What thoughts --Pros / Cons--- of a Drive - Thru Min Tunnel. I am looking to add a mint tunnel to may wash which is a 5 ss and 1 iba now. I have small lot space and have seen the Drive - Thru model on a few of the tunnel manufacturers sites. I have seen only once at a car dealer who had this type of "tunnel" that the car is driven through the wash instead of on a conveyor. Obliviously the car owner would drive through at low speed but just wondering of the concept of a true drive thru wash for convenience. The would be attended during days hours but unattended at nite, or not. I did not have chance to discuss with dealership owner about any issues he had because a tornado destroyed the dealership shortly after I left from service call and he retired to Vegas. Has anyone heard of any issues from general public using these drive thru type tunnels. I see on websites that Rental Car businesses use them in larger cities. I am in town of about 15,000 with recently remodeled EE cross town as main competitor along with a couple older SS and IBA's.
Drive - Thru Mini tunnel
- Thread starter RAM
- Start date
carwashireland
Active member
I Have installed a few of these on car rental sites. For a dealership or car hire firm they are a great fit, but Joe public would give you a world of problems. You would be constantly fighting insurance claims for vehicle damage, wash quality complaints and equipment damage. I think an in bay express where you drive through the soap arch, then park for a friction wash, then leave via spot free and dry would be an option though.
tdlconceptsllc
Well-known member
If this is the Concept Autec has where the customer actually drives through each function themselves and never put the car in park, is the worst concept I have ever witnessed in this industry and have yet to see one yet that didn't fail. Stick with a real express wash with a conveyor or a IBA the public can't drive in general anymore or have enough general sense to figure this out. I can't beleive manufactures still even offer this in the 21st century. Pm and I can't shoot you a real world location in NC that I have seen this fail at actually several and they now have IBA in them now, there also is older threads on this form that this has been discussed. I aint trying to bash a manufacture just telling the Truth.
I did see where a few offered this drive thru concept and agree it does have liability issues. I would want to see an operational unit or units first. Not just ones where attendant drives for customers but car owners themselves. I agree JQ public has trouble driving. I would think if drivers can load onto conveyor with correlator, they “should “ be able to line up and ease thru wash. I would definitely prefer to have it attended and close at night. I was mainly thinking of this concept as a stripped down version of the full EE competition. Maybe even just single wash package, 10-12$ price point.
Dan-Ark
Active member
I have trouble getting my customers to drive forward until a light turns red, then leave when it turns green again.
soonermajic
Well-known member
This thread bothers me, cause I have a friend who has been talked into doing this by...you guessed it...AUTEC! Mini-tunnel, unattended, but @ a killer site. They've convinced him this is THE way to go!
I can't change his mind.
Hopefully it will work out...
I can't change his mind.
Hopefully it will work out...
OurTown
Well-known member
Thomas I realize now it is obvious that you have never used an Autec In-Bay-Express. It IS an IBA that has most of the on board features removed. Here is how it works: You drive through two presoak arches, then park in the IBA area (just like other IBAs), It does the washing, then you drive through the rinse arch, protectant arch, spot free arch, (there is a display timer for pacing these rinse arches) tire shine, and two dryer arches. (of course with a display timer too) The example you PM me about the one that "failed" is in an awful location (for probably any business) but the last time I checked it is still in business. The biggest issue with this concept is that some people the first time they use it will drive too fast through the rinse arches leaving some soap on the car. We did not have that issue the first time we used it because it seemed obvious what speed to drive. We have watched many customers drive though several of these and yes there are idiots just like at all car washes. There is not a perfect car wash concept out there and this is no exception. It would be placed where a mini tunnel could be put because of similar throughput and similar cost to build. There are two big differences between the mini tunnel and this concept. The In-Bay-Express is run 24/7 without the need for an attendant vs the mini tunnel having business hours with attendants. The other thing is that this Autec washes the back of a car like no other machine we have ever tried. If you order Autec's "rear super clean" option the brushes are able to clean up under the spoiler of those small SUVs. Of all the automatic car wash types the mini tunnel (60' or less) is probably the least effective at washing cars.
soonermajic
Well-known member
OurTown,
Thomas is a super hard working self made man, who gives great advice. I don't think he has any reason to steer someone 1 way or the other. If he gives some advice, operators would be wise to @ least think about it.
You list about 4 areas that would be cause for concern. In your opinion, how long would it take to train your customer base? Also, if Autec has that "rear super clean" that none of us can get clean, why is it an option? What allows their IBA to clean the rears?
Do you have this In bay Express model? Just seems like a lot is expected from ordinary Joe customer...?
Thomas is a super hard working self made man, who gives great advice. I don't think he has any reason to steer someone 1 way or the other. If he gives some advice, operators would be wise to @ least think about it.
You list about 4 areas that would be cause for concern. In your opinion, how long would it take to train your customer base? Also, if Autec has that "rear super clean" that none of us can get clean, why is it an option? What allows their IBA to clean the rears?
Do you have this In bay Express model? Just seems like a lot is expected from ordinary Joe customer...?
Greg Pack
Wash Weenie
No way would I rely on a customer to drive through at the proper speed.
On the TCW facebook group Tom Hobby (Autec) occasionally chimes in and crows about one of his locations and the high volume it does. Istobal has a similar concept called express on rails. My guess is the istobal would have lower throughput. But Autec does not have a top brush, So I don't know if you could get an acceptably clean car during bug season without prepping. Its probably a niche for a low volume site (from tunnel perspective) to get 15- 20 CPH.
How about a belt conveyor?
