Everyone who owns a car in Chicago knows that city grime and long winters can wreak havoc on the look and health of a car.
And while there are plenty of places to get your car washed, they usually involve waiting in line, driving slowly through a waterfall of chemicals, and wasting gallons of fresh water.
Chicago startup Sparkl believes it has the solution both for the inconvenience and water waste that comes along with a car wash: They offer an on-demand car wash service that uses a no-water, biodegradable solution to clean your car.
Users schedule the time and place of the car wash, and one of Sparkl's professionally trained car washers will come to that location to do the cleaning. They use a biodegradable formula that lifts dirt off the surface of the car, wiped away with a microfiber cloth, said founder Lisa Souter. Sparkl offer three services: an interior-only and an exterior-only clean (both $25), or combined services ($32). Users can pay and message the car washer via the app.
Between being a mother of three boys, and facing hour-long waits at car washes, Souter always struggled to keep her car clean, she said. With a background in business and entrepreneurship (she formerly worked at Merrill Lynch, started a college-readiness nonprofit and has an MBA from Harvard Business School) she wondered why there wasn't a better way to bring the car wash to her driveway without wasting buckets of water.
Souter launched a beta version of the app last June, Sparkl has facilitated over 750 car washes and onboarded four professionally-trained and background-checked washers.
However, the on-demand aspect is just one part of the business model, Souter said. She's also looking to partner with residential buildings, corporations, and parking garages to provide an additional amenity to residents, employees and customers. Already she has three signed partners, with a fourth in the works, and has worked with companies such as Guaranteed Rate and Lux.
While there are other on-demand car wash startups out there, including Spiffy, Washe and Washos, none are yet operating in Chicago and they don't offer the eco-friendly wash. "Sparkl is the only mobile, waterless, eco-friendly car wash in the Midwest," Souter said. "All of our competitors are focused on warm weather locations."
The no-water method has already become a norm in other regions, such as in California, which restricted car washes during the recent drought. But the waterless car option hasn't caught on in the Midwest, Souter noted, where harsh winters boost the demand for car washes.
While Sparkl uses a formula from a Los Angeles-based manufacturer, which Souter declined to name, they're currently working with the manufacturer to create a private label version for Sparkl alone.
