How Much Does Car Wash App Development Cost?

The introduction of on-demand apps has made it easy for users to avail every single service with just a few clicks on their smartphones. This is probably why every startup entrepreneur now wishes to take their services online and achieve maximum ROI, a solid user base, and a constant stream of revenue.

Currently, more than 91% of the US population owns a car, and that car requires cleaning every alternate day. The increasing surge for on-demand car wash applications has made it easy for service providers to get their business at the forefront of technology and offer quick customer service.

From the perspective of a business owner, it is also one of the most suitable revenue models that can help you dive into the constantly rising on-demand car wash app market and make a name for your business.

These numbers are encouraging enough for entrepreneurs to enter the on-demand car wash app market and get a bigger slice of the revenue share. This has further directed them towards on-demand app development companies to get insights into the car wash app development cost: The one element that we will cover in detail in this article.

How much does car wash app development cost?

The average cost of on-demand car wash app development can vary between $40,000 and $150,000 depending on the overall complexity of the app, further affected by factors such as the design of the app, the coding process, the location of the car wash app development company, and so on.

Let us now try and offer you estimated car wash mobile app development costs and time frames based on the varied complexity levels – simple, moderately complex, and highly complex.

Now, it is rather difficult to determine the exact cost of development considering it depends on many factors. Let us offer you an infallible formula that can help you determine your app development budget effectively.

Here, the total development hours are a sum of the time taken to complete the app’s designing process, its coding, quality assurance as well as maintenance.

Now, before deep diving into all the factors that affect the car wash app cost, let us first quickly look at the various statistics of the car wash app development market, that can help you understand why diving into this business can be a beneficial investment.

Understanding the Car Wash App Development Market: Why Should You Invest in It?

The demand for on-demand car wash apps is on a constant rise as people are looking for efficient ways to avail services at their convenience and a preferred time. Since the demand for customers is increasing at a constant rate, diving into the market with a robust car wash app can be beneficial for your business.

Here are a few facts that can help you understand how lucrative the car wash market is:

• The overall car wash service market in the US is expected to reach a value of $38.61 billion by 2030
• Startups and enterprises are now more inclined towards availing car wash development services for their business as they offer the benefits like less operating costs, no installations as well as lower water use.
• Millennials and GenZs now prefer to use cashless payment methods for their car wash services that is easily implemented with the help of dedicated apps
• On average, people in the US spend over $5.8 billion in car washes every year

Now that you have a clear idea of what the car wash app market looks like and why it’s a lucrative business idea, let us move ahead to look at the various factors that affect the car wash app development costs.

Factors affecting the car wash mobile app development cost

In order to create a well-defined car wash app development, it is necessary to have a dedicated business model in place as well as a professional expertise backed by a best-in-class on-demand application development services organization. Every feature and technology integrated in the app will affect the overall cost of development.

UI/UX Design

A seamless UI/UX design lays the foundation of the overall success of the app. Since the prototype of the design is to be tested as per various custom requirements and strict testing protocols, the cost of the development can vary as per that.

App Platform

The underlying platform of the app affects its overall cost of development directly. You can either go for Android or iOS app development or choose to develop a cross platform app. In order to keep the budget optimized at the initial stages, it is usually recommended to start with a single platform and then switch to a cross-platform app as the app gains traction.

Team Size

The hired team size for availing car wash app development services also affects the car wash mobile application cost. For instance, if you wish to hire freelancers, the overall cost of development can be on a lower side but you won’t be able to leverage professional expertise from the same.

On the other hand, outsourcing your project to a dedicated car app development company can help you optimize the costs and at the same time, take advantage of their skills and prowess.

The minimum team requirements to create a car wash app include:

• 1-2 project managers
• 1-2 business analysts
• 2-3 frontend developers
• 2-3 backend developers
• 1-2 designers
• 1-2 quality assurance analysts

Location of the app development company

The location of the car wash mobile app development organization directly impacts your overall budget for development. For instance, the hourly rate of developers in regions like Asia or Africa are comparatively less as compared to the regions like the UK or USA.

Tech Stack

The technologies implemented in your app directly impact the cost of development. It is important to understand that a robust tech stack is capable of defining the overall success of your app while helping in getting maximum ROIs.

While these are the frameworks and tools that these popular apps have adopted for their processing, the tech stack for your app can vary depending on your target user base, market, and other factors.

So, it is better to bring your team on-board and choose the best technology stack for your mobile app.

Feature List

There are several car wash apps that are serving different parts of the world with their unique user acquisition and marketing strategies. However, one thing that is common among them is the set of basic features and functionalities they offer.

A well thought-out feature list for your car wash app can help engage users while retaining them at the same time. In addition to these, well-defined features can help your app gain traction in this otherwise competitive on-demand app space.

So, let’s dive further into the must-have features that are playing a crucial role in the success of the brands like WashOS, Wype, Spiffy, Washify, DinoWash, and Qweex.

