Main Street Carwash
Member
Please excuse my ignorance but what exactly are the definitions of different car wash business models; such as exterior express and flex-serve, etc.?
Car wash business model definition
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Earl Weiss
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Definitions have evolved with technology. Exterior - No Manual labor involved. Express Exterior now seems to mean the exterior system, with auto pay stations (Exterior may have an attended pay station) and free vacs (Exterior may have pay vacs). Flex offers manual labor services from Hand dry to interiors and all sorts of other stuff.
Main Street Carwash
Member
And these are typically conveyor washes?
D3Dubs
Member
Here are some common distinctions I see used often:
1. Friction vs. Touch-Free - friction is where the car wash uses brushes in addition to chemicals to get the vehicle clean, touch-free aka touchless aka no-touch use only chemicals. Touch-Free is usually located in an In-Bay-Automatic and friction can be in-bay or tunnel/conveyor
2. In-Bay Automatic vs Tunnel vs Self Serve - this is a common distinction when discussing types of car washes. In-Bay is where a customer drives into a 'bay' and stops. Their car is stationary while the system washes their car, when the wash is done they drive out. Conveyor or tunnel is when the customer drives into the wash, pays and then their car is pulled through the tunnel where it is washed as it drives through. Self serve is where a customer drives into a bay and washes their own car using equipment provided in the bay.
3. From a business perspective the pros of a tunnel are higher revenue due to the ability to wash more "cars per minute", cons are more equipment to maintain and you need employees to operate. In-Bay pros are less equipment to maintain, you can use less or no employees but the cons are you can't get as many cars through and therefore typically lower revenue. Not very familiar with self serve but pros are you don't need any employees to manage and the cons are I think lower margins???
4. Then there are the additional self-serve services that each business might have as part of their total offering in addition to the car wash itself. These include vacuums (paid or free), tire shine, carpet cleaner, fragrance machines,vending machines, coin changer, dog wash station.
5. Sample of additional services could include detailing service, oil change, connected to convenience store.
1. Friction vs. Touch-Free - friction is where the car wash uses brushes in addition to chemicals to get the vehicle clean, touch-free aka touchless aka no-touch use only chemicals. Touch-Free is usually located in an In-Bay-Automatic and friction can be in-bay or tunnel/conveyor
2. In-Bay Automatic vs Tunnel vs Self Serve - this is a common distinction when discussing types of car washes. In-Bay is where a customer drives into a 'bay' and stops. Their car is stationary while the system washes their car, when the wash is done they drive out. Conveyor or tunnel is when the customer drives into the wash, pays and then their car is pulled through the tunnel where it is washed as it drives through. Self serve is where a customer drives into a bay and washes their own car using equipment provided in the bay.
3. From a business perspective the pros of a tunnel are higher revenue due to the ability to wash more "cars per minute", cons are more equipment to maintain and you need employees to operate. In-Bay pros are less equipment to maintain, you can use less or no employees but the cons are you can't get as many cars through and therefore typically lower revenue. Not very familiar with self serve but pros are you don't need any employees to manage and the cons are I think lower margins???
4. Then there are the additional self-serve services that each business might have as part of their total offering in addition to the car wash itself. These include vacuums (paid or free), tire shine, carpet cleaner, fragrance machines,vending machines, coin changer, dog wash station.
5. Sample of additional services could include detailing service, oil change, connected to convenience store.
robert roman
Bob Roman
Carwash can be divided into three general categories; self-service, in-bay, and conveyor.
Self-service consists of wands or spray-bays and vending machines (vacuums, shampoo, fragrance, merchandise). About one half of self-service has in-bay on property.
In-bays are usually considered a separate product class from self-service because the majority of units were located at petroleum sites. There are also a number of free-standing single and dual in-bay private investor sites in certain markets.
Conveyor business models can be described in terms of differences in process layout.
Traditional exterior-only features greeters, customers stay in car during wash, vehicles usually towel dried at exit end, and vacuums are coin-operated. Some exterior-only have couple of wands or small detail shop.
Traditional full-service feature greeters, customers get out of vehicle, cashier in lobby processes sales and vehicles are towel dried and made ready for customer. Most full-service offer express detail and some will have separate detail shop.
Express exterior features self-pay terminals, customers stay in car during wash, most express do not towel dry vehicles, and free vacuums are canister or centrally operated. Most express do not have vending, bathrooms, or assisted-services.
Flex-serve features greeters or self-pay terminals, customers stay in car during wash, most flex do not towel dry vehicles, some will have a coin-operated vacuum island, and there is separate area (canopied or building) where interior cleaning and express detail is offered. So, there is also lobby area with bathroom and amenities.
Hope this helps.
Main Street Carwash
Member
That explanation of the conveyor business models is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks.
