A car wash looks like the simplest business on this list and is really a water and drainage business that happens to clean cars.

Get the water wrong and nothing else matters.

What it costs to start

Roughly ₵5,000 to ₵35,000.

Item Note
Water storage Several polytanks, or a borehole if the ground allows
Pressure pump and hoses The pump is the piece that fails
Drainage A soak-away or a connection. The assembly will ask
Ground Hard standing, and space for cars to queue off the road
Vacuum, buffers, consumables Shampoo, wax, microfibre, tyre black
Power backup The pump needs it
Sign Visibility from the road is most of your marketing

— Water in Accra

Where it works

Main roads and car-owning neighbourhoods. This is the one trade here that weights road density heavily, because your customers arrive by car and turn in off a road.

— Check a district — The map

Practical siting rules:

  • Visible from the road, with room to pull in without blocking traffic.
  • Near where cars already stop — a fuel station, a mechanic cluster, an office park, a church with a big Sunday car park.
  • Where drainage is possible. Washing cars into a neighbour’s compound is how a car wash acquires an enemy and then an inspection.
  • Where you can store water for the days the mains does not run.

The economics per car

Price per wash, times cars per day, minus water, power, consumables and labour. The levers:

  • Upsell the interior. A vacuum-and-polish is where the margin is; the exterior wash is the loss leader that brings the car in.
  • Contract work beats walk-ins. A company with ten vehicles, washed weekly, is worth more than a busy Saturday.
  • Rain is your enemy and the dry harmattan months are your season. Plan cash across both.
  • Labour is usually on commission per car, which aligns incentives but makes quiet days painful for the staff.

— Weather and seasons

The paperwork

  • Register the business with the ORC.
  • Business operating permit from the assembly.
  • Environmental health and waste water — the assembly cares where the water goes.
  • SSNIT for staff.
  • Agree liability in writing for damage and for items left in cars. Put a sign up. Disputes here are common and expensive.

What closes car washes

  1. No water, then buying it by tanker until the margin disappears.
  2. A drainage complaint from a neighbour or the assembly.
  3. Damaging a customer’s car with no agreement in place.
  4. The pump failing with no spare and no cash to replace it.

— Driving in Accra — Importing a car

Work out the money before you sign

— Business viability checker — Rent advance calculator — Loan repayment calculator — Cost of living calculator

— Entrepreneurship in Accra — Registering a business — The traditional trades of Accra