Core Features to Introduce in Your Car Wash Mobile App

An on-demand car wash application acts as a platform to connect users and car washers. So, you will have to consider three app versions while investing in the same:

• User
• Car washer
• Admin

Each app version will cater to a different need and thus will have slightly different features set. However, to simplify the app architecture, we will be focusing on the features to be considered in building an MVP.

Features in the Customer Panel

Besides the sign up or login process, here are the features of a car wash mobile app’s users panel:

1. Select the Car Location

Through this option users would add/select the car whose servicing they wanted to be done.

2. Choose a Service

Users can select the type and number of services they want in terms of getting their car cleaned by experts.

3. Place a Service Request

This option enables users to see all the car washers offering the selected services and pick one.

4. Make a Payment

Users can make payment on the Car wash app platform with this option.

5. Give Reviews and Ratings

With this feature, they can give ratings and reviews regarding the services they received from the selected car washer.

Features in Car Washer Panel

Here are the Car washer-specific features to consider when you build a Car Wash app:-

1. Add a Service Location

Car washers can define their targeted area so that they get requests for services from those locations only.

2. Accept/Reject Service Request

They can accept or reject a service request made by users.

3. Share the Service Status

This option will inform users about the status of the service they asked from the car washer. The information will most often be shared through a real-time clicked photo of the car.

4. Request Payment from Admin

Since the payment made by users goes into the admin account, this feature will empower service providers to request the earned money.

5. Push Notifications

It will keep them notified about all the user requests, transaction details, and other happenings on the platform.

[Also Read: How to Build a Push Notification Strategy For Higher Conversions]

Features in Admin Panel

1. Manage User Registration

This section focuses on managing the number of car washers and users active on the platform. This includes details of the active users and car washers, and the communication held between them, or with the support team.

2. Manage Service Time Zones

Admin, under this section of the app, would make it certain that users connect to car washing service providers who have been operating in their locations.

3. Manage Payments

As the user pays to admin on the behalf of the car washer, this section manages all the payment associated details. This consists of keeping a real-time record of users who made a payment, service providers who have requested for their fee, and those who have already been paid.

4. Manage Ratings and Reviews

This section of the Admin panel of the mobile app focuses on managing ratings and reviews of the car washers, which eventually brings a difference in the hierarchy in which they are shown in the search list.

Now that you have a clear idea of the feature set that goes into a robust car wash app, let us move ahead and look at the various monetization strategies that can be used by car wash apps businesses to ensure a constant revenue stream.

Revenue Models Followed by Car Wash Apps

Most of the car wash mobile applications and websites do their business and earn money from two varied sources:-

1. Primary Revenue Source

The prime source of earning for car wash platforms is the fee they charge to car washers per service they offer.

2. Secondary Revenue Source

The car wash apps also make money by offering services like:-

• Advertising – Car Wash apps advertise ads of third parties on their platform and help them get more traffic in return for some amount.
• Merchandise – Many car wash brands also sell car washing cleaning products and tools like Car Exterior Shampoo, Cleaning Gloves, Car wax, etc. to users. This also adds to their profits.

Now that you have understood the multiple ways by which you can make money through a car wash app, let us tell you how professional experts from Appinventiv can help your business gain traction in the market.

How can Appinventiv help you build a robust car wash mobile app?

The cost to make an app depends entirely on the efforts and time required for its development. Something that varies with the features and tech stack you consider while developing an app. An on-demand app development company like Appinventiv can take into consideration your custom requirements while helping you target your user base effectively.

Our team of experts recently created an on-demand app, ActiDrive. The intuitive gesture-recognition mobile app is modeled on IoT Technology and has revolutionized the automobile industry.

The app offers the drivers the freedom to stay in touch with multiple functionalities of their mobile phones with the help of gestures without having to move their eyes away from the road.

Get in touch with or team with your business idea and let us help realize your vision and ace this competitive marketspace.

FAQs

Q. How to make a car wash app?

A. Making a car wash app is a complex process and requires professional expertise from a dedicated team. Here are a few steps that can help you understand how to make a car wash app:

• Analyze your target user base and make competitive analysis
• Finalize a business model for your car wash app
• Hire a dedicated car wash app development company
• Complete the app’s initial architecture
• Finalize the feature set and technologies to be used
• Carry out the UI/UX design process
• Test the app as per stringent quality standards
• Deploy the app in the market
• Maintain as per the emerging trends

Q. How much does it cost to build a car wash app?

A. The cost of developing a car wash application varies from $40,000 to $150,000. The price can further vary as per the hourly rates of the on-demand car wash app development company, the UI/UX design of the app, the coding process, quality assurance, etc.

Q. How can you optimize the cost of developing a car wash app?

A. In order to optimize the overall cost of developing a car wash application, it is usually recommended to go with an agile approach and get an MVP developed first. The MVP will further include only core features of the app. As the app gains traction in the market and helps you target a user base effectively, you can then switch to a full-fledged mobile app.

THE AUTHOR

Dileep Gupta

DIRECTOR & CO-FOUNDER