Waterless car valeting firm My Car Cleaner expands as its mobile cleaning technique proves popular

Alin, from Southsea, set up My Car Cleaner, a mobile car valeting business two years ago.

However after spending the last two years getting to grips with every minute detail of the business and cleaning cars in Portsmouth, he has expanded and taken on three operators.

Mark McLeish is now covering Fareham and Gosport, Daniel Hussey is covering West Sussex and Alin Bratescu is covering Waterlooville and Havant.

Alin said: ‘I started from scratch, I have built my own website, set up a scheduling service, set up a Facebook account, done advertising, even printed off leaflets and posted them myself. I felt it was important to do every aspect of the job myself so that I knew what I would be asking my staff to do and how to give the best customer service. It was scary in that first month as I only did 11 jobs, but now we are covering 150 jobs and we are growing every month.’

Alin said the company’s unique selling point is that it uses waterless washing technology that cleans a car with only liquid wax and microfibre cloths, so they can clean a vehicle using less than 1 litre of product.

This, he says, means there are no run-off chemicals, no wasted water going into the sewer and saves around 200 litres per car cleaned.

The service is also mobile, offering customers the convenience of having their cars cleaned at home or work, with slots available seven days per week.

Alin said that despite the business having to stop for a few weeks in March due to Covid-19, they have seen a steady uptake ever since.

He said: ‘April was the worst. No one knew when they would be needing their car again so they weren’t paying to have it cleaned, it was a worrying time.

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‘However in May, when some businesses were allowed to return to work, that’s when it started to pick up and we have seen a steady growth ever since.’

Alin said the convenience of their mobile service, which means they can clean cars at people’s homes, has meant it has proved popular as more people are working from home than ever before.

He said: ‘It may be slightly more expensive than using a cleaning centre, but then you are saving time by not travelling, queuing and waiting around. It means people can be productive, they can get more income for themselves by letting us do the job for them. If you value your time and want to spend it with your family – or by earning money – than our service is the way forward.’

Alin, a dad-of-two, got into the cleaning business after running One Delivery, a fast food delivery service in the city for five years.

He said: ‘I built that service up to 15 drivers but with the three big unicorns of that industry, Ubereats, Just Eat and Deliveroo, and their big budgets, it was impossible to compete. That’s when I started to look into something different.

‘I looked around for a business that would be easy to scale up and that’s when I saw a business called Wash Doctors in London and that’s when I heard about waterless car washing. I thought I would go for it as it seemed like an excellent opportunity.’

Now Alin hopes to be able to grow his business even further, with his new recruits.

He said: ‘I hope that having multiple sites is the key to success. Firstly by providing a great, quality service and secondly by providing consistency.’

Car cleans start at £27.99, rising to £39.99 for seven-seaters, with discounts for monthly subscriptions or multiple vehicles.

For more go to mycarcleaner.co.uk

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