Franchising has become one of the most popular ways to launch a business in the United Kingdom. 80 percent of new franchise businesses succeed in the United Kingdom. Evidence of the high success rate of franchising is provided by the annual British Franchise Association/NatWest franchise surveys.
The United Kingdom franchise industry is thriving at the moment. It has a net worth of £17.2 billion and creates 710,000 jobs annually. 93 percent of UK franchisees profit from their business, with 60 percent of them enjoying a turnover of more than £250,000. Having said that, if you are interested in opening a car wash franchise, here are the basic steps you should follow.
Top Car Wash Franchises in the UK
Table of Content
- 1. Mobile Car Valeting
- 2. The Carwash Company
- 3. DetailXPerts
- Autoglym
- Waves
- Wicked Coatings
- Autovaletdirect
- Green Shine
- Conduct a Thorough Research
- Study the Franchise Requirements
- Contact Your Choice of Car Wash Franchise
- Write Your Business Plan
- Sort Out Your Finance
- Choose a Good Location
- Meet with the Company’s Affiliates or Partners
- Build Your Team
- Organize a Grand Opening
1. Mobile Car Valeting
Note that this company does exactly what it says on the tin. It offers a professional self-sufficient valet service, from a wash and leather to individualized treatment of interior and exterior surfaces. MCV also offers specialist paint-contaminated removal treatments, as well as paintwork and fabric protection services.
MCV franchisees deliver top-class services to customers’ doors at competitive prices. The business is celebrating over 26 years in the industry after its formation in 1986. Terry started the company from scratch.
Cost
- Franchise Investment: £11,995
2. The Carwash Company
Making use of smart, environmentally-friendly car cleaning technology, The Carwash Company has become one of the largest hand car wash companies in the UK. You can usually find the Carwash Company in shopping center car parks; however, the business model can work in any location frequented by cars. This franchise opportunity is open to ambitious entrepreneurs across the UK.
Cost
- Franchise Investment: £24,995
3. DetailXPerts
DetailXPerts is an environmentally friendly mobile vehicle wash and detailing business and it is also the world’s first eco-friendly steam car detailer franchise. The company is committed to helping franchisees from lower socioeconomic brackets become financially-independent entrepreneurs. At DetailXPerts, they strive for excellence, customer satisfaction–and last but not least–environmental protection.
Cost
- Franchise Investment: £76,981 – £152,720
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Autoglym
Autoglym has been the first choice in car care products for over fifty years. While this isn’t a car washing franchise, it does offer valeting and car-care products to businesses in the car washing and transportation sectors. This includes cleaning, polishing, and waxing products for vehicle exteriors and interiors, as well as products to clean wheels, dashboards, and leather seats.
Cost
- Franchise Investment: £50,000
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Waves
Founded in 2006, Waves has built up an empire of over 280 hand car washing units in locations across the UK. It is located in the car parks of popular supermarkets such as Asda, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, and Waitrose & Partners. This means that it can take customers away from stand-alone car washing businesses, as consumers impulse buy a car wash before they do their shopping.
Waves offer a dedicated start-up package and intensive, hands-on training for franchisees and their workforces. Also, franchisees can access guidance in many aspects of the business, such as marketing and sponsorship, and even be enrolled in valeting certification courses to gain extra qualifications.
Cost
- Franchise Investment: £25,000
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Wicked Coatings
The UK’s leading specialist in industrial, protective, and decorative custom coatings, Wicked Coatings provides professional industrial coatings advice and service.
With expertise across a broad range of sectors, from military and aviation to automotive, marine, or leisure industries, Wicked Coatings is a capable custom coatings specialist. A Wicked Coatings franchise offers you the opportunity to own your own business with the security of following our successful and proven business model.
Cost
- Franchise investment: from £112,428
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Autovaletdirect
Autovaletdirect is a mobile car valet service, that provides valet, car wash, and other related services for domestic and corporate customers. With franchises operating across the country, the company provides valet services through a purpose-built mobile valet vehicle, fitted with specialist equipment, hot water supply, and a bespoke bay to protect cars during poor weather conditions.
The BFA-accredited franchise provides franchisees scope to earn up to £1,000 a week! Franchise owners come from a wide variety of backgrounds and therefore Autovaletdirect creates a bespoke training program to suit each individual franchisee’s needs.
Cost
- Franchise Investment: £9,930
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Green Shine
If you are looking for a waterless car wash to buy in the Uk, then Green Shine is the waterless car wash franchise you should consider. The company started in response to the need for water conservation while washing cars because the average water wash uses a lot of water to wash a single car. Green Shine came up with a solution on how to conserve water while giving cars a pristine clean wash.
Cost
- Franchise investment: £23,980 – £151,034
How to Open a Car Wash Franchise in UK
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Conduct a Thorough Research
The first step to take to buy a car wash franchise in the UK is to conduct thorough research, not only on franchising but also on the food industry.
Your research should help you analyze the pros and cons associated with investing in a car wash franchise. It should help you make the right decision as regards the car wash franchise to buy. Your research should help you select the car wash franchise that best suits your business vision and available capital.
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Study the Franchise Requirements
The second step you should take if you want to buy a car wash franchise in the UK is to rigorously study the franchise requirements. When it comes to franchising, there are different requirements – some of the requirements may be favorable to you, while others may not.
The truth is that franchisors most often set up requirements to ensure they only work with qualified entrepreneurs. These requirements usually vary from one franchise to the other and you can risk not being qualified if you are not ready professionally and financially.
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Contact Your Choice of Car Wash Franchise
Another important step that you must not ignore when buying a car wash franchise in the UK is to contact the car wash franchise on your list. When it comes to contacting a franchise company, you can visit their office, send them an email, call them or send them a text message.
You can also visit the franchise’s website or you can submit a preliminary application online to request an interview. Remember that during the application and interview process, you should be interviewing the franchisor just as much as they will be interviewing you.
Once you scale through this phase, the franchisor will share the franchise agreement. This is a document that includes the FDD (Franchise Disclosure Document). You shouldn’t review this document alone. Ensure to get your attorney, and if the terms are considerable and good, you can go on to sign the document.
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Write Your Business Plan
The fact that you are buying a franchise doesn’t mean you aren’t supposed to have a business plan. As a matter of fact, it is advisable you put together a good business plan that clearly states how you intend to launch and grow your business.
Please, also make sure you include information like expected costs, how many people you plan to hire, what your position in the franchise will be, financial projections, and much more. Indeed, one good thing about opening a car wash franchise is that you can also obtain information for your business plan directly from the franchisor or franchise agreement.
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Sort Out Your Finance
Another important step you should consider when buying a car wash franchise in the UK is finance. Of course, you know that without adequate funding, you cannot buy a franchise. While a good number of franchisors will make financial assistance available, this isn’t always the case. However, aside from the initial startup costs of your franchise, ensure you have adequate funds to run your business, at least before it reaches the break-even point.
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Choose a Good Location
When it comes to car wash franchises, your choice of location will massively impact the success of your business. You are advised to choose a location that is convenient and easily accessible. Since you are looking forward to making profits from the car wash franchise, you must make sure you choose a location with high demography of students.
While some franchisors will give you autonomy when it comes to choosing a location for your franchise, others might choose the location themselves. Nonetheless, just make sure you consider a location where you can easily gain a fair market share.
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Meet with the Company’s Affiliates or Partners
Once you have done all that is stated above, the next step is to meet with the company’s affiliates or partners. While you are there, you can get in touch with the marketing department of the franchising company to get assistance in the marketing and promotion of your franchise. They will help you to execute cost-effective promotional techniques.
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Build Your Team
Once you have a suitable location and all the required approval to start your car wash franchise in the UK, you will need to start hiring so you can begin operations. You would need to assign various duties to different staff; manager, car detailers, car washermen, security guards, and more.
In building your team, you must give them adequate training. Franchisors usually provide training, in a combination of classroom and practical experiences, to at least the franchisee and another manager. A copy of the franchise operations manual is also typically presented at this time.
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Organize a Grand Opening
Lastly, once you have successfully gone through the rigors of buying a car wash franchise in the UK, then you should go all the way to organize a grand opening for the business. As a matter of fact, in recent times, no business opens its door for business without first organizing an opening party to officially launch the business.
You can do a soft opening if you are operating on a low budget or you can go for a grand opening party. With a proper launching of the car wash franchise, you will officially inform people in your city that your car wash franchise is open for business.