next pro, no penalty for an honest pass.
Walk the car first
Two minutes with the customer or their notes: existing damage, problem areas, what they care about most. The pros who ask never get surprised.
Photos before you touch anything
Before shots through your portal. They show live on the customer's tracker, set expectations, and they're YOUR protection if anything is ever disputed.
Work the sequence
Wheels first, then pre-rinse, two-bucket wash, decontaminate, dry with clean microfiber, then interior: trash, vacuum, surfaces, glass last. During shots at the turn.
Status as you go
Tap In progress, Photos up, Ready, Complete. The customer watches live instead of texting you. After photos close the loop.
Complete and get paid
Mark complete and the payout transfers to your bank through Stripe. The customer gets the receipt and a rating ask. Five-star work builds the track record that feeds you more jobs.
The quality bar
Five standards. They're the whole rulebook.
Care for the vehicle. Keep your insurance current. Photograph every job. Communicate on the platform. Own problems when they happen. You acknowledge them when you apply, customers rate every job, and a real person reviews every issue, with due process that protects good operators.
The grown-up step
Insurance: one afternoon, and you're legit.
This is the step that separates a business from a side hustle, and most people overthink it. Have an agent? Any local one can quote a detailer in a day.
Don't have one? We'll connect you with one of our insurance partners. Insurance runs in SleekRide's blood: ask in your application notes or reach out after you apply, and we point you to a partner who quotes operators like you every week.
What to ask for
General liability (the standard ask is $1M per occurrence / $2M aggregate) plus garage keepers coverage. Garage keepers is the one that protects the customer's CAR while it's in your hands; general liability alone doesn't. Going mobile with pickup and delivery? Make sure the policy covers you driving customer vehicles.
Then send us the certificate
Your carrier emails you a one-page certificate of insurance (a COI). Upload it in your SleekRide settings, a human verifies it, usually same-day, and jobs start routing to you. Until then your dashboard shows exactly what's left.
Pricing
Know your number. We never undercut it.
In your settings you tell us what you need to make on each package, and SleekRide's fee goes on top of your price for the customer. Your math is simple: product cost per job, your hours at a wage you respect, travel if you're mobile. Price so a full Saturday feels worth it. The platform shows you the customer-facing math before anything goes live.
Your first week
Seven steps. The dashboard walks you through every one.
- 1Apply at /partners/apply (5 minutes; your own legal name works if there's no LLC yet)
- 2Read and acknowledge the standards as part of the application
- 3Get general liability + garage keepers (no agent? we'll connect you with one of our insurance partners); upload the COI from your settings
- 4Set your business hours so the calendar can offer real slots
- 5Enter your package prices (you keep every dollar you list)
- 6Connect payouts through Stripe with your bank
- 7Accept your first job inside the hour, photograph everything, do work you'd sign
The playbook's yours. So is the lane.
Everything above is how our best detailers run. Bring the work ethic and we'll bring the customers, the standards, and a dashboard that never leaves you guessing.