On the TCW facebook group Tom Hobby (Autec) occasionally chimes in and crows about one of his locations and the high volume it does. Istobal has a similar concept called express on rails. My guess is the istobal would have lower throughput. But Autec does not have a top brush, So I don't know if you could get an acceptably clean car during bug season without prepping. Its probably a niche for a low volume site (from tunnel perspective) to get 15- 20 CPH.
How about a belt conveyor?
soonermajic
Well-known member
On really busy times, it seems like 1 idiot customer could screw up the entire wash for all others? Seriously, tell me how it would not?
I am actually interested in this, but see soooo many potential problems.
I am actually interested in this, but see soooo many potential problems.
The drive thru tunnels are designed for dealerships and car rental agencies. In those scenarios, the drivers are employees who "should" have some training but if the car doesn't get cleaned properly, they blame the equipment or the employee and it is their own cars, not a paying customer who is dissatisfied. Most importantly, their view is often the cheaper the better. So skipping the conveyor is a calculated cost savings.
In retail car washing, the customer expects a clean car and they aren't going to blame their driving if it is still dirty.
If you don't want a tunnel, look for a fast inbay like a Petit, Razor Edge, etc. If you want higher volume, go conveyor.
The hybrid model can work, tldconceptsllc isn't exactly correct, the car is put in park for the middle part of the wash service. The presoak, rinse and dry are drive through. However, I think I am in agreement that is probably isn't a great model. If you want to maximize volume, go tunnel, if you want no employees, go inbay.
In retail car washing, the customer expects a clean car and they aren't going to blame their driving if it is still dirty.
If you don't want a tunnel, look for a fast inbay like a Petit, Razor Edge, etc. If you want higher volume, go conveyor.
The hybrid model can work, tldconceptsllc isn't exactly correct, the car is put in park for the middle part of the wash service. The presoak, rinse and dry are drive through. However, I think I am in agreement that is probably isn't a great model. If you want to maximize volume, go tunnel, if you want no employees, go inbay.
OurTown
Well-known member
I don't think it would take long to train customers because we are only talking about the speed of going through the rinse. I'm not sure why Autec offers that as an option. It is probably so they can state how low their starting price is but it should be standard in my opinion. We do not have the IBE yet but it is the works.
OurTown
Well-known member
D&S and Oasis also have a type of in-bay-express. The D&S does not look like it would put out many cars. The Autec can put out more like 30 CPH. I do like the belt type conveyor but we could not find any mini tunnels with them to try out. The wash quality still seems lacking especially on the back of the car on every mini tunnel we tried. Also could there be issues with people not putting the car in park and driving forward in the middle of the wash? Maybe there would be no damage to anything if they did that though.
OurTown
Well-known member
Since it is all open arches except for the IBA there is not much to mess up. You still have the issues of people leaving the treadle like other IBAs. The tire shiner could be a concern. I could see someone getting through the dryers and after realizing they have time left could back up over the shiner to get more dryer time. It probably retracts as soon as the rear tire leaves it so I'm just speculating. This could be a concern with any IBA tire shiner. Maybe Slash can comment on this.
OurTown
Well-known member
I forgot to comment about Greg stating the issue that the Autec does not have a top brush. We do wish it had a top brush and I think they are the only IBA that has mitters. We are getting the bug prep option that sprays that chemical up at an angle from the floor but I think it only gets the grill area. Also all washes will get the presoak so that should help with the mitters getting the bugs off. This EV-1 is a hybrid machine so it will have high pressure and that may help blast them off. The main reasons for us going with this is our site is smaller and our two auto bays are tiny and will not accept any of the newer IBAs. If we tore off the two bays we do not have the width on our property to build two new wide bays. Also this in-bay-express is less money than building two new bays with two machines. It also can put out more cars than two IBAs. We also wanted to save the equipment room and our three self serve bays and they just are not situated on our lot depth wise ideally. We actually toyed with the idea of completely getting rid of the SS bays and that might have opened up more options. As you can see we have a lot of restrictions and this concept is going to fit perfect in our situation. I would encourage anyone that is at least open minded that they try one of the newer Autec in-bay-expresses for themselves to see that it is not that difficult for a customer to use. When we get ours up and running we would love for you guys to check it out in person. PM me if you want to talk.
OurTown
Well-known member
Mrs. OurTown reminded me that because of her pressing Tom Hobby about offering a voice prompt system Autec now has that option. Tom's wash was built about 10 years ago in front of Autec's factory just to showcase the model for potential investors. It is in an industrial part of Statesville NC and has a daily traffic count of about 4,000. Statesville has about 26K population and there are 20 car washes there. These days he regularly washes 200-300 cars per day and has done over 400 in one day. The machine now has over 450,000 washes on it. Pretty crazy for basically just an elaborate single IBA. He does offer a steep discount code that most people in town know to get those numbers up there but just shows the potential daily throughput.
Greg Pack
Wash Weenie
Here are couple examples from PECO and MacNeil.
tdlconceptsllc
Well-known member
Ourtown I am afraid to say you are snowed over my freind and wish I never replied on this thread if I knew it was gonna cause such hurt feelings of the truth and do opologize. I guess me personally purchasing a wash and driving through the wash doesn't count as using one. I have no reason to lie and I actually drive by that wash all the time including today and its bone dry with about 20,000 cars a day at that location I sent you on a 4 lane highway. He offers a $16 month unlimited package now and people still do not use it due to the confusion on the wash process. I would love for you to chime in and share your numbers after about 2 years once you have instailed yours. I guess I am just a ol dumb blue collar guy that's a 3rd generation carwash operator that doesn't know anything about the carwash business best of Luck to you and the guy that wanted (Opinions) of this concept that started this thread.