People need more facilities to keep their car in good shape with increasing car ownership in the US. If you plan to modernize your car wash or start a car wash business today, developing a car wash app for end-users would do wonders for your business. If you're curious about car wash app development costs, you’ve got some deep analysis in this blog.
Well, let’s take a macro-view before going to the specifics. You must know about the market potential, revenue model and the things you must have in an app before thinking of building a car wash app.
The Car Wash Market Opportunity
According to the International Car Wash Association, every year 2 billion cars are washed in North America alone. Even Statista figures show a similar growth story for the US car wash industry from 2010-2020.
Car Wash & Auto Detailing Market Size in the US (2010-2020)
Clearly, the industry is growing. Even in the pandemic, it has managed to keep pace with the growth figures. Because everyone loves a clean and maintained car.
Do you know what it means for you as an entrepreneur? It means that there are great chances of success when you build a car wash mobile app for the US markets.
The increasing number of cars topped with the preference of using on-demand services by the American people means a win-win for anyone with a car wash booking app solution in their kitty.
But you must be confused about how to plan for car wash mobile app development? Which car wash app development company should you contact? What should be the features of a car wash mobile app? How much will it cost to build a car wash mobile app? These questions are quite common for anyone thinking to start the on-demand app development journey. Let's take these up one by one.
What Type of Car Wash App is Suitable for You?
You have the idea, the commitment and the goal of launching your own app-based car wash service. Now, the point is what kind of mobile car wash app you want to have for running operations.
You can square in on a readymade car wash app clone or plan on building a custom on-demand car wash solution. Either way, your app would be categorized into the following:
1. Carwash Marketplace or Aggregator App
A car wash marketplace app works like a discovery platform where users search for providers in their vicinity or filter based on preferences. You can take care of the technological backend and leave actual service operations to providers on their platform.
Such an app is like a mediator between the service providers and the users. Most of the on-demand app-based startups follow the aggregator route for their operations.
If you think of going the aggregator way, you will need an app that hosts providers and helps customers find car wash providers near them.
2. Branded Car Wash Mobile App
This model is suitable for an already running car wash business wanting increased user engagement and delight. It’s like opening another medium for your customers to find, book and stay in touch with your business.
For a branded car wash mobile app to be successful, you need to have the necessary backend – professional team, car wash facility, and the commitment to grow your traditional car wash business.
Must-Have Features for a Car Wash Mobile App
An app isn't something you can build on whims and fantasies. You'll need to understand your users and build features that simplify their everyday life.
Also, the cost of developing a car wash app depends heavily on the type and number of features you want to have. So, you really need to be careful before you pick and choose the features. Here is a substantive feature list for a car wash app development solution.
Revenue Sources for a Car Wash Mobile App Startup
Now to an important part of running a business- thinking about the revenue model. When you're in the traditional car wash business, you can do several things. But do you know, your app can also open several interesting channels for driving revenue?
These revenue sources are suggested keeping the aggregator model in mind, primarily, but a traditional car wash app can also benefit from these:
1. Primary Source
When you're an aggregator, you can charge a fixed percentage from car washers/service providers for every order booked. This is the primary source of revenue and one can scale it up by increasing the providers and users.
For app owners with their own car wash setup, this would translate to proceeds from car wash bookings.
2. Secondary Source
You can think of running sponsorships, advertisements and premium listing services that would give providers an option to stay visible to all the users. Or you can reach out to complementing service providers to get them advertising space on your app.
Also, you can earn from selling car wash products like exterior shampoo, DIY tools, etc. within your app.
Technologies Needed for Building a Car Wash Mobile App
Cost of Building a Car Wash Mobile App
Building an app is a time-intensive process. Naturally, means it would cost several thousand dollars to get started.
At Websoptimization, we take the MVP route to creating mobile apps. Considering the basic features for a car wash app, building an MVP would require somewhere between 320-480 hours.
What does it translate to in terms of cost of building a car wash app in 2020? Well, you can think of somewhere between $4800-$10,000 approx.
But do note that this is just an estimate and the actual cost depends on the features, tech stack, team and your goals from the app.
SEE ALSO : Cost to Design an App
Wrapping Up
Everybody wants a successful business. And the journey to success starts with making the right choices. At Websoptimization, we've been helping entrepreneurs make informed decisions about app development.
When car wash app development is your goal, we think you should connect with our experts sometime soon. Not only you'll get an inside view of the app development ecosystem, but we can help you align your goals with realistic scenarios for the future.
So, what do you think? Would you love to hop on a call, today?