starting new service in poitou charente

[Monty]

I wonder if I could get a little market research from those of you already residing in france. I am about to move my family to france permanantly and have a couple of options to earn a living but I wonder if my previous business, mobile car valet service, could work in france?. I have 10 years experience at it and would be ideal if there was a need, I understand the distances are greater but would like to sound out about this first before bringing over machinery. Any advice would be appreciated.

[Val_2]

All I can say is that read back through the archives about small businesses in France and the type of social charges you may incurr as these tend to come as a horrible shock to newcomers whereas they do not exist in the UK. Also do your homework about location and travelling here especially with the current fuel price situation as most garages do valeting anyway. Whatever you decide, good luck.

[Moulin]

We live in Civray which is in the south Vienne. It is not an afluent area - the cars driven around here are not the luxury type and older rather than newer. I would suggest there is not money around to pay for this service. Good luck.

Jan

[Val_2]

I forgot to mention that there are more and more of these self service valet/cleaning/Pressure washing units springing up near large super/hypermarkets so people can do their own cleaning. I noticed some yesterday whilst driving in town.

[Kittycat]

LAST EDITED ON 23-Aug-04 AT 08:06 AM (BST)

Have you decided where you'll be living? I know all about the high social charges, but being positive if you were going to be living near a big city I'm sure you could develop a customer base. There are plenty of big businesses in France, who all drive nice cars & like them to look smart. Not everybody here drives clapped out 2cv's!

Also if you're near a big city the opportunity to hook up as a sub-contractor for some of the numerous car dealers would be greatly improved. A local Renault dealer we know hires a husband & wife team to valet all his cars, so the potential is there.

As with any employment in France, you must have good conversational skills, as in the early stages you'll have to do a lot of leg work to tout for trade, but with that said may I wish you all the best of luck in your new adventure.

best wishes
Tony

[Jirac18]

Foremost I wish you luck, however there are so many self wash and valet centres around that I wonder whether you would make a living. Certainly the younger drivers I often see in such venues and the older ones either don't clean their vehicles or won't pay for someone to clean them.

That said if you can provide a better service or same service at a better price then there is a market to be had from the younger French motorist. Bon chance.