I need a car wash logo... but I need a name first.
8 Tips for Naming Your Car Wash
Are all the good car wash business names already taken?
How do you come up with a catchy name?
Is the name I want available and legal to use?
If you’re not sure how to answer those questions, you’re in the right place. Keep reading to learn my top tips for choosing the perfect business name and how to make sure your favorite choices are available to use.
1. Write everything down.
Yes. EVERYTHING.
If you’re struggling to choose a good name for your car wash company, one of the best things to do is start brainstorming. When you brainstorm, write down every single idea you have - yes, even the bad ideas. If you know you can't have a Stupid Car Wash, but it's all you can think of when you put your pen to paper, write it down so the idea passes. This allows you to move onto a new idea.
In addition to Stupid Car Wash, make a list of words, phrases, and terms associated with your business, your geographical location, the history of your town, and your business goals. From there, you can narrow down the list and cross off ideas you don’t like.
2. Consider the Services You Plan to Offer
There are several types of car cleaning businesses, so it’s essential to consider the services you plan to offer such as a self-service car was or full-service with attendants. As you know, you wouldn't call a Full Service Car Wash "Express Car Wash" without expecting to have a bunch of confused customers. And you wouldn't call your inbay automatic a "detailing service" without having some annoyed humans stopping by.
Make a list of all your different services and the types of services you want to offer. Add this to your brainstorming list. This includes non purchasable things: like customer service, free vacs, easy highway access, and free window cleaners.
Try to avoid anything limiting your business’s future growth if you decide to go in another direction down the road. Don't say you only service classic cars, if you want to wash an SUV or two as well.
3. Location-Specific Terms
A lot of car washes are locally owned and operated, so they're specific to a geographic service area. When your car wash has a base location, you can turn a location-specific term into a memorable name.
You can consider things like:
- City nicknames
- Neighborhoods
- Regions or states
However, consider what happens if you expand outside your intended service area. If you become a franchise, does the name become limiting? If so, it’s best to avoid it if you plan to expand or change directions later.
4. Avoid Business Names That Are Hard to Pronounce, Hear, or Spell
Despite the technological advances of voice search, assistants like Siri and Alexa struggle to understand slang and other confusing words.
This could limit how often your business shows up in voice (and text-based) search if your name is hard to spell, pronounce, or hear. Because of that, it’s important to avoid complicated words and using numbers in place of letters. While having a unique car wash name is good, being too unique may not be so good.
Keeping the name of your car wash simple and easy to remember makes it easier for your potential customers can easily find you.
5. Consider Alliterations & Rhyming Words
Alliterations and rhymes can be used as funny car wash names that are catchy and easy to remember, but it's not always easy to come up with them. Start with choosing a few of your favorite words from your master brainstorm list.
Then head on over to the MASTER OF WORDS: aka Google and search “words that start with W” to come up with names like Wonder Wash or Wash World whatever letter you’re using to create an alliteration.
Alternatively, you can search “words that rhyme with _____”.
It can be time-consuming, but it’s an excellent place to start. And don’t forget to add any exciting finds to your brainstorm list while you’re at it. Try not to overthink the names you come up with in this stage. Just write them all down as some may spark better ideas later.
6. Steer Clear of Initials or Obscure Acronyms
There are 325 different two-letter combination possibilities in the English language and the odds of your customers remembering the specific letters you chose are pretty small. Initials and unusual acronyms are hard to remember, so they typically don’t make great business names.
The human brain tries to make sense and organize your letters. If you use the first letter of your business partner names, people will try and pronounce it. For example: T & E carwash will become TANDE carwash over time. Avoid names that are challenging to pronounce and confusing for voice search, use words and phrases instead of letters and acronyms.
7. Embrace Characters & Imagery Words
Another consideration when brainstorming name ideas is whether there are industry-related words or different designs that could also lend themselves to also be used in a logo. Most car wash could use an image of a clean car or bubbles and focus the name around the image, but the beauty of car washes is that the theme can be ANYTHING:
Balloon Car Wash
Clown Car Wash
Alien Car Wash
... almost anything!
I say almost because there are some things you want to
avoid : like this monster car wash.
8. Pick a Name that's Legal to Use
To check the legality of your car wash name:
Google It
Google a great tool for just starting out your research. Checking here first will save you a lot of time.
Conduct a trademark search.
Do a search at USPTO.gov to get an idea as to whether you can get a trademark or service mark for the name.
Conduct a Secretary of State search.
Since you will likely want to structure your business as a corporation or LLC, you should do a search of the Secretary of State’s records to make sure your name won’t be confusingly similar to a business name that’s already registered. If it is too similar to an existing name, the Secretary of State may not allow you to register it. Your corporate lawyer can help you conduct this kind of search. (See “10 Big Legal Mistakes Made by Startups.”)
Check for .com
Think of acquiring the .com name you want as a business investment. Try to secure the “.com” domain name for your business rather than alternatives such as .net, .org, .biz, or other possible domain extensions. Customers tend to associate a .com name with a more established business. Undoubtedly, someone will already own your desired .com name, but with a bit of creative thinking, you might be able to find a good alternative.
Check Social Media
Sometimes there are small businesses that are unregistered that have the name you're looking for. To find these, make a social media sweep to see if there's anything blocking you from growing your business uninhibited. When you're sure you found your name, make sure to grab your desired business name on popular social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
SHARE ONLINE
