Small town wash profits???

[Rubberducky]

I'm looking at a carwash in a small town,What I'm wondering is profit by population estimates.
Its already built and been running since 2006, 6500 sq ft building with 6 wand washes, one automatic, dogwash, and room for a store.
the wash has been badly taken care of, so bad that trees are growing in the automatic.Automatic is an austec and its never need serviced, doesn't apply soap and brushes stop turning during wash. only 4 wand wash bays have booms and the theres no soap or hot water.Its a barn style building and they don't turn heat up in the winter. The wash is unattended and doesn't have a coin machine and only takes coins. I think it has great potential but not sure if the town can support it based on population alone.

the town has about 4500 people and a trading area about 6000. its on a main highway and corner lot. Its the only automatic in town and the other wash is 2 drive through bays and on exterior bay thats closed in the winter.

My idea is to go in and clean and get equipment working, install pay system and have an attendant onsite.

Anyone have a way to figure out what a carwash like this should make?

Any help would be great

 

[Rubberducky]

I should also add that this wash Is in Canada, on the can usa border. salty road!!!

 

[Waxman]

there are industry benchmarks that you can look up about gross revenue per bay per month. These are only estimates and should be treated as such. Any car wash that is not properly maintained and cleaned on a regular basis will not reach the potential sales figures. Trees growing in the automatic? A lack of soap or spinning brushes in the automatic? These will have negative Impact on sales. take a look at the tax returns of the business so you can determine if the revenues support the purchase price. Remodeling your automatic bay, Adding a bill changer and fixing your self serve equipment so that it is 100% operational could be $250,000

 

[Rubberducky]

there are industry benchmarks that you can look up about gross revenue per bay per month. These are only estimates and should be treated as such. Any car wash that is not properly maintained and cleaned on a regular basis will not reach the potential sales figures. Trees growing in the automatic? A lack of soap or spinning brushes in the automatic? These will have negative Impact on sales. take a look at the tax returns of the business so you can determine if the revenues support the purchase price. Remodeling your automatic bay, Adding a bill changer and fixing your self serve equipment so that it is 100% operational could be $250,000

I've tried to find something online that would be a guide me in figuring out the financial numbers but haven't had any luck, is there a website?
since everything is cash its really hard to get real numbers on the wash, there books are a true representation and I can't really go by them anyways as its so badly ran.

 

[Kramerwv]

No records = not much value, especially to a lender if you’re needing to borrow.

 

[Rubberducky]

The price I'm going to offer is based on the building only, equipment is in need of a lot of work and doesn't have much value.
Is there a website that the industry uses to estimate revenue based on population density.
only 2.5 wash bays in town other then this one,
so in total there would be 8 self serves and one automatic
I would own 6 and auto. safe to say it should gross $250,000 net $125,000?

 

[MEP001]

You might start with less than that, assuming you mean you'll offer based on the land and building. If the wash is that bad, it might only be worth the value of the land MINUS the cost to demolish the building.

 

[Kramerwv]

Hard to estimate revenues based on population density because so many other factors are in play like weather, disposable incomes, etc.

 

[soonermajic]

The price I'm going to offer is based on the building only, equipment is in need of a lot of work and doesn't have much value.
Is there a website that the industry uses to estimate revenue based on population density.
only 2.5 wash bays in town other then this one,
so in total there would be 8 self serves and one automatic
I would own 6 and auto. safe to say it should gross $250,000 net $125,000?

I'd say shave about $50k off of each. Hard to make 50% profit unless you have zero attendants, you do all maintenanace + upkeep / cleaning, & have no mortgage.

 

[Waxman]

The price I'm going to offer is based on the building only, equipment is in need of a lot of work and doesn't have much value.
Is there a website that the industry uses to estimate revenue based on population density.
only 2.5 wash bays in town other then this one,
so in total there would be 8 self serves and one automatic
I would own 6 and auto. safe to say it should gross $250,000 net $125,000?

You're making a mistake assuming you can just throw big, round numbers at it like that. You said yourself that the auto has no soap and no functioning brushes. Who would use a wash like that? You also said 2 of your SS bays have no booms. So only 4 SS bays are used.

A wash like that would be lucky to gross $100k / year.

 

[jfmoran]

Based on these guidelines and the info you supplied, this wash, even fully operational, will underperform (which is most likely why its closed and for sale).

Theoretically, 6 bays could produce $6K-$9k/ month and an In-Bay could do $8-$10K. But if I were you, I would cut those estimates in half. That being said, the investment you have to make in this site, sounds like the juice is not worth the squeeze.



Revenue Projections-Bays

• Studies find that it takes a population base of 1000-1500 people to support 1 self-serve bay. ( A town of 5000 people could theoretically support a total of 5 self-serve bays between all competitors.)
• At this population level the National Average is approximately * $1000 - 1500 per bay, per month of gross income for one self-serve bay. (This is an estimate average only, incomes can and do vary.)

 

[OurTown]

Keep in mind this wash is in Canada and everyone that has responded so far has experience in the US.

 

[Rubberducky]

Thanks For the reply's. Some might have missed what I was asking, I want to get an idea what a carwash thats up and running good, attendant onsite, cleaned daily would do. I know what the numbers are on the wash today but its what the future is for it. Reading some of the posts I feel that theres money to be made. I will let you know how my adventure goes if I purchase the wash.

 

[MEP001]

You could potentially do $3,000 a month per SS bay, $15,000 in the auto, another $4,000 from vacs and vending, I don't know dog washes but let's say $2,000. That's best case scenario. From there, start adding up the things that count against it. Small town population, you're on a main highway so most likely poor capture rate due to traffic speed, bad reputation to recover from, high gas bills in the winter for heating bay floors, etc. All these things will be up to you to research to determine if it will make any money.

 

[Rubberducky]

I have done some more research and found out the town is actually 8000 people and 11000 in the business trading area. I feel very comfortable about buying it and have already put in my offer to the owner, just waiting to hear back from them. I have talked to a couple. companies about a new automatic wash. right now they have an old autec that doesn't work. I'm thinking that its best to go touchless as its been years with brushes scratching cars. the automatic is 50' x 20'
Anyone have thoughts on the kondor

 

[Kramerwv]

If there’s not much competition it’s probably more important to evaluate distributor proximity and availability versus particular brand for touchless. Most all of the systems can provide a good wash if set up correctly with right chemistry and packaging. Of course affordability always a factor as well.

 

[MEP001]

New friction machines and the material they use is much safer on paint. You can output a cleaner car at a significantly lower cost to you with friction. People on this forum who have friction and touchless in the same location say their customers gravitate toward the friction.

Most of Belanger's units are good, low-maintenance, and their friction units are very good about not damaging cars. The biggest problem is older cars with the automatic antennas, which it will almost always break. Signage stating things like "not responsible for damage to" things like old cars or loose trim, non-factory items, is good protection for you from liability. I know a guy with a Belanger Cube he installed about a year ago, it's been very low maintenance and he has a line all day long every day.

 

[soonermajic]

Where's that Cube, & have you seen or been through it?

 

[MEP001]

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I have not been through it, but I've done some work there.

 

[soonermajic]

What's your overall thoughts, Pros/Cons?