Free Vacs At Self-Serve?

[wash12]

I know this has been brought up in the past but looking for an update.

I am thinking of turning my Vacs free at a 4+1 site when I put in my new Auto.

To the people that have gone free vacs at there self serves can you tell me how it helped or hurt your business?

I feel like the increase in traffic would bring in customers and hang a sign that says free for wash paying customers only, I know you will still get a lot a free loaders but if 80% wash I think you could drive revenue and compete with EE.

 

[MEP001]

I've had better success competing with EE and their free vacs by keeping the vacs working perfectly and their areas clean. EE's don't maintain their stuff since it's abused. You might consider vacuum tokens with a wash which will only cost you a few cents per car without losing all the vac income. How much revenue would you lose going to free vacs? How much wash revenue would you have to gain to make that up once you factor in cost of operation for that revenue?

 

[soapy]

I would not give your vacs away to everyone. I use a token teller to give out a token on my automatic washes good for 1 vac cycle or a $1 off the next wash. I think you will attract freeloaders and bet your 80% figure is way over what you actually will see.

 

[OurTown]

One thing that I don't remember if it has been brought up in the previous threads is that EEs are fully attended and most SS are not. If you look on Carwashtalk on Facebook you will read sometimes how much the EE operators hate the problems free vacs can cause. Also are your vacs in front of the bays? If so the freeloaders might block paying customers from getting in the bay. We are most likely going to dispense a vac token with each top wash purchase with our new auto.

 

[chaz]

Yeah. Just take a look at your vac numbers. Now figure how much increased revenue you’ll need on your auto and s/s to make up the vac loss. Let alone the increased wear and tear and increased mess in the vacs. I’m $2.00 for 6 minutes on my vacs. Just keep the vacs and all equip in good working order!

 

[wash12]

I've had better success competing with EE and their free vacs by keeping the vacs working perfectly and their areas clean. EE's don't maintain their stuff since it's abused. You might consider vacuum tokens with a wash which will only cost you a few cents per car without losing all the vac income. How much revenue would you lose going to free vacs? How much wash revenue would you have to gain to make that up once you factor in cost of operation for that revenue?

Avg about $500 a month in Vacs not very good so that is why I consider going free and calling it my advertising expense.

How does the token system work? I have old Futura Vacs that only accept quarters as of now, how could I make it accept quarters and tokens is there a way to do this?

I have a wash select II and I am guessing I would need to have an add on machine that triggers a token for each wash mounted next to it.

 

[chaz]

Avg about $500 a month in Vacs not very good so that is why I consider going free and calling it my advertising expense.

How does the token system work? I have old Futura Vacs that only accept quarters as of now, how could I make it accept quarters and tokens is there a way to do this?

Just remember....once you go free....it’s hard to go back.

$500 in loss vac revenue will also cost you more in vac repairs, and cleaning etc. here’s a though...raise your price to $2 for 6 min...obviously make sure your equip runs great and looks great. I bet your $500 a month will increase to $750 plus. I explained to any that ask...that I give more time and my vacs suck!

Whatever you do....please report back.


I have a wash select II and I am guessing I would need to have an add on machine that triggers a token for each wash mounted next to it.

...............

 

[MudMoney]

This is going to go against what you are thinking so here it is. Ditch the old worn out looking vacs.Replace all with a mix of combo units and stand alone vacuums and raise your price.Do not get into the mind set to give your services away,its a path the is hard to reverse.

 

[chaz]

Just remember....once you go free....it’s hard to go back.

$500 in loss vac revenue will also cost you more in vac repairs, and cleaning etc. here’s a though...raise your price to $2 for 6 min...obviously make sure your equip runs great and looks great. I bet your $500 a month will increase to $750 plus. I explained to any that ask...that I give more time and my vacs suck!

Whatever you do....please report back.

 

[sparkey]

I can only imagine how much extra trash that would bring in. Sweep vehicle, dump trash, drive off and not spend a dime at your wash.

 

[Roz]

We wrestled with the same question with our 30 year old vacs. Decided to replace all of them (7) and customers have noticed. Revenue is increasing. We also provide customers with 1 or 2 $1 tokens (good for any vac) with each purchased IBA wash which is a big hit. The top wash receives 2 tokens, the other 3 packages 1 token. The added token has gotten some people to move up the value chain from the lower packages to the top package.

 

[wash12]

We wrestled with the same question with our 30 year old vacs. Decided to replace all of them (7) and customers have noticed. Revenue is increasing. We also provide customers with 1 or 2 $1 tokens (good for any vac) with each purchased IBA wash which is a big hit. The top wash receives 2 tokens, the other 3 packages 1 token. The added token has gotten some people to move up the value chain from the lower packages to the top package.

How do you have it dispense tokens and did you have to set up your vacs to take tokens or are you already on a token system?

 

[Car_Wash_Guy]

How do you have it dispense tokens and did you have to set up your vacs to take tokens or are you already on a token system?

http://www.carwashmsi.com

 

[wash12]

http://www.carwashmsi.com

Thanks, so I have a wash select II and lets say I install this and it dispenses tokens, how do I get my vacs that only accept quarters to take quarters and tokens?

Also isn't there an issue with the customers trying to put these tokens in self serves or back into the wash select and jamming them up if the tokens are larger in diameter than a quarter?

 

[Roz]

We did two things to move to tokens. We converted our changer from dispensing quarters to dispensing dollar tokens.

We have a custom token made for our wash.

We provide customers with a 10-20% bonus in tokens depending on the bill being changed. Basically got out of the quarter business, got people to think in terms of $1 not 25cents, and quadrupled the capacity of our changer by just changing the coin dispensed. Cannot take credit for the great idea, came from meeting and speaking with some best in class car wash operators.

Our Paystation can dispense a free token with every wash purchased if customer wants the token, 2 tokens for the top wash package. We do not acccept any coins for the auto Paystation.

Customers can use the tokens for the vacs, vending machine, or the SS bays, makes no difference to us. I can also track how many people ask for the free tokens and those numbers are strong so clearly the message has responated with customers.

All the meter boxes, vending machine, and vacs have trainable coin acceptors so they can handle tokens, quarters, or dollar coins. Customer feedback has been extremely positive to the changes.

 

[MEP001]

Thanks, so I have a wash select II and lets say I install this and it dispenses tokens, how do I get my vacs that only accept quarters to take quarters and tokens?

You have to replace the coin acceptor with a multi-coin version. It usually involves at the minimum adding a transformer to power the acceptor. If you use a IDX MA-850 or a GinSan Multitron you can usually keep your current timer, or you can replace everything and run it all 24V AC with a relay for the motors.

Also isn't there an issue with the customers trying to put these tokens in self serves or back into the wash select and jamming them up if the tokens are larger in diameter than a quarter?

You can either allow them to use them in the bays or choose a larger token and a blockoff plate so they won't fit in the bays or vendors.

 

[soapy]

My tokens dispensed from my auto cashiers are also accepted for a $1 credit the next time they buy another automatic wash. I only give .25 cents per token in the SS bays because people would show up several times per day trying to grab uncollected tokens.

 

[Ultra Shine]

Soapy, Please explain the TOKEN TELLER.
Does that go in a hamilton cashier ?

forgive my lack of knowledge, I was not aware you could do this

 

[MEP001]

https://www.hamiltonmfg.com/product/btv/

 

[Ultra Shine]

I don't have room to mount that the way my cashier is positioned.