Who has experience with memberships in IBA’s. Limited or unlimited? We are about to open a new 3 IBA site which will offer memberships (30 washes/month) using LPR and rfid as a backup and will be upgrading our 4 IBA site soon also. I’m hoping we can handle the volume. Anyone have any experience running a successful program with multiple IBA’s? Any insight or advice appreciated.
Membership for IBA’s
- Thread starter Moesal
- Start date
Issue you run into is if it goes well, which you hope it does, you may upset customers with the long lines. We have single bay sites that consistently wash 115-128 cars daily and at peak times cars are lines up 7-8 deep and waiting anywhere from 3 minutes to 6 minutes for the top wash. With 3 bays you are moving 300+ cars a day through your wash which seems like a lot until you realize that a busy express runs 800-1000 cars daily.
soonermajic
Well-known member
Instead, be the best IBA by far, & not worry about discounts...?
Jk, ....
Jk, ....
Yes I’m worried about customers getting upset about long line, guess that’s a good and bad problem to have. In your experience is it the members or regular customers who complain about lines?
Why not be the best and offer better value to the customers?
My hypothesis is that it would be both.
Flex- Wand
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Do you mean like the best for less like, The BIG APE .
Flex- Wand
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Long line can mean your doing something right too .
BenBranam
Member
If you are doing that much volume, have you looked at mini tunnels that can do way more volume than an IBA?
steve569
Active member
We have a site with 3 in-bay automatics and run an unlimited program. The only time we have real trouble with long lines is after a weather event and we would be backed up anyway. We have the Accutrac 360's that are pretty fast.
In order for an unlimited program to be successful you have to sell enough memberships to get the customers that don't come everyday. If you just sell 200-300 to your best customers then you are going to lose money.
As to the gentleman that suggested a mini tunnel we have a lot of customers that come to our site because they don't care to have their car damaged.
In order for an unlimited program to be successful you have to sell enough memberships to get the customers that don't come everyday. If you just sell 200-300 to your best customers then you are going to lose money.
As to the gentleman that suggested a mini tunnel we have a lot of customers that come to our site because they don't care to have their car damaged.
OurTown
Well-known member
This is my biggest concern with a mostly unattended IBA site. EEs have made unlimited monthly a necessary evil for them (same with the free vacs) and most around here try to hard sell them to all single wash purchasing customers. There are several around here that start at crazy low prices. One is $14, one is $15 and one is $20 per month. I know a handful of people that have those lower tiered wash packages and none of them wash less than once per week. One of them has been going to one almost everyday for several years now. (I think he is one their $24/month package though)
AnalyticWash
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What was your break-even # of members you needed?
Was your wash always unlimited? If no, how was the transition?
steve569
Active member
I believe you need about 1000 unlimited customers to make a plan viable. Everyone always concentrates on the customers that wash their car multiple times a month and how much money you lose on them . The trick is to sign up enough customers that not all of them will use it everyday some will just use it twice a month. We have average usage of 4.5 times a month and that is high. The EE with 3-4000 members are lower than that.
I would not try to run an unlimited program without an attendant there to sell and take care of the club customers.
With that being said there is a group using the Petit auto's that do very well unattended and have an unlimited plan everything is handled through the auto cashier and an app. A lot of my customers are not techy enough to do that and need a person to do it for them.
Our wash was not always unlimited we just started that 2 years ago with the install of the new Petit auto's. There were a few hiccups to start but we worked through them and now it is relatively easy.
I would not try to run an unlimited program without an attendant there to sell and take care of the club customers.
With that being said there is a group using the Petit auto's that do very well unattended and have an unlimited plan everything is handled through the auto cashier and an app. A lot of my customers are not techy enough to do that and need a person to do it for them.
Our wash was not always unlimited we just started that 2 years ago with the install of the new Petit auto's. There were a few hiccups to start but we worked through them and now it is relatively easy.
BenBranam
Member
That’s a good reason to do something else. Those tracks and trolly’s can do a job on vehicles. Glad you found a niche to use.
Curious: How many cars can an Accutrac 360 do per hour? Does your experience match what the sales brochure and company told you?
BenBranam
Member
Some of the latest industry studies say that Monthly members will wash 3.2 times a month. Some will be less and some will be more. If you can figure out your average and make money at that average, it doesn’t matter that a couple people are besting your system and washing every week or even ever day. Yes those people besting your system are getting a great deal and you are loosing money on that one customer, but all the others should make up for it.
It’s where the industry is going because it ties a customer to your wash. If your customer has your monthly membership it would have to be an extreme case for them to go somewhere else to get a wash. They already paid for yours! Run the numbers and see where you break even and where you make money. Don’t just go on feelings.
We have Washify with LPR and RFID. The plan is to have an attendant there at times but I do like the fact that they can sign themselves up at the kiosk, app, and our website. My worry is long lines. I suppose like many others have said that I will have to find out what the certain number of memberships I need to have to make it worth it. A lot of factors though...
OurTown
Well-known member
I agree that it is a good way to get loyalty from a customer but keep in mind those 3.2 times per month are from fully attended EEs. If you have an unattended IBA site then you might only get your best customers to sign up and therefore lose money. (yes I'm speculating) Also it depends on if you are directly competing with an EE. You need to sign up enough customers that only wash twice a month to offset the ones that come twice per week to get the average down. Here is another point to ponder: What is your price multiplier for the unlimited monthly? The EEs around here are about 3 times for the lowest wash package and about 1.9 times the top wash. If your average customer washes 3.2 times per month then no matter what you are losing money on those customers vs them paying the normal price. I get it. The point is to get more customers that exclusively use your wash. IBA sites are usually very different animals than EEs. I'm glad Steve chimed in about his 4.5 times per month wash average. Has anyone else done this with IBAs? Steve what is your price multiplier on your unlimited monthly?
We have 2 new ee in nearby towns that are doing $10, $15 & $20 washes with opening special unlimited packages of $15, $20 & $25. Too low in my opinion but also tough to compete with if you’re nearby. Are there any rules of thumb for population needed for unlimited plans? To OurTown’s point, if you only sign up your regulars it’s a losing proposition.
