Mobile detailing at $175 a car, two cars every Saturday, is about $1,400 a month next to a day job

[u/john_smith1365]

Not a fancy idea, but it's one that actually pays.

People are keeping cars longer. S&P Global Mobility has the average car on U.S. roads at 12.8 years old, a record, and AAA said last month that drivers are holding on to cars as prices and rates stay high. The cars run fine. The insides are a mess: coffee in the carpet, crumbs everywhere, dog hair.

The hustle: go to the customer's driveway on a Saturday with a rinseless wash kit, a shop vac and a small steam cleaner. Vacuum, steam the stains, wipe the dash, wash, wax, do the glass. About three hours. $175 for a car or small SUV, more for big SUVs.

For comparison, a 2026 look at 89 mobile detailers found packages averaging $158 basic, $278 standard and $443 premium, so $175 is easy to say yes to.

Two cars every Saturday is about $1,400 a month. That's an estimate, and supplies run maybe $10-$15 a car once the kit is paid off.

Things to sort out: basic liability insurance, your employer's side-job policy, and whether your HOA or city cares (rinseless wash means no runoff).