Thomas & Company keeps it clean with mobile auto-detailing business

After earning his Master’s degree in higher education at Grand Valley State University, Vernon Thomas Jr. decided it was time to start his own business. 

 “We need to focus on something that’s for us, our community and our culture,” he told a friend, Thomas said. “I don’t care if it’s something as simple as mobile detailing.”

Thomas, 27, turned that spontaneous thought into a reality in June 2020 with the creation of Thomas & Company Mobile Auto Detailing. With his partner Jean Brack, 28, the two friends from the Southside of Chicago formed a business that's catching on for those who care about their cars but don’t want to leave them at a detail shop.

Jean Brack (left) and Vernon Thomas Jr. (right) operate Thomas & Company Mobile Auto Detailing. | Jeffery Coleman

“A lot of people think we have a set facility to do cars,” Thomas said. “I tell them we come to wherever you are. We don’t care if it’s in the middle of the expressway. As long as it’s permissible we’ll do it. We’re strictly a mobile detailing business.”

Making cars shine is a source of satisfaction for Thomas, who grew up loving cars. He collected Hot Wheels as a kid, progressed to making go-carts, then tinkering with all sorts of automobiles.

“I’ve always been a car junkie,” he said. “When I see a dusty dashboard, I think a car needs to be treated better than that. Then when it’s clean and people look at their car like it’s fresh off the assembly line, that’s fulfilling enough for me.”

Success didn’t come overnight. Thomas conducted extensive research on starting a small business and all that it entailed. He also visited numerous Chicago area car washes and detail shops to learn the car detailing business, picking brains and asking for advice along the way.

“Sometimes you can overwhelm yourself trying to start a business with things you don’t need,” he said.

Equipped with basic knowledge, Thomas became practicing on his friends and family’s cars for free, seeing what chemicals worked and what didn’t. When he felt comfortable with the results, he talked Brack into joining him as a partner. They've received high praise for their work, with some referring to them as miracle workers.

“We put our heads down and we’ve been blazing,” Thomas said. “We’re still learning. We’ve still got a lot of stuff we need to build on top of our business, but we’ve been lucky so far.”

The arrival of COVID-19 has been a curse and a blessing. Initially, customers were reluctant to have anyone come to their homes for any reason. Eventually, people became more comfortable; calls have steadily increased.

“The more people learned about the COVID situation and how it was transmitted, it opened up the flood gates for us to do more cars,” Thomas said.

At some point, Thomas and Brack may need more staff, but for now, it’s just the two of them, driving up to 45 minutes away, hoping to spread a bigger message than just cleaning cars.

“The biggest benefit for the community,” Thomas said, “is that we’re showing young black men that with some research and some get-up-and-go about yourself you can achieve whatever you want.”