Ghetto Wash experience?

[tdlconceptsllc]

Hey guys I was seeing if anyone on here has experience or running a SS ghetto wash meaning in the hood or rough location. I have a customer I do service calls on 6-7xs a year and it's a four bay SS in a rough location with good road traffic and lots & lots of houses in sight and per square mile no competition really I have seen this site do well in 2006 when I did a monthly pm for the guy. This would be a total opposite Carwash from what I currently have now & different town everything. All equipment needs to be gutted and redone I can do that and have it already on stand by. Does anyone do well with a ghetto wash like this. Example like let them have it all day and you make sure everything works great equipment wise and chemicals,lights ect.. and pull the money out and work early in the morning while there asleep. I have the opportunity to buy it. It's a site like no matter how much money you put in it your still gonna have drug deals daily, wipe down, bucket wash ect. Was going to make it super simple set up everything going to a vault 8 position meter boxes instail them with cryptopay no validators and all the rest used equipment & chunk the chemical to them. Just wondering if anyone has any site like this and does well with it and how to make it dummy proof and crook proof. You catch my drift. I would build a custom equipment room door and plenty of lights also. Thanks a lot for advice.

 

[Overachiever]

I have a car wash on the bad side of town in a city that is usually ranked as being in the top 3 for most dangerous small cities in America. I've never felt unsafe during the day and all the crime seems to happen after dark (knock on wood).

Seems like as long as my equipment is working correctly they respect it. If something breaks or a coin jam causes a machine to eat there money they are more likely to break it worse so I just keep an eye on the cameras for people punching and kicking the bill changer and meter boxes... lol.

Don't give cash refunds if possible, cameras help with the people trying to lie about the bill changer / automatics eating their money. Fend off the homeless people the best you can, especially the ones that make a mess.

Don't empty the cash when other people are around, might give them ideas.

If you get one of the big snack vending machines, put a cage around it or go with Shurvend (mine lasted 5 days after install before a crowbar broke through).

Try not to be confrontational. My landscaper started yelling at some kids that were goofing around on the lot and they ended up punching him in the back of the head with a rock but my attendant who has been there 9 years hasn't had any issues.

 

[rph9168]

Most of the problems I have seen with washes in bad neighborhoods besides what has already been mentioned is vandalism. Hoses get gut. Guns destroyed. Light fixtures and vac damaged. Spray paint on the walls. If you do decide to do it I would try to make the place as indestructible as possible.

 

[Earl Weiss]

Sounds like a great place for tokens and credit card only.

 

[Car_Wash_Guy]

Sounds like a great place for tokens and credit card only.

Maybe EBT too . lol

 

[MEP001]

I've run a very old wash in a fairly bad neighborhood, not dangerous luckily, but surrounded by low-income apartments and mobile homes. It was doing about $1200 a month gross when I first started on it, had it doing about $14,000 a month after a couple of years with nothing more than cranking up the soaps, keeping it clean and checking everything every day. Almost no vandalism to speak of except for once when a guy lost $1 in the changer, he decided to grab a claw hammer out of his truck and bash the changer a couple times.

 

[cwguy.com]

I have a car wash on the bad side of town in a city that is usually ranked as being in the top 3 for most dangerous small cities in America. I've never felt unsafe during the day and all the crime seems to happen after dark (knock on wood).

Wait.... I thought my city was number 3? ARTICLE LINK JK every article seems different.

If your area is that "ghetto".... no one has a credit card. Check the gas stations near the wash. There are 2 gas stations within walking distance of my wash and only one accepts credit cards.

If you can call a contractor in any industry.... welder, electrician, car wash, etc. and they will come to your location. That is good.... I wish contractors would come to my location. LOL

 

[Ghetto Wash]

I've been in drive by shootings, found a dead prostitute, found a dead teenager that was beaten for his Air Jordan's. My son works for a utility company in the neighborhood and was advised to have a "throw down wallet" with him and not his real wallet. I've got tons of stories.

All that said, washes can do well in those neighborhoods and repairs for vandalism and break in's have become a routine part of business. I go any time of day or night (as long as multiple customers are present) to work and collect money and feel safe. I don't like being there when I'm the only person around. I've only got one "suburban" wash and it's very peaceful there and nothing ever exciting happens there. I keep mortar and brick in my truck at all times along with my regular car wash tools to repair brick at the ghetto washes. Just harden everything as much as possible against attack: concrete walls, concrete on roof, no coin drawers - only safes, double front door with alarm on outside door, etc and you will be fine.

Oh, watch out for needles, they are a routine find.

 

[tdlconceptsllc]

Good grief you guys have some tough sites I am sure a lot of good stories. It's in a rough location but not super super bad. I was going the most bulletproof route & simple as possible nothing fancy like the wash I have now. Gonna try and just put 8 position meter boxes in & some IVS style vacs with drop boxes all going to the safes if anyone has 4 used vacs with vault ready I would be interested in buying. I am starting to wonder if I even need to put in credit cards it might be a waste of money if they truely don't have them and pay cash for everything. Does anyone have any Dultmeier Meter boxes or ever used them I seen they had some in the $800 range each and I could add cryptopay and have a descent meter box in the ghetto for 4 grand for those vs 8+ for national pride or equivalent. I was trying to not sink a fortune into the ghetto bc it might get tore up anyways. Thanks for the pointers/tips guys.

 

[6t7gto]

Google Vac-it-up

 

[Jeff_L]

Oh, watch out for needles, they are a routine find.

This is a great point, and something I hadn't thought about until the other day conversing with a cop. He saw me emptying trash and asked if I wear Kevlar gloves while doing it so I don't get poked. I wear gloves, but not ones like they use when frisking someone. I think I'd be looking to get some of those, as needles can be found at any wash.

 

[Randy]

We have 2 car washes that are in a questionable area. The area has slowly gone downhill in the last few years. There has been rapes, carjacking, shootings, countless break-ins etc. at these car washes. It’s gotten so bad that we had fenced off and gated the car wash. Operating hours are from 7am to 9:30pm, at 9:30pm the gates is closed by the security company and they are opened at 7am. At 10pm the lights go off with the exception of a few security lights. No bill validator on the bays or vac’s, they’ve destroyed all of them, we do take credit/debit cards and they do well. Steel barred security doors on the equipment room door. Alarms on every piece of equipment. Video cameras on every corner of the property, not the bullet type cameras, they push those up, you want to use a ball type camera. Don’t kid yourself about going to tokens and having that end your break-in problems. They will still break–in steal the tokens, buy up all your vending and sell it or they’ll sell the tokens at 2 for a dollar. The last pop machine we had was dropped on a Friday afternoon, it had piece of paper on the front of it that said “Not in service needs to be filled” we figured that we’d run power to it on Monday morning as Pepsi was coming to fill on Monday afternoon. By Sunday morning it was totally destroyed, still had the “Not in service needs to be filled” sign on it. Needless to say Pepsi was a little pi$$ed, a brand new $3500 pop machine destroyed, they said never call us again, same with Coke. We only go there early in the morning, pull the money/tokens every day. I wouldn’t put a lot of money into a car wash in the hood, just enough to keep it clean and running.

 

[cwguy.com]

This is a great point, and something I hadn't thought about until the other day conversing with a cop. He saw me emptying trash and asked if I wear Kevlar gloves while doing it so I don't get poked. I wear gloves, but not ones like they use when frisking someone. I think I'd be looking to get some of those, as needles can be found at any wash.

You need to watch out around the trash cans, in the pits and behind the dumpster.

The police patrol your area? What is that like?

I believe the demographics make it hard to compare ghetto washes My wash has a lot of unemployment and local foot traffic. Also the majority of the homes are section 8 with some burnt down and abandoned mixed in.

Does anyone have any Dultmeier Meter boxes

I would try and get smaller meter boxes. I would also consider not using multifunction vacs.... if it is high crime.

Also to add to what Randy said about cameras.... Do not install any cameras within arm's reach / spray paint range.

My best advice is get a "friend" that lives around the wash. I have a new "friend".... an ex-con fresh out of lock down. After about a week....literally no one dumps anything and I have not had any problems. Best "friend" ever! He cleans up and cuts the grass....

 

[MEP001]

I'm careful about needles to the point that I make sure I dump the trash cans by holding only the handle. Had one guy who'd put a hand on the rim with his fingers inside and even after telling him a dozen times not to do that he got a nail split by something heavy in the can. I told him "What if that had been a needle?"

 

[Ghetto Wash]

My best advice is get a "friend" that lives around the wash. I have a new "friend".... an ex-con fresh out of lock down. After about a week....literally no one dumps anything and I have not had any problems. Best "friend" ever! He cleans up and cuts the grass....

I've got a guy like that also. I pay him $100 cash for each person that he can get locked up from my property.

 

[tdlconceptsllc]

GHetto wash that's funny. say you give him 100 to get em treaspassed that sounds like something I have done in the past to panhandlers.