Rockford woman cleans up with mobile car wash business – Rockford Register Star

Kelly Quinby opened a restaurant last year. Now, she's ready to wash your car, wherever you are.

ROCKFORD Three weeks ago, Kelly Quinby became a business owner for the second time in nine months.

Her firstentrepreneurial effort Kell'z Restaurant and Pub is a family-style restaurant at Auburn Street and Central Avenue on Rockford's west side.

Her latest venture A & M Mobile Car Wash Service will show up at your house, your place of work or wherever you and your vehicle happen to be.

If you don't have time to run to the car wash, you can call us up and we'll come to wherever you work and wash your car right there in the parking lot, Quinby said. It's that easy.

Quinby started the business with a $7,000 investment of her own and a micro loan from Rockford Local Development Corp., a nonprofit economic developmentaffiliate of the city that manages a menu of loan programs providing gap financing tobusinesses big and small.The agency'smicro loans are typically offered in amounts between $10,000 and $100,000, thoughRLDCcloses perhaps half a dozen micro loans for projects like Quinby's which require only a few thousand dollars.

Kelly is very entrepreneurial and she has an interesting business plan," said RLDC director John Phelps. "This was a fairly small loan from our standpoint, but I decided to take a risk with them on a new concept, knowing that we couldn't lose a lot and it's an opportunity to establish a business that may have some real growth potential and hire quite a few people."

Quinby's startup capital was enough to buy a used truck, a flatbed trailer big enough to tote a 300-gallon water tank and a pressure wash system. She made a few cold calls to businesses she thought could benefit from an on-the-go car wash service an insurance company, a couple of office buildings and several new and used car dealerships in the Rockford area.

We washed 600 cars in the first week, said Quinby's boyfriend, Mike Ortiz, who along with a handful of other employees washes the cars. "Within a week or two, we'll easily be washing 1,000 cars or more."

Quinby said she's already making plans to buy a second truck and additional equipment and to take on a few more workers. Quinby is the owner and president of the car wash business. Her son, Austin Edwards, is vice president.

It's been incredible, she said. I think it's going to grow very fast. I think sky's the limit.

A & M Mobile Car Wash Service charges $25 to $40, depending on the size of the vehicle,for abasic wash and dry job, which includes an interior vacuum and a wipe-down of the dashboard. For $99, the customer can choose either a more thorough interior detail or an exterior detail. The interior makeover includes a vinyl, leather and plastic cleaning and treatment anda carpet shampoo and fabric extraction. The exterior detail includes clay barring, tar removal, iron and brake dust decontamination, tire dressing and application of a sealant to protectthe paint, glass and wheels. A combo interior and exterior detail jobruns $169. The company also provides headlight lamp restoration to make the foggy glass clear again for $75.

The U.S. car wash and auto detailing business is a $10 billion a year industry that's growing 3.1 percent annually, according to a market research report published in December by IBISWorld. But the industry is incredibly fragmented, with the 50 largest companies owning less than 20 percent of the market combined.

Mobile car wash services aren't new a quick Google search revealed at least one other such business operating in Rockford. They've been operating for yearsinlarger cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago and Orlando, and the idea is catching on elsewhere as Americans grow comfortable with on-demand services that make everyday chores such as hailing a taxi or buying groceries as simple as tapping an app on your cellphone.

The on-demand economy is attracting more than 22.4 million consumers annually and $57.6 billion in spending, according to a 2015 National Technology Readiness Survey. The largest categories of on-demand spending are online marketplaces such as Ebay and Etsy, followed by transportation services such as Uber and Lyft. Mobile car wash services may not be far behind. Quinby's business doesn't have a mobile app to allow customers to order a car wash with their cell phone, but she says one will be coming.

"It does make things very convenient," said Nick Shutkis, owner of Windsor Auto Sales in Loves Park and one of Quinby's first customers. "I've got 80 to 90 cars on this lot and if it rains or the cars get a little dirty, they need a quick wash. They do a nice job."

Isaac Guerrero: 815-987-1361; iguerrero@rrstar.com; @isaac_rrs

A & M Mobile Car Wash

Phone: 815-914-6405

Website: rockfordamwash.com

Facebook: Search for A&M Mobile Car Wash

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Rockford woman cleans up with mobile car wash business - Rockford Register Star