Been away but still thinking about u guys.

[Michael McKernan]

My business is up 20% from last year. Nice snows and salt. I think people are staying home more, driving less.
Got into the shaved ice business. Easy building permits for the owner of the shaved ice company, $250-$300 a month if you have the unused parking lot. Way to cheap after seeing the flow. Traffic flow increase, but so do the kids.

I guess Magic Wand traded hands, had another Magelius Screen go out, 3 in 3 years. See how the new owners treat the situation.

Hang tough forum members, we will survive. 4 washes, that I know of are in the banks hands. A local distributor took over. Christ, they were run better by an absentee owner. The tunnel next me. Gone. Well, the bank is running it.

 

[washrunner]

curious to know about those tunnels that are failing and why. is it their demographics, traffic, carwash layout, quality of wash, personnel, etc. I'm currently researching the tunnel market and have heard of a lot of successes but no failures. do you have any insight on this subject? what are the demographics and traffic count for the tunnel near you that the bank runs? would you mind sharing that information?

thanks,
mel

 

[Waxman]

I don't know of any places personally that have closed, but I'm certain it's the basics of business that cause the problems; income does not cover expenses. High finance expenses along with increased operation costs kill some places.

A high level of service and wash quality, along with good demographics, the right location, lack of competition, excellent, hands-on management and simply being at the site every day go a long way towards creating success.

Here's my secret formula for survival and growth; begin a project by creating low income projections and high expense projections and see if things pencil out. Economize wher you can without affecting the quality of service provided. If you move forward, kill the customers with service and wash quality and ample pressure, soaps, waxes, and polishes. Be super friendly and nice. Prime the pump with freebies you can afford. Grow slowly and steadily. Treat your employees right so they help sell your services and earn money for the business.

Get some sleep, get up tomorrow and do it again.

 

[Michael McKernan]

A combination of everything you said. He built on 3rd tier property 1/4 mile from me. 45K cars a day, 1st bank loaned him 1.2M. I heard he only had $50K of his own money in the project. He had to take ALL my business and still generate another $10K to break even. You can only turn right when exiting, just to much traffic.
I'll take a couple pics if you like.

 

[Greg Pack]

curious to know about those tunnels that are failing and why. is it their demographics, traffic, carwash layout, quality of wash, personnel, etc. I'm currently researching the tunnel market and have heard of a lot of successes but no failures. do you have any insight on this subject? what are the demographics and traffic count for the tunnel near you that the bank runs? would you mind sharing that information?

thanks,
mel

If cash flowing is defined as a "success" there are quite a few of those. RPH has commented on the Atlanta market and it doesn't sound pretty. I hear several of those expresses have changed hands.

 

[trentu]

I was just up in your neck of the woods....well Harrisonville, so not quite. They are building another car wash there, my cousin said the 5th for that small town. I was stunned. Glad business in your area is increasing. Did you lease the shaved ice guy the space only or provide him with water, electric, garbage etc....? Does the traffic flow mess up your business any? Thanks

 

[Michael McKernan]

I was just up in your neck of the woods....well Harrisonville, so not quite. They are building another car wash there, my cousin said the 5th for that small town. I was stunned. Glad business in your area is increasing. Did you lease the shaved ice guy the space only or provide him with water, electric, garbage etc....? Does the traffic flow mess up your business any? Thanks

I provided him with a space and garbage. So far so good. Actually, that would be 6 in Harrisonville. I used to own the one in Southland. I keep hearing about a tunnel going in on 291.

 

[ted mcmeekin]

Only washes known in trouble close to us. A fairly new chain with agrssive build plan, shut down site for new wash and sold his best location (2 IBA, 5 SS). An old tunnel we looked at about 1.5 yrs ago is up for absolute auction in about two weeks--also has 5 SS and 4 apartments on site. Wash is not worth much but real estate is in area with some growth potential.

Time to not assume much about real estate. In our little town a resturant/bar with 300-400 feet river frontage(beautiful stretch) and new decking cantlevered above water just sold for 250K at bank auction. That's at least 150-200K less than my guess and I did not go to auction.

 

[galen]

Trentu, the guy that is building the wash in Harrisonville, MO. is Steve Hendricks. He also owns the washes in Clinton, Hermitage, Warsaw. He is an aggressive builder. I know him, and he is a straight shooter. He comes to this site but never posts.