I don’t get out much so I was very pleased to be invited to the Royal Box at Sandown Park this week; of course it is too good to be true. There has been an outbreak of equine ‘flu and all racing in Britain has been cancelled. Being more of an Eeyore than a Tigger I don’t think my day at the races will happen.
I am not the only one experiencing a disappointment. Wash Doctors, the people that cycle round and clean a car using less than a litre of water, have thrown in the sponge, so to speak. They thrived when they restricted themselves to Clapham and Wandsworth but extending their service further afield didn’t work. I will let founders, Will and Christian, explain.
Unfortunately, the business model has proven logistically unachievable to deliver at scale. If you’ve ever had a Washer with a flat tyre, a reschedule due to weather or you’re a little too familiar with the message “Oops! We’re too busy right now”, this reflects a smaller part of a bigger operational picture.
We genuinely believed we could change what is known to be a horrible industry. Modern slavery is rife and competition is high which ultimately drives down prices. The environment audit committee have stated that a car wash must be at least £6.88 for workers to be paid a treated fairly at a static car wash, but how often do you see car washes for £5 or under? The car wash near my home is £3, and this feeds into the expectation of customers.
We had the vision to become the new age of car washing and embarked on building sustainable quality car care delivered to the customers door. We envisaged a company with values for both the customer and the Valeter. But a great concept doesn’t mean it will make money and every business needs to show a pathway to profitability.
So what went wrong? Demand is not consistent. In January 2019, their busiest month ever, they took £1,800 one day (60 Valets) but on another only £76 (3 Valets). It was difficult to attract and retain a reliable work force when demand was so uncertain. Furthermore it is a lonely job in which the Valet is expected to deliver a high level of customer service for not a high wage. If a Valet on average carries out five valets per eight hour shift they earn £114.15. Finally, although I was entirely satisfied with my Wash Doctor experience, over the last three months 37% of the Valeters caused one or more complaints per day, whether it was not showing for a shift, being over an hour late for a shift or poor wash quality leading to a customer complaint. Finally, probably most importantly, Wash Doctors offered a premium service. The BP garage by Hammersmith flyover has a machine that washes my car for around £4 – it wastes water but it’s cheap, reliable and convenient.
Founders, Will Capstone and Christian Steele must be mighty disappointed but they are putting on a brave face:
So what’s left? Two years of two best friends grinding to build a business, and a huge amount of commitment from an internal team of six brilliant people. We would not change any of it for one minute. What we have with the team is more than friendship, we have cherished memories with them. We are devastated that we will now not be together with each other day to day. A start-up environment is so fast paced and difficult that you need people who can be a shoulder to cry on and who you can have a huge laugh with. The team is that, and I love that we had the amazing opportunity to build Wash Doctors together. So, we would like to sign off by saying a massive thank you to all the customers / investors / friends and family who helped us get this far.
I’m sure they will pick themselves up, dust themselves down and start all over again.