Stories from a Reload

[PEI]

In 2016 I came to the realization that our fleet of Laserwash 4000's was showing its age and that it was time to reload. I got quotes on both the 360 Plus and Razor. With 9 bays to reload, I got quotes that put the reloads in the 1.2 million range. Once I recovered from the sticker shock sickness that instantly set in, I took a hard look at what I really needed. While debating on how to break this down into affordable pieces, I headed off to Nashville for the annual ICA Car Wash Show. There I met a soap salesman that recommended I take a look at PDQ's Stainless Steel Bridge upgrade.

I came home and began looking at this option and the cost savings. As I considered what I really needed, I realized that my current equipment was easily meeting my demand needs. I didn't need additional through put. I needed reliability and the ability to safely match the cleaning of the friction machines coming into my four markets. My pump stations and JO Cabinets were in good shape. What I really needed were new bridges and rails. With my reload cost for 9 bays now cut down to about $315,000. I decided to upgrade the ACW's at one of the locations.

So far, I have reloaded 5 bays. Two with Docking Dryers and three with Free Standing Dryers. I had some initial issues with PDQ, but they stepped up and made things right. Eleven months later I know I made the right decision for my locations.

 

[GoBuckeyes]

Thanks for posting. Can you provide more detail on what you did with the reload? Did you reload with brand new 4000 bridges from PQQ or did you buy used ones and refurb them? What kind of ACW’s did you pull out and what did you replace them with? Thanks.

 

[PEI]

Brand new stainless steel bridges from PDQ part no. M924020-S. Mine came ready to just install and run. They had new covers, junction boxes, wiring, eyes, proxes, motors, gearboxes, tires, rollers, grease lines, festoon, festoon rollers, and new J2.

For the ACW's, I replaced my aging Hamilton ACW-5 CRC's with new Hamilton Gold Lines with chip card reader and contactless pay.That decision was not my best. I am currently changing the doors to a standard card reader with a DAN system. I should give Hamilton credit here. They have been excellent to work with and are helping me replace the doors at heavy cost to themselves. Payment Express on the other hand just asked too much. It took them 7 months to get there chip card readers working as chip card readers and to get the contactless working at all. I am sorry to say, that once they got it working it just was not reliable.

 

[mac]

I found it interesting that you said you wanted to upgrade because of the friction machines coming into the market. So why did you stay with touchless instead of the newer frictions?

 

[soonermajic]

I found it interesting that you said you wanted to upgrade because of the friction machines coming into the market. So why did you stay with touchless instead of the newer frictions?

I'd think obviously if there's a bunch of new frictions, he already has an existing clientel, & somewhat of a niche. Join the rest of the Lemmings & get left behind

 

[PEI]

The new friction pieces that were coming into my markets where almost all tunnel washes. None of my locations have enough room to operate a tunnel that could compete with the through put of the new washes. So as soonermajic suggested, I decided to focus on my niche in the market and except that I would never be able to match their numbers. What I felt I could do was match their cleaning and carve out a loyal fan base. So far my daily average of cars washed in a day is up about four cars a day, but my average sale is up $.50 per car. The greatest improvement of the new bridges has been in a tremendous reduction in down time and an increase in free time to focus on other ways to improve my locations. They have also led to better reviews online and are slowly leading to our fans using the wash more often. I am not looking for large improvements in the numbers, just small continuous improvement.

I also must admit that we have only operated touchless iba washes and self serve washes for the last 28 years. I am very comfortable with these models and am less comfortable with the tunnel model. I suppose there was also an equal amount of staying with what I knew